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How can you help your kitten live a long and healthy life? Although you can’t predict the health of your cat with certainty, you can increase the probability of both her general health and a long life through proper care that begins as soon as you bring her home. Your veterinarian can advise further on these five key considerations for taking care of your kitten.
Feed your kitten high-quality food designed to meet nutritional needs during specific stages of her life. Your kitten’s nutritional requirements will depend on her life stage and lifestyle. No matter the life stage, cats are carnivores and require nutrients from animal protein and fat for optimal health.
Prevent obesity with prudent portion control and frequent play activities. Exercise relieves stress, reduces aggression and keeps cats alert. Just 15 to 30 minutes of play a day can help keep your cat in shape and strengthen the bond between the two of you. In addition, getting your kitten used to playtime early on will help you get used to playing with your cat routinely.
Keep your kitten inside to help reduce the risk of illness or injury from accidents, fights and disease. As your kitten gets older, you can help avoid the stress of harassment from other animals by keeping your kitten inside. You should make your home safe by protecting your cat from environmental dangers, such as household cleaners and secondhand smoke. Cats frequently groom themselves with their tongues, and over time, even small amounts of harmful chemicals can have adverse effects.
Groom your kitten early and often to get her used to brushing. When brushing, check for bumps or abnormalities, and promptly seek veterinary advice if you discover anything suspicious. Take your cat to the veterinarian at least annually for a complete physical exam, and follow your veterinarian’s advice regarding preventive health care measures.
Your veterinarian may also recommend periodic professional cleaning of your cat’s teeth, which may preserve years of her life.
Last but not least, give your cat lots of love! Despite some cats’ aloof demeanor, all cats thrive on affection. Both you and your cat will reap the benefits of spending quality time together.
It was once thought that one year in the life of a cat was equivalent to seven years of a human life. Below is a revised way of looking at how a cat year stacks up to a human year.
| Cat Age | Human Age |
|---|---|
| 6 months | 10 years |
| 8 months | 13 years |
| 10 months | 14 years |
| 1 year | 15 years |
| 18 months | 20 years |
| 2 years | 24 years |
| 3 years | 28 years |
| 4 years | 32 years |
| 5 years | 36 years |
| 6 years | 40 years |
| 7 years | 44 years |
| 8 years | 48 years |
| 9 years | 52 years |
| 10 years | 56 years |
| 11 years | 60 years |
| 12 years | 64 years |
| 13 years | 68 years |
| 14 years | 72 years |
| 15 years | 76 years |
| 16 years | 80 years |
| 17 years | 84 years |
| 18 years | 88 years |
| 19 years | 92 years |
| 20 years | 96 years |
| 21 years | 100 years |
Providing your kitten with the proper nutrition goes way beyond just putting fresh food in a clean bowl. Your kitten’s nutritional needs will change as her body develops through adolescence. Proper nutrition during these critical growth periods will help your kitten mature into a strong, healthy adult cat. Discover four essential kitten-feeding tips you need to know in your kitten’s first year.
Learning what development milestones your kitten will experience in her first year will help you decide what and when to feed her.
After kittens are weaned, they enter a stage of rapid growth, which lasts through the sixth month of life. They need a balanced diet to deliver the nutrients and energy to sustain such rapid development.
Kittens have twice the energy needs of adult cats on a pound-per-pound basis. But their smaller mouths, teeth and stomachs limit the amount of food they can digest during a single meal. Therefore, it may be best to divide their total daily food amount into three or four smaller meals.
Because every bite must be packed with nutrition, kittens require a diet specifically formulated for growth. The best choice is a food with animal-based proteins that is highly digestible, nutrient dense and designed to meet kittens’ unique nutritional needs.
As kittens approach adult size, their nutritional requirements begin to change again. Their rate of growth begins to slow, activity levels may decline and they can start eating fewer, larger meals each day. During this stage, kittens begin to look like adults, but they are still growing and need the special nutrition found in kitten food.
The adolescent growth stage is a time when many cat owners are tempted to change a kitten’s food for variety. But cats do not get bored with a consistent diet of high-quality dry food. You can supplement your kitten’s dry food with a nutrient-dense canned food for a nutritious change of pace.
When your cat is about 12 months old, it’s time to switch to a maintenance formula adult cat food, such as IAMS™ ProActive Health™ Healthy Adult with Chicken. At this age, cats no longer need the extra calories and nutrients for growth supplied by kitten food. As with any change in a cat’s diet, remember to gradually transition from kitten food to adult food over a period of several days.
Monitor your cat’s weight and body condition during the transition, and adjust feeding portions if necessary. Because cats generally eat only what they need, free-choice feeding is fine for most cats. However, some indoor cats that don’t exercise much may overeat if fed free choice. In this situation, portion-controlled feeding twice a day is a good alternative.
Giving a kitten “human food” and table scraps can lead to undesirable behaviors, such as begging or stealing food. Feeding homemade diets or food formulated for adult cats (especially those designed for weight loss), or supplementing a complete and balanced diet with vitamins could cause nutritional disorders.
Kittens and cats are strict carnivores and need the nutrients found in meat. For example, sufficient amounts of taurine, an essential amino acid provided naturally through meat, help cats maintain healthy eyes, heart and reproduction. All IAMS kitten and cat food formulas have optimal levels of taurine for every life stage.
