Kittens

JustADream21 · March 31st, 2009, 11:58 AM

So my kitten is getting older... she is about 8 months old. I know when they are really young you aren't supposed to feed them treats or anything besides their kitten dry food and their wet food that they are used to. Just wondering at what age it is okay to feed them treats?

TammyWOW · April 1st, 2009, 01:01 AM

The thing you have to keep in mind is that you should only give 1 or 2 of those little treats per day. It might not seem like a lot, but you have to look at it in the context of their entire diet. Giving a cat 5 or 10 treats a day would be like you eating 40 bags of M&M's a day; M&M's are ok for you and treats are ok for your kitten, in theory, but look how often we fail in actual practice.

I feed our cats an entirely raw diet and for treats, I pass out chunks of raw meat, chicken necks, livers, and gizzards. If you're inclined to give raw treats, they don't have to be as limited and they're much healthier.

There are a few very important things to remember, if you choose to feed raw meat treats:

1) Always supervise with chicken necks, wings, or other raw meat that has (or could have) bones in it. And, never, ever, ever feed cooked bones - always raw.

2) Make sure you have a few hours between feeding raw foods and kibble/canned commercial foods. They digest at different rates and can upset the digestive tract if they're fed too close together.

3) Once you've started offering raw meat as treats - never, EVER turn your back on a piece of meat you're cooking for yourself. I spent 15 minutes pounding a chicken breast flat the other week and turned to grab my spices, but when I turned back my flattened chicken breast was half way down the hallway, being towed by a growling cat!

Allie · April 4th, 2009, 12:28 AM

Oh my... lol!

March 31st, 2009, 11:58 AM	#1
JustADream21 Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Studio City, CA Posts: 19	Kittens So my kitten is getting older... she is about 8 months old. I know when they are really young you aren't supposed to feed them treats or anything besides their kitten dry food and their wet food that they are used to. Just wondering at what age it is okay to feed them treats?

April 4th, 2009, 12:28 AM	#3
Allie Member Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: San Antonio, TX Posts: 70	Oh my... lol! __________________ Me getting Ashley Force Hood's signature at the Mile-Hi Nationals at Bandimere

April 1st, 2009, 01:01 AM	#2
TammyWOW WOW Forum Coordinator Join Date: Feb 2001 Posts: 271	The thing you have to keep in mind is that you should only give 1 or 2 of those little treats per day. It might not seem like a lot, but you have to look at it in the context of their entire diet. Giving a cat 5 or 10 treats a day would be like you eating 40 bags of M&M's a day; M&M's are ok for you and treats are ok for your kitten, in theory, but look how often we fail in actual practice. I feed our cats an entirely raw diet and for treats, I pass out chunks of raw meat, chicken necks, livers, and gizzards. If you're inclined to give raw treats, they don't have to be as limited and they're much healthier. There are a few very important things to remember, if you choose to feed raw meat treats: 1) Always supervise with chicken necks, wings, or other raw meat that has (or could have) bones in it. And, never, ever, ever feed cooked bones - always raw. 2) Make sure you have a few hours between feeding raw foods and kibble/canned commercial foods. They digest at different rates and can upset the digestive tract if they're fed too close together. 3) Once you've started offering raw meat as treats - never, EVER turn your back on a piece of meat you're cooking for yourself. I spent 15 minutes pounding a chicken breast flat the other week and turned to grab my spices, but when I turned back my flattened chicken breast was half way down the hallway, being towed by a growling cat!