Scratch the highlights! Kitten Growth Stage 1: After weaning to 4 months of age
After weaning, the first growth phase of kittens will last until 4 months of age.
According to the research of the international authority Weihao Pet Nutrition Research Center, the first point of change in growth rate is 20 weeks of age (5 months of age) for male cats and 18 weeks of age (4.5 months of age) for female cats.
According to FEDIAF, the European pet food industry association, the recommended time for nutritional transition in kittens is 14 weeks of age (3.5 months of age).
Based on these research results, the recommended time point for food conversion in the first stage of science is basically at 4 months of age.
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At 3 to 4 weeks
Gradually introduce complementary food
Breastmilk is naturally the best choice for kittens when they are first born, but it is important to note that supplemental food should be introduced gradually when the kittens are 3~4 weeks old.
Because the composition of breast milk will change over time, until the kitten is 4 weeks old, the nutrients in the milk can no longer meet the normal development of the kitten, you can choose to add some to help improve the immunity of the cat ingredients.
For example, vitamin C, vitamin E, taurine and so on food with warm water, stirred and made into porridge, let the kitten lick.
Let’s see a diagram of the energy requirement of a growing kitten:
The protein and fat content must be moderate at this stage. Too low will not meet four times the energy requirements of an adult cat, and too high will grow too fast and may lead to obesity.
For cats in the growth phase, AAFCO recommends a minimum protein requirement of 30% (based on dry matter) for cats in the growth phase, with no maximum value recommended. However, Hooda et al. published in 2013 compared a moderate protein level of 34% with a high protein level of 52% and found that a moderate protein level optimally affects the gastrointestinal microflora of kittens.
Bottom line: choose a grain that is suitably high in energy and moderately high in protein.
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At 3 weeks to a little over a month
Choosing the right food for the way you eat
Kittens don’t have very good teeth, and their hard-earned milk teeth are starting to go boom, so it’s hard to chew at this point.
Therefore, the main focus is to lick liquid or pureed food, such as staple grade full-price canned food, which is easy to chew and has good palatability.
However, in order to adapt to the food-eating life in the future as soon as possible, the shoveler can gradually give them a transition to solid food from about 3-4 weeks of age, and eat wet and dry together.
Of course, for the milk cat age design these dry food particles are small cute, no teeth can eat in, slowly practicing, we are called to choose the right way to eat the grain.
★ Can kittens at this time take cow’s milk and goat’s milk as the main food? By this stage, many of you may be like the pooper scooper at the beginning, taking cow’s milk and goat’s milk as the main food.
But in fact, the nutrients provided by cow’s milk and goat’s milk are not enough for newborn kittens.
And colostrum, like cow or goat colostrum, does not have special ingredients that can help cats fight specific diseases.
Because cow’s and goat’s milk is more diluted and has a lower dry matter content, it provides less protein and fat than cat milk, so the same quality of cow’s and goat’s milk does not provide adequate nutrition for cats and cannot be used as a substitute for cat milk.
To put it in another way, since cats are strict carnivores and cows and sheep are herbivores, the milk of the latter certainly cannot meet the needs of carnivores.
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At 3 months
Choosing a grain that boosts your kitten’s resistance
As we have just said, as the kitten grows, the level of antibodies in the breast milk will continue to decline.
At 3 months of age, the level of antibodies produced by the kitten itself is very low (weak and helpless), so there is an “immune window”.
To put it bluntly, the kitten has to face the dangers of the world independently, for example, it has to fight against the common infectious diseases of kittens such as kitten nasal branch, coronavirus, etc. Therefore, at this stage, the pooper scooper has to take care of the kitten’s health.
Therefore, at this stage, the pooper scooper can choose food rich in beta-carotene, lutein, taurine, vitamin C, vitamin E and other antioxidant complexes to help cats improve resistance.
In addition! At this time, the gastrointestinal tract of milk cats is relatively weak, so they should choose well-digested grains, especially those with high protein digestibility.
For example, some products for kittens will also deliberately add casein to better mimic the environment of breast milk, so that the intestines of newly weaned dairy cats can be more easily absorbed, which is also a good choice.
Some will also add prebiotics such as oligosaccharides and soluble fibers such as psyllium to help form stools.
The second stage of milk cat growth: 4-12 months old
After surviving 120 days and nights, the milk cat (the first growth stage) has officially stepped into the ranks of kittens (the second growth stage).
The selection of food for kittens should still be careful, and nutrients, palatability, and the growth needs of kittens should all be considered.
Kittens from 4-12 months old are still in the growth stage, with still strong demand for protein, still somewhat weak resistance, and not so strong intestinal tract, so moderate amount of high-quality protein, good digestion, and rich in antioxidants are the main characteristics of kitten food.
The patent of Weihao Pet Nutrition Research Center shows that the antioxidant complex CELT can effectively enhance the antioxidant capacity of kittens and reduce the risk of disease.
And unlike the milk cat stage diet, the energy demand tends to level off at this time, if you unilaterally pursue high content, not only easy to cause obesity in cats, but also cause indigestion～.
If the kitten is “heavyweight” in the kitten period, it is highly probable that it will get fatter and fatter when it grows up.
Ah, I don’t want to be fat!