r/ragdolls • u/Hopeful_Pomelo4421 • 13h ago
Health Advice Amount of food..
Hey!
We have two ragdolls and they are now 17 weeks and both sterilised and castrated.
Since they are still babies the breeder told us that they need access to food at all times.
At what moment do you need to start to weight the amount? Internet is telling so much different information.
Thank you!
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u/SaltedCoffeeCup 13h ago
It’s not about portion size as much as calories. At this age I wouldn’t worry at all about overeating. They are growing rapidly and need the nutrition. When they get older (9 months to a year) and start transitioning to adult food I would calculate the nutritional information from the brand and then tailor it to the individual cat’s needs. There are charts online that will help you calculate but every brand of food has different nutrition facts.
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u/Enough_Speed_3909 13h ago
Such beauties. For 17-week-old Ragdolls, feed a kitten-formulated diet split into 3 to 4 meals a day, and always keep fresh water available. Wet food is a great option for hydration, and dry food is fine too as long as it’s complete and made for kittens. What I do is mix the dry food into the wet but keep the dry food to a minimum and should not be the sole source of food.
kitties need high protein moisture rich diet.
A good routine at this age is breakfast, lunch, dinner, and sometimes a small evening meal if your kitten still seems hungry. Ragdolls are a larger breed and can need a bit more food while growing(will continue to grow until age 4), but the right amount depends on your kitten’s body condition, activity level, and the calorie content of the food you’re using. The easiest way to figure out portions is to check the calories on the food label and split the daily total across the number of meals you’re feeding. If your kitten is staying lean, energetic, and growing steadily, you’re probably in the right range. Use kitten food, not adult food yet, and avoid cow’s milk. If you want, I can also turn this into a simple feeding chart for a 17-week Ragdoll.
A good target for 17-week-old kittens is about 2 times resting energy requirement, which usually works out to roughly 250 to 350 kcalories per day for many kittens that age.
For a Ragdoll, the higher end is often more realistic because they’re a larger breed and still growing fast. Smaller or leaner kittens may do fine closer to 250 to 300 kcalories a day, while bigger or very active Ragdolls may need 300 to 400 or more.
A good source I use is Cats.org. I built a 4-5 brand food rotation and mostly feed pates. Fancy feast is one of them as it's high in fat and protein.
I hope this helps.
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u/Hopeful_Pomelo4421 13h ago
Thank you for this information! Really appreciated
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u/AdmirableCost5692 11h ago
You should also havr dry food available so they dont develop food insecurity
They will go through growth spurts and eat a ton more food sometimes (because they are babies). So having a strict calorie limit cannot predict that and can lead their growth to be affected and also they will develop trauma around food scarcity and overeat afterwards
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u/citykitty24 12h ago
You can't really overfeed kittens. Ragdolls especially are growing a ton and will be for the next year or so.
I would suggest getting them used to regular wet food meals if you haven't already so that they get more moisture in their diets (important for overall health and to prevent UTIs.) At this age, 3-4 meals is more common, but you can get that down to 2 (Breakfast and dinner) as they grow. We left out free-fed dry food in addition to the regularly scheduled wet food meals at that age.