[jokerbaby]

Okay I got a cat about 3 weeks ago and I don't know how old he is. The person who I got the cat from said he thought the cat was 5 weeks old. So that would make him 8 weeks old. But he looks way too big to be 8 weeks. I think he is about 8-10 lbs I don't know he's pretty heavy it could be because I feed him in the morning and at night then a little bit of wet food in the middle of the day (not a lot at all maybe like two spoons of it). He alson eats ice cream and yo gurt wheb I eat I ans just recently we found out he likes anything cheesey. Could he be over weight? I don't know? Help?

[ZoeMarie]

That's really heavy for a 8-week-old cat. Either he's not anywhere near 8 weeks or he's nowhere near 8-10 lbs. Has he been to the vet yet?

[jokerbaby]

He has but I didn't take him the person who had him before me took him and he got his first set of shots.

[morgaine300]

A vet can tell approximately how old a cat is as long as they aren't too old yet. At just a few weeks they should be able to get pretty close. So if the other person took him, I suspect that was pretty close.

Meaning I think that weight you're estimating is way off. It's possible the person never asked the vet and was just guessing himself. (And if that was right, shouldn't have been giving a kitten away that young!)

But even if that's off by a few weeks, 8 - 10 pounds is probably an average adult female cat. Does yours look full grown? Even if he was overweight, his structure would not be that big yet - that would have to be a LOOOOTTTTTT of fat to get to that kind of weight. I just can't even imagine. Also, a kitten can grow at approximately a pound a month. Just doesn't make any sense.

As for feeding... if he's really that young, I don't know. I've never had to take care of a kitten that was too young to be taken away from mom, but there's other people on here who know a lot about that.

Assuming he's a little older than that, I'll tell you right now you'll get differences of opinion. Most people feed cheap, dry garbage food. A cat is an obligate carnivore and needs to be eating mostly meat. Very few dry foods are going to be mostly meat. The closest you might come is something like Innova EVO. Canned food is generally a much higher percentage of meat.

Also, cats do not naturally drink a lot as they get most of their moisture from their prey. They'll drink more when eating dry, but not enough to make up for the HUGE lack of moisture in dry. (So even if you feed a more premium food - it's still dry.) Canned food has almost enough moisture for them. The lack of moisture from dry food can start causing problems with urinary tract problems and possibly kidney problems later down the line. Furthermore, dry food is generally high carb, which causes diabetes. It seems fine for years, until you end up with a cat with problems later in their life. It's like people - we get away with junk for years, until that heart attack hits at 55, way too young.

And no, dry food doesn't clean their teeth. They need to actually chew on something to do that, and cats don't really chew kibble. They swallow or crunch and swallow. (I've seen too many cats on dry food who have had to have all their teeth removed, telling me the dry isn't helping anything.)

So I personally recommend canned. If you can afford a premium canned, great. If not, I think canned Friskies is better than nearly anything dry. (And by premium canned I don't mean Iams and Hills. They're garbage - may as well save your money and get Friskies. I mean Wellness, by Nature, Innova, etc. - stuff a lot of people have never heard of, and is not available in some places.)

If a kitten version is available, get it. A truly premium food should already be higher protein and higher calorie, but if a kitten version exists it's better than the adult version, even for the adult.

As for milk and yogurt -- that kind of stuff is probably OK for a little kitten. Again, I'll leave that one to other people. But there's going to come a point when you should not give that stuff to a cat anymore - be nice if there was a better idea of age. And I'd stay away from the ice cream. That isn't just diary - it's sugar. Straight sugar is not a great idea for a cat - it wreaks havoc on their pancreas. (A little snack here and there is one thing.) And also not a good idea to give him the idea that he gets to eat everything you eat - you'll end up with a beggar on your hands, and he shouldn't learn that he's allowed to have your food. Getting cats into that kind of habit is one thing that gets them overweight. I'd stay away from the cheese too - there's probably all sorts of garbage in that.

Occasionally snacks are OK but it sounds like you're just giving in to anything and everything this kitten wants. Time for some tough love. Let the attention be love, not your food.

Kittens will definitely eat more. Just watch out for the difference between growing and getting fat. I don't see too many fat kittens, I think probably cause they do need more food. In fact, they go through a lanky stage where they just seem nothing but long. :-) It's usually the adults that are fat.