Welcome to Sphynxlair! Connect with Sphynx owners & enthusiasts around the world!

Feeding schedule? New Sphynx Mom’s help

Kotonok

Lairian
Joined
Aug 7, 2021
Messages
11
Points
4
Hello, I am a new Sphynx cat mom, I was hoping to make a post for new Sphynx Owners to look and research on like: What is you’re feeding schedule like and how much per day. Do you feed dry or wet food? Do you feed raw and if so what is you’re feeding schedule like?

Personally I’ve been trying to find a good ideal schedule to follow and what to feed. Everything seems overwhelming so I thought why not have my question help others too!
 

Sheldon13

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Sep 2, 2014
Messages
9,901
Points
613
I do feed raw. But I think it doesn’t matter much what you feed, the rule is to feed the kitten what they will eat, at least 3x per day (4x is better when really small). But you can certainly feed more often if you up to it.


Love and Sphynx ~ It’s all you need
 

guinnesspop

Lairian
Joined
Nov 24, 2020
Messages
45
Points
29
We initially fed twice a day when we first got Em, but going up to four smaller feedings of wet food a day really did make a big difference in how much she ate and thus how much weight she gained. Since my partner and I both wfh we basically feed her with our meals: breakfast/lunch/dinner, then an extra snack before everyone goes to bed. We take it up before she gets shut in her bedroom for the night or else she picks at it throughout the night and ends up sick in the morning. We tried to tie the feedings to specific events (going downstairs in the morning, lunch, making dinner) so she doesn't hassle us at specific times of day, but that's had pretty mixed success.

She's turning one next week and we're removing the lunchtime feeding before we start the transition to adult food. Of course she's also got access to dry food whenever she wants, both upstairs and downstairs.

Kitten food has been Royal Canin wet and dry with the occasional tin of Wellness or Purina (more the former than the latter; she's got Opinions). However, I picked up a bunch of Instinct Rabbit for her to try now that she's officially an adult. Her poos are still quite soft so I'm hoping the limited protein helps.
 

RubysMom

Lairian
Joined
Aug 30, 2021
Messages
3
Points
4
When you feed kibbles and wet food I would recommend to feed 3-4 times a day the wet food and free feed kibbles until the kitten is about 10-12 months old
How many ounces of wet food per day for a 1 year old? Right now mine is at 10oz. I feel like that's a lot but wasn't sure. He's got the pot belly but that's expected.
 

Condo commando

Gold Lairian
Notable Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2014
Messages
4,070
Points
568
@RubysMom how much of a pot belly? Can you post a picture? \\

All my Sphynxes were adults when I adopted them but one of them was only 1 year and 1 month old. She was eating 15 ounces of raw food per day - just crazy. She turns 11 in a few months and today she is only eating 6 ounces per day. You have to get past this stage and then she'll eat more normal but yeah it gets expensive feeding a 1 year old Sphynx.
 

Condo commando

Gold Lairian
Notable Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2014
Messages
4,070
Points
568
@guinnesspop you said she has soft poo but you're feeding a variety of things. You should only feed one thing for 2 months. Then see if it makes a difference. A limited ingredient food is a great choice but it has to be the only thing they eat. Hope this helps.
 

guinnesspop

Lairian
Joined
Nov 24, 2020
Messages
45
Points
29
@Condo commando That is exactly what we've been doing and it's been SUPER helpful. Went to a limited rabbit diet and her soft poops have become much much better. She still steps in them occasionally, but no more runs. It'll be a month of it soon (just in time for her food to run out) but we started seeing measurable improvements within ten days, I'd say. Her energy increased as well, which has been quite fun.
 

Condo commando

Gold Lairian
Notable Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2014
Messages
4,070
Points
568
@guinnesspop I'm not sure what rabbit food you're buying....is it raw or canned? There aren't a lot of options for canned rabbit food and it runs expensive so if that's what you're using, you might want to check out a new brand called Freely. They have a limited ingredient rabbit recipe. I haven't tried Freely myself yet but it looks a lot like Instinct.

EDIT - OK I just re-read your post and you're using Instinct so it wouldn't hurt to check out Freely. You can also try other novel proteins...I hear good things about venison. I've had good luck with pork but I make it at home. I can't even remember seeing a pork cat food in store shelves but pork costs just a little bit more than chicken and the cats really like it.
 
Last edited:

RubysMom

Lairian
Joined
Aug 30, 2021
Messages
3
Points
4
@RubysMom how much of a pot belly? Can you post a picture? \\

All my Sphynxes were adults when I adopted them but one of them was only 1 year and 1 month old. She was eating 15 ounces of raw food per day - just crazy. She turns 11 in a few months and today she is only eating 6 ounces per day. You have to get past this stage and then she'll eat more normal but yeah it gets expensive feeding a 1 year old Sphynx.
Oh shit then that makes me feel better. Just wanted to know if I'm giving too much. Whew. Thank yiunfir this.
 

RubysMom

Lairian
Joined
Aug 30, 2021
Messages
3
Points
4
@RubysMom how much of a pot belly? Can you post a picture? \\

All my Sphynxes were adults when I adopted them but one of them was only 1 year and 1 month old. She was eating 15 ounces of raw food per day - just crazy. She turns 11 in a few months and today she is only eating 6 ounces per day. You have to get past this stage and then she'll eat more normal but yeah it gets expensive feeding a 1 year old Sphynx.
Oops, just a mini hang. Not too bad yet.
 

guinnesspop

Lairian
Joined
Nov 24, 2020
Messages
45
Points
29
@Condo commando Pork was actually our next stop if the instinct rabbit didn't go well, and turns out there's a local chain that has a pork limited ingredient food. Lotus is the brand name, I think. The owner of the cat food store I used back when I lived in Texas recommended it; she had a glowing review. But you're right, it's a pain to find--her kitten food's first ingredient was pork so I'd wanted to switch her over to something similar as an adult, but it was a real struggle. I'll check out Freely too. It's always good to have more options and I like the look of their rabbit. Thank you for the suggestion! There was a Royal Canin shortage there for a while that really put us in dire straights and I'd like to avoid situations like that in the future!

For right now, the biggest issue is that Em seems to really prefer dry food. We grabbed that Instinct limited ingredient rabbit dry and she loves it so much she ignores the wet. I'm a bit concerned she's getting chonky, which is quite the turnaround from when we first got her! I'm not sure how given the fact that she treats the house like her own personal racetrack, but we might need to either stop free feeding (don't like this idea) or reduce the amount of kibble we put out. At the very least we need to totally pull the kitten food, which makes me feel terrible--there's still half a bag left and I don't like the waste.
 

Condo commando

Gold Lairian
Notable Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2014
Messages
4,070
Points
568
going up to four smaller feedings of wet food a day really did make a big difference in how much she ate and thus how much weight she gained.

we might need to either stop free feeding (don't like this idea) or reduce the amount of kibble we put out.

Whoa! Are you feeding her 4 times a day PLUS leaving kibble out? All she needs is the 4 meals so take the kibble away. You can save it for treats.

Dry food is much more calorie-dense compared to wet food so they will absolutely gain weight. You need to look at the calories and not the amount of food. I would start at 25 calories per pound of body weight per day. Use her ideal weight, not her actual weight. So if she "should" weigh 10 lbs then feed her 250 calories per day. You can tweak it but it should be in that range. If you measure out 250 calories of dry food it could be not much at all, which would explain why she wants to eat more, which would furthermore explain why she's chonky.
 

guinnesspop

Lairian
Joined
Nov 24, 2020
Messages
45
Points
29
We were, but we're down to just the two times now. She just doesn't eat all her wet food--she eats maybe half a 5oz can a day, and prefers to eat kibble instead. She'll have a few bites of the wet, and then fill up on dry and repeat around dinner time. Em has a few bites here and there during the day (and ate a lot more when she was still growing), though, so we could probably just remove it during the afternoon?

I get what you're saying about calories, though. We were so concerned about her being extra small when she was little we've been doing all we can to encourage her to gain weight and that's probably not necessary anymore.
 

Condo commando

Gold Lairian
Notable Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2014
Messages
4,070
Points
568
I get what you're saying about size. I definitely wouldn't want a skinny cat myself. The best thing to do is go by their body condition using the chart below. Maintaining weight comes down to striking the right balance between calories consumed vs calories burned off. Even though I took a guess at 25 calories per LB, every cat is a little different so you will have to find the right number for Em.

A lot of cats would rather eat kibble than canned food, but kibble really is more calorie dense. Many cats consume more calories than they burn off so that's why they gain weight. This is easy to do with kibble because of how many calories it has. The solution is wet food; it has less calories which means the cat can eat more of it and still not overindulge in calories.

If you only feed Em twice per day, she has to stuff herself to last 12 hours and that's tough. With 3 meals, she wouldn't need to go that long without eating so if you can do 3 meals per day I think it would be better. Otherwise you might end up with a hungry, ornery cat.

1630644826104.jpeg
 
Back
Top