what to feed kittens in the middle of the night

by Louie Dooley Published 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago

Full Answer

How to feed a cat that won’t eat at night?

Another alternative feeding option is to buy an automatic timed feeder to provide food in the middle of the night. You can set the time of the feeder to correspond with when the cat naturally becomes more active, but as with the above method, you will need to teach your cat during the day time that this device is responsible for providing food.

When is the best time to feed a kitten at night?

What’s more, a kitten may be used to feeding upon its mother’s milk at night. As we’ll discuss shortly, it’s advisable to feed your kitten as late at night as possible. A feast before bed will tire out the animal and reduce the likelihood of loud verbalizations for food overnight.

What kind of food should I Feed my kitten?

Both canned and dry foods should be formulated especially for kittens, not cats. For canned foods, make sure to check the expiration date and avoid buying dented or damaged cans. Feed the kitten occasional "people food" snacks.

What can I give my Cat to play with at night?

Games with ping-pong balls, soft balls and furry mice toys are great for cats who like to fetch. Play until your cat seems tired. Feed your cat a main meal just before your bedtime. Cats tend to sleep after a big meal.

Do kittens have to be fed in the middle of the night?

Feeding Time Kittens need to eat at least 4 times a day. Most kittens will wake up hungry and request food a couple of times in the afternoon and evening. Offer your kitten's last meal as late as possible, after its final playtime.

Should I leave food for my kitten at night?

If you let your cat eat when they choose to, a bowl of dry food left out overnight provides a snack if your cat feels peckish. However, most cats are happy to spend the night without food and wait until their breakfast the following morning.

What should I keep my kitten in at night?

Place a cardboard box on its side with a thick fleecy blanket inside so that the kitten has somewhere to hide if it feels a little shy or insecure. Position a padded washable cat bed in a quiet area away from the food, water and litter tray areas. Line with a thermal, washable fleece blanket.

Do kittens need water at night?

Make sure the litter tray, water and food bowls are not too far away should your kitten need them during the night. A scratching post nearby will win you extra points with the new feline friend.

Can a cat go all night without water?

The average cat can survive three to four days without water. The longer they go without water the more dehydrated they will get, this can lead to serious health complications and eventually death. However in some cases cats have been known to survive well over a week without water.

Should you ignore a crying kitten at night?

While it's usually safe to ignore this kind of crying it can be distressing for both you and the cat, especially if they are persistent. As with lots of pet training, the key to getting your new cat used to being in your home is consistency.

Should I leave a light on for my cat overnight?

Cats are crepuscular animals, meaning that they have better night vision than humans. Keeping the lights off will help kittens sleep during the darkest hours and the residual half-light from outside should be enough for them to see in the dark.

Should I lock my kitten up at night?

Confining a pet to a room at night is necessary for some pet owners. But, there are two things that you should never attempt with any of your cats. Never confine your cat to a room at night as a form of punishment for unwanted behavior. Never leave your cat trapped in a room for long hours.

What time should you feed your cat at night?

An hour and a half before your bedtime play and then feed your cat. A robust playtime right before their last feeding of the night will get them to the perfect point of exhaustion.

Should you leave cat food out all the time?

Free Feeding Cats Keep in mind that only dry foods can be fed in this way because wet food should not be left out throughout the day. If you're noticing that your cat is leaving dry food in their bowl for more than a day, you should still throw it out to maintain its freshness.

Is it bad to leave food out for cats?

"If a cat can maintain his weight, free choice feeding is okay," says Dr. Kallfelz. Even dry food left out for your cat to free feed needs to be fresh, so be sure to provide new food each day. If free feeding doesn't work, you need to control how much they eat.

What to do when a kitten wants to play?

If your kitten wants to play, it will do whatever it takes to get attention. If you provide this, even if it is to scold the kitten, this will be considered a win. Equally, turning out the lights and hoping that the kitten will choose to sleep will be ineffective.

How to help a kitten with anxiety?

Make the transition as smooth as possible, though. Provide the kitten with a familiar scent, such as a blanket that remind s it of its mother, to reduce anxiety.

Why do kittens not sleep at night?

Kittens have no concept, or respect for, time. If your kitten doesn’t want to sleep at night, your own slumber will inevitably be disturbed. This will make you feel tired and could harm the feline-human bond. Don’t prevent your kitten from sleeping during the day.

What happens if a kitten is left alone?

If the kitten is left alone and frightened, it may remain nervous and anxious for some time. The kitten will associate bedtime with abandonment. Many experts recommend keeping a kitten close to you on its first night. The exception to this is if the kitten’s mother or siblings live with you.

How long do kittens sleep?

Kittens sleep more than adult cats, apart from senior and geriatric felines. Most kittens can spend up to 20 hours of each day asleep. Kittens are highly active and alert when awake, which takes its toll on energy levels. Such dozing sounds ideal, but kittens rarely stay asleep for a prolonged period.

Can you keep a litter tray in a cage?

What’s more, if your kitten is not yet toilet trained, you can keep a litter tray in the cage. Crating a kitten at night is not a failsafe, though. If your kitten doesn’t stop meowing, for example, the noise will still disturb your sleep. Some kittens will also protest being restrained when they are used to roaming free.

Can you lock a kitten out of your bedroom?

Locking a kitten out of your bedroom while you sleep seems like a good idea on paper, but it can backfire. Many people find that a new kitten won’t stop crying when alone at night. Some kittens even scream when alone, making a din that’s comparable to a newborn child.

What is the best cat food for kittens?

Wet and dry cat food are commonly available in kitten formulations, and there are pros and cons to feeding each. To decide which option best suits your kitten’s needs, talk with your veterinarian and get their recommendation. Here are some pros and cons of each: 1 Wet cat food is higher in moisture, so it can be beneficial in keeping kittens hydrated, flushing out the urinary tract, and helping kidneys stay healthy. However, wet food tends to stick to the teeth more, which can be associated with dental disease and painful cavity-type problems for cats. 2 Dry cat food is easier to feed in mutli-cat homes and can help scrape tartar from the teeth. However, some cats can overeat with dry food and gain excessive weight, which can be associated with arthritis, heart problems, blood pressure problems, respiratory problems, or diabetes mellitus—just to name a few.

How long does it take for a kitten to grow?

Kittens do most of their growing (both height and weight) within the first year and then stabilize from there. Many of the growth plates of the bones in the kitten skeleton close by about one year old. At this time, after much of the growth is finished, your vet will typically switch your kitten to an adult diet.

How does a cat food bowl work?

There are some cat food bowls that work on timers to automatically release a measured amount of dry food at specified times. Kittens can also learn to use their instinctual hunting behavior to work for part of their daily food. This helps keep your kitten healthy mentally and physically.

How much weight do kittens gain?

A general rule of thumb in kittens is that they typically gain about 1 pound per month. Often, a kitten’s weight is about 1 pound at 1 month (4 weeks), 2 pounds at 2 months (8 weeks), and so on until about 4-5 months. Kittens do most of their growing (both height and weight) within the first year and then stabilize from there.

Why is my kitten not eating?

Reasons Your Kitten May Not Be Eating. If your new kitten is not eating well or has diarrhea, call your vet and schedule another checkup. Sometimes intestinal parasites can cause gastrointestinal upset in kittens. It is common for kittens to come home already infected with parasites.

How to track a cat's eating habits?

One way to deal with this is by using a microchip-activated feeder that only opens when it scans your kitten’s microchip. Just make sure another cat is not guarding this feeder and keeping the kitten from eating.

Can you feed a kitten dry food?

Free-feeding kittens is usually done with dry food, leaving a bowl out all the time so the food is readily available. This is convenient for pet parents, especially if they have busy schedules. The benefit to this type of feeding is that your kitten can eat when they want and ideally self-regulate how much they need.

How much should a kitten weigh at the end of week 8?

The mother cat may need to be separated from kittens that are relentlessly trying to nurse more than they should, but by the end of week eight, a kitten should weigh about two pounds from the combination of limited nursing and eating regular kitten food. Illustration: The Spruce / Emilie Dunphy.

How much should a 2 week old kitten eat?

A 2 to 3-week old kitten will still need to be fed every 2-3 hours and it should consume at least 1/2 tablespoon of formula or milk during each meal. If a kitten is nursing from its mother, you'll have to depend on how much the kitten weighs to know whether or not it is consuming enough food. Between days 8 through 18, its weight should increase ...

How long should a kitten nurse?

A kitten will nurse for about 45 minutes at a time every 2 to 3 hours for the first week of life. The rest of the time will be spent sleeping. Kittens that are bottle-fed should consume about a tablespoon, or 15 ml, of special kitten formula at each feeding. This is very time consuming for someone who is bottle-feeding a newborn kitten, ...

How much does a kitten weigh at birth?

Week One Feeding Schedule. A kitten typically weighs about 3 to 3.7 oz. at birth but will gain weight rapidly from nursing. For the first several weeks of life, a newborn kitten will depend entirely on its mother to provide it with food. Its eyes and ears are sealed shut when it's born, so it will rely on the pheromones its mother gives ...

Do kittens need to be bottle fed?

Most kittens do just fine without human intervention, but if a kitten needs to be bottle-fed, either because the mother cat is absent, ill, or rejects the kitten, you'll want to weigh the kitten regularly to make sure its weight reflects a healthy and normal growth rate of a kitten.

Do kittens grow in the first year?

Pisit Koolplukpon / Getty Images. Just like human babies, kittens do a lot of growing in the first year of their lives. The kind of food and how much a kitten consumes directly affects their growth rate and development.

Cat wants to be fed three or four times during the night

Hope you can help with this one. My cat is 12 years old and has always had an eating disorder. Since she is a rescue cat, we figure this is where it started. Lately, she wakes up at 2:00 in the morning and wants to be fed 3 or 4 times in the night. This is a cat who will not take no for an answer. – W. Scribener

Cat refuses to eat wet food

I’ve heard that a diet of strictly dry food is not always the best diet for a cat. My torti is about six years old ( she’s a rescue so I don’t know for sure) and the only thing she will eat is dry food. She refuses to eat canned food, raw food, or people food. Right now she’s a good weight for her size – 10 pounds.

How to get a cat to sleep at night?

How to Get Your Cat to Sleep at Night. You can train or encourage your cat to sleep at night with a few adjustments during the day. The most important part is not to reward nighttime behavior with attention and instead schedule daytime play and feeding with your cat. Keep your cat awake with play.

Why do cats wake up at night?

Hunger. Cats often wake in the night to feed, which fits with their natural instinct to hunt in the twilight hours. Old age. Changes in sleeping patterns are common as cats age. You may find your cat is more active at night, which can be caused by health problems as part of the normal aging processes. Health conditions.

Why do cats have nocturnal behavior?

Cats sometimes are more active at night or in the early mornings. This is usually caused by your cat’s natural instinct to hunt and travel at these times . But there may be other factors that add to excessive nocturnal behavior in cats, including: Being home alone.

How to keep a cat awake while you are away?

Change the feeding schedule. Cats often fall asleep after eating. Changing the amount of food and feeding your cat more often during the day can keep your cat active while you're away. You can use an automatic feeder with smaller amounts of food set at different times throughout the day.

Why is my cat bored?

Boredom. If your cat is alone for most of the day, your cat might be bored and looking for more interaction and attention. Cats are social animals: your cat may have extra energy or be waking you up for attention. This can be a form of social play for your cat. Hunger.

How to make my cat sleepy?

Changing the type of food and moving evening meals to later at night might also make your cat sleepy before bed. If your cat tends to wake up early for food, set an automatic feeder for early morning. Don't allow feeding in the middle of the night, though, as this will teach your cat to stay awake for food.

Why do cats stay awake at night?

Attention in the night rewards the behavior and your cat may learn to stay awake for food and attention. Even though you may feel tired or frustrated, remember that night activity is natural for your cat. Avoid punishing your cat for this normal behavior as it may create more stress.

How to keep cats from scratching nails?

Provide several scratching post as cats love to scratch to keep their nails in good condition – some cats prefer horizontal posts to vertical ones, so it is a good idea to mix them up. Also remember the posts need to be sturdy and at least 1.5 x the length of the cat when it stretches. Provide hiding areas.

Why do cats sleep during the day?

Since many owners are out at work or school during the day, the cat may spend the daytime hours in rest and relaxation and sleeping, especially if it is the only pet in the household. The cat’s day then begins when the owner arrives home to provide the cat with feeding, play and social interaction. Night time is also the most natural time ...

Why is it important to play with safe toys?

Play time using safe cat toys is a great way to provide daily exercise and to positively enhance the relationship between pet and owner. Cats often have different preferences – i.e. some will like toy birds while others prefer toy lizards – it is important to remember this when buying toys.

Why do kittens sleep late at night?

Kittens and younger cats may be more likely to display late night activity as they generally have more energy and play interest than older cats. This is good news as it means with a little time and patience as the cat grows older they are likely to start sleeping more throughout the night.

Can cats chew meat?

Always ensure raw meaty bones are raw and human-grade. Chewing on raw meaty bones takes a lot of work and energy and helps to tire cats out and keep them satisfied. Expending energy on chewing at night may help to settle them down for a good night’s sleep. It can also preoccupy them for a good length of time.

Can you grow cat grass indoors?

Some models even have an area to grow some cat grass in as well! If the cat is an indoor cat, you should consider purchasing an outdoor enclosure to help stimulate the cat during the day time when you are at work .

Is night time play time a form of social play?

Since night time activity may be a form of social play and attention seeking behaviour, the first consideration is whether the cat is getting sufficient amounts of social interaction and social play during the daytime and earlier evening. This may be particularly problematic for an only cat in ...

Assessing The Kitten Before Feeding

Bottle fed kittens should be fed every two or three hours during the daytime: if they are fed this frequently, there should be no need to feed them during the night.

Preparing The Bottle

Make up the solution of milk according to the instructions on the kitten formula packet. If using powder, you need to mix well to make sure that there is no clumping.

Feeding Process

When you have finished feeding, play with the kitten for a while to encourage movement: this will assist with burping, removing gas that may have entered the stomach.

Finishing Up The Routine