In my opinion, kittens are like human babies, of course, that's what makes them kittens, lol!

I would stick to the suggestion that your vet gave you. Getting her on a regular feeding schedule would be a good thing. I would guess that because your kitten is nipping you, is because she's getting comfortable and is testing her limits of aggression. Go by your experience that you have with your *older* cat. I also guessing that cat's eat at different times.

For example, with my cat, when I got him as a kitten, I had to put him on a feeding schedule, and he's adhered to that schedule. Funny thing is, is when I get out of the shower in the morning and after I get dressed, he knows that it's breakfast time! LOL! I generally fill his plate with wet and dry food combined, I mix the two together, so that he won't eat more of one, and not enough of the other, I also do it to be careful of his teeth and gums.

Later on in the evening, I will check his plate again. If there is still some food left, I will let him finish it off, until the next morning.

I increased his food amount, as he was growing. I also notice his bowel movements, 1. To see if he's having one, that's kind of an unmistakeable event, the smell! lol! 2. To see how much urine he's passing, that's to gauge his water intake.

Keeping your kitty on a timely feeding schedule, keeping her food intake at the same amount that you've been feeding her, and increasing it as she grows, and making sure that she stays active, and she shold be ok.

The danger is overfeeding or underfeeding your kitty. She can develop cat diabetes, but I do urge you to talk with your vet. That's just my experience.

I hope that it helps.

Sebastian

For a kitten, it might be a good idea to have more than two mealtimes per day, because little tummies can get so impatient. Kittens have three settings - eat, sleep, and 90mph. They may need to fuel up a bit more often than grown cats. But I do not think it will harm the kitten if you do stick to what you are doing now. The right amount of food is such an individual thing for each cat, especially growing kittens. Just like human children, they can go through growth spurts where all of a sudden they are eating like there's no tomorrow, and sleeping a lot, then suddenly they are bigger than they were the day before. What you are feeding sounds reasonable, so I guess the only thing I can add is, to check the feeding guidelines on the container of food. Sure, a lot of times it is very generous - I know I can't feed my adult cats the whole portion as it is stated on the cans, but those may be designed for cats that are very active, such as your kitten.

As for the biting, chances are it is just play. Never play with a cat or kitten with your bare hands. They will wrestle and mock-fight with their siblings, their mother, or any cat that becomes a buddy to them, it is part of how they gain strength and learn to protect themselves when they are out in the wild. The other cats have nice thick fur that offers protection from those sharp little claws and teeth - the kitten does not realize that its human friends do not have the same protection. There are plenty of interactive toys that you can use to play with the kitten - including some really wacky looking glove thingies that have extended fingers. I have also used an animal-shaped oven mitt to wrassle with my cats, plus there is always the perennial favorite game "mouse under the bed covers" (um... the risk to this one is that having the kitten associate the bed with playtime might encourage him to wake you up in the middle of the night to play more often than he would already, but I do it with my cats because it is so darn cute).


Sometimes a petting or brushing session suddenly turns into a biting session, or your kitten somehow gets his teeth into you in spite of your precautions while playing. When that happens, try to control your instincts to pull away immediately - that is what a prey animal would do, and it excites the feline more. Instead, you want to push in towards kitten's mouth or body - gently, mind you. So if he's got your finger in his teeth, you will calmly, gently push your finger further into his mouth. The same principle applies to getting out of the kitten's grasp when the claws have sunk into your skin - push in towards kitty's body rather than pulling away. The goal here is not to punish by sticking your finger down his throat or to hurt in any way, but to surprise the kitten with an action that will cause him to release you. Also, if you can, try to imitate a feline growl - it is one of the ways his mother would have used to correct his behavior when it was not acceptable to her. If you cannot (I know I can't get it right) a firm, calm "No!" will do the trick. Then you back off for a time, and use the social pressure of ignoring the kitten for a while to give the kitten time to calm down and to realize how unacceptable his behavior was.

I know a squirt from a spray bottle can be a valuable training aid in some situations - like scratching at furniture - but I prefer not to use something that startling and unpleasant when one is in close contact with a cat, because it may escalate fear, which might escalate into aggression, and I prefer not to have my cats associate those feelings of heightened aggression with playing with me. Hope this helps.