Kitten Food Amounts Table, Week by Week
Printable kitten feeding chart: daily portions by week, weight and food type, from bottle to solids — brand-agnostic amounts you can adjust as they grow.
Kitten Feeding Chart: Calories and Portions by Age and Weight
A kitten feeding chart maps age and weight to daily calories and meals per day, and the master table below covers 8 weeks through 12 months. The math behind every row: RER = 70 x kg^0.75 multiplied by the growth factor — 3.0 to 4 months, 2.5 to 6 months, tapering to 1.4-1.6 by 12 months. Wet columns assume a 100 kcal 3-oz kitten can; dry columns assume 475 kcal per cup of kitten kibble.
Anchor rows to remember: 8 weeks at 2 lb needs about 180 kcal over 4 meals; 4 months at 4.5 lb needs about 300 kcal over 3 meals; 8 months at 7 lb needs about 380 kcal over 2-3 meals. The full guide to how much kittens need explains each band in prose; this page is the lookup.
| Age | Typical weight | Daily kcal | Wet only (3-oz kitten cans) | Dry only (cups kitten kibble) | Meals/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 weeks | 2 lb | 180 | 1.75 | 0.4 | 4 |
| 12 weeks | 3 lb | 230 | 2.25 | 0.5 | 4 |
| 4 months | 4.5 lb | 300 | 3 | 0.6 | 3 |
| 6 months | 6 lb | 360 | 3.5 | 0.75 | 3 |
| 8 months | 7 lb | 380 | 3.75 | 0.8 | 2-3 |
| 10 months | 7.5 lb | 340 | 3.5 | 0.7 | 2 |
| 12 months | 8 lb | 280-300 | 3 | 0.6 | 2 |
Weight-and-Growth Tracking Chart (Is My Kitten on Curve?)
Portions only make sense against growth, so pair the feeding rows with expected weight by age. A healthy kitten's weight in pounds roughly equals its age in months for the first six months, and young kittens add about 2-4 oz per week. Flat or falling weight at any point in the first year is a veterinary visit, not a portion adjustment.
| Age | Expected weight | Weekly gain check |
|---|---|---|
| 1 month | about 1 lb | 2-4 oz/week |
| 2 months | about 2 lb | 2-4 oz/week |
| 3 months | about 3 lb | 3-5 oz/week |
| 4 months | about 4 lb | 3-5 oz/week |
| 5 months | about 5 lb | 2-4 oz/week |
| 6 months | about 6 lb | 2-4 oz/week |
| 7-12 months | 6.5-9 lb | slowing gain, adult frame filling out |
Bottle Feeding Chart: Kittens Under 8 Weeks
Kittens under four weeks old are fed kitten milk replacer, never cow's milk — kittens lose the ability to digest cow's milk after early infancy, and it causes diarrhea that dehydrates them fast. The working formula dose is about 8 ml of prepared KMR per ounce of body weight per day, divided across the feeding intervals below. The week-by-week detail on how often kittens eat, bottle technique and weaning steps lives in the schedule guide; this table is the rescue-scenario summary.
| Age | Feeding interval | What to feed |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1 week | every 2-3 hours (incl. overnight) | KMR only, ~8 ml per oz body weight per day |
| 2-3 weeks | every 3-4 hours | KMR only |
| 4 weeks | every 4-5 hours | KMR + introduce gruel (wet kitten food blended with KMR) |
| 5-6 weeks | 4-5 meals/day | thickening gruel, less KMR |
| 7-8 weeks | 4 meals/day | wet kitten food, fully weaned |
How to Use This Chart With Your Kitten's Food
The tables assume about 100 kcal per 3-oz kitten can and about 475 kcal per cup of kitten kibble — substitute the calorie statement from your own label, because kitten recipes vary just as adult ones do. All amounts are per day: divide by the meals column to get each serving.
Feed kitten-labeled food only, meaning a can or bag with an AAFCO growth or all-life-stages statement. Obligate-carnivore growth demands at least 30 percent protein on a dry matter basis, plus more taurine and energy than adult maintenance food carries; the adult cat feeding chart and its rows take over only at 12 months. The same lookup logic for dogs lives in the puppy portion tables.
A printable chart drifts within weeks, because the kitten it was printed for no longer exists — weight, growth factor and meal count all move monthly. Translate calories to cups with the calculator, or run the feline calorie tool each month, and generate a chart for your kitten's current age and weight instead of feeding last month's numbers.
Frequently asked questions
- How much should a kitten eat according to a feeding chart?
- By age: about 180 kcal at 8 weeks, 300 kcal at 4 months, 380 kcal at 8 months, tapering to adult amounts of 260-300 kcal by 12 months.
- How do I know if my kitten is growing normally?
- Through 6 months, weight in pounds should roughly equal age in months, with steady weekly gains of 2-4 oz for young kittens. Flat or falling weight means a vet visit.
- What do I feed a kitten under 8 weeks old?
- Under 4 weeks, kitten milk replacer only — about 8 ml per oz of body weight daily, never cow's milk. Introduce gruel at 4-5 weeks and wean onto wet kitten food by 8 weeks.