Feeding

What Do Savannah Cats Eat?

At Savannah Cat Breed we wean our kittens onto a raw, ground chicken diet, supplemented with vitamins and minerals. Once our kittens are eating their raw chicken well, Wellness wet food, Chicken pate formula, is mixed into the raw at an increasing rate, until the kittens are exclusively eating the Wellness wet food. At all times, our kittens have access to Royal Canin Kitten formula dry food, not Royal Canin BabyCat formula. A Savannah cat eating primarily wet food tends to drink very little. Because moisture content in wet food is so high, not much water is required.

Nine to Eleven Weeks Old

At nine to eleven weeks of age, when our kittens are ready to leave Savannah Cat Breed, their diet is Wellness wet food, Chicken pate formula (not the kitten formula), twice daily. This comes in a primarily orange can.  Most have begun to nibble on the dry food, although they may not be eating sufficient dry food to sustain themselves.

At Home With You

Once home with you, we recommend continuing the Savannah cat diet of Wellness wet food feedings twice daily for several weeks. Kittens are used to being fed on a plate with the wet food placed in quarter-size bites around the edge of the plate.

If you plan to change to a different brand of high quality wet food, do it gradually, mixing it in with the Wellness at an increasing rate.

As Your Kitten Grows

As your kitten grows, increase the amount of food offered at each meal. When first arriving home, kittens will generally eat a quarter of a can per feeding. If they lick their platter clean within a couple of minutes, you can offer them more. If they don’t eat everything you gave them, offer a little less at the next feeding.

Other Things to Know About Feeding

Each kitten converts to dry food at a different rate. Some leave Savannah Cat Breed eating a considerable amount of dry food, soon choosing to eat strictly dry. Others will take months to convert to dry food, thinking it’s the end of the world if they don’t get their spoonful of wet food each morning.

If your Savannah kitten does not seem be very interested in dry food, we recommend mixing the dry into their wet food at an increasing rate to force conversion to the dry food. Long term, we recommend their diet consists mainly of dry food as it’s nutritional and calorie content is much higher than wet food which is 90% water.

Some people ask about feeding a raw diet to their hybrid cat. This is certainly your choice. Be advised, however, a raw diet requires a great deal more effort, plus added dietary supplements. Raw food diets for pets are available in the marketplace. Some individuals choose to make the diet themselves. To make a balanced ration which meets the calcium-phosphorus ratio necessary for a feline diet requires knowledge most people lack. So we recommend that if you choose to feed raw food, you do it in combination with a high quality dry food. When feeding in this manner, it is important the raw food be fed in limited amounts so your cat is not omitting the dry food.

Feeding FAQ

We are also asked if it is necessary to supplement with Calcium, Taurine, Vitamins, etc. If you are feeding a high quality dry food, this is not necessary.