Queen Nutrition: Pregnancy, Lactation, Calcium and DHA

A pregnant queen eats her normal maintenance amount until about day 28, then roughly 25 percent more, and 50 to 100 percent more at peak lactation in weeks 3 to 5 after birth. Two feeding errors account for most of the problems seen in catteries: keeping an adult maintenance food through lactation, and adding calcium during pregnancy. Both are fixable with a kitchen scale, a kitten formula and no supplements.

Calories stage by stage

Start from resting energy: 70 times body weight in kilograms to the power 0.75. For a 4 kg queen that is about 197 kcal, and normal maintenance sits at 1.2 to 1.4 times resting, so 240 to 275 kcal a day. Gestation adds nothing measurable in weeks 1 to 4, then about 25 percent from week 4, and 40 to 50 percent by week 8. Lactation is the jump: 50 percent above maintenance in week 1, 100 percent or more at weeks 3 to 5, so the same 4 kg queen may need 480 to 550 kcal a day with 5 kittens. A litter of 6 or more can push her to 2.5 times maintenance, which is 14 to 16 g of a 4 kcal/g dry food per kilogram of body weight, every day.

What the food has to contain

Kitten formula, not adult food, from day 28. Look for protein at 38 to 42 percent of dry matter, fat at 18 to 22 percent, calcium at 1.0 to 1.5 percent, phosphorus at 0.8 to 1.0 percent, and a calcium to phosphorus ratio between 1.1 to 1 and 1.5 to 1. Taurine should be at 0.2 percent or higher and arachidonic acid present, because the queen transfers both to the kittens. DHA at 0.05 to 0.1 percent of dry matter, or 30 to 50 mg per kg of body weight per day, is the range most prenatal kitten foods aim for.

Calcium: the supplement that causes harm

A queen on a complete kitten food needs no calcium supplement, and adding one is the classic mistake. Extra calcium during pregnancy raises calcitonin and lowers parathyroid activity, so the queen enters lactation with a blunted ability to mobilize her own calcium. That is one route into eclampsia, or milk fever, which shows up 2 to 4 weeks after birth as restlessness, panting, muscle tremors, a stiff gait, and then seizures. It is an emergency at that point, not a wait and see. Supplement only when the diet is home-cooked and formulated, and then to the recipe, not by eye.

DHA and the last 3 weeks

Most of the fetal brain and retinal DHA is deposited in the last third of gestation, which in a 64 day pregnancy is week 6 onward. Oily fish or a fish oil capsule at 100 to 200 mg per day covers a queen eating a food that does not list DHA. Do not use cod liver oil: the vitamin A and D load at the dose needed for DHA is too high, and vitamin A excess is a known cause of fetal malformation. Sardines in water, 1 or 2 small fish twice a week, are the simpler option.

Feeding a queen who cannot fit a meal

By week 6 the uterus takes up space the stomach used to have, so 4 to 6 small meals replace 2 large ones. Water intake commonly rises to 40 to 50 ml per kg per day, and a queen that stops drinking for 24 hours needs a vet, because dehydration in late pregnancy reduces milk supply. Weigh the queen weekly: gain should be 15 to 25 percent of pre-pregnancy weight by term, which for a 4 kg queen is 600 g to 1 kg, most of it in the last 3 weeks.

Peak lactation, weeks 3 to 5

Stage	Energy vs maintenance	4 kg queen, kcal per day	Feeding method
Weeks 1 to 4 of gestation	100 percent	240 to 275	2 meals, normal food
Weeks 4 to 6	125 percent	300 to 345	Kitten food, 3 meals
Weeks 6 to 9	140 to 150 percent	335 to 410	4 to 6 small meals
Lactation, weeks 1 to 2	150 percent	360 to 410	Free access, 4 meals plus
Lactation, weeks 3 to 5	200 to 250 percent	480 to 690	Free access, warm wet food
Weaning, weeks 6 to 8	Down 10 to 20 percent per week	380 then 300	Measured, back to 2 to 3 meals

Water, weight and the milk check

Milk production is the biggest water cost of the whole cycle, and a queen nursing 5 kittens can put out 100 to 150 ml of milk a day. Keep 2 water bowls in different rooms and change both twice a day; many queens drink far more from a wide bowl than a narrow one. Weigh the litter, not just the queen: kittens should gain 10 to 15 g a day, and a litter that gains 7 g a day for 3 days is telling you the milk supply is short. Queen weight loss above 2 percent a week during lactation is the other warning, and it means more calories, not fewer.

The weaning taper

Kittens start on solid food at 4 weeks, and the queen's intake should start falling as theirs rises. Cut her food by 10 to 20 percent a week from week 5, so she is back to maintenance by week 8. Do not stop abruptly: a sudden drop leaves the glands engorged, and mastitis shows up as a hot, hard, painful gland, a temperature above 39.5 °C, and kittens refusing that side. Dry her off over 7 to 10 days, and check both mammary chains by hand every day in that window.

Five steps to set up the cycle

1. Switch to kitten food at day 28, and stop all calcium supplements the same day.
2. Weigh the queen weekly and write the number on the calendar; 600 g to 1 kg total gain by term.
3. Split meals into 4 to 6 from week 6 and keep 2 water bowls refreshed twice daily.
4. Go free access at birth, and add DHA or 1 to 2 sardines a week if the food does not list it.
5. Start the taper at week 5, finish by week 8, and palpate the mammary glands daily until dry.

Mating plans, health testing and the timing of the next cycle belong with stud cat management; the box, bedding and heat source are covered in whelping box setup. Terms such as dry matter, resting energy and body condition score are defined in the glossary.

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