Feeding a young Domestic Shorthair is a scheduling problem as much as a food problem: the right kitten food, in the right amounts, at a frequency his small stomach can actually handle.
The first two months at home: little and often
A kitten arriving home is usually old enough to be fully weaned but still built for frequent small meals, so four evenly spaced meals a day is the working pattern for the first two months. Serve complete kitten food, which is formulated denser than adult food because growth runs on it, and keep meal times steady so the kitten's day has a rhythm he can predict. Small stomachs overflow into discomfort and loose stools when owners serve adult-style portions twice a day, however convenient that would be. Fresh water should be down all day in a clean bowl, placed away from the litter tray, and the food bowl washed daily, because young kittens are building immune systems, not testing them.
Reading amounts from the kitten, not just the packet
Packet guidance is a starting estimate, and the young Shorthair in front of you is the authority. Weigh him weekly on kitchen scales and keep a simple line of the results; steady gain with ribs you can feel under a light fat covering is the target picture. A kitten who leaves food at every meal may be getting slightly too much at once, while one who cries at the bowl an hour after eating and gains slowly may need the meals nudged up or spaced differently. Change amounts in small steps across several days rather than in jumps, because kitten stomachs register sudden changes in quantity as readily as changes in food itself.
How the schedule stretches as he grows
As the young Shorthair grows through the middle of his first year, his stomach capacity and his ability to regulate between meals grow with him, so the day can move from four meals to three, usually by merging the middle two gradually across a week. Later still, most cats settle comfortably onto two meals a day, morning and evening, which is the pattern that suits adult life and most households. Each step down in frequency should be matched by slightly larger meals, so the daily total stays right while the spacing widens. Make one change at a time; a kitten adjusting to three meals should not simultaneously be adjusting to a new food, a new room or a new house.
Routines that stop feeding becoming a household lottery
In a multi-person house, the biggest feeding risk is not the schedule on paper but the kitten's talent for convincing a second person that the first person never fed him. Fix feeding times to anchors everyone shares, such as breakfast, lunch, the return from school or work, and the evening meal, and mark each meal as done where the whole household can see it. Keep treats inside the day's food thinking rather than as an extra economy, and keep his food consistent; novelty is for toys. A kitten whose meals arrive predictably is calmer, begs less theatrically, and gives you clean information when appetite genuinely changes, because you know exactly what normal looks like.
When feeding patterns need a vet's input
Steady growth on the schedule above is the goal, so contact your veterinary practice if a young Shorthair refuses food across a full day, gains weight poorly despite eating eagerly, vomits repeatedly after meals, or has persistent loose stools that do not settle when the routine steadies. Ask too about timing for the move toward adult food, because the right moment depends on his growth and whether he has been neutered, not on a date circled in advance. Kittens are poor at hiding genuine trouble behind appetite for long, so changes deserve prompt attention rather than a wait-and-see week. Recording each meal and who gave it in KinsLe's Care Teams keeps a young Shorthair's feeding schedule honest, whoever is home.