Kitten Nutrition Question

xastion

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Ah, another question from me.


Isis, Mischief, and Niko now are all getting along wonderfully. I think the two older cats are unsure on how to react when Isis pounces them but other then that things are happy with the cats. The thing is we've moved Isis's bowls out with the others lately so she could eat with all of us without pouncing the cats or biting people's fingers. But she hardly touches her food. She much rather have the older cats food and drink from their water dish as well. She doesn't touch her own. The food is the same brand - and occassionally we'll feed her wet food too, but I was wondering if this is bad for the kitten. The older cats watch her uncaringly, so I am not concerned about that. And we've been moving her to her bowl everytime we catch her eating the older cats' food which works for five minutes.
 

dragonlady

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Mix some of the kitten food into the adults food. At least this way it will get some of the extra nutrition when it sneaks their food.
 
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xastion

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Excellent idea. I don't think the adults will mind. I caught Niko licking up all the gravy on the kitten's wet food.

Another question - neither of my cats really touched anything but their cat food. Mischief will occassionally eat cheese or something unusual, but it usually is little bites. Isis will eat anything that is put in front of her - or put in front of anyone else I should say. Isis's breeder fed her chicken and rice that she cooked herself. Is this a normal thing that kittens eat? I didn't even know cats ate rice, and I wonder if I should do the same.
 

dragonlady

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Some folks have more time to prepare food for their kitties than others. I would stick to a high quality cat food, and occational treat of wet food. This gives the cats all the nutrition they need. Table scraps can lead to very naughty kitties who steal food off peoples plates... Milk products could lead to stomach upsets too.
 
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xastion

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*giggles* yea, Isis has already started. She sits on my lap and the moment I turn away she grabs the first thing her little mouth can bite down upon. It amazes me that something that small can eat the things she does so fast! She loves chicken. She cries and cries when she smells chicken being cooked. So either she steals it away from me or my roommate/her owner gives her chicken. Naughty kitty.
 

dragonlady

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LOL I had a kitten we named Snagit because she would snag anything she could from your plate! I can't tell you how many times we chased her around the house trying to get back something not good for her! Now picture a small cat with all four paws/claws EMBEDDED in a piece of meat as well as her teeth! Bad kitty...no no....ewwww....umm you keep it...bleah
 
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xastion

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I made the mistake of having a plate of nicely cut up fried chicked the second night we got Isis and placing it where she could easily get at it. She had been alone all day so I thought I'd be very nice and eat with her in her owner's room while he was at work. She would sit there and purr very loudly just watching me and then snag a piece for herself. It got to the point of who could eat quicker because Isis has already proven to me that she's faster then I am. hehe.
 

angelzoo

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Personally, I think you should continue to seperate her, put her behind a closed door and let her eat (or put the other cats in another room whichever). Until they are all done eating, if the kitten finish's early so be it, wait until the others are done.
She WILL learn, if this kitten is hungry she will not starve herself and will start to eat her food, unless there is a magor underlying medical condition (which obviously not cause she's eating the other food!)

Perhaps you could use a switch of brand food, maybe she just doesn't like this one? Could you try some flavor enhancing products at least until she starts to eat her own food ON her own, and gradually decrease the amount of flavor enhacncer you put in.

She needs a good, high quality kitten food, and I stand by that. And your adults need to eat their share of their adult food, so they don't become skinny, or even slightly malnuroished. If you let her do this now, kitten will never stop.

It's normal for cats do do this food bowl pushing and switching, all my cats do it here, and normally one of them wins when it comes to food. I have 3 cats. So if I let them do this, there is always going to be one REALLY fat cat, one semi fat cat and one VERY skinny cat! That's not healthy.
So I split them up, and they are all at their ideal weight, but I let them out and go sniff eachothers empty bowls to amuse them afterwards.
 
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xastion

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*nods* The trick is to convince her owner. Her food is usually in his room at night when they go to bed - she still sleeps with him but he doesn't like seperating her from the other cats during the day. And Isis won't eat or do anything but cry if she hears people in the other part of the apartment and she's isolated in his room.
 

angelzoo

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I have had cats like that, who get very distracted from eating. Isha is like that sometimes as well.

A solution I have found, though not a perminate one for everyone, is to hand feed the cat it's meals. Wish Isha however, I basically just try to keep the area quiet while she eats, if she walks away I will pick up her bowl and bring it to her, offer it again, normally she will eat. If she's beign REALLY picky. She wants me to dump the food out of her bowl onto the floor or a plate and THEN she will eat it. Some cats don't like the bowl touching their wiskers, so they prefer to eat off a plate.

Is your friend free feeding them, or doing seperate meals every day?
If she/he is worried about them being seperated all day while she is away, just do what I do, the first thing I do when I wake up, is gather up the cat food bowls, sperate them and feed them, that way they have at LEAST a good 20 minutes to eat in peice before I take off for work, and I can let them back out before I leave, and everyone can play together all day.
 

cind11

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I just had to say that I love the name "Isis." Our first Siamese ever, a blue point was named Icsis. We added a "c" to his name. We got his name from a Star Trek episode. In that episode, it was a black cat who turned into a woman at the end of the show. Isn't Isis some sort of Egyptian goddess?
 
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xastion

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Her owner is free feeding her. I will have to mention that to him, and see if he'll go for it.

And yea, Isis is the name of an Egyptian goddess who was basically the mother goddess of the Egyptian pantheon. We thought it fitting to call an Egyptian Mau Isis. hehe.
 

cind11

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Egyptian Maus are really neat looking. We have a silver spotted tabbly Oriental Shorthair who is very exotic looking as well.
 
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