kitten may be eating too much

coasterjen

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Feb 10, 2009
Messages
6
Purraise
0
Location
Titusville FL
I adopted two kittens (1 male - Taylor, 1 female - Artemis) in early January. They were spayed/neutered by the shelter before I got them. They are now about 5 or 6 months old, took them to the vet back on 1/20 because Taylor was sneezing (yellow snot). At that time, he weighed 5# 4oz, and Artemis weighed 5# 12 oz. Took them back for a follow-up visit last week, and now Taylor weighs 6# 5oz (1# 1oz gain in 2 weeks), Artemis weighs 6# 4oz (8 oz gain). I am worried that Taylor is eating too much - he has a noticeable bulge on the sides of his stomach - and is probably pinching some of Artemis' food. He wants to eat very often, and purrs while eating. Artemis looks normal & healthy, not fat. Both are very active & playful. I just don't want his weight to become an issue when he becomes an adult, so trying to nip the overeating now before it is a habit of his. They will only eat dry food - I tried giving them wet (Science Diet kitten) but they ate like 2 bites and "buried" it, never would go back to it. I give them a mixture of Eagle Pack kitten and Avoderm kitten dry food. They have a water fountain to drink from, which gets refilled every day, so they are drinking water.

Taylor is the black/white one, Artemis is the tabby
 

proudmamiof4

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Sep 29, 2008
Messages
1,390
Purraise
8
Location
Coastal NC
He doesn't look fat to me!! they are both very
cute!! do they free feed or do you feed them on a schedule? are they eating wet, dry, both?
 

ut0pia

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Nov 25, 2008
Messages
5,120
Purraise
34
He looks normal
My kitten purrs while eating too
They are soo cute
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #4

coasterjen

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Feb 10, 2009
Messages
6
Purraise
0
Location
Titusville FL
I'll upload a recent pic when I get home (those are the before pics).

Feed them dry only, they won't eat the wet. Have been free-feeding, but am trying to establish set mealtimes
 

yosemite

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Apr 26, 2001
Messages
23,313
Purraise
81
Location
Ingersoll, ON
Originally Posted by coasterjen

I'll upload a recent pic when I get home (those are the before pics).

Feed them dry only, they won't eat the wet. Have been free-feeding, but am trying to establish set mealtimes
You may have to try several (or many) different brands of wet to come up with one or two they will like. I went through about 10 different kinds before finding that Bijou and Mika would eat Merricks. Science Diet isn't exactly a great food anyway so I can understand them not eating it.


Try some wet foods with no by-products and no or not many grains. If you do a search on this forum you'll find some recommendations by Sharky for some better quality foods that shouldn't put you in the poor house.
 

skimble

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Oct 8, 2007
Messages
930
Purraise
13
Location
MS
It could be that he is going through a growth time. They go through spurts of growing rapidly. Another thought is that he may not have been eating properly while he was sick and now that he is better his body is getting back to normal.

Mine are littermates and one ate like a horse and is much larger, not fatter, than his brother. Then I have one that is 10 months old and weighs at least 13 pounds. All lean muscle, he even has the standard waistline look.

More wet food would probably be helpful. I do not know enough about the kitten food to ask if changing to an "all life stage" food would be helpful.
 

ut0pia

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Nov 25, 2008
Messages
5,120
Purraise
34
Hmm I dunno, my kitty is pretty fat too lol, and he is only 15 weeks. I wouldn't be too worried about it, it doesn't seem like you kitty is very fat, just a little rounded
Here is a pic of mine, you can see his belly:
 

motoko9

TCS Member
Super Cat
Joined
Dec 22, 2007
Messages
998
Purraise
59
Location
East coast
Your vet probably would have said something if he or she thought they were overweight (they're very cute, by the way!). I know what you mean, though, when you say you want to nip any potential problems in the bud.

Wet food is good. You could also ask your vet about switching to adult food if you want; the vet may say they're old enough at this point. Good luck!
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #10

coasterjen

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Feb 10, 2009
Messages
6
Purraise
0
Location
Titusville FL
I found several wet foods they'll eat... been giving them various grain-free wet foods and they've been gobbling it up.

I am still going to give them dry, but switching to a wheat & corn-free dry, I forget the name of it, but they love it too. (And the box is less stinky
)

I am going to monitor Taylor, he seems to have slowed down a little, eating more normally now, so maybe he was gorging because he was feeling better after being sick. Still has a little belly bulge. I will ask the vet about his weight/belly the next time I take him in (he has "double teeth" @ his upper canines, so if they don't come out on their own in the next couple weeks, the doc will extract the kitten teeth)
 
Top