Kitten has a voracious appetite

Yes, especially if he was a stray. At that age, I'd leave food down for him all the time as their metabolism and energy level is so high. I wouldn't start worrying about his weight until he gets a bit older, like 9 months or so.

Do you leave food down for him all the time?
Kittens should be free fed until they are several months, to a year old, depending on activity level.
Could also be worms making him hungry and making him have a big belly.

Welcome to TCS!

Yup, I was going to suggest all of the above. If you haven't already, get a poop sample to the vet to check for worms. He should be free feeding on dry kitten food - if you want to supplement that with a wet meal (we feed a wet meal for dinner) once or twice a day for "diet variety," go for it. ...and don't worry to much about his weight right now, as long as he's pooping and peeing and isn't bloated from constipation or something. They tend to grow in spurts - out and up!

Laurie

I was going to also mention the growth spurt thing. It does seem that they're like kids in that manner. When Hannah first came to live with us, she was 7 months old and only weighed 4.5 lbs. We fed her canned food in the morning and in the evening and left dry kitten food down for her the rest of the day. She bulked up in a hurry!

My money's on a tapeworm. The vet can treat it very easily.

I agree with the others, take a check up on worms while you are at it.

But kittens CAN eat much. They are growing, and they also do move very much. Running, playing, wrestling...

When Vagis was a kitten, he ate up his food. After it he ate up his big, gentle daddys food. And after it - he wanted still more.

Of course, the wrestling matches and chase with his dad Muskis took much energy...
He did become a big-grown kitten. But as a grown up he was definitely on the thin side... Without having worms or any other health issues.

Jackie is a purebred Oci but he is food obsessed too. Those kind of cats you have to watch what you feed - they cannot be free fed or they will be very fat cats in a short amount of time.

the first thing I thought when I read this was worms, you can check for yourself if you want just look at his droppings you will see small things that look like maggots. Even if you don't see any I would still get him checked by a vet.

I'd say worms too. But our cat is the same... she gets two meals of wet food a day, dry food for munchies whenever she wants, and still bugs us all for nibblies!

We've considered changing her food from various tinned to kangaroo, to see if it bulks her up a bit, and fills her more... But when we tried it last time, she went absolutely nuts tearing around the house at full speed.

Some cats just can't seem to get enough food. Our cat is 1 and is still a growing machine.

Something else to look into, is what foods he goes nutty for mostly. For example, my cat at my mothers is a nutball for corn, and my mother and I love our corn. If I turned my back, she'd steal half the corn from my plate before I could blink. If you are having the types of foods he loves, he may be going nutty because he likes the taste, as well as being a growing kitty.
Our cat, Bastet, loves fish of any variety, pasta sauce with or without cheese, tinned asparagus and anything with milk.
So it could be in part that he's growing like a weed, but also in part, you have the same food tastes.
Another thing to try, which a friend of mine did, was to feed the cats in another room before you sat down to eat. I felt it worked well, because a) their evening meal was done before you even sat down to dinner (7pm for most people :P) and b) they're busy with their food and ignoring yours. The trick with that is timing. You have to put their food down before you start serving yours up, and not let them see that.

Good luck! We've sometimes put Bastet in the hallway when fish was served... So I feel for you /hugs

Princess is 10 months old and has been very insane about food latley, i will feed her wet and asa she is done she is looking for more so i will put some dry down and she goes right into it, i figure its just cause shes growing. She will prob end up like my other 2 cats at 18lbs.

Kylie. Did you wrote what food he has to eat?

One point many do miss, is some foods - usually cheaper dry foods - arent satisfying the hunger. Ie the cat must eat more to be contended.

This is logical. Although cheap food do fills the belly, but there arent much nourishment. So the cat must eat more to get enough energy and nutrients...

And by the way, it is also more poop....