Eating Behavour in Kitten and Cat

Hello, I recently adopted a female kitten and already had two adult cats, one male and one female. Their introduction went pretty good and I am still monitoring their interactions and believe all is well. I just have two questions, and one that's unrelated. My adult male had never been a huge eater. He will eat a little out of his dish and that would be all (although he begs for human food), but recently I've noticed he's eating even less. He's a very healthy-looking cat, beautiful shiny coat, slender etc. He's still very cuddly and his personality has not changed what-so-ever. I see him eating very little when first fed, and I have also seen him drinking. Is this something to be concerned about? He could very well be eating when the kitten are I are out of sight, but I cannot be sure. He seems to be in no distress over the kitten, usually just watching her from afar and if she does try to interact with him (batting at his tail) he usually will just walk away or ignore her until she takes off to play with something else. He did hiss/growl at her at first but seems to be somewhat ok with her now and even waits by the door when he knows I'm letting her out. My adult female has been eating the same and seems to be ok with the change all together. My second question is my kitten is always hungry. I feed her many small meals throughout the day but she's always trying to get at the food and as soon as I put her dish down she devours it all within minutes, licking it clean. Should I be feeding her until she stops eating? Keep doing what I'm doing? I would hate to think she's ever hungry, but I don't want a lil piggy on my hands! I adopted her from a shelter and she was alone in the cage by herself so she didn't have to fight for food before coming home with me. I should add I feed my adult cats in the kitchen and the kitten either in her room where she resides while I'm at work or in another area of the kitchen. They get very high-quality, grain-free food, and they get kibble and cans. Lastly, the kitten is extremely playful and curious, more so then any other kitten I've had experience with. She wants to run and attack everything and although she does calm down at night she does bite/scratch me and my boyfriend and I'm not sure if this is something I should tolerate. I do have a squirt bottle and have used it twice when she got really feisty with me. I do not want her to be a swatter/bitter when she's older but I also don't want to punish her for being a playful kitten. Where do I draw the line? Please reassure this kitty-mom she's doing ok! Thanks!

Hi there and welcome to the cat site! 

Firstly is your male eating any of his wet food? If he is eating only dry and not getting enough water then he will get dehydrated. Wet food is much better for cats and since you say he is interested in human human food he might like shredded meat foods like tiki cat. Here is a good site written by a vet on feline nutrition you should check out (www.catinfo.org). 

I would suggest trying to get him to eat by putting treats on top of his food and meat baby food (no garlic or onions) is another good option. Also it sounds like the kitten may be bugging him so separate them when he eats. Not eating in cats is very dangerous and if you can not get him to eat you will have to take him to the vet and start syringe feeding (http://www.thecatsite.com/t/227858/syringe-feeding-lucky-video-if-your-cat-is-not-eating). 

As for the kitten she should be eating as much as she wants. Kittens need a lot of food! 

You should not let her think that hands and feet are toys and when she bites and scratches re-direct her to an appropriate toy. Squirt bottles are not an effective training method. Here is a great article on the topic (http://www.thecatsite.com/a/cats-and-discipline-dont-mix).

Good luck and keep us posted!

Thanks for the information. He has been picking at the dry food and will eat some wet as well, just not as much as before. I will let the kitten eat as much as she wants, even if its hard to believe all that food can fit in such a little belly! lol.  I will stop with the squirt bottle (I read that this was a good idea on other sites) but does anyone have any suggestions on what else to do? The article was helpful in telling me why to stop but didn't give any information on what to do in my particular situation. Thanks again.

My suggestion is to use a wand toy or laser pointer to re-direct her attention. For example when my kitten is doing something I do not want her to I start waving her cat wand or playing with her laser and she get interested in that instead. This is how I got her to stop scratching the couch and chewing on wires. She now knows these are appropriate things to play with while the couch and wires are not.

As soon as your kitten bites or scratches you, immediately give him a toy to bite instead. The Kickeroo toy by Kong is especially good for this. They like to wrestle and bunny-kick it. You can also hiss at him when he bites. This isn't mean. It's exactly what a mother cat would do. Your speaking his language now!

Never use your hands to play with him. Use toys on a stick or toys on a string.( Put them away after playtime because some kitties try to eat string.) Mine love the Cat Dancer, Kragonfly by Neko and Da Bird.

Hopefully he will learn that toys are for rough play-not hands. This did work for my kitten. Tire him out with games. A tired kitten is a well behaved kitten .

She usually has all her attention on her toys but her biting and scratching me usually begins at night when I get settled in to bed and she wants to continue playing and I just want her to calm down and sleep. I hope this is something she outgrows and she can become affectionate like my other two. She does settle down after a while and sleep with me but I spend the first little bit trying not to move under the covers as she will attack my feet/hands.

I suggest having a really good play session before bed to really tire her out and then give her a small meal. This will help prepare her to sleep.