overeating??

I recently joined this site for help (as in, like.. 2 minutes ago) though I've been a lurker for a bit.

I adopted a kitten from the local OSPCA just over a month and a half ago (Aug 21st), she's approximately 10 months old now and was previously a stray (the OSPCA and vet both think she was dumped outside somewhere at birth) and was really underweight when she came to me. I feed her Iams (she refuses to eat anything but) and was letting her free eat because it's easiest for both her and I and my family as well. 

HOWEVER, she's been really... stuffing her face, I guess? She needs me to come downstairs with her and pet her a couple times before she eats and then I need to watch her eat until she's done (or at least be in the room) or she'll stop. I've obliged - I figure when she was a stray she had her food stolen or something to that effect. After her first vet appointment I understood her eating a lot - she was underweight and everything and also very active, but after her check up appointment she's a healthy weight now and still continues to eat almost all the time.

Like... she's almost constantly meowing at me to come down and watch her eat and then she gets my brother to do it and my mom and it'll be in 15 minute intervals and just a couple of minutes ago she left a nice pukey gift for me to clean up off the rug (only after she led me over there to play so i could step in it) which was very visibly food/over eating puke. She's otherwise completely healthy.

I wonder if there is a medical condition causing this or if she's just eating for the sake of eating? I want to switch her to scheduled food times but I'm unsure how to do it beyond leaving the food dish empty until its meal time.

Any advice is appreciated, thank you. :3

My sister took in a stray who was do thin you could see all his bones. He ate the same way until his belly hit the ground (literally) and she had to put him on a diet. I'm sure you'll get some great advice on this because a lot of people here have taken in stray cats. I think you need to put her on a feeding schedule though. Before her belly hits the ground.

Was the vet concerned? Did they have any concerns about the overeating? It's always a good idea to at least give the vet a call and get their opinion. I do that often because my vet doesn't charge for phone time. If you can call and ask without getting charged it wouldn't hurt to see what they recommend.

And don't worry about having to watch her eat. I had to walk Peanut to his bowl and the litter box at first. He grew out of that.

to TCS!

That's what I've always thought of as "shelter dog syndrome" because I experienced it with a couple of dogs adopted from shelters, but I'm learning that it can also affect cats. Mogli had health issues (an enterohemorrhagic E coli infection and inflammatory bowel disorder) when he was adopted, which caused him to always be looking for food. The infection has cleared up, and his IBD seems to be in remission, but he still constantly begs for and steals food. He's 16 months old now, so he should be eating like an adult, not a kitten. The vet says some cats are just like "Garfield", and that it's best to give scheduled meals and watch the amounts, i.e., not overfeed.

Your kitten won't starve between meals, and you can give her three or four smaller meals a day, instead of two large ones. Your vet should be able to advise you on the amounts she needs. Kittens do eat more (and more often) than adults.

It sounds like she should probably be on scheduled meals.  This way you can monitor how much she is eating, get her used to not "begging", and also try to determine if she is overeating, which is causing her vomiting, or if it might actually be her food causing it.

Here is a thread that discussing transitioning to scheduled feedings.  If you don't want to actually change her food, then just ignore that part.  http://www.thecatsite.com/t/264675/...ties-to-timed-meals-and-new-food#post_3408209

Iams and a lot of other foods have corn in them, which some cats can't tolerate. My cat used to vomit after every meal, and I just assumed that it because she was gorging on her food, because she did wolf it down quickly. Iams was one of the foods that she ate. She stopped throwing up after I began feeding her a food free of corn, wheat, and soy. I'm not saying that your cat has the same issues, but it's one idea to consider.

Tabbysia said:

Iams and a lot of other foods have corn in them, which some cats can't tolerate. My cat used to vomit after every meal, and I just assumed that it because she was gorging on her food, because she did wolf it down quickly. Iams was one of the foods that she ate. She stopped throwing up after I began feeding her a food free of corn, wheat, and soy. I'm not saying that your cat has the same issues, but it's one idea to consider.

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thats immensly helpful as i had no idea - i'll be honest, the OSPCA suggested we feed her Iams because that's what she was eating at the time but she was also very, very sick and puking a lot during her time there so perhaps they didn't know the difference between her being sick from illness and food sickness?? In any case, what foods do you recommend? I can try it out and see if perhaps that's the issue at hand.

I began feeding my cat Blue Buffalo Basics-a limited ingredient food made for cats with food sensitivities a few weeks ago. My cat's vomiting stopped almost immediately, and she has not been vomiting any more at all. My kitten has developed diarrhea again, but he has had it on every food he has been on (possibly has IBD and on meds).. I am feeding the Fish and Potato, and there are Turkey and Potato, Grain-free Turkey (doesn't have the rice that the other foods have if your cat is sensitive to all grains--not just corn), and Duck and Potato. There is also a Blue Buffalo Sensitive Stomach option, but it has chicken, which I was told to avoid because all of the other foods that I had been feeding had chicken, and some cats can be intolerant to chicken as well. As good as my experience has been with one of my cats, I must warn you that some people have had some negative experiences with this food (mainly urinary tract infections and crystals from what I have read). My vet still tells me to keep feeding it and that it's a high quality food. If you don't want to risk giving your cat this food, though, there are a lot of limited ingredient corn-free and/or grain-free foods at stores like Petsmart. I can't think of them all, but If you look through the cat food section on Petsmart.com and click on product details, it gives the complete ingredient list for each one--not sure about petco.com. I was told to avoid corn, wheat, soy, dairy, eggs, chicken, and beef. Some posters will tell you to avoid fish as well. My vet actually wants me to keep feeding the fish based food. I think that Wellness Core could be another good food choice but I haven't tried it.