My 3-month old is constantly hungry...

ashlovesdash

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Hi there! Quick intro: My baby is Dash and I am Ash :) This is my first time posting so please excuse me if there was somewhere else I should have posted this aside from "cat health"...

I adopted Dash from the SPCA over a month ago. He was a stray so they didn't have a lot of information on him but they believed he was around 3 months. When I brought him to the vet they thought he might be younger (his adult teeth haven't grown in & they told me that happens at 16 weeks). Our guess-timate is that he is around 3 months old now.

I have owned cats before; however, they were all adults so this is my first kitten. He seems to be constantly hungry... I was told to "get him on a schedule" and feed him twice a day, at the same time everyday. Right now he eats "Science Diet", the kitten formula but for outdoor cats (he is an indoor kitty). The reason I have him on the outdoor food is because he had severe diarrhea for about a week straight & the indoor food has extra fiber in it so I didn't want to make the diarrhea worse. He is extremely active. He weighs three pounds, so I feed him the amount the bag tells me (1/2 cup) twice a day... but he is constantly giving me his "hungry meow". Every time I go in the bathroom, which is where his food dish is, he wants to be fed more. He begs for my food when I am eating and sometimes it's so bad that I have to eat standing up so that my food is on a surface that he can't reach.

I read a few other forums with similar questions and it seems the general consensus was to feed him whenever he is hungry, because he is so young... but my biggest concern is that if I feed him to much, his diarrhea will come back. I did bring him to the vet, twice but, aside from helping me find a food that stopped the diarrhea, they weren't much help. I'd just like to get some other opinions... I feel bad because I don't want my baby to be hungry all the time! Thanks in advance!
 

GemsGem

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At 3 months old he should be on at least 3 meals a day preferably 4 meals.

Little meals and often.

The diarrhoea is because you are feeding him too much in one go. This is over loading his stomach resulting in diarrhoea.
 

GemsGem

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Just wanted to add. Feed the same overall daily amount as you are doing now. Just in lots of little meals instead of just two meals.

This should satisfy is hunger for longer so he is not constantly asking for food
 
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ashlovesdash

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Thanks so much!! I am going to try feeding him smaller amounts at least 3 times a day. Hopefully that will fix it... I always feel so bad because I don't want him to be starving.

We went to the vet for the diharrea & the vet said it was the brand of food- the SPCA had been feeding him (and gave us) "taste of the wild" which is adult food so it was too rich for him stomach. When I switched him to kitten food the diarrhea stopped.

Thanks so much again! :)
 

catwoman707

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You know, I think your comment sounds pretty darn appropriate about the vet not being much help...

A 3 month old kitten should not have a diarrhea issue, you should be able to free feed with no issues or runny poop.

Has he been well dewormed? By well I mean his tummy should be soft, and he should have been dewormed twice, 2 weeks apart.

Has his poop been checked for parasites? VERY common in multi cat situations such as the spca kids up for adopting. They have multiple cats in many cages, and the parasites spread so easily it's rediculous.

My preference in dry food since that is what you prefer, at least now would be Royal Canin Babycat kitten formula, OR Natural Balance kitten.

You might also think about feeding dinner of canned food, fancy feast, etc to keep him used to the canned, otherwise a dry fed only kitty won't really adapt to the canned so easily later on, and the canned is so much better to feed than the dry food is.

Science Diet has some crappy ingredients in it, corn gluten is awful for instance.
 
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cprcheetah

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You should try to find a better brand of food.  Science Diet is full of corn and cats can't digest it, which means your cat isn't getting the nutrients it needs in order to grow properly which is probably why your cat is always hungry.   Visit this page to learn about proper nutrition in cats:http://www.catinfo.org/   Cats are carnivores therefore they need meat in their diet, not grains or corn.  Canned food is better than dry, and Raw Food is the best.  Kittens should generally eat as much as they will/can. 

Here are a couple of links

http://www.thecatsite.com/a/choosing-the-right-food-for-your-cat

http://www.littlebigcat.com/nutrition/why-dry-food-is-bad-for-cats-and-dogs/

http://www.littlebigcat.com/health/why-cats-need-canned-food-2/
 

tdonline

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I'm definitely in the canned food camp and I think it's even more important for kittens.  My cats are adults and they are on two main meals with a small snack daily.  But for such a young cat, I would feed much more often. Your cat is probably hungry because he's too young to go that many hours without food.  Especially if what he eats goes through his system so quickly.

Improve his food and increase his feeding frequency.  Personally I would feed canned food 2-4 times a day and leave out some snack sized servings of kibble.  As he grows older, you can taper down the feeding times and amounts, dependent on how round he gets.
 

mrsgreenjeens

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I agree with the above posters about about everything, including switching to a better food, particularly canned.  And if you do switch, even to a better kibble, be sure to do it gradually, so as  not to cause another round of diarrhea.  If you switch to Fancy Feast canned, be sure to either use the KITTEN formula, or the CLASSICS, as those are the only ones that are low carb and grain free. 
 
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