For those of you who have seen my other posts (ringworm, URI, insanity, fleas...), you probably all think I'm crazy cat mommy but really, my adorable and lovable baby cat is a huge handful (but we couldn't possibly love him more than we do).
I have a four month old shelter rescue who was a stray. He doesn't overeat or wolf his food right away, but he eats everything. Like, everything. So far, the list includes pizza crust, air popped popcorn, raw arugula, cardboard, napkins, dead flower petals, shredded cheese, part of a Flamin' Hot Cheetoh, and I just caught him trying to lick spilled beer off the table. As far as I can tell, only the last is really harmful to him, and watching him go nuts for arugula is really funny, but we're concerned about what's driving this.
We know he was picked up off the street, according to the shelter, so we assume that he was a scavenger for a while and ate whatever he could find before we got him. I've read that you should feed kittens, especially young, very, very underweight kittens as much as they want, and he was about about a pound too light and very malnourished when we took him home. I free feed him dry food and he eats sporadically throughout the day, and never everything at once.
At this point, I've been letting him eat little bits here and there from our plates if he wants it because it makes me tear up to think about him lonely and hungry but we're wondering if this is normal. Will he stop freaking out over people food once he gets comfortable? Is there a way to teach him that we'll always give him plenty of food and a house full of love so that he doesn't try to eat my dinner? Is it fine to let him eat the things he likes that won't hurt him, like greens and meats with appropriate seasonings? He ironically has no interest in wet food, although I suppose I could try more brands. If he's happy eating arugula I won't deprive him, and he seems to be as he purrs loudly next to me right now, but keeping him off of our plates would be nice.
I have a four month old shelter rescue who was a stray. He doesn't overeat or wolf his food right away, but he eats everything. Like, everything. So far, the list includes pizza crust, air popped popcorn, raw arugula, cardboard, napkins, dead flower petals, shredded cheese, part of a Flamin' Hot Cheetoh, and I just caught him trying to lick spilled beer off the table. As far as I can tell, only the last is really harmful to him, and watching him go nuts for arugula is really funny, but we're concerned about what's driving this.
We know he was picked up off the street, according to the shelter, so we assume that he was a scavenger for a while and ate whatever he could find before we got him. I've read that you should feed kittens, especially young, very, very underweight kittens as much as they want, and he was about about a pound too light and very malnourished when we took him home. I free feed him dry food and he eats sporadically throughout the day, and never everything at once.
At this point, I've been letting him eat little bits here and there from our plates if he wants it because it makes me tear up to think about him lonely and hungry but we're wondering if this is normal. Will he stop freaking out over people food once he gets comfortable? Is there a way to teach him that we'll always give him plenty of food and a house full of love so that he doesn't try to eat my dinner? Is it fine to let him eat the things he likes that won't hurt him, like greens and meats with appropriate seasonings? He ironically has no interest in wet food, although I suppose I could try more brands. If he's happy eating arugula I won't deprive him, and he seems to be as he purrs loudly next to me right now, but keeping him off of our plates would be nice.
