Kitten eating too much?

Hi,

I just adopted a 17-20 week old female kitten on Saturday.  We immediately took her to the vet because she had ear mites (which we are now treating), but the vet told us she was very underweight, at 2.83 pounds (he said she should be about 4 pounds).  We started feeding her soft kitten food as soon as we got home.

Yesterday she ate 4 cans of kitten food and another 3 today (so far).   I'm a little worried because her belly has gotten big in the last 48 hours, and her poop is softer than it was (about the same consistency as her food).  I think that she was just starving before and is trying to make up for it.  She is fixed, so I know she isn't pregnant.  I guess I'm just looking for validation that this is ok.  We're planning on cutting back on her feeding to two cans a day (and she has access to dry food and fresh water 24/7).  She isn't really eating the dry food, she definitely prefers the wet food.  She's acting ok, is very playful and exceptionally cuddly, and very talkative.

Am I just over-reacting?  We had a kitten that died 6 months ago from some unknown gastrointestinal abnormality, and I'm a little overprotective of this one.

Generally the rule of thumb is feed a kitten as much as they want to eat

I'm going to agree with Courtney above me.

Kittens are allowed to eat as much as they want. That being said - you can start to get her on a schedule of feeding twice a day. This does help with some cats who are obviously going to be more piggy than others to avoid becoming over weight. But, since she is underweight I would allow her a hefty amount to make up for it. Once she is getting closer to the 4+ pound mark that she is supposed to be: THEN start introducing the twice a day feeding.

The soft stool could easily be from the fact that she is now eating more food than she was originally used to. Kittens can have sensitive tummies! If the soft stool doesn't clear up within a few days I would take a fecal sample in to the Vet to be sent out to check for parasites or giardia.

The full belly is probably just her stomach being full from all the food! But, if the round belly continues along with the soft stool that can be another indication of worms! 

However, I'm fairly certain BOTH things are just from her drastic change in diet and food in-take! =]