advice, please! My kitten is a little too obsessed with food...

My 3-4 month old boy kitten is a little too obsessed with food.. Any advice?
First- he does not have worms. Also, I am on a pretty tight budget so its hard to just "take him to the vet" over any little thing, though of course I would if something were serious or urgent.
So I feed him three times a day, usually 2 oz or so, with canned wet food (first ingredients: ocean whitefish, poultry,meat by-product, liver, water, fish,tuna, so not a lot of cornmeal etc)
Also, I was going to leave a little dry food (I know, not super healthy etc) out for him to snack on. He definitely doesn't like the dry food, he will do ANYTHING to get something else, but if I don't give in and he realizes that all he's gonna get then he gobbles up the whole bowl (I don't put an exorbitant amount out, just a snacks worth) instead of snacking, even if he's just eaten.
He's gained some good weight since I got him a few weeks ago. I feed him well but hes always in the kitchen begging for food, even when his belly is round and full. Everyone says you cant overfeed a kitten but im worried he may become overweight, he may even be just a little chunky now. Also he may eat until he gives himself a bellyache. He's becoming difficult with how obsessed he is about food and I'd like him to have good habits and be healthy.
Any advice? Thanks! [emoji]128570[/emoji][emoji]128149[/emoji]

I know my topic isn't interesting, but does anyone have advice? I'm sure others have experienced this.. None of my other cats were so completely obsessed with food, what should I do with this little guy?

A kitten that is 12-16 weeks of age is doing A LOT of growing and can easily eat 12 oz of wet food daily. Kittens can grown outward and then upward and vice versa.

I would suggest upping his meal portion to 3 oz per meal or increasing the meal frequencies. What brand of food are you feeding? Is this a kitten-specific wet food? How many kcal are in a can or serving?

I would not worry about over feeding and weight at this point. He is a growing boy! Our little guy used to eat so much his sides would bulge for an hour or so after every meal! We asked the vet about it and he said that many times males just eat like that because they have such intense growth spurts and are mostly muscle so it takes th extra protoien to satisfy. I don't know if there's any merit to that line of thinking but our guy is 4 months now and a solid - and I do mean solid - 8 pounds of pure muscle! Make sure he is getting kitten food though, he could be eating more to satisfy caloric needs if he is receiving cat food or food for "all life stages". He looks happy and healthy!

Oh he is so cute!! I wouldnt worry too much some kittens need more calories than others.

clmgordon said:

I know my topic isn't interesting, but does anyone have advice? I'm sure others have experienced this.. None of my other cats were so completely obsessed with food, what should I do with this little guy?

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Be patient with responses There are members who are willing to help you out but not everyone is in the same time zone or country so responses may be slow in coming.

I'm concerned with the fish based canned food you are feeding. Cats love fish but eating too much fish can cause problems: a cat who gets addicted to eating it and will not eat meat like chicken, urinary issues may occur, the his phosphorus content can be hard on the kidneys, some types of fish may contain mercury, etc. Keep the fish based foods to occasional meals or treats and feed meat based (chciken, turkey, beef, etc)  food the rest of the time.

2 oz of food three times a day isn't enough for a growing kitten, especially if the food is low in calories which fish based foods tend to be I'm pretty sure that's why your kitten is always looking for food. Can you feed larger portions of canned food and/or feed more meals? Dry food can be given as something to snack on if needed.

What a cute little guy! I adopted my cat from a rescue when she was about 5 months old. Seriously for the first few months she acted like she was starving all of the time. We had to eat our food at the kitchen counter most times because if she heard us eating she would jump up on the table and try to paw at our food. If she heard any bag opening she was on top of us in seconds. We would put dry food down and she would put her face all the way to the bottom spilling it over the sides eating as fast as she could (also she always had dry available all day but we've cut that back now). Now, 7 months later she doesn't even bother us and actually leaves wet food in her bowl (which my other cat loves!). I'm sure your little guy will be fine.

Cute little dude!!  With a kitten that young he can pretty much eat as much as he wants.  They are growing babies!  For mine (he is 6 months old) I feed 1/4 5.5 oz can wet morning and night, if you can feed more than that, and more often than that that is great!  I work during the day so feeding in the middle of the day doesn't work well for me.  I leave his bowl with dry food for snacking since he gets hungry during the day.  You can do it whichever way works for you, but leaving dry to snack on is just find as long as you give wet too.  I add a couple spoonfuls of hot water to his wet food to warm it up from the fridge, plus it adds to his water in take for the day which is very important!  I would change from the fishy food though, like others have said.  My favorites to feed my boy is Chicken & Liver, and Turkey.  He gets the odd fish based wet food as a treat but his main diet is definitely the other meats.  

Hi I agree with LTS3 about fish.I hope it isn't Fancy feast Oceanfish & tuna??? So true that once introduced to fish flavored foods changing over can be very difficult.I fed my boy it for yrs only for him to become a ckd kitty.There is a huge amount of phosphorus in that particular food.Don't know what brand you're using.But my vet said long term every day will lead to renal insufficiency.I think you can actually google ff oceanfish & renal failure.Anyways he's a handsome young buck.In the answer to your question"what should i do with this little guy?' Squeeze.Lots of hugs & squuezes.He is Darling!!!!C.My late Maxwell if I had baked chicken that night for dinner he'd grab the drumstick & run like heck under my bed with it.LOL Only to be pulled out as ONE HAIRY LEG..

jade14 said:

 
Cute little dude!!  With a kitten that young he can pretty much eat as much as he wants.  They are growing babies!  For mine (he is 6 months old) I feed 1/4 5.5 oz can wet morning and night, if you can feed more than that, and more often than that that is great!  I work during the day so feeding in the middle of the day doesn't work well for me.  I leave his bowl with dry food for snacking since he gets hungry during the day.  You can do it whichever way works for you, but leaving dry to snack on is just find as long as you give wet too.  I add a couple spoonfuls of hot water to his wet food to warm it up from the fridge, plus it adds to his water in take for the day which is very important!  I would change from the fishy food though, like others have said.  My favorites to feed my boy is Chicken & Liver, and Turkey.  He gets the odd fish based wet food as a treat but his main diet is definitely the other meats.  

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A programmable timed feeder works great to provide canned foods meals when you are not home I like this one. Canned food is ok if left out in a feeder for hours but you do want to throw away any uneaten food at the end of the day. Some people freeze canned food into portion sizes and pop the frozen food into the feeder to slowly defrost and stay fresher longer.

LTS3 said:

 
A programmable timed feeder works great to provide canned foods meals when you are not home

I like this one. Canned food is ok if left out in a feeder for hours but you do want to throw away any uneaten food at the end of the day. Some people freeze canned food into portion sizes and pop the frozen food into the feeder to slowly defrost and stay fresher longer.

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Yes, that is a great idea!  

My 5month old kitten, Mochi is the same. She will ask for food all the time. It does not matter what brand or protein I giver her (I rotate daily between chicken, turkey, rabbit, beef, lamb, venison, shrimp, and a variety of fish; and brands: Wild Calling, Weruva, Ziwipeak, Nature's Logic, Holistic Select, Just Juicy, Tiki Cat) - my furbaby will meow her heart out whenever I am in the kitchen.

Mochi is 5lb and I give her approx. 8~10oz of food per day (she then also gets freeze dried liver/shrimp as treats). I don't believe in dry food, she only gets wet food from me. I feed her 3-5 times a day depending on my schedule.  She can definitely eat 15oz in one day (there was one time where I wanted to see how much food can she eat per day, to find out what her limit is). But being a ragdoll cat that she is, and not big on exercising, I did not want her to develop a habit of eating too much and not moving a lot. 

Right now, I'm on vacation, so my routine with her is 5-10min of play (make her chase bird/feather, giving her a good run around) > feed her (I spoon feed so she can less quickly) > she grooms > she sleeps. Her last meal of the day is always a little bigger, she then sleeps through the entire night with me