Feeding times....

Hi all,

Fistly I'd like to say hello to you all. I became a kitten parent for the first time 4 weeks ago. Garfield is his name :-) he is 16 weeks old this week. I have loved everything about becoming a first time cat parent and have googled and read up so much on cats ( we always had dogs growing up so im not used to cats or caring for them) and that is how I found this site. Its so lovely to read all the fantastic helpful teplies you all give and are all so friendly so i decided to join.

Ok so the reason for my post is this..... as mentioned my kitten is 15 weeks old and has settled in great. I my only worry is that i was gaving trouble with bedtime with him for the firstv2 weeks we got him so i googled then came to the decision i would move his last meal time to our bedtime.....hey presto that works a treat as he just eats it an qe put the relevant lights out an hes just learnt that he shouldn't bother us as its bedtime now however at weekends when we stay up a few hours later he meows and hangs around the kithen on and off between cat naps and if we go in ( to get another glass of wine) hel wake up snd follow us in meowing. So my question is this.... am i being cruel making him wait until later for his food at weekends? He does this behaviour on normal evenings too so i presume its just to tell us hey dont forget its food time but i just wanted to check what advice would be good.

Thank you in advance for your replies.

Xx

Hello, and welcome! If you want to keep a routine going then maybe you should stick to his mealtime. He may carry on a bit for a while, but he will get over it. Otherwise you could give him half his meal inbetween, or a treat to keep him going until bedtime. He will get used to whatever you do in the end.

Sorry im only just replying i lost my login details lol..... i do give him treats after i come home but yes il try keeping his meal time. Im just so nervous of doing it all wrong as im new to cats an they r not like dogs at bedtime which i am used to! Ok so since my post we kept to what we had been doing but my husband works until late some nights and they have just started up again an last night my husband got in 20 mins before our usual bedtime. The cat was running around craztly so we completed our ususl evening routine but when i put his food down and put the lights out like usual as i walked away he was up the stirs before me an cried at the bedroom door for 15 mins. I felt really stressed that he was all out of dorts and it made me realise that its going to be a real issue isnt it as some nights my husband isnt home until midnight plus! How do i go to bed earlier and what do i do with the cat? Otherwise hel cry when i go, get crazy excited when my partner comes in then cry again when he comes to bed. We have a open stir case so no hall way between the living room and bedroom and i dont want to lock him in the kitchen all night as its only a small room. Plz help im so stressed over this xx

Sounds like normal kitten behaviour to me. Can he come in your bedroom? He might settle on your bed. Kittens usually carry on for food, even after meal time. Mine still do this at 11 months. They follow me round most of the time when i am home wanting to be fed again. He will settle down one day.

Thank you. I suppose its all just trial an error isnt it. He is so adorable :-)

I'm sure he will be fine. Don't worry too much! He's just being a kitten.

Thank you x