Kitten eats SO much....

catnoobie

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I've had Bailey now for about 2.5 months, he is just about 4 months old. I fed him RC babycat for the first 6 weeks I had him and the last month he has been getting RC kitten as well as Nutro Natural Choice kitten for dry and Nutro NC for wet. He's a bit small at about 5 lbs right now.

Anyway, he eats what seems like A LOT. When I get up in the morning I give him about 1/3 cup of dry. He literally has that gone in under a minute, and it seems as if he eats a lot of it whole... without chewing. After work I give him a whole pouch of the wet and he eats all that... again, in about a minute. I then usually give him about another 1/8 cup of dry before bed and usually at another time during the day. All in all this is about double what the feeding guide on the dry food bag says to feed a cat of his age and weight. He is very active but I don't know if that makes up for all of it. Should I do anything about this or just keep feeding as much as he'll eat?

Thank you.
 

arlyn

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Leave dry out for him at all times and split his wet foods into two feedings, one AM and one PM.

Despite what the bags of food say, a growing kitten should have access to food at all times.
Only when their activity level starts tapering off and they've made the trasition to adult food should you start feeding all food in measured meals.

He's hungry all the time because at his age, he's burning calories like mad.
 

anjya

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Hi Catnoobie!

Your little one sounds alot like my "FEED ME NOW" baby. I have two that are just over a year. We laughed about one when we saw them the first time at their birth home. They were about 5 weeks old and eating wet food. One of them would run up to the food bowl eat as fast as possible until she was LITERALLY round and then "run run run" for about 3 minutes and then back to the food bowl, repeat. Well this little cutie became my hungry monster now named Tipper. At the beginning we tried free feeding but after she ate about 3 cups of dry food, threw up and started in again, we learned that well not all cats eat like a cat.

First has he been wormed? If not then try that. Other then that my suggestión would be to, if you have the option, try feeding him smaller amounts more often. If you haven't tried the free feeding go ahead and try it for a few days. The first day he may very well pig out so keep on it a few days. After three days, if he is still "pigging out" then go back to your old system. I dont know the brands you are feeding but make sure its a high quality brand with alot of protein. Cats/kittens will eat more of a low quality food to get all the needed nutrients.

Then last but not least, if hes not overweight, peeing and pooping regularly, and active... dont worry about it!
My hungry girl chews about every fifth piece of food she takes in and so far no trouble!

Good Luck!
Tipper and Professorn's mum, Anjya
 

meow meow

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My little guy is about 19 weeks -- he eats about 1/2 C of Nutro Max Kitten dry per day and 1 3 oz can of Nutro Max kitten wet (split into two meals). He doesn't gobble any of it. He eats some of the wet then walks away, a while later he walks up and eats a little more... eventually eating all. I hope he is getting enough!
 
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