food obsessed kittens

[katemary]

Hi all, I have a new foster crew who were found by a good samaritan at maybe around 4 weeks old. She scooped up mum and 3 kittens but unfortunately it was peak kitten season and no shelters or fosters were available. She managed to convince a friend to keep them for a short time. She described this as 'not ideal' and when the kittens came to me about 10 days ago they were literally covered in fleas so I would agree it wasn't an ideal situation.

So my current concern is that the kittens (and to some extent their mum) are just absolutely food obsessed. I've taken to staying in the room as they eat, mostly so that I can try to keep the kittens away from mum's food to ensure that she does actually get to eat, otherwise they'll eat up her food, but to be honest I'm not always successful and they do get into her serving sometimes. Mum is still quite shy and a bit growly.

So I'm sure I'm feeding them the correct amount - if anything, I'm over feeding them. They are getting between 1 and 3/4 to 2 x 195g tins of Royal Canin BabyCat mousse a day, spread over 3 feeds. Plus I put some BabyCat dry down as well between feeds. This is in line with Royal Canin's feeding guide. I haven't seen much nursing happening, just a little here and there.

When I go anywhere near the cat bowls, the kittens all come running over as if they are starving. Once they've eaten their food, they literally lick all the bowls clean and come up to me, crawling over me looking for more/licking the spoon and trying to lick the can. I weighed the kittens when they arrived and recently and they've put heaps of weight on - like more than they should. The boys each put on about 180 grams in 6 days, the girl about 100 grams. They've all been wormed. Given their weight is around 1.1 - 1.3 kg, I'm guessing they're 10-ish weeks old.

So I guess my question is - should I stick to this feeding regime even though they appear to be starving or should I increase how much they eat even though they seem to be gaining more weight than typical?

Thanks - attached is a picture of the cuties.

 

[Sarthur2]

Absolutely increase their food - mom’s too. Growing kittens need to eat 5-6 times a day and as much as they want at each feeding. They are hungry all the time right now, and will continue to eat 2-3 times what they will need once they hit a year old.

They are beautiful kittens!

 

[Joelle and the kittens]

I've heard it's not possible to overfeed young kittens, and if they're still hungry after eating you should just give them more.

 

[Kieka]

Kittens are bottomless pits. When they are growing they can need as much as 100 calories per pound each day. If they are acting hungry, they probably are. I'd always leave out a bowl of dry food and potentially increase the wet. Once the kittens are full grown you can decrease food.

 

[sivyaleah]

What an adorable crew! I want all of them!

It does not sound like you're feeding too much and actually they could be hungry. The rule of thumb is usually to feed kittens as much as they want until about a year old.

When our girl was a kitten, she easily would eat 9 ounces wet food a day PLUS as much kibble as she wanted. Kittens burn up a lot of energy and require much more food than one would think.

I'd add another wet meal for sure. No need to worry at this stage about their weight. Satisfying their belly is more important.

 

[katemary]

Thank you all so much! I was a bit nervous about overfeeding as I did see a couple of articles online that suggested it can lead to health problems later on but I think the collective wisdom here makes more sense! Another pic of the cuties attached.

 

[Talien]

That's normal. You cannot overfeed Kittens, they will eat until they are stuffed and all of it will get used. It's very hard to overfeed a pregnant or nursing mother as they also need a lot more nutrients, both while pregnant and nursing. Infact it wouldn't hurt to mix a small amount of KMR into a mother Cat's food each day to ensure she's getting enough calcium while she's nursing, but you probably don't need to do that since it sounds like they're mostly past that stage.

 

[missymotus]

Poor babies sound like they’re starving. Can you move them onto a better quality food? They’ll still need 5-6 feedings a day but would get better nutrition.
We mostly raw with a little wet as well to our (registered pedigree) litters.
Kittens and moms are given as much as they want each meal, mom needs a ton of food to raise kittens and keep good condition.

 

[katemary]

Hi everyone,
Just to give you an update. I increased the kittens' food and they're definitely less food obsessed, which is great!

I'm wondering if someone can tell me how much weight a 12 week old kitten should expect to gain per week? I can find plenty online about neonatal kittens but not much about older kits and I assume it slows down a bit.

I ask because there was a spout of diarrhea and so I wormed them all and have been weighing them daily since as there is some continuing diarrhea but never when I'm in the room so I'm not sure who it is.... Strangely their weight fluctuates day to day, it's not going up each day but is increasing over a number of days if that makes sense.

They're otherwise perfectly themselves so I don't think it's worth the shelter paying for a vet visit at this point, I'm just going to monitor.

Thanks for any advice! Here they are being cute.

 

[Flybynight]

Hi,
Gorgeous bunch
I cannot help with the weight per week question but may on the diarrhea. Don't switch up brands too often with kittens.
They may need a second dose of wormer but talk to your vet about when that is safe to give.
Try a little plain boiled chicken with no bones or seasoning. That may help settle their stomach if the issue is food related.

 

[katemary]

Hi,
Gorgeous bunch
I cannot help with the weight per week question but may on the diarrhea. Don't switch up brands too often with kittens.
They may need a second dose of wormer but talk to your vet about when that is safe to give.
Try a little plain boiled chicken with no bones or seasoning. That may help settle their stomach if the issue is food related.

Thanks so much! No changes to the food and I was seeing worms in their poop for a few days after dewormer so I think your onto something there... maybe just a nasty worm issue!

 

[Sarthur2]

They should gain about a pound a month on average - males perhaps more so than females.

They need a second de-worming 10-14 days after the first to catch the whole worm life cycle.

Feed mostly chicken pates - fish is not as good for kittens or as easy on the tummy and can cause diarrhea. Feed a grain free, additive free dry kitten food.

 

[kittiefoster]

Just a side note...bottle baby kittens can definitely be over fed...leads to bloated stomaches and severe diarrhea. I know that doesn't apply to these kids but just wanted to make sure for those readings this post that it is not advice to overfeed formula.