Incessant meowing when I go in the kitchen

[capkittens]

My 12 week old moggy never used to be too fussed about his food until we changed the brand from whiskas to hi-life. Now whenever my partner and I go anywhere remotely near the kitchen, he meows non-stop. We've tried talking back to him, ignoring him, but sans giving him more food (which I won't do as he's eating the correct portions for his age), nothing gets him to be quiet - and even then sometimes he meows straight after he's finished a meal!

I'm at my wits end and I'm getting really frustrated with the poor little guy and the last thing I wanna do is start shouting at him or anything like that.

Any advice?

 

[talkingpeanut]

It's very difficult to overfeed a young kitten, especially if he has a lot of energy.  Many people free feed their kittens and leave dry food out all the time, in addition to feedings of wet food.  You should feed him all he wants now and cut back later when he's done growing.

In addition, does the new food have a meat listed as the main ingredient?  Food with more carbs and fillers won't fill him up as much.

 

[elliot]

I've always heard you should give kittens as much food as they want in order to prevent stunting their growth. Also is hi-life lower in calories than whiskas?

 

[capkittens]

The food is mostly meat, it's exceedingly different to the food that he was originally eating - only 4% meat, it's unsurprising he wasn't enthusiastic about it.

Are there any recommended dry foods I could try him with? I don't want to give him more wet food as I don't want him to think I'm rewarding his incessant meowing.

 

[talkingpeanut]

The thing is that he's meowing because he's hungry.  It's not a reward, but you responding to the only way he can communicate to you.  You could feed him wet food three times a day, however much he'll eat in a session and dry the rest of the time.  I feed my cat Nature's Variety grain free dry food.

How much are you feeding him now?

 

[capkittens]

I feed him four times a day: 7am, 12pm, 5pm and 10pm. I think I may have to try him with dry food and see how he reacts. Thanks much

 

[talkingpeanut]

How much are you feeding at those times?  Sounds like he just needs more!

 

[capkittens]

About 50g per time. I think you may be right, I was just concerned about over feeding him but if that's not a problem with kittens then great he'll definitely be pleased with this aha

 

[nachoandsoma]

I was worried about over feeding my new kitten as well, she's now 10 weeks. Her vet told me that kittens need access to free food throughout the day so I started free feeding her dry food and doing wet food meals 4 times a day. Now my kitten can look forward to the wet food meals but will leave me alone after she eats it all because she still has the dry food to munch on if and when she needs it.

Also, if you feed your kitten in the kitchen and you are in there a ton you may want to consider moving the food bowls into a room that you frequent less often. The kitten probably associates you being in the kitchen with meal time/food and will expect you to feed it everytime you're in there.