Currently getting to the end of my tether with the kittens and food. We have 8 cats at the moment (some are foster cats so not permanent) and the younger ones are 5-7 months old and seem to desperate to get at our food, as does the three year old.
They get a packet or quarter of a tin in the morning, the same in the early evening, and maybe 2/3 of a packet each before bed. We also have dry food out constantly for grazing and go through a good amount of that each day.
When they get their wet food they usually eat most, but not absolutely all of it, so I don't think they need bigger portions for their main meals. I watch them all eat to make sure they all get some - one or two of the worst ones will eat all their food and then start pushing other cats out of the way to get more food.
None are underweight and two or three could definitely be described as a little podgy. Most of them go outside so probably eat mice/birds as well.
But I've just tried to have my breakfast and have had to fight them all off. We don't have many doors downstairs so it's difficult to shut them out/in but as well as trying to take food off our plates, they also lick butter off knives, dregs out of pans, scavenge every scrap of food possible basically. They even get in the dishwasher if partly loaded and lick old food off crockery etc in there.
It's like they're all starved and desperate, which couldn't be further from the truth.
Any ideas? They get normal catfood and I know a lot of people think it is rubbish, but what are the alternatives? Can't really afford to buy the really expensive food, we already spend nearly as much on their food as ours - seriously the catfood bill is probably about £150 pm as it is.
I was thinking of trying them with scrambled egg, I know they like that but how much per cat is the right amount? Does it need to be hot or cold? Any other ideas - mince? I assume they would eat it raw? How much mince is a portion for a cat? Which is best - fatty or lean?