4 Month old Persian Kitten won't stop meowing (mainly food related)

[samlh]

Hi All,

We have a wonderful 4 (nearly 5) month old persian kitten and he just won't stop meowing whenever anyone goes in the kitchen, up to an hour before food time. He meows for attention but not as much as he does for food.

We are feeding him enough (wet only, he won't touch dry at all) and we can only treat him with meat for good behaviour (we have tried all sorts of kitten treats and he just turns his nose up at them).

He is drinking, going to the toilet, playing and generally in good health but we don't really know how to deal with the constant demanding meows whenever we go to the kitchen.

If anyone has any tips or anything we can do then it will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance :) x

Ah the joys of a vocal cat - I have one too. Yours is only a baby but oriental breeds in particular do like to tell their owners what to do.

The only answer is training, at the moment he expects food whenever anyone goes to the kitchen. I suspect he also finds the wet food very tasty. Dry food is better for his teeth and you should be giving him some, try mixing it with his wet food for now. Ultimately your aim should be, less interesting food - gradually move to dry food - and remove the kitchen obsession - start feeding him somewhere else more convenient.

I think you'll have to learn to enjoy your vocal cat . I have one, and after two who were relatively quiet, I love the way he chats to me and makes it clear what's on his mind. Making the same noises back to them can bring your conversation to a natural end - the cat will get bored of hearing you repeat everything it says.

I use puzzle feeders to keep our two hunting rather than begging. You can use wet in some. Mine only have a small amount of oral dry, never in a bowl but always in a different puzzle feeder placed in different locations.

Ps, do you have a pic?

Is it a short or long hair? Both my Persians are Vocal. But Cheddar is exceptionally noisy. She has an opinion on everything and I can no longer cook in peace! Picture please.

Persians aren't the brightest, I'd be surprised if they can manage a puzzle feeder. Mine can't even manage the mouse toy that came with the dreemies!

@Bathonian2020 - we have tried mixing it with his food - he picks it out. We have some in a bowl and he will go and chew on it but spits it out after he's licked the flavouring off. We feed him in the middle room but might move him into the front room to totally distance him from the kitchen.

@Pelleas I will try repeating back to him when he meows at me at food time. I do generally chat to him and we have conversations but they are different meows to the VERY demanding - bring my food here now meows :)

@Mrsfussypants1 I will have a look at different feeders. We have had him just over a month and it's over the past week he's started to get more vocal.

Hopefully the picture attached, this is Leo :)

and this is Leo helping me to work from home :)

How often are you feeding him? Small amounts 3 or 4 times a day are quite usual at that age. Mine had dry down all the time and then wet a few times a day.

Maybe a different brand of dry? What have you tried?

@dementedpixie

He is fed 4 times a day and the dry that we have tried is Royal Canin.

I don't know if it's the texture because he liked licking them and spitting them out.

I can send my husband to the local pet store if there is a foolproof one that all kittens love to eat! :)

It’s good your kitten won’t eat dry, dry food is terrible for cats.

Are you definitely feeding enough? Kittens like babies need to be fed as much as they are willing to eat. When mine was a kitten she was eating around 450g of decent quality wet food a day.

Royal canin isnt that good tbh. High price for not very good ingredients. Zooplus or pets at home would have a better range of high meat dry kitten foods

Problem is he's clearly not 100% Persian. You've got a Persian/Gobshite cross. Embrace it (and him) 😂

Those eyes! So adorable, I couldn't think of a better lock down companion.

@SimonJT We've never had a cat before and we are going off what the breeder recommended.

It might be worth topping him up and seeing if that calms him down a bit :)

Royal Canin Persian is absolutely fine. My two thrived on it. Unfortunately when I got Cheddar I had to swap to Iams as she doesn't tolerate the RC. Bit RC did wonders for Magic's coat. He's absolutely gorgeous OP. Ps make sure you have very good insurance! They are expensive little beasts.

It's not absolutely fine if he wont eat it. I'd try a different one

I have no advice but I was coming to demand a picture.. what a gorgeous kitten

Gobshite cross 😆😆

I didn’t realise just how much a kitten needs to eat until I got mine, she ate far more everyday as a kitten than she does now as an adult.

If she’s nearly five months then you’ve had her at most 3-4 weeks, so it may also be that she is feeling more settled now so more willing to tell everyone what she wants.

As an aside, below are the ingredients for royal canin persian kitten dry food, when reading it just remind yourself that cats are obligate carnivores.

Dehydrated poultry protein, rice, animal fats, maize, vegetable protein isolate*, hydrolysed animal proteins, vegetable fibres, beet pulp, yeasts and parts thereof, fi sh oil, soya oil, minerals, psyllium husks and seeds (0.5%), fructo-oligo-saccharides, hydrolysed yeast (source of manno-oligo-saccharides), yeasts extracts (source of betaglucans), borage oil, marigold extract (source of lutein).

I need to add this...

Since I posted this thread earlier lunchtime has been and gone. The obligatory meowing in the kitchen but miraculously, I took his food bowl through, he sat down, looked at me and didn't make a peep when I put it down.

He must know i'm talking about him and has therefore decided to pay attention :)

Thank you all for your replies and responses and my husband is thrilled that we have a cross breed persian/gobshite (who is currently asleep on his tree near the french doors not giving a toss about anything)

:D

Seconding the suggestion about giving more food and not giving dry food.

Kittens are growing and need lots of calories. Are you sure you are giving him enough food?
Cats need animal protein and lots of moisture. Dry food is the opposite of that.

Your kitten is beautiful.

I've got a vocal cat. Demanding sod. He completely associates kitchen activity with food. He's around 3/4 years old now and when we cook, he demands food. We ignore him but her always does it. The sound of anybody getting up in the morning means breakfast time send anybody cooking in there day means dinner time. Her also knows that dh usually has a bowel of yoghurt in the evening and humans watching TV on sofa means a bowel to lick. He gets bet put out of there isn't one.

Your kitty is divine ! Our Persian cross lived until she was 23 !

However she was a living nightmare with food and demanded only boiled fish from 18 years onwards .. (she had had a heart attack then though - so my mother pandered to her every need) ..

That said, she did live on cat food. Standard whiskers/felix did it for her - along with a mixed diet of birds squirrels and baby rabbits (she was hateful in that way).

I would definitely let her have what she wants. Try wet food and see if she like it.. if not revert to dried .

Dry food is not always lacking in animal protein you need to check on the packaging. The one I use is over 45% chicken, then a bit of fish etc and other nutrients, my cat also drinks p,entry of water. Why not take advice from your vet, pretty sure they will advice high protien dry food.