Greedy kitten driving me bonkers.

[ElspethFlashman]

Kitten is 4.5 months old and we feed him at least twice a day.

But omg is constantly and I mean CONSTANTLY looking for food.

So we can't leave any food on counters, but also we can't eat food on the sofa or even eat crisps watching TV! He's literally in your face trying to eat the crisps out of your hand! And will come back numerous times, is not deterred by being swatted away!

Oh and god forbid we go near the utility room where his food is! He yells and yells and yells.

We also now can't open the fridge door without him trying to jump in!

Is this normal? And how do we tackle it?

Just in the last 10 minutes I came into the kitchen to the sight of him up on the hob licking the oil off the frying pan, and then my daughter went to get a slice of ham out of the fridge for herself and he almost went nuts trying to get a) the packet and then b) the slice in her hand.

Would an electronic feeder help? Or do we just have to lock him out of the living room when we have crisps??!

I'd leave dry out and feed wet food 2 or 3 times a day. Doesnt sound like you're feeding enough and they are still hungry

When you say twice a day, do you just feed him wet food?

Most cats do best if they're allowed to graze - so wet food twice a day but have a bowl of dry food down that's available 24/7 too.

I have three cats and they've always been fed the same (wet food 2x a day, plus dry down constantly) but kittens generally need more regular feeding times so you could try splitting the food into 3 or even 4 meals so he's not going as long between meals.

So maybe feed breakfast, lunch, evening and before bed, plus dry down all the time for him to graze on.

A kitten that young should be on 3 meals a day rather than 2.

Could they have a medical issue that's making them hungry? Perhaps worth a trip to the vet. Maybe they're just greedy . Or going through a growth spurt ?

Our kitten is about 7 months old now and she eats a lot more than I'd have expected (she doesn't cry for or steal food), but is in good health so I'm not too worried.

The twice daily meal is that wet food? Try feeding a high protein one like HiLife or Blink. Will keep him fuller for longer. Try splitting the two pouches into probably three meals a day. And leave dry food out so he can graze through the day.

Has he been de-wormed? But other than that some cats are just greedy buggers definitely sorry

I dont think its a medical issue; probably just hungry on 2 meals

So he has a packet of wet food for breakfast, then dry for the rest of the day.

So we give him dry in the afternoon but when I say "at least" it's because we're essentially giving him a third helping of dry in an effort to stop him begging. I don't feel we've been stingy.

However we can certainly up the food and see if it makes any difference. That's an easy experiment to do.

However he was fed at 7.30 this morning a full pouch and has been begging all morning! So it can't just be hunger, surely?

You're notnfeeding him enough kittens that age are constantly hungry. They calm down when they get to about 9 months. Our 18 month old now only eats once a day (but eats loads).

Our 7 month old on the other hand is fuming when I come home from work having had to survive on a massive bowl of kibble all day. She can eat 3 pouches plus a few bowls of biscuits. She's skinny as anything but growing stupidly fast.

Young cats eat a lot because they are growing and active. He should still be on kitten food. The Felix kitten food box says 3-6 pouches a day at this age.

He needs at least another pouch a day plus biscuits, maybe even 3 pouches.

Kittens need to be fed 4 times a day!! Smaller meals 4 times a day at least. We have a kitten at the moment. She is 9 months but will have 3-4 of the kitten pouches every day spaced out and the. Dry food out all day too.
She still looks for food when we are making things but that’s because we sometimes give her treats like chicken / tuna.
You are not feeding her / him enough!!

He isn’t ‘greedy’. He’s hungry!

@ElspethFlashman

So he has a packet of wet food for breakfast, then dry for the rest of the day.

So we give him dry in the afternoon but when I say "at least" it's because we're essentially giving him a third helping of dry in an effort to stop him begging. I don't feel we've been stingy.

However we can certainly up the food and see if it makes any difference. That's an easy experiment to do.

However he was fed at 7.30 this morning a full pouch and has been begging all morning! So it can't just be hunger, surely?

You only give 1 wet pouch a day!!? One!!?

Last time I had a slightly older foster than this we swapped to big cans of food because he was eating so many pouches. They are bottomless pits.

OK so I've just put out an absolute mountain of dry food. He's had a few bites but then wandered away. So I don't think he was fainting with hunger but he was definitely peckish.

I'll just make sure he's always got some in his bowl and hopefully that'll sort it.

Do you not leave dry out?
We just top up the dry when the bowl is empty and then give wet food 2 or 3 times a day (depends on the day and whether someone is about to give the extra meal)

Mine are nearly 5 but we've done this since they were kittens

So can someone explain wet vs dry?

Does wet fill them up more or something? My vet actually told me that dry only was fine as long as they had water but I felt that wasn't much fun so we've been incorporating it.

But it explains why we didn't think it was as essential as the dry.

Mine graze so they will go back and forth to the bowls during the day so we leave dry out all the time

No, we weren't leaving it out because of attracting flies (which it does, to be fair).

Wet is less calorific than dry but gives moisture in the diet. Only 1 of mine drinks from the water bowl but the other does drink from the pond

We found having food constantly available kept ours quiet. His dry food bowl is kept filled and wet food is dished out whenever he askeds but only a third or a half at a time. He will eat two to three pouches a day, plus dry food and whatever he catches himself.

He doesn’t steal or bother us while we are eating.

*asks

Dry food doesn't attract flies in the way wet food does. I split a pouch between my 2 a couple of times a day so lots of wet isn't sitting out all the time

When mine were kittens we fed wet food three times a day plus dry out all the time. Now they're older they have wet food twice a day, plus an extra if they look hungry, and still dry food topped up all the time.