Feeding/Watering my baby boy.

[dill.purriamson]

Dill came to us eating dollar store cat food. Now, obviously we didn't keep him eating that, and we'd went out and purchased Purina Kitten food and some canned Fancy Feast. Now, I learned about a month ago that there are better foods than what they sell at Walmart so I got a small bag of Chicken Soup for Dill.

Dill got MAJOR runs and stinky gas for almost a week after we stopped and went back to Purina. We've also tried Blue Buffalo since the commercials made it seem good as well, he also did this. We tried mixing this one in slowly but after getting to half and half, same thing.

Anyone know about a 'premium' cat food that by any chance includes pepto jk. Whats easiest on cat's stomachs? Now, I'm in college and I'd much rather put more money into his emergency savings account every 2 weeks than buy him ridiculously expensive cat food, so what's a reasonably priced food? Or is Purina okay?

As well, he eats a cup and a half every day (split in two) and a full can of fancy feast. He isn't 'fat', he's just a large kitten (tall and thick built) but... is this enough? Or too much? If I let him, he'd eat more... so should I?

 

[arlyn]

You might try a gradual switch to Nutro, its not the best, but it is better than Purina and is reasonably priced and a lot of kitties do well on it.

Do a very, very gradual switch though.

How old is he?

 

[minka]

Unfortunately, sometimes when switching from one food to another, there is no avoiding the runs and stinky gas. :X
Especially since you said both Chicken Soup AND Blue did this, it sounds like you are just going to have to switch realllyyy slowly. (Unless you didn't switch slowly beforehand, then well, now you know

)

But yea, start with only a few kibbles of the new food for a few days, then a handful, then two, etc, etc.

Authority is a good brand that will not break the bank, but also will be better for your kitty. Comes in dry and canned form as well.

Oh, and how old is Dill? If he's still a kitten, he's good to eat as much as he wants, but if he's an adult cat, I'm going to say that's too much.

 

[dill.purriamson]

Dill is somewhere between 4 and 5 months. I think he's gonna need diet food when he's older. When we got him neutered, the vet said he probably won't eat for 24 to 48 hours and not to worry. FIRST thing he did when he got home was demolish his foodbowl (and pooped as he did it

). Obviously, the drugs did not affect his appetite.

 

[minka]

I've seen his photos and he's not fat in any way. He's a growing boy and needs lots of food. When he turns a year, his appetite should slow down, and if not, just take what you feed and halve it.

 

[dill.purriamson]

So, I spoke to Dill's vet and she said to let Dill consume whatever he wants and let her know how much he WILL eat on his next visit in two weeks (since I guess it could be a medical problem. The vet wants to know if he's actually still hungry or if he's just trying to eat anything because he's afraid it'll go missing, these are separate problems that require separate testings).

Today Dill ate 2 cans of fancy feast (one's almost done, not yet, he keeps going back to it over the course of the last two hours... which is gross, lol, it's probably dry now) and has free ate kibble today totally around 2 and a half cups... I've cut him off for now since I think it's clear to me he's not hungry and he's just doing it because he's afraid it'll go missing on him. There's no one here stealing food but from his background, maybe he didn't get fed as often as he should.

I've been reading and I think it'll benefit him greatly to be fed the same time every day. That way he knows the food is coming.

My question is now, twice a day? Three times? I can't do much more than three times though.

 

[minka]

Originally Posted by Dill.Purriamson

So, I spoke to Dill's vet and she said to let Dill consume whatever he wants and let her know how much he WILL eat on his next visit in two weeks (since I guess it could be a medical problem. The vet wants to know if he's actually still hungry or if he's just trying to eat anything because he's afraid it'll go missing, these are separate problems that require separate testings).

Today Dill ate 2 cans of fancy feast (one's almost done, not yet, he keeps going back to it over the course of the last two hours... which is gross, lol, it's probably dry now) and has free ate kibble today totally around 2 and a half cups... I've cut him off for now since I think it's clear to me he's not hungry and he's just doing it because he's afraid it'll go missing on him. There's no one here stealing food but from his background, maybe he didn't get fed as often as he should.

I've been reading and I think it'll benefit him greatly to be fed the same time every day. That way he knows the food is coming.

My question is now, twice a day? Three times? I can't do much more than three times though.

It does sound like he might be eating out of fear it will be gone since I guess he didn't grow up in a good background. But since kittens are growing so fast, it is pretty hard for them to become fat. But with a vet helping you out, you should be good to go.

I can't remember exactly, but I think with a kitten his age, he needs to eat at least 4 times a day. You'll have to check with either the interwebs, or Auntie Crazy. So you may want to stick to free-feeding, but when he's older, 3 times a day will be plenty.