Food Obsessed 7 Month Kitten....

[Sajast]

I've had a few cats over the years, have an adult with pica right now as a matter of fact, but I've never dealt with quite the...determination...my kitten has for people food. She's absolutely horrible and it's getting to the point where I may wind up taking her to the vet. However, I suspect it's more a behavioral issue? Anyone have similar experiences?

She's 7 months old now, I've had her since she was about 3 months, and she's quite small - maybe 5-6 lbs. She eats kitten food by Royal Canin and she can put away over a cup of dry food a day in addition to whatever else she finds. She's out of the gangly teenager stage and has filled out. I don't really like limiting kittens on food but she's getting to the age where she doesn't really need quite that many calories, especially since she's so little. I mean, she eats like 4 times a day.

HOWEVER. She is DESPERATE for food. She's gotten to the point where she will chew through cardboard boxes to get to pizza (if she can't nudge them open), she's eaten GARLIC bread and a lot of it (Gah!), she breaks into (un)opened bags of chips, cookies, you name it. Macaroni and cheese, peas, carrots, I swear I haven't found a food she won't try her darndest to get to. Kefir, coffee, soda are good too. She can open cabinets and, I could kill, she managed to figure out how to open the #$@$ fridge which she politely leaves open all #$@! night after she chews through whatever strikes her fancy. I even have suspicions she may have eaten her own feces a couple of times (really nasty breath a few times).

I've had a cat with irritable bowel disease and that manifested as diarrhea and caused a voracious appetite, but my kitten has normal poop and no vomiting. Any advice? I'm just not sure what the vet could offer in terms of medical issues. I even tried her on some left-over prescription food for IBD that helped curb the hunger for my other cat and no dice.

I should add, she's UTD on vaccines, spayed, and thoroughly dewormed.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

UM...well. The best I can give you is to reassure you about the garlic bread. Unless it actually had minced whole garlic on it, it won't be a problem. The dried powder and garlic salt have had the volatile oils removed, and are no longer dangerous. Of course, you don't want a kitten with garlic breath, but it won't make her sick unless she gets too much of a good thing.

It does sound behavioral to me, and since cats can have all sorts of psychological issues (including schizophrenia...who KNEW?), you might want to consult with a behaviorist. Perhaps your vet can recommend one? In the mean time, can you get the baby-proofing locks for your cabinet? And a dining room chair in front of the refrigerator at night will keep her paws and jaws out of the leftovers!

 

[NewYork1303]

I'd suggest at least asking a vet about it. Seems weird, but could be either behavioral or health related. Possibly the Royal Canin isn't fullfilling her somehow? Might want to try a different food to see if that changes anything.

For now, get child locks for all of your cabinets and the fridge.

 

[Sajast]

UM...well. The best I can give you is to reassure you about the garlic bread. Unless it actually had minced whole garlic on it, it won't be a problem. The dried powder and garlic salt have had the volatile oils removed, and are no longer dangerous. Of course, you don't want a kitten with garlic breath, but it won't make her sick unless she gets too much of a good thing.

Unfortunately it did involve minced garlic First time I've had to call poison control to determine a toxic dose for a pet lol. That was back when she was maybe 4 months and 3-4 lbs.

I'm going to look into childproofing the cabinets and fridge if I can.

I thought for a while that she might just be bored but even after playing with her for 2 hours a day - and some days she'll only tolerate maybe 1 hour of hardcore play, giving her tunnels and pop-up cubes, two large cat trees, etc....I'm not sure boredom is the issue. I mean, some of the time, maybe, when I'm stuck in the library all day, but not all day every day.

I'm just at a bit of a loss with the degree of her obsession haha.

I'd suggest at least asking a vet about it. Seems weird, but could be either behavioral or health related. Possibly the Royal Canin isn't fullfilling her somehow? Might want to try a different food to see if that changes anything.

Sadly no go. I've tried her on wet food (two different brands), and three varieties of dry including one that's prescription for IBD so it's HIGHLY digestible. The IBD stuff helped 1000% with a different cat who had chronic diarrhea and a, compared to my current situation, mild food obsession, but no such luck with this little girl.

Argh.

 

[LTS3]

Eating 4 times a day is common with kittens, even 7 month old ones. Do you know about how many calories your kitten is eating? If she's not getting enough calories, then she's going to be starving and desperate to find anything to eat. Some kittens need a lot of calories until they are a year old or so. Kittens grow and develop at their own pace. Can you try free feeding dry food for a few weeks to see if that helps?

Or try a home cooked or raw diet. That may be more filling than commerical cat food to some cats.

Is your kitten a former feral? Feral cats have food insecurities and are often always hungry even if they have food available all the time.

 

[susanm9006]

I have always let my kittens free feed until they are a year old. Yours in not heavy for her age and since she is still growing, she may really be hungry. I would at least try free feeding her kibble to see if that settles her down.

 

[Sajast]

Eating 4 times a day is common with kittens, even 7 month old ones. Do you know about how many calories your kitten is eating? If she's not getting enough calories, then she's going to be starving and desperate to find anything to eat. Some kittens need a lot of calories until they are a year old or so. Kittens grow and develop at their own pace. Can you try free feeding dry food for a few weeks to see if that helps?

Or try a home cooked or raw diet. That may be more filling than commerical cat food to some cats.

Is your kitten a former feral? Feral cats have food insecurities and are often always hungry even if they have food available all the time.

I have always let my kittens free feed until they are a year old. Yours in not heavy for her age and since she is still growing, she may really be hungry. I would at least try free feeding her kibble to see if that settles her down.

She eats about 23-25 grams of food per sitting so * 4, about 92 grams on the low end and 96 grams of her food is 368 calories. I'm used to weighing food due to my male.

She was free fed at night until she was about 4 months old when she was released from nightly quarantine and there was always food in the her bowl in the morning and she was still behaving like this - but she didn't know how to get into cabinets or the fridge back then.

Unfortunately I can't really free feed her now because my 9 year old pica male has zero self-control when it comes to cat food. Also, whatever he doesn't vomit back up from overeating goes straight to his gut so his food is strictly controlled (with vet approval). The only human food I can't trust him with is turkey

As to her origin...I have no idea. I adopted her from a rural shelter but she was a transfer in from another rural county and they didn't provide any details. I know she did have a sister and she had ear mites and one point had tapeworms/fleas which she was treated for while in my care. The way she behaves when being handled makes me think she was handled very regularly from a young age.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Unfortunately it did involve minced garlic

Well, of course, it did, doesn't it always when we don't want it to? If it had been garlic salt, she probably wouldn't have touched it, just to be contrary.

So...I'm stuck now insofar as what is causing this, how normal or abnormal it may be, and what and when (or even if) you should do about it!

 

[LTS3]

There are feeders that only allow a cat wearing a special microchip tag on the collar to access the food. That might help prevent the other cat from eating all the food. The SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder from SureFlap

 

[susanm9006]

If you can’t free feed then at least you should let her eat as much as she wants at each feeding.

 

[Sajast]

If you can’t free feed then at least you should let her eat as much as she wants at each feeding.

She does, is what I'm trying to say. She still leaves some food in the bowl, especially at her last (4th) PM feeding. Availability of cat food isn't the issue And because we ARE talking about a kitten, I feel I should reassure that she is NOT skinny. If anything she's a chunky monkey but I know she's too young to overly control her diet. I used to free feed my kittens, too, but this time around my boy just won't let that happen.

So...I'm stuck now insofar as what is causing this, how normal or abnormal it may be, and what and when (or even if) you should do about it!

Haha, I appreciate everyone taking the time to look at my situation. I may have to call the vet and I'm beginning to suspect it's partly kitten behavior and partly just her being Special.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Let us know if you ever get the answer to this...and let us know generally how you and the kittehs are doing, anyhow.

 

[Sajast]

Hi all! So for anyone who happens to Google the same issue I was having and is curious about how it resolved: She's fine. She's actually decided to be a very finicky eater after all that drama and lost a little weight! She did have to go to the vet a few weeks ago for some bad looking stool and went on a week of metro and fortiflora (too much gut bacteria). But now I have to essentially free feed dry and supplement with wet because she won't eat a meal in one sitting anymore LOL. And almost zero interest in human food these days - she's still a fan of pizza and chicken, though. Vet is happy overall and just wants me to keep free feeding her so she doesn't lose weight since she's decided she's a grazer. He also wanted her switched to adult food We'll worry about my boy's weight if/when it becomes an issue