Kitten constantly hungry

TingaTinga

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Our 3 month old kitten is constantly looking for food. I was feeding her unlimited but found she kept having very runny stools so i did reign it in a bit and stools firmed up. Whenever anyone goes in the kitchen shes miowing for food and when she gets it shes gobbling it down like she hasnt been fed for a week. She looks like a barrel after every meal. Shes been wormed and had a vet check along with 2nd vaccine 3 days ago and they said all seemed fine with her. Is scrounging for food normal?? The other 2 kittens arent like that
 

Mr. Meow

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Kittens should be fed as much as they want (as long as they're not throwing up and still pooping). If the stools get a bit runny, you can add boiled chicken to the food to help firm it up.
 

Kieka

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What food are you feeding and how much? At that age kittens have a huge caloric requirement to grow and if you are feeding too little she is going to be hungry all the time. If there was a stool problem, chances are reducing food didn't help the problem just reduce it. She could have been having a problem with that specific food and reducing is not actually addressing the problem. Try a different food, preferably wet, with a novel protein for her.
 

FeebysOwner

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Hi. All the above advice is good! The other thing to consider is if the other kittens are 'hogging' the food so that she doesn't get as much as they do. Is she keeping up her weight? Malabsorption issues might be in play - ask your vet about that as well, especially if she is not gaining weight as she should be. But, first monitor how much she gets to eat compared to the other kiittens.
 
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TingaTinga

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Shes fed carny kitten wet food. Shes the more dominant of the 3. She will go to their bowls and eat their food if she finishes first and they back off and let her. (I do stop that though) i havent changed food at all but the slightly lesser amount definitely changed her stool back to firmer. I tried increasing again and we're back to runny stool again. Maybe i could leave some dry biscuits down all day for them to graze on in between meals?
 

FeebysOwner

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Some dry food for them to graze on isn't a bad idea given how young they are. It seems odd that this one kitten gets loose stools when she eats more of her wet food. I am wondering if that just means she has a bit of an allergy to her food and can only handle so much of it before it starts to bother her digestive tract. Just something to consider. Maybe, in addition to their wet food meals, having some dry left out will help to satisfy her hunger and not be as inclined to cause loose stools.
 
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