- Joined
- Jul 13, 2018
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- 12
- Purraise
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I have two four month old kittens. I'm feeding them a variety of different foods to get them used to different textures and tastes. They include: ZiwiPeak Venison and Beef, Stella and Chewys freeze dried duck (reconstituted), my perfect pet (turkey for all life stages), small batch chicken sliders, and primal freeze dried turkey. My vet told me to follow the feeding instructions on the packaging, and since they are all different, my pet store told me as a general rule to double the amount for kittens.
They weren't crazy banshees when I was feeding them the Royal Canin Baby, but as soon as I switched to these foods they just went nuts. I have to lock them in a separate room while preparing the food, and then when we let them out they are frenzied about feeding. Before I gave up on trying to get them to sit and wait patiently (had mixed results with that), I had one kitten jump off the counter onto the plate of food I was holding in the middle of the kitchen kamikaze like. They will swipe at the plates knocking the food off, etc. Feeding time is stressful, and I'm afraid they will injure themselves or us in their frenzy.
I've considered that I'm not feeding them enough, and I read in one of the feeds on this site that you can't overfeed a kitten? I'm already giving them more than what was recommended on any of the packaging--they are each about 4 pounds. My perfect pet daily recommendation is 1 bar for each 10 pounds for an adult cat, and I give them each one bar a day, so that's already over twice the amount. Then I give them one slider, or one nugget of the freeze dried each in between the bars. The nuggets calculate to 3 a day for a kitten, so I'm adding in an extra third. The sliders equate to ~4 sliders a day (based on 5 pounds), and I'm giving them one, so that's an added 1/4 of daily allowance. I feed them four times a day. The more maniacal one is tiny, but all muscle and very active. She also is the one who is starting to remind me of kermit the frog when she lays on my lap (as in the round belly). The "calmer" one is bigger boned and not showing any pudge, if anything I wonder if he should eat more.
What other reasons could there be for the maniacal behavior around food? Their pregnant momma was brought into a rescue half way through her pregnancy, so they've only experienced the availability of food. My only other theory is that they really like the taste and consider it high value food to go crazy over, but they are also semi-food aggressive towards our food now too. We're having to resort to locking them in another room when we eat too. I read that cats can act that way if they aren't getting enough nutritional value, but my vet approved all the food choices for them. They get play time, and I just bought a cat food toy to put treats into to hopefully channel some of that energy. What's going on with these guys that I'm not addressing?? I'm working on training, but when they are so frenzied nothing gets through.
The last time I had kittens I was free feeding dry food, so this is all new to me.
They weren't crazy banshees when I was feeding them the Royal Canin Baby, but as soon as I switched to these foods they just went nuts. I have to lock them in a separate room while preparing the food, and then when we let them out they are frenzied about feeding. Before I gave up on trying to get them to sit and wait patiently (had mixed results with that), I had one kitten jump off the counter onto the plate of food I was holding in the middle of the kitchen kamikaze like. They will swipe at the plates knocking the food off, etc. Feeding time is stressful, and I'm afraid they will injure themselves or us in their frenzy.
I've considered that I'm not feeding them enough, and I read in one of the feeds on this site that you can't overfeed a kitten? I'm already giving them more than what was recommended on any of the packaging--they are each about 4 pounds. My perfect pet daily recommendation is 1 bar for each 10 pounds for an adult cat, and I give them each one bar a day, so that's already over twice the amount. Then I give them one slider, or one nugget of the freeze dried each in between the bars. The nuggets calculate to 3 a day for a kitten, so I'm adding in an extra third. The sliders equate to ~4 sliders a day (based on 5 pounds), and I'm giving them one, so that's an added 1/4 of daily allowance. I feed them four times a day. The more maniacal one is tiny, but all muscle and very active. She also is the one who is starting to remind me of kermit the frog when she lays on my lap (as in the round belly). The "calmer" one is bigger boned and not showing any pudge, if anything I wonder if he should eat more.
What other reasons could there be for the maniacal behavior around food? Their pregnant momma was brought into a rescue half way through her pregnancy, so they've only experienced the availability of food. My only other theory is that they really like the taste and consider it high value food to go crazy over, but they are also semi-food aggressive towards our food now too. We're having to resort to locking them in another room when we eat too. I read that cats can act that way if they aren't getting enough nutritional value, but my vet approved all the food choices for them. They get play time, and I just bought a cat food toy to put treats into to hopefully channel some of that energy. What's going on with these guys that I'm not addressing?? I'm working on training, but when they are so frenzied nothing gets through.
The last time I had kittens I was free feeding dry food, so this is all new to me.