Need Advice on Dumped Kitty

[pearjas]

Yeah not sure if she was really ever on the street. I guess her past is an unknown. She insists on eating wet food..so I have to "prepare" each of her meals. I have her eating 3 cans of food per day. She "snacks" on dry food sometimes in between meals. The odd thing is she hasn't gained any weight. You'd think after consistent feeding for nearly a month, she would be gaining weight...

Is there any easy way to feed a cat wet cat food every day? It's quite a process, especially given I'm feeding two other stray cats outside every day as well! Guess I am just going to have to emphasize the dry food if possible... but I think about if I were to ever have to go anywhere for a day or two... finding someone to come over a few times a day to feed her wet food probably wouldn't be easy! lol

 

[Talien]

Yeah not sure if she was really ever on the street. I guess her past is an unknown. She insists on eating wet food..so I have to "prepare" each of her meals. I have her eating 3 cans of food per day. She "snacks" on dry food sometimes in between meals. The odd thing is she hasn't gained any weight. You'd think after consistent feeding for nearly a month, she would be gaining weight...

Is there any easy way to feed a cat wet cat food every day? It's quite a process, especially given I'm feeding two other stray cats outside every day as well! Guess I am just going to have to emphasize the dry food if possible... but I think about if I were to ever have to go anywhere for a day or two... finding someone to come over a few times a day to feed her wet food probably wouldn't be easy! lol

You could try a timed feeder, there are models that keep food cold so you can use canned food in them.

 

[Antonio65]

A Cat that was on the street is very likely to pick up the habit of eating everything they can when they can, because when they were on their own the never knew when their next meal would be. A Cat can pick up this habit after only a few days, and it often takes a very long time to get over it after being in a home even when they are regularly fed, and some never get over it. The best thing you can do is feed her at the same times every day and set out the same amount of food, this will get her into a routine and hopefully help break her of the "must eat everything now" habit. Don't feed her every time she begs for food or she will get fat.

My kitty was living as a feral with siblings and mother and would eat what and when they were able to find.
It was no wonder that she was always hungry when she came home.
But despite me feeding her always at the same time, as a solid routine, she is still asking for food "out of time". I am not indulging her t all. It's easy when she's the only cat.

When I had my two previous cats, one had been bottle fed, so she knew the habits. The other one was coming from the street and always hungry. she would eat hers and the other cat's food in a blink of an eye, she would just gobble down and ask for more. It took at least two years before she lost that habit.

 

[Antonio65]

Yeah not sure if she was really ever on the street. I guess her past is an unknown. She insists on eating wet food..so I have to "prepare" each of her meals. I have her eating 3 cans of food per day. She "snacks" on dry food sometimes in between meals. The odd thing is she hasn't gained any weight. You'd think after consistent feeding for nearly a month, she would be gaining weight...

I must have lost a piece of info about this cat.
How old is she?
It is possible, if she's very young, that she might took a while before gaining some weight. For instance, I was sure my kitty was going to remain a tiny kitty because she didn't gain a gram for at least a month at the age of 7 months.

 

[pearjas]

A timed feeder just might work! She is less than a year old, so that could be why there is no weight gain...and she has quite a bit of energy too (especially when I try to sleep). She still covers her food though.. which is quite interesting. She will "dig" at the floor and whatever she can find - a towel, a shirt, or whatever..she will literally pull it over and put it over the food.

I just think I'm not good at saying no... and I feed two strays in the area, and every time I feed them, she gets excited and expects food also. It definitely takes some getting used to... My previous kitty just demanded food be in the bowl at all times but otherwise controlled what she ate fine.

 

[amandag1]

Wet food is good! As long as shes having wet, she can get her water needed from the wet food... its way better for her to eat wet foods vs dry so that is a good thing !

 

[GreyLady]

A timed feeder just might work! She is less than a year old, so that could be why there is no weight gain...and she has quite a bit of energy too (especially when I try to sleep). She still covers her food though.. which is quite interesting. She will "dig" at the floor and whatever she can find - a towel, a shirt, or whatever..she will literally pull it over and put it over the food.

I just think I'm not good at saying no... and I feed two strays in the area, and every time I feed them, she gets excited and expects food also. It definitely takes some getting used to... My previous kitty just demanded food be in the bowl at all times but otherwise controlled what she ate fine.

The Food covering is definitely interesting, pretty cute and smart too. As long as there aren't other cats she's preventing eating this way it sounds harmless and clean.