The Forever Hungry Kitten

[Momto3newkittens]

I have a 10 month old kitten that always acts like we haven't fed her in days when it's about an hour before feeding time. She meows constantly and stares at me. I've even adjusted the mealtimes to help alleviate that but she just starts her meowing earlier. I know she would prefer to graze but our other cat would eat all the food if we left it out. We feed them two full meals at 545am, 5pm, and a snack at 11pm to help me sleep. If we don't feed her then she has me up at 3 am with her meowing. Between the three it's a full days serving of food. They aren't overfed. Any suggestions on what I might be doing wrong??

Note: we feed them a combination diet of dry and wet.

Anything to help me sleep or help her trust me that she will be fed

 

[rubysmama]

Normally it's advised to always have food available for kittens, however, with your other cat, I see that's not an option. At only 10 months old, though, your kitten is probably not fully grown yet, so needs to eat as much as she can.

Here's an excerpt on feeding cats from our The Multi-cat Household article

Make sure your cats never have to compete for food or water. Have enough food and water dishes for all. Depending on the number of your cats, you may want to consider setting up several feeding locations. Preventing the cats from crowding around the dishes will help to minimize mealtime aggression, and will also relieve stress. Be sure and feed the most dominant cat first. That will also go a long way in easing tensions that sometimes result during feeding time.

Also one with 18 Awesome Cat Feeding Tips By Thecatsite Staff Members

And How Much Food Should I Feed My Cat?

As for waking you up early looking for food, maybe try a timed automatic feeder.

 

[di and bob]

Kittens should be fed as much as they can consume until one or so. She is hungry. I would consider leaving out a kibble made for weight management that all the cats could eat at will. She could eat that and hopefully fill up. Get treats that would fill her up and not out like shaved turkey breast or deli beef/ham.

 

[nese]

Did you try food puzzles? Maybe she gets too hungry until the meal time and needs snacks in between. If you leave a bit dry food in a food puzzle, she can have some kibbles until the full meal time and when you use food puzzle maybe the other cat does not eat it all.

 

[Momto3newkittens]

Did you try food puzzles? Maybe she gets too hungry until the meal time and needs snacks in between. If you leave a bit dry food in a food puzzle, she can have some kibbles until the full meal time and when you use food puzzle maybe the other cat does not eat it all.

The food puzzle idea sounds like a good idea! We sometimes will do the treat Kongs for cats and she loves that (the boy still hasn't gotten the hang of it lol). I'll give that a try this weekend so I can see if the boy goes after her stuff if he finishes. He's getting better at not eating her food after he finishes his so I have hope haha

 

[Momto3newkittens]

Kittens should be fed as much as they can consume until one or so. She is hungry. I would consider leaving out a kibble made for weight management that all the cats could eat at will. She could eat that and hopefully fill up. Get treats that would fill her up and not out like shaved turkey breast or deli beef/ham.

Unfortunately we can't change up their food since the boy is allergic to chicken and it was hard enough to find something that is for kittens or all life stages without chicken. She can eat whatever she wants haha so we have them separated so he won't try to eat her food and get sick. She goes nuts for deli turkey lol it's her favorite. I guess I just have to do the treats more often during the day and hope that helps. Thanks!

 

[Momto3newkittens]

Normally it's advised to always have food available for kittens, however, with your other cat, I see that's not an option. At only 10 months old, though, your kitten is probably not fully grown yet, so needs to eat as much as she can.

Here's an excerpt on feeding cats from our The Multi-cat Household article

Make sure your cats never have to compete for food or water. Have enough food and water dishes for all. Depending on the number of your cats, you may want to consider setting up several feeding locations. Preventing the cats from crowding around the dishes will help to minimize mealtime aggression, and will also relieve stress. Be sure and feed the most dominant cat first. That will also go a long way in easing tensions that sometimes result during feeding time.

Also one with 18 Awesome Cat Feeding Tips By Thecatsite Staff Members

And How Much Food Should I Feed My Cat?

As for waking you up early looking for food, maybe try a timed automatic feeder.

I am not worried so much about waking me up as why is she so dang hungry. She seems to be able to eat as much as my 10 month old 13 pound boy and she has just only hit 7 lbs. I thought that after the first few months it's better to regulate than to keep feeding them, but I guess she needs to keep being fed. The boy is happy and full after his meal. Maybe it's the food? We use Taste of the Wild for her. Either way I will start adding more to her food today and hope that helps. Thank you!