Should I feed my kitten every time he s hungry

Kitten Always Hungry: What Is Going On With My Pet?

Generally speaking, in order to support their rapid growth, kittens need to take in a lot of nutrients every day. Additionally, energetic kittens often have a tendency to eat more. As a result, it's natural for your fluffy friend to beg for more foods in its bowl around mealtimes. That being said, in the case the pet seems to be hungry all the time, something might have gone wrong. As kittens have a rather fragile constitution, cat parents have to act if they notice odd signs in the felines. Still, very few people know the ideal approach to the issue of kitten always hungry.

Worry that the big appetite of your furball is a sign of underlying health issues? If that is your primary concern at the moment, you come to the right place. Down below, you would find everything you must keep in mind about what makes your kitten always hungry, the necessity of vet checkups and methods to prevent kittens from overeating.

Why The Pet Eats So Much: A List Of Possibilities

Overall, all sorts of things influence the appetite of the cats but if your kitten constantly whines for food, you should consider the following suspects.

Intestinal worms take all of their nutrients from the host. So if such parasites manage to get into the intestine your fluffy friend through foods, fleas and alike, its appetite shall grow substantially without fail. The pet keeps eating but it's unable to satisfy its hunger as the worms get most of the nutrients. In a couple of cases, cat parents may even see signs of worm infestations in the feces of affected felines. Fortunately, you should be able to take care of the worms in your kitten by using cat-specific deworming medications.

As the pancreas of diabetic cats fails to properly produce insulin, the pets simply have no way to utilize the sugar they obtain from foods. As a result, the felines would continue eating to get the energy its body needs. While several people assume that the disease is only a threat to senior cats, it could affect juvenile kittens too. That is why don't ever rule out diabetes if you suddenly realize that your kitten possesses an insatiable hunger. The appetite of your kitten is going to rerun to normal when you manage to bring the disease under control.

The playful nature of kittens makes them susceptible to boredom if they feel being neglected. In downtime, the felines do all sorts of things to entertain themselves but similar to humans, some resort to eating. Bored kittens don't eat to satisfy their hunger, they eat because they see foods. Among the potential culprits that make a kitten always hungry, boredom is considered to be the easiest to solve as people only need to keep the pet engaged in activities. Once your kitten got too absorbed into something, it shall forget about the feeding bowl.

Kittens that live on the street never know when the next meal would come so they eat as much as they could at every opportunity. Therefore, if you recently adopted your kitten, it's highly likely that the pet is behaving based on past experience. As long as your furball notice foods in its feeding bowl, it should keep eating which put the pet at risk of developing digestive upsets. Luckily, your kitten is going to eat just enough if you show the pet that the food supply is stable for most of the time.

Generally speaking, people that eat mostly fast-food tend to get hungry hours after mealtime. Well, the same thing happens to the average kittens: The felines tend to feel hungry if they have to eat low-quality foods every day. As their nutrient need remains unfulfilled, the pets shall eat and eat and eat without a care in the world. On the bright side, if food is what makes your kitten always hungry, all you have to do is to make changes to its diet. Overall, prioritize kitten foods from reputable brands in order to give your cat sufficient nutrients.

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The Ideal Approach: Need Helps? Visit The Local Veterinary Clinic

When it comes to the well being of your fluffy friend, it's impossible for you to be too careful. That is why cat parents should consider bringing their kitten straight to the vets in the case something seems odd. Veterinarians could detect illnesses in cats, devise proper treatments and offer much-needed advice regarding the health of the felines. Hence, it's strongly recommended that you write down the number of the neighborhood vet clinic in case you notice strange behaviors in your pet.

Getting Kittens To Eat Less: Tips And Tricks For Owners

• Consider Adopting Meal Feeding Plan: Free feeding presents an obvious benefit: You don't necessarily have to be around in order to feed your furball. You only need to fill the bowl to the brim for the pet to nibble. Nonetheless, if your kitten is eating more than it actually needs, switch to meal feeding. Though such a feeding plan requires extra times as well as efforts, it minimizes the risk of overeating in cats.

• Invest In Treat-Dispensing Toys: You have no time to play with your fluffy friend? If that is so, visit the pet store to get some interactive treat-dispensing toys. The toys would surely get the attention of your kitten away from its feeding bowl. With the toys, you could have peace of mind while allowing your cat to tire itself out as it pleases. Of course, you have to keep the treats under control.

• Put Together A Well Balanced Diet: As mentioned above, kittens require a lot of nutrients to develop into healthy cats. Because of that, you should be able to ensure that your furball never eats excessively by assembling a sound diet. If you want to play it safe, ask the vets for a couple of recommendations. Actually, veterinarians could even help you arrange an optimized feeding schedule that meets the specific condition of your fluffy friend.

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My Kitten Is Always Hungry (Am I Feeding It Enough?)

Growing up, I was quite the hungry child, always ready for the next meal. Seeing a similar insatiable appetite in my newly adopted kitten took me by surprise.

Despite feeding him regularly, he seemed to have an endless hunger.

If youre caring for a kitten right now, you might be asking yourself, Why is my kitten always hungry?

Kittens are hungry all the time because of their rapid growth and high metabolic rate. Think of them as growing kids that need all the nutrition that they can get. There can also be certain health issues that can cause a kitten to be always hungry and this requires medical attention.

Lets take a look at the required nutrition that a growing kitten needs and some possible medical conditions that can be fueling your kittens insatiable hunger.

Is It Normal For My Kitten To Be This Hungry?

If you have never seen a hungry kitten before, you have no idea how hangry (hungry+angry) they can get when their little but bottomless bellies need food.

Kittens are eating machines due to their growth spurts and high energy levels. You need to keep feeding the meowing machine.

When kittens are first born, they are very dependent on their mother for food. The kittens will always be crying for their mother for attention and milk until they are old enough to fend for their own.

Mothers milk is best for them as it contains all the required nutrients and antibodies that help to bolster the weak immune systems of her kittens.

For the next 5-6 weeks, the mother cat will be kept very busy from the constant feeding that is required to keep her kittens growing and satisfy their healthy appetite.

How Many Times A Day Should A Kitten Be Fed?

There are different milestones during the growing years of a kitten. The number of times that you need to feed your kitten largely depends on its age.

There are times when a mother cat will bring her kittens to you because she is unable to feed all of them properly.

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Another important point to note is not to remove the kitten from its mother before 12-15 weeks.

Just because the kittens are weaned off their mothers milk at 5 weeks means they are ready to conquer the world.

Removing kittens from their mother prematurely can result in behavioral and health issues as they get older.

Newborn To 5 Weeks Old

If your kitten is still less than 5 weeks old, it needs to be bottle-fed on a regular feeding routine. And by regular, I do mean every few hours even throughout the night.

Pretty similar to how you would care for a baby.

This might not be the best time for you to let your kitten sleep alone downstairs or in a room. Your little kitty requires round the clock feeding every fwe hours.

When feeding a kitten at such a tender age, please only use kitten milk formula from the vet.

Do not feed the poor cat cows milk that you have in your fridge or you will be dealing with explosive diarrhea for a few days.

6 To 12 Weeks

At this age, most kittens will start to wean off their mothers milk. If you have been feeding your kitten a milk formula for the last few weeks, you can slowly start to transition to solid food.

Start off with some good quality canned food a few times a day. You can slowly stop feeding your kitten milk once it has gotten used to solid cat food.

At this age, your kitten will still be a very hungry cat and feeding more than three meals a day is pretty normal.

Keep the food portions small as a kittens tummy is still small and cant hold much food.

It is best to not leave out the wet food for too long to prevent any form of contamination.

12 Weeks To 6 Months

As your kitten gets older, you can start to increase the food portion size and decrease the feeding frequency.

Your cats tummy has more space to contain more food and keep them full for longer periods of time.

This will be the optimal growing phase for most kittens which is why you still need to feed them as much food as they want.

Not only is the quantity of food important but the quality of your cats diet as well.

If you are keen on transitioning your cat to a raw meat diet, now is a good time to do so.

Youll be surprised as to how well a kitten can take to eating raw meat at such a young age.

6 Months And Above

Most kittens will start to slow down in their growth rate once they reach about 80-85% of their adult size. In most breeds, kittens become adult cats at 12-14 months of age.

There are some breeds like the Maine Coon that can take 3-4 years to reach maturity which also explains their huge size compared to other breeds.

A fully grown male Coon can weigh a hefty 25 lbs.

Once the kittens growth rate slows down, it will probably start to eat lesser as well. Feeding your cat about twice a day is more than enough for many breeds.

Should I Let My Kitten Eat As Much As It Wants?

In theory yes because kittens require as many calories as possible to support their rapid growth, especially during the first 6 months,

There are so many recommendations as to how much you should be feeding your kitten based on their age vs daily caloric intake.

Truth be told, it is confusing and can cause some cat owners to feed their kittens lesser than required for optimal growth.

Heres what I did instead when my cat was a kitten.

Every time that my cat was hungry, I just feed him till he wasnt interested in the food dish.

I tried following the instructions on the can label but my cat reacted like I was starving him.

You can follow those recommendations as a guide but your kittens appetite would depend on its activity level, breed and genetics.

It is better to overfeed your kitten than to underfeed it.

If you have a young kitten and plan to leave it alone at home while youre at work, that isnt going to work.

You will need to get someone to come by to feed your kitten or it will get too hungry.

How Do I Know If My Kitten Is Overeating?

Yes, I share your concern about overfeeding your kitten and your cat turning into a giant furry lardball.

I dont know about you but in all my years of keeping and fostering cats, Ive never seen a fat or obese kitten before.

Even the ones that seem a little chonky can still play all day long.

It is hard to overfeed your kitten if you are feeding it a good quality diet.

Most kittens know when to stop eating when they are full but there will always be one or two who will be too enthusiastic about meal time.

Here are some ways to know if your kitten is overeating.

Diarrhea

The main symptom that I look out for is diarrhea. Kittens that overeat tend to have loose stools.

The poo of a healthy kitten should be firm and light/dark brown in color. Just like when we gaze in pride in the toilet bowl after having a good number 2.

If your kitten is having the runs, try feeding it lesser during meal times to see if that clears up within a day or two.

Otherwise, you need to bring your cat to the vet for an examination.

Diarrhea in kittens can be fatal as they will lose a lot of water and electrolytes.

An important heads up.

Your cats poo stinks according to what they eat. My cats poo smelt like radioactive waste when he was on kibbles for the first few months.

And his poo smelt the least offensive when he was on a raw meat diet.

You have been warned.

Swollen Looking Belly

It is normal for your kitten to have a little belly bulge after a full meal.

But if the bulge looks distended and uncomfortable for the kitten, it means that the kitten is eating a tad too much each time.

A good way around this is to feed smaller amounts per meal but increase the frequency.

Vomiting

Cats that eat too fast and too much at one go will tend to regurgitate their food shortly.

This is because the stomach wall expands too quickly which causes the brain to send the signal to Eject! Eject!.

Smaller and more frequent meals can help solve this problem.

Why Is My Kitten Always Hungry But Skinny?

The growth spurt of a kitten is very noticeable, especially during the first 6-7 months of its life.

If you are nursing a very young kitten, it is good practice to keep track of the cats weight to make sure that it is putting on weight at a healthy pace.

A good gain rate would be 3-5 ounces a week and it should be at a healthy weight of about 2-3 lbs when it is about 8 weeks old.

However, there can be times that despite all the food that your cat eats, your little feline friend doesnt seem to gain weight.

Why?

Intestinal Parasites

It is common for many kittens to have intestinal parasites during their early years. more than 50% of cats are infected by these pesky intestinal parasites.

Most of the time, these kittens can get it from their mother or when eating contaminated food.

The more common parasites are:

• Hookworms
• Roundworms
• Tapeworms

These worms will enter your cats body and take up residence in its digestive system, feeding off the nutrients from your cats food.

Your cat might be eating a lot, a good portion of the food is being leeched off by the worms.

This can cause unexplained weight loss in your kitten even though it is acting hungry all the time.

These worms can multiply to be in the hundreds and thousands if nothing is done to eliminate them.

If your kitten has yet to be dewormed, take it to the vet for a check. You will have to provide a stool sample for the vet to examine.

Once these parasites have been identified, your cat will be given dewormer tablets to remove these worms.

Most indoor cats have to be dewormed only once. But if your cat is allowed to roam outdoors, you must check for worms regularly.

Underlying Medical Problem

There are many health issues that can cause your kitten to lose weight even though it is eating well. Kittens dont have very strong immune systems and can fall sick easily.

If you notice that your kitten has been having diarrhea, nausea or feeling lethargic, you need to get it to the vet right away.

Dont sit on it as kittens only have a small window before the cats health can worsen dramatically.

Should I Free Feed My Kitten with Dry Food?

I know of many cat owners who leave out huge servings of dry food for their kittens to munch on the whole day long.

This isnt good for them.

Firstly, dry food or kibbles is just really bad for cats in general let alone kittens who require top-quality nutrition. And please dont feed you kittens human foods as well.

Most dry food contains very little protein and too much carbohydrates. All cats are obligate carnivores and require protein from animal meat to survive.

Secondly, leaving out dry food in the open the whole day long can result in it getting stale and being contaminated. This is especially so if you live in a warm and humid country.

The last thing we want to happen is for our kitten to be eating spoiled food and getting food poisoning.

Nora is a passionate writer with a love for books, animals, and gardening.

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