questions about very hungry kitten

I've adopted a three-month-old DSH/Siamese mix kitten from the local
shelter. Everything is going well, and she's getting along swimmingly
with my two other cats.

She weighed in at four pounds at the vet, but to look at her she seems
smaller. She's in no danger of being overweight, which I suppose is
typical for most shelter cats.

She's basically eating everything that's not nailed down. I feed her
three and a half 5.5 oz. cans of Nutro chicken and rice a day, which is
about a full can ahead of their recommended serving. She eats in in six
or seven servings over the course of a day. If I'm not timely with
feeding her, she filches from the boys' dry food; otherwise, she shows a
stunning indifference to dry, and has basically refused three different
dry kitten foods I've tried.

She had a bout of mild diarrhea when she first came home, but a worm
test and smear at the vet confirmed she doesn't have any parasites or
other intestinal afflictions.

Should I just let her eat what she wants? Aside from wanting only
canned food, she's not finicky at all: if Nutro made a wallboard and
spackle flavor, I'd bet she'd eat it. No barfing or other gastric
distress, just a very healthy appetite. When she eats, she usually
cleans her plate, but doesn't rush or gulp, so I really doubt she's
eating out of fear it will be taken away. She does leave some food from
time to time, just not much nor often. At some point, do I need to
start cutting her off?

I got one of my other cats as a kitten at about the same age, but he
liked dry food, and stayed pretty close to the recommended serving, so
my experience is limited.

This is not unusualy for a stray cat adopted from the shelter. I would feed
many small feedings daily. I would not worry about over feeding her. My one
year old cat (stray) did the same thing. He is beautiful now with silky coat
and not over weight at all.
Gail
"Rick Vigorous" wrote in message
om...
I've adopted a three-month-old DSH/Siamese mix kitten from the local
shelter. Everything is going well, and she's getting along swimmingly
with my two other cats.

She weighed in at four pounds at the vet, but to look at her she seems
smaller. She's in no danger of being overweight, which I suppose is
typical for most shelter cats.

She's basically eating everything that's not nailed down. I feed her
three and a half 5.5 oz. cans of Nutro chicken and rice a day, which is
about a full can ahead of their recommended serving. She eats in in six
or seven servings over the course of a day. If I'm not timely with
feeding her, she filches from the boys' dry food; otherwise, she shows a
stunning indifference to dry, and has basically refused three different
dry kitten foods I've tried.

She had a bout of mild diarrhea when she first came home, but a worm
test and smear at the vet confirmed she doesn't have any parasites or
other intestinal afflictions.

Should I just let her eat what she wants? Aside from wanting only
canned food, she's not finicky at all: if Nutro made a wallboard and
spackle flavor, I'd bet she'd eat it. No barfing or other gastric
distress, just a very healthy appetite. When she eats, she usually
cleans her plate, but doesn't rush or gulp, so I really doubt she's
eating out of fear it will be taken away. She does leave some food from
time to time, just not much nor often. At some point, do I need to
start cutting her off?

I got one of my other cats as a kitten at about the same age, but he
liked dry food, and stayed pretty close to the recommended serving, so
my experience is limited.

This is not unusualy for a stray cat adopted from the shelter. I would feed
many small feedings daily. I would not worry about over feeding her. My one
year old cat (stray) did the same thing. He is beautiful now with silky coat
and not over weight at all.
Gail
"Rick Vigorous" wrote in message
om...
I've adopted a three-month-old DSH/Siamese mix kitten from the local
shelter. Everything is going well, and she's getting along swimmingly
with my two other cats.

She weighed in at four pounds at the vet, but to look at her she seems
smaller. She's in no danger of being overweight, which I suppose is
typical for most shelter cats.

She's basically eating everything that's not nailed down. I feed her
three and a half 5.5 oz. cans of Nutro chicken and rice a day, which is
about a full can ahead of their recommended serving. She eats in in six
or seven servings over the course of a day. If I'm not timely with
feeding her, she filches from the boys' dry food; otherwise, she shows a
stunning indifference to dry, and has basically refused three different
dry kitten foods I've tried.

She had a bout of mild diarrhea when she first came home, but a worm
test and smear at the vet confirmed she doesn't have any parasites or
other intestinal afflictions.

Should I just let her eat what she wants? Aside from wanting only
canned food, she's not finicky at all: if Nutro made a wallboard and
spackle flavor, I'd bet she'd eat it. No barfing or other gastric
distress, just a very healthy appetite. When she eats, she usually
cleans her plate, but doesn't rush or gulp, so I really doubt she's
eating out of fear it will be taken away. She does leave some food from
time to time, just not much nor often. At some point, do I need to
start cutting her off?

I got one of my other cats as a kitten at about the same age, but he
liked dry food, and stayed pretty close to the recommended serving, so
my experience is limited.

"Rick Vigorous" wrote in message
om...
I've adopted a three-month-old DSH/Siamese mix kitten from the local
shelter. ...

Bless you for adopting her. We want pictures! :')

I agree with Gail, I'd let her eat what she wants, just watch her portions
so that she doesn't gorge and get sick. She is adjusting to you and to her
new home, you could send worse messages than "there is enough to eat and you
don't have to fight over it." My skinny shelter girl also ate a lot, but
settled down. She is full grown and has never weighed more than 8 pounds.
Keep us posted!

"Rick Vigorous" wrote in message
om...
I've adopted a three-month-old DSH/Siamese mix kitten from the local
shelter. ...

Bless you for adopting her. We want pictures! :')

I agree with Gail, I'd let her eat what she wants, just watch her portions
so that she doesn't gorge and get sick. She is adjusting to you and to her
new home, you could send worse messages than "there is enough to eat and you
don't have to fight over it." My skinny shelter girl also ate a lot, but
settled down. She is full grown and has never weighed more than 8 pounds.
Keep us posted!

In article ,
loaf enlightened us with...
Should I just let her eat what she wants? Aside from wanting only
canned food, she's not finicky at all:

I'd let her eat however much she wants unless she starts getting pudgie.

Canned food is generally better for cats than dry (more moisture, better
urinary health), so go ahead and go with it.

--
--
~kaeli~
A man's home is his castle..., in a manor of speaking.
http://www.ipwebdesign.net/wildAtHeart
http://www.ipwebdesign.net/kaelisSpace

In article ,
loaf enlightened us with...
Should I just let her eat what she wants? Aside from wanting only
canned food, she's not finicky at all:

I'd let her eat however much she wants unless she starts getting pudgie.

Canned food is generally better for cats than dry (more moisture, better
urinary health), so go ahead and go with it.

--
--
~kaeli~
A man's home is his castle..., in a manor of speaking.
http://www.ipwebdesign.net/wildAtHeart
http://www.ipwebdesign.net/kaelisSpace

I'd just give her whatever she wants.

--
Barb
Of course I don't look busy,
I did it right the first time.

I'd just give her whatever she wants.

--
Barb
Of course I don't look busy,
I did it right the first time.

Rick Vigorous loaf wrote:

At some point, do I need to
start cutting her off?

My own opinion is to give kittens as much as they want to eat. They need lots
of calories and their tummies don't hold all that much at each meal anyway, so
they need to eat frequently. The time to start cutting down is once she is
close to adult (at least nine months old and with the Siamese in her, I'd say
more like a year) and starts getting pudgy. But again, with the Siamese genes
she may be one of those cats that can eat all they want and never gets fat,
even as an adult. We have one like that.