cat eats too much

I have a five month old kitten that I think may eat too much. I'm not
worried about it at this stage, because it probably makes him grow fast,
but once he's grown it may make him get fat. He always has a plump belly
during the day, though it gets smaller during the night.

I have four cats, one of them confined to a bedroom,
and the others free to go in and out at will all the time.
They have dry cat chow available at all times, but I feed them
from Fancy Feast cans three times a day, and give one of them, who
doesn't seem to eat enough, Gerber chicken glop or deli chicken once
a day.

The problem is that the five month old always wants to eat too, so he
usually greedily eats the most during their regular feeding, and he
has the extra special treat too, when I give it to the one who I think
needs it.

Also, when I feed the confined cat, the young one waits outside the bedroom
door, and distracts the confined one while I try to get him to eat, which
is hard while he is distracted. So eventually I let the young one come in
for their daily, or twice daily, visit and the first thing the young one
does is start finishing off the uneaten food of the confined one.

No cat ever goes hungry because of another one being greedy, because I'm
usually there making sure they have multiple plates to eat off of; and
there's always the dry food in any case.

So, in this crazy environment, the young cat (5 months) is eating too much,
it seems, maintaining a noticably fatter belly than my other cats ever did
at his age.

I just wondered if there would be any comments or suggestions.

Thanks,

Calvin Rice

(Calvin Rice) wrote in message om...
I have a five month old kitten that I think may eat too much.

I had a similar issue just recently. My youngest, Pirate (now 10
months) seemed to be getting too fat too fast at about 5-6 months. He
frequently had a very plump belly. I didn't want to reduce the
availability of food, because my older kitties were at healthy weights
and I didn't want to deprive them of food.

I asked my vet, and he said not to be too concerned about the kitten's
weight for the first nine months. As it turned out, he grew into his
weight and is now doing just fine.

If your vet isn't concerned about the kitten's weight, I wouldn't
worry about it at this point.

You might consider feeding a good quality dry food in separate bowls
to your confined kitty and the little one. Cats can't gulp down the
dry food as fast, so the confined kitty will have a better chance of
eating a good meal before the youngster horns in.

Peggy L.

(Calvin Rice) wrote in message om...
I have a five month old kitten that I think may eat too much.

I had a similar issue just recently. My youngest, Pirate (now 10
months) seemed to be getting too fat too fast at about 5-6 months. He
frequently had a very plump belly. I didn't want to reduce the
availability of food, because my older kitties were at healthy weights
and I didn't want to deprive them of food.

I asked my vet, and he said not to be too concerned about the kitten's
weight for the first nine months. As it turned out, he grew into his
weight and is now doing just fine.

If your vet isn't concerned about the kitten's weight, I wouldn't
worry about it at this point.

You might consider feeding a good quality dry food in separate bowls
to your confined kitty and the little one. Cats can't gulp down the
dry food as fast, so the confined kitty will have a better chance of
eating a good meal before the youngster horns in.

Peggy L.

(Peggy L) wrote in message om...
(Calvin Rice) wrote in message om...
I have a five month old kitten that I think may eat too much.
I had a similar issue just recently. ...

Thanks for the answer. It helps a lot not to worry too much about it,
though I will mention it to the vet. Since this is the third cat I've
had starting at about five to seven weeks old, and is the first to seem
to eat too much, I was a little concerned.

When I first got him he would squawk very loudly and impatiently every time
I started to fix food for him, which made me wonder what his first few
weeks had been like. Maybe he had to aggressively compete with other
kittens. Now, at five months, he still acts that way a little bit, even
though he is extremely well fed.

Calvin Rice

(Peggy L) wrote in message om...
(Calvin Rice) wrote in message om...
I have a five month old kitten that I think may eat too much.
I had a similar issue just recently. ...

Thanks for the answer. It helps a lot not to worry too much about it,
though I will mention it to the vet. Since this is the third cat I've
had starting at about five to seven weeks old, and is the first to seem
to eat too much, I was a little concerned.

When I first got him he would squawk very loudly and impatiently every time
I started to fix food for him, which made me wonder what his first few
weeks had been like. Maybe he had to aggressively compete with other
kittens. Now, at five months, he still acts that way a little bit, even
though he is extremely well fed.

Calvin Rice