A couple behavioral problems...

hey,that's cool!
"studio" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Nov 4, 1:34 am, RPSinha wrote:
Barb, studio, Mike, Ted, William, Rene...
Thanks again.

_.-.~'-'~`'~)
/\ ~-,__,,,....' ,.;-,-;;~`''
|,o` .// ' ; ;/'
'-\\~;'@ ( ;;'
,-'' ,-)..-_ ;' .
(,_.-``" (,..--''

Meow

Barb wrote:

: With 8 cats, I cant be exact how much each cat is eating daily, so
: that's why I leave a bowl of food out.

Yes I can understand that. Also, you develop a tougher personality that
we lack at present.

For example, my SO's logic goes somewhat like this: When the cat comes
in from outside, she is hungry and tired, so we should feed her. When
she is leaving to go out, well, she'll be cold and tired soon, so feed
her. When it is time for us to eat, we can't just eat by ourselves and
have her watch, can we?

We don't always act on those feelings but that's what they are.

: If I fed my cats a can of food as you,RP, it would eat me out of house
: and home ..but as I said, we all do things differ.

You are right, with just one to feed we can be relaxed and carefree.
Several cats and one little can per cat would get expensive. In that
case I would look for larger cans, more economical packings, and better
value brands. And maybe some kibble. I understand.

: Enjoy your pet. That's how I got started with my brood..my neice needed me
: to cat sit for hers and when it was close to departure, I knew I would miss
: the cat so we adopted her half brother (nightshade) and then he got lonesome
: for his sister and we got a nother one...and the neighborhood cats knew the
: vacancy sign was out.

Great story.

On 3 Nov, 07:47, RPSinha wrote:
Would like the opinion of you more experienced folks on a couple
issues:

(1) When I started looking after this 10 month old cat, she used to
come in from outside in the evening (5PM-7PM?), have dinner, go to bed,
want to eat around 5AM, go out, and then goof around all day in the
yards. For each meal, we were feeding one 3oz fancy feast can. This was
pretty steady for a few weeks.

Now, since the last few days she has started coming in and demanding
snacks at additional times, twice during the day and sometimes even
once during the evening. For example, yesterday she wanted to eat at
5AM, 9AM, 2PM, 6PM, and 10PM!

I am worried if she is eating too much. Initially, it was possible to
divide two cans into 3 meals, but 5 is difficult and I think she is
eating more than before.

My SO is very soft-hearted and says at 10 months is only a kitten and
her behavior tells us the by following the adult guidelines we have not
been feeding her growing body enough?

Need your thoughts on all aspects of the situation. Should we let her
eat as much as she wants as long as her body looks to be in good shape?
Beside quantity, should we give her food/snack as often as she wants?

(2) While we are serving her food, she seems and acts extremely excited
as well as agitated about any perceived delay. While I am putting food
on the plate, or God forbid microwaving for a few seconds, she jumps
and meows and pulls on my clothes and rushes back and forth to the
feeding area. We do find it cute, but I am beginning to wonder if we
can/should do anything to encourage her to approach her meals calmly?

(3) Finally the 5AM wake up. We would prefer if it was 7 or even 6:30
and we tried to delay a little. However, in our experience the best way
to sleep is to feed her, let he rout, and then go back to sleep.
Otherwise, while we can postpone her feeding, we can't get much sleep
during that time. So I guess that's that.

Thanks for listening and for any thoughts.

I know this might seem an obvious thing that you have already ticked
off your "done that & tried it out list", but have you wormed her
recently? It is a much overlooked issue, but if left untreated, you
are actually feeding the worms & the cat might not be absorbing the
nutrients that you think you have given to her.
Just a stray thought, but worth checking?

Sounds like you are an excellent slave already by the way ) Lol,
Best of Luck!
Sheelagh "o"