Quick question about feeding

[natsuko]

AS you know I got a kitten recently and was wondering if it is better to leave the bowl with biscuits in so kitten can get food as when/pleases or is it better to have set times to feed? At the moment I have a bowl with biscuits in that she goes to when she's peckish and have also been giving her meat as well at different times in the day. Reason I ask is that she always seems to be hungry and doesnt eat much of the biscuits throughout the day instead she tries to steal food off my kids when they are eating and it doesnt matter what it is she will still try it. With my dog I keep his food bowl full 24/7 with dry biscuits (he tends to just eat them all when he is hungry) and give him left over food or off cuts of meat when I'm cooking.

[martyb]

With my kitten i have always left biscuits down and feed meat just like you had various times of the day. Jess is also likes to come and try and steal our food, i just push her away now when we are eating and shes beginning to learn that its our food not hers, you would think she had never been fed.

[KathyM]

TBH I would pick a realllly good quality meat like Nature's Menu and leave the biscuits. Most dry foods are full of unecessary fillers that you really don't want your cat having and which promote poor urinary tract health ("premium" dry food nearly killed one of my old cats).

[feorag]

It really depends on what the 'biscuits' are. If they're a good quality complete cat food, like Hills, Royal Canin, James Wellbeloved, Techni-Cal, Pro Plan then I would leave this down and allow the kitten to eat ad-lib.

We feed our adult cats twice a day, but what they don't clean up (and they seldom ever all totally empty their dishes) is put into one dish and left down for them to eat whenever they want. The bowl is always empty long before the next meal is due.

Cats seldom ever overeat like dogs do and cats are natural 'grazers' so if it was my kitten that's what I'd do.

As far as stealing food from your children's plate, cats are opportunists and if the opportunity is there to grab something different, then you can't blame the kitten for doing that. You just need to teach it that stealing from plates isn't acceptable behaviour.

Following on from the urinary tract problems caused by dried food, I would avoid the biscuits if they are just 'cat biscuits' from a supermarket as the calorie/magnesium content isn't balanced as it is in good quality dried food and this tends to be what causes the problems.

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[Antw23uk]

All of our cats (i fostered for a charity) were fed meat morning and evening with a bowl of biscuits and fresh water down all day.

Our cat Ollie has raw food morning and evening and purely biscuits down all day .... he generally doesnt eat the biscuits since starting on the raw food diet and to be honest im still not sure if i will offer them when i run out or keep him completely on raw food!

As for stealing food ... well thats just bad manners and must be nipped in the bud NOW Ollie was taught from word go that he didnt jump up on kitchen work surfaces and he certainly didnt beg or steal food

[Shell195]

Originally Posted by Antw23uk

All of our cats (i fostered for a charity) were fed meat morning and evening with a bowl of biscuits and fresh water down all day.

Our cat Ollie has raw food morning and evening and purely biscuits down all day .... he generally doesnt eat the biscuits since starting on the raw food diet and to be honest im still not sure if i will offer them when i run out or keep him completely on raw food!

As for stealing food ... well thats just bad manners and must be nipped in the bud NOW Ollie was taught from word go that he didnt jump up on kitchen work surfaces and he certainly didnt beg or steal food

Maybe you should come and train my cats. After living with Oriental cats for many years cat theives become a way of life

[Shell195]

Just a quick thought, make sure the kitten is wormed up to date as this can cause them to be forever hungry

[natsuko]

thanks for the replies. I must admit the cat food I've got isnt great as its just whiskas kitten biscuits, dont have extra cash until Friday and that is all shop sold for kittens so figured was better than the poor thing starving or anything. She certainly aint having problems going to the loo just yet thats for sure. I will look at getting her a better food at the weekend. It's going to be fun trying to stop her nicking the kids food as well as stopping the kids from feeding her as my two have a thing for trying to share everything with her from grapes to crisps luckily she doesnt take them although had a thing for cheese the other day which I dont think will be good for her. Thats another thing can cats have cows milk? I'm sure I once read that they couldnt have cows milk,

[feorag]

No, they can't have cows milk - it gives them diarrhoea. They don't really need any milk at all - good clean fresh water is all they need. However, if you feel you really want to give her milk you could give her diluted evaporated milk or Whiskas cat/kitten milk, but personally I wouldn't bother!

As far as the greeding from the children is concerned, you really do need to nip that in the bud, because she may not eat a lot of the stuff they offer her, but she could eat something that isn't good for her.

[KathyM]

Originally Posted by feorag

It really depends on what the 'biscuits' are. If they're a good quality complete cat food, like Hills, Royal Canin, James Wellbeloved, Techni-Cal, Pro Plan then I would leave this down and allow the kitten to eat ad-lib.

*snip*

Following on from the urinary tract problems caused by dried food, I would avoid the biscuits if they are just 'cat biscuits' from a supermarket as the calorie/magnesium content isn't balanced as it is in good quality dried food and this tends to be what causes the problems.

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I should point out that the cat that had to have emergency treatment for a blocked urethra twice was on premium branded biscuits that claim to prevent urinary problems (Burns) and that another I had with the same problem was on Hills. Brand plays no issue at all with urinary problems - the fact the food is DRY is the problem and premium food is just as dry as supermarket.

ETA: Dry food is also full of unecessary filler, cats do much better on a decent meat diet such as Natures Menu or raw feeding.