Greedy kitten that eats too much?

Question

Our male kitten is very sweet otherwise but absolutely vicious about food. He begs for food all day long and everything he eats he swallows WAY too fast. He also overeats and throws up a couple of times a week. He is obnoxious around our older cats and pushes his way to their food bowls so he can stuff himself. We've had him vet checked for worms and intestinal parasites so what's going on? He's been eating like this for 2 months now and there seems to be no end in site. What should we do?

P.S. He is 13 weeks old, neutered male

Ken, great info. No he doesn't drink or pee excessively. I never had this problem with my other cats and they've always been on a dry food diet.

Answer 1

Is he drinking alot? excessively? peeing alot?
if so please contact me.

If the above is not the case, I would imagine that you are feeding kitty crack, aka dry food which may be missing alot of what your cat needs to thrive

Nutrition since there are so many bad things out there is very important to your cat’s health
Contrary to what you may have heard, dry foods are not a great thing to feed a cat.
Dry foods are the number 1 cause of diabetes in cats as well as being a huge contributing factor to kidney disease, obesity, crystals, u.t.i’s and a host of other problems. Food allergies are very common when feeding dry foods.
The problems with it are that they are loaded with carbohydrates which many cats (carnivores) cannot process. Most of the moisture a cat needs is gotten
out of the food and 95% of it is zapped out of dry foods in the processing. Also, most use horrible ingredients and don't use a muscle meat as the primary ingredient and use vegetable based protein versus animal. Not good for an animal that has to eat meat to survive.
You want to pick a canned food w/o gravy (gravy=carbs) that uses a muscle meat as the first ingredient and doesn't have corn at least in the first 3 ingredients if at all. Fancy feast is a middle grade food with 9lives, friskies whiskas lower grade canned and wellness and merrick upper grade human quality foods.Also, dry food is not proven to be better for teeth. Please read about cat nutrition.
http://www.newdestiny.us/nutritionbasics.html
http://www.catinfo.org/feline_obesity.htm
http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.htm#Dry_Food_vs_Canned_Food.__Which_is_reall

Answer 2

I suspect because of his high need for growth and activity level that he needs the best quality food you can give him.

If you are using inexpensive grocery store food or even the "better" ones such as Science Diet, Purina or Iams he is just not getting the right food (nor your other cats). Cats need MEAT protein not corn products and/or soybean.

You will learn a lot by going to http://www.littlebigcat.com and reading Dr. Jean Hovfe's articles on cat nutrition - some are "What Cats Should Eat", "Selecting a Good Commercial Pet Food", "Why Cats Need Canned Food", etc.

Consider a high quality meat protein diet for ALL your cats. High quality does not necessarily mean that it has to be the most expensive though the "you get what you pay for" rule applies. Corn products and by-product meat are really cheap and they are not good food for your cats.

Answer 3

i have the same exact problem with my cat. She begs for food all day, eventhough we just fed her 5 minutes ago...she wakes us up around 5 am so she can eat..the vet said that we should watch her diet because she's a bit over weight for her age...so I try my best not to over-feed her; no matter how loud and obnoxious she gets...I don't think there's anything wrong with your cat. He just likes to eat. Give him food, but make sure he's not over-eating because it's not good for him. Sorry if I didn't help at all.

Answer 4

like the other answerer said unless he is becoming obese, don't worry. to ensure the other cats get their needed amount of food, feed them seperately. kitten in 1 room, adults in other. if they all are on free feed kibbies all day you might have to only put the kibs out at different times. is he on kitten food or adult? if adult, he may not be getting the nutrients his body needs. also the type of food fed can not be filling his belly. our older black cat (she will be 4 on 11-21-07) has a sensitive tummy. she eats either iams for sensitive stomach, the good life orpurina indoor cat. these she does not throw up. our kitten (7 months old on 10-7-07) eats whiskas kitten. she does raid big sister's bowl occ.. also the type of breeds need different nutrients. bigger breeds/mixes will eat more to sustain body/muscle mass. ex. a maine coon might eat more than a munchinkin. good luck with your kitten and cats. they have a good loving home and they know it.

Answer 5

I am not verterinan but i wouldn't worry about it too much. if your worried about him getting overweight, just start feeding him lean cat food. Try feeding the other cats in a seperate room incase your worried that they aren't getting enough of nutrition.

Answer 6

he prob scared your other cat will eat first.try feeding on his own but just give small regular meals if you can.i do this with my male as if i give in the morning he gulps it down as he thinks he will eat his sisters then who is a small eater,then he throws up,so i feed him little bit then give some more hour later,mine has not grown out of this yet and he is 6

Answer 7

WAS THIS CAT A STRAY CAT.......IF HE WAS THEN THAT WILL EXPLAIN THE OVER EATING AND SHOVING OTHER CAT FROM THE FOOD BOWL.....
IF NOT A STRAY THEN, MAYBE HE SICK LIKE WORMS OR AN EATING DISORDER...
I REALLY DON'T KNOW TOO MUCH ABOUT CARS....BUT, I HOPE YOU FIND OUR SOON........

GOOD LUCK....