Am i feeding enough?

Hi guys,have come to the conclusion that having an MC is far more stressful than having kids!!!My latest concern is that Sebastian feels quite bony under all that fur,especially on his hips.He is always hungry but i am scared incase i over feed!He is almost 15 weeks old and weighs 4lb /1814g,he has been wormed.
He has RC kitten down all day
5.00 small amount of raw rabbit mince
2.30 more rabbit mince
5.00 either cooked chicken or white fish
Did try him with some natures choice kitten meat but made his poo sloppy so knocked that on the head!
He always clears his bowl when he has meat but sometimes leaves some biscuits.
So what do you more experienced owners think, should i feed more??
Thanks in advance,x

Hi Daisyboo. Not got any advice in terms of how much you should be feeding, but I've no doubt the guys will have some good insight. What I would say is that cats are generally grazers, and if Sebastian was ravenous I imagine you'd have no biscuits left whatsoever.

I can't compare feed volumes with you as we now stick to Whiskas pouches (to avoid the runny bottom scenarios you have faced!) and both cats get two pouches a day, plus a bowl of RC Kitten kibble down all day to snack on. Pouches always go first though.

How active is he? He might burn off a lot of what he eats if he's dashing about the house a lot. And MC's seem to go through growth spurts, too, and they act as though they're half-starved then; they can also get quite 'gangly' looking when they're going through that - kind of like teenagers do.

Sorry I can't be more helpful, I'm sure the others will be much more useful!!

Thanks Karen,yes he is very active and i know what your saying with regards sometimes leaving his biscuits.He just seems like he is staving all the time and him being my first im not sure if you should be able to feel his bones and its hard to know whats under there with :hmm:soooo much fur!!x

Well, if it helps, when Freyja first arrived (at 12 weeks old) you could really feel her hips and chest bones - OH used to comment on it quite a bit, which did make me a bit paranoid; she's now 8 months and has padded out nicely.

Now Wicca's arrived (at 14 weeks old), you can feel her hips and chest bones just like we could Freyja's, but we've kind of 'got the tee-shirt' now so I'm less paranoid and I've got no doubt that she'll fill out in good time.

Have you had Sebastian checked out at the vets? They should be able to give you a steer on size which might put your mind at rest.

I've added a couple of photo's of Freyja when she first arrived so you can see what I mean about the hips - at 12 weeks the vet said Freyja was in good health, and you can see how scrawny she looked! It might make you feel better if you compare them to Sebastian.

That does make me feel better thank you.He has been to the vet and had a general check up and got the all clear but i never asked specifically about his weight as not sure how used to MCs they are.

Well our two boys Pomeroy & Raggles (one 3 years & one 7.5 months old) have a pouch each first thing in the morning and another pouch each in the evening. They then have a single small tin of food between them at night.

The 6 month old girl kitten Tilly, will only eat "plain" wet food, ie chicken, cooked fish and tinned or pouched "white" meat foods. She is more inclined to eat dried foods though.

All three have access to RC biscuits all day. Some days they eat most of the biscuits other day they hardly touch them.

The 7.5 month boy, Raggles is the "thinnist", however he is on the go all the time and if you give him a chance he will eat all day!!

Hope this helps.

I have always used an extra vitanin suplplement for the first few months with mine as well as they are so fast growing.The last three have come with extra supplements in their goodie bag.....
There are lots of different ones about but I had always been a great believer in good old SA 37 powder which unfortunatly went off the market but some kind person on the forum popped up & told me it is now available as SF-50.I stop giving it to them when they are about a year to eighteen months old but always keep some in cat medicine box because if any of them are off colour or seem down then I pop it in their food for a little while to help pick them up !

The MC should be lean, as they grow at quite a rate in the first 12 months the skeleton is where all the growth takes place. Our boy is 9 months and weighs 12.3 lb and is really lean but has lots of skin to grow into, we feed him on demand.

Thank you all for replying.I shall start feeding on demand at once,first things first must go and replenish stocks!I can not believe how much these guys eat!!!x:hungry:

Hi. I have had similar concerns about my boy who arrived 4 months ago well underweight and looking like a skeleton. To make things worse he was solidly matted so I had to have him shaved down either side so he has looked a very pitiful sight, but thankfully he is now looking a lot better.

I was also amazed at how much he ate, but unfortunately he brought up most meals. Finding a good feeding programe so that he keeps the food down has been a challenge.

He put on half a kilo in the first month, but then stayed the same for the next two. I haven't weighed him in the last 2-3 weeks but I think he has put on a bit more as the bones don't feel so sharp. He has a couple of kilos to go. I just feed him on demand, usually sachets or tuna, but with biscuits on demand and I don't skimp on treats at this stage.

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Originally Posted by Pepsi2670

Hi. I have had similar concerns about my boy who arrived 4 months ago well underweight and looking like a skeleton. To make things worse he was solidly matted so I had to have him shaved down either side so he has looked a very pitiful sight, but thankfully he is now looking a lot better.

I was also amazed at how much he ate, but unfortunately he brought up most meals. Finding a good feeding programe so that he keeps the food down has been a challenge.

He put on half a kilo in the first month, but then stayed the same for the next two. I haven't weighed him in the last 2-3 weeks but I think he has put on a bit more as the bones don't feel so sharp. He has a couple of kilos to go. I just feed him on demand, usually sachets or tuna, but with biscuits on demand and I don't skimp on treats at this stage.

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Hi Pepsi - where did you find your little chap? The feeding topic's an interesting one. Freyja and Wicca arrived from the breeders on a diet of Whiskas pouches and RC Kitten 36. We decided to try Freyja (she arrived 4 months before Wicca) on Applaws as it's got such a high meat content - figured it would be more nutritious - but it just affected her stomach and stools. After trying a couple of other high-meat foods, we've reverted back to Whiskas as it doesn't give either girl stomach or litter problems. No more checking bums when they leave the litter tray, so no more wet flannels in undignified places for the cats. And they both love Whiskas. I am about to try gradually moving them from RC Kitten 36 to Orijen though.

They also get a block of Coley fish or Cod to share a few times a week - tends to be on days when they've devoured their pouches though.

Don't forget to post some pics of your lad - btw, what's his name?

This is a topic i keep coming back too, am i feeding schrodo enough?

At the moment he's getting 50g of RC kitten in the morning and another 50g when we get in from work, the bag says you should give you cat 85g of RC a day, though is that just for normal moggies or will that include Maine Coon's too? either way he's not fat.

Every day all the food is gone and if we open the fridge its like a herd of wildebeest running through the house and a second later he's got his head in the fridge, if we cook he does the lying on the floor too weak to move trick and when that doesn't work just sits and meows constantly. Last week we gave him a bit more of his food and the result was a dose of the squits :sad1:

Some times it feels like a no win situation, we want to make sure he's getting enough but if we give him what he wants then we end up with messy paws and checking bums every trip to the toilet.

Im wondering if we should split his meals up, maybe give him 25g when we get up, another 25 before going to work, 25 when we get in and 25 again before going to bed...

uff :stressed:

Freyja and Wicca are currently getting through a ridiculous volume of food - or at least would be if I fed them every time they asked me to. Wierd thing is that Freyja really doesn't stuff her face (unless rice pudding's available). Wicca, on the other hand, is one gutsy little cat. I have to physically move her from Freyja's wet bowl so give the poor girl a chance to eat her own grub, because Klepto moves in to steal it from under her nose. I've had to take to putting Freyja's bowl in places that Wicca can't easily get to to give Freyja a chance.

So I can't tell if they're both eating more than they did a month ago, or if it's all being eaten by Wicca. I'm a bit anxious that Freyja's not getting enough wet food, especially after poor Monty's problems with cystitis, but I have no idea how to 'police' it when I'm not here. Freyja's a grazer, Wicca's a gorger.

I am pleased to report that since we've been back on Whiskas and RC, the squits have gone and stools no longer cling for dear life on the cats pants. I am about to slowly introduce Orijen dry over the next couple of weeks as I it seems to have better ingredients than the RC.

I'm glad you have the runny bums sorted, schrodo woke me up this morning with another dose of the runnies :stressed: so were off to the vets again this morning.. i really dont know what could be up with him, he's on one food only (RC kitten). we had him on some sort of gel stuff that helps with the stomach and that worked for a week after him taking it and nows he's got the runs again :( :( :( he's had stool samples taken which came back fine. guess we'll be on something like Royal Canin SENSITIVITY CONTROL CAT blue whiting & rice 1.5kg next.

Yes Larry's definitely the devourer of food, and Monty's more of a grazer. Larry has to investigate every single bowl of food I've put down, just in case he's missing out on a tastier morsel. My pensioner Barney has learned to patiently wait for the furore to calm down before he plumps for whichever dish they have left alone (although it's all the same food in each dish anyway!). Larry will wolf his food down and then muscle in on one of the other dishes, so they all end up swapping dishes a few times. I have to watch that the others are getting a decent amount, especially Barney as he has a few teeth missing so is a slow eater. Often I have to physically restrain Larry until Barney has finished (or throw more food in Larry's dish - quick!)

Oh, and have yours ever done the great trick of reaching up to the food dishes as you're lowering them to the floor, and whacking a mighty paw down on the edge of a dish, throwing the contents all around the kitchen? That's always a good one...

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Originally Posted by ayeizajedi

so were off to the vets again this morning.. i really dont know what could be up with him, he's on one food only (RC kitten). .

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Good luck at the vets, it's frustrating and alarming when you can't find a 'cure' - at least his stool samples have come back okay.

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Originally Posted by Howlinbob

Oh, and have yours ever done the great trick of reaching up to the food dishes as you're lowering them to the floor, and whacking a mighty paw down on the edge of a dish, throwing the contents all around the kitchen? That's always a good one...

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He he - no, not seen this although I did hear a bowl go flying in the kitchen yesterday to find one - just filled - bowl of Whiskas upside down on their cardboard climing tower. Fortunately its re-inforced cardboard, other wise the bloomin thing would have collapsed!

What's the best way to stop one over feeding and the other gorging when you're not there to police it?

I free feed my cats on Proplan but has anyone had problems with any brands of food?
A month or so ago all four of my cats had loose motions and it all started happening with a new bag of Proplan so I changed (slowly) onto Royal Canin their tummies all went back to normal so last week I bought a new bag of Proplan and all is well, I do wonder if sometimes some batches of food become contaminated in some way.

I've had problems with loose stools since I got Sylvester just a week ago. He seemed to run to the loo straight after having a whiskas pouch so I've just swapped him over to tesco finest chicken cuts (looks like shredded chicken breast in a light gravy) and purina one sensitive dry food and today has been much better! Poo almost normal! Shame the tesco finest food is so pricey (49p for a tiny 80g tin- he had 3 today along with a little dry).