# 8 month old cat is obsessed with food! some advice much needed!



## oscarkitty2010 (Sep 26, 2010)

Hi my 8 month old cat Rocky is very friendly and sociable. But his behavior with food is becoming a concern. Hes always been a good eater and eats half a pouch in the morning and half in the evening (I buy high 60% meat content for them) and has a bowl of Gocat biscuits to nibble on through out the day.
But the last few months he always seems starving and constantly climbs all over me and my partner when we are trying to eat, no matter how much you push him down and sternly command "down" and "no" he keeps jumping up and trying to swat our cutlery with his paws.
Another problem is hes constantly around our feet in the kitchen crying and meowing even if he has just had his dinner wen we are trying to cook food. if any food is left on the counter top even for a minute he jumps up and tries to eat it even though both my cats have always been trained to not jump up in the kitchen!
He also bullies my older cat when it comes to food, i put both their dishes down together (as they've always eaten together) and he keeps pushing my cat out of the way even if his dish is full.. like he wants wot my other cat has. And he is becoming nasty when giving him treats, hes a smart cat and i've taught him to sit and high five on command but his claws grow quickly (i clip them every few weeks) and hes starting to nip quite badly wen taking the food out my fingers and wen hes trying to swat he uses his claws and sometimes draws blood.. ive never had this problem with my older cat hes so gentle taking food from me.
Any help or advice would be very much appreciated!!!


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## carly87 (Feb 11, 2011)

1 pouch a day really isn't enough for a growing kitten. Sounds like he's hungry! Do you refill his biscuits whenever he's finished them? Does he eat many of those? Were I you, I'd up his wet food intake.


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## oscarkitty2010 (Sep 26, 2010)

Yes i constantly refill his biscuits and water dish, he loves his biscuits.
But should he be crying and climbing all over even if hes just been fed? and how much more wet food would you recommend I give? because the vet says hes a perfectly healthy wait of around 3.5kg for 8 months.. i dont want him becoming obese.
Thanks for the advice


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

I would say that he sounds as though he is very hungry all the time, poor little chap! He is probably going through a big growth spurt at the moment. These things can change from week to week until kittens reach adulthood. 

I really think that half a pouch of food twice a day is nothing like enough food for a growing 8 month old male kitten. I would expect him to need at least 2 whole pouches of food a day, depending on his build. Also, he might be better being fed more than twice a day. If you are out all day, then you could try feeding him at breakfast, teatime and bedtime. 

Also I wouldn't leave a whole bowl of dry food for him, as he may not be drinking enough fluids to balance it. Kittens are not great at drinking, in my experience. Cats are used to getting most of their fluids from their food, so they sometimes show thirst as hunger. So there is just a possibility that he is not so much hungry as thirsty. 

You don't mention whether he is thin or podgy. Is his stomach flat most of the time? if so this might also indicate he is not getting enough to eat. 

It sounds as though his little body is crying out for more protein, making him behave in the frantic way you describe, so I would feed him plenty of good quality wet kitten food, which will be high in protein. 

Minx


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

How much time do you spend playing with him every day? At 8 months old he still needs at least two long (at least a half hour) session of interactive play every day.

He is neutered?

He is still growing, I would add more wet food, but not the pouches. Feed a canned food that is high protein, no grains or other fillers (including fruits and veggies). 60 % meat is not very much for an obligate carnivore and pouches don't contain a lot of anything.

Kibble also is carb heavy, so may not be satisfying him.


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## buffie (May 31, 2010)

Ideally kittens/cats will do much better on a "wet" diet,but if you want to feed both then i would up his wet food to at least 2 or 3 pouches and reduce his dry and replace the "go cat" with a better quality grain free biscuit such as Orijen.Type in your postcode to see if there is a local stockist... UK ORIJEN Stockists | Orijen Pet Foods .co.uk......... or you buy on line at Zoo Plus.Another grainfree available in Pets at Home and many pet stores is Applaws.HTH


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## hobbs2004 (Mar 12, 2010)

As the others have said, I would up the amount of wet food he is getting but I would also be looking to change the wet food. Hazarding a guess here, I believe you are feeding HiLife. Depending on what type of hilife you are feeding they are not high in fat (2% or 2.5% instead of 5ish%). And I wouldn't just feed one brand of wet food but would have several ones in rotation.

Also, I would definitely change the dry food (if you want to feed dry but it really isn't great for cats for a number of reasons that are all over this site) to something of better quality. As Buffie has said, Orijen, Acana and Applaws are good dry food brands that although a little more expensive you need to feed less of, making it more economical. But as I said, dry food shouldn't really be the mainstay of a cat's diet in my opinion and if it were me I would cut it out completely. 

At 8 months he is probably going through another growth spurt, when extra calories are required.


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## oscarkitty2010 (Sep 26, 2010)

I thought 60% meat content was rather good to be honest.. as other tins and pouches such as whiskers and felix only have 4% meat content..
Can you recommend good quality tins and biscuits? ones possibly easy to buy in places such as pets at home?
He is neutured yes.. I must admitt perhaps ive not been playing with him as much lately because he plays with my older cat quite a bit.. right i shall up my play time with him.. i love him to bits and want to calm his behaviour down a bit.


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## jo-pop (May 27, 2011)

My kitten is 7 months and will easily polish of 400gm of decent pate style wet food per day. He had a 600gm phase recently too. You just have to keep up with their growth spurts i think. My toddler does the same during growth spurts .... eat a lot i mean, not polish off 400gm of cat food


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## koekemakranka (Aug 2, 2010)

I recall they eat like horses at that age. Feed him as much as he will eat. Has he been dewormed?


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## oscarkitty2010 (Sep 26, 2010)

umm well hes not really podgy.. but he doesnt look "thin" either altho hes long haired... so maybe i cant see.. i cant feel ribs or back bones or anything.
Oh my i feel so guilty now that perhaps ive been starving him! im off out to go get some better food for my little darling!


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## oscarkitty2010 (Sep 26, 2010)

Ha! thanks for the advice do you know of any good UK brand wet foods to buy?


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## missP (Jan 11, 2012)

my cat isn't a kitten by any means but i feed him Smilla tuna which is 80% tuna. 
he gets 3 feeds, breakfast, another 3.30pm ish and then 9pm which he is satisfied with. 

i ran out and my delivery hadn't come yet so i bought some purely tuna which i think is about 50% tuna.

he drove me absolutely nuts for a day and a half , following me about crying looking for food.

as soon as he was back on the 80% tuna he was settled again.

i'm not saying that would solve your problem, but maybe try him on a higher meat content and see how it goes.


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## buffie (May 31, 2010)

oscarkitty2010 said:


> Ha! thanks for the advice do you know of any good UK brand wet foods to buy?


Sadly no.Most PF members buy on line from here....Canned Cat Food: Bargain Prices by zooplus.


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## carly87 (Feb 11, 2011)

If you overlook the jelly or remove most of it, Toplife's meaty chunks are apparently 92% meat. They're available in Asda, and my girl seems satisfied on it when she gets it. The better foods are all online though I'm afraid.


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## hobbs2004 (Mar 12, 2010)

carly87 said:


> If you overlook the jelly or remove most of it, Toplife's meaty chunks are apparently 92% meat. They're available in Asda, and my girl seems satisfied on it when she gets it. The better foods are all online though I'm afraid.


Yes but the thing is that a carton of Toplife contains about 50% of jelly; so that only leaves you 50% of meaty chunks and 92% of that is meat but it isn't really meat but meat and by-products in a ratio of about 50/50 if I remember rightly.

But Carly is right, the better foods are only available online (though sometimes you can pick up Lily's Kitchen in pet shops but at a marked up price). Buffie has given you a link to a shop that carries some of the better foods.


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