Wow -- he is a beautiful kitty. Chances are he is just a growing boy. My kitty was 4lbs when I got him at 16 weeks old -- at one year he was about 12lbs. They grow so much the first year.

Just to address something in your post above -- canned cat food is VERY good for your cat (even better than dry). Feeding your cat wet food will help keep him hydrated and helps prevent obesity in cats. Also, I am curious what kind of milk you are giving him? I have always heard that cows milk will give a cat the runs (although I am guilty of giving my cat the last tablespoon or two of milk from my cereal).

rjinga ~

I must say that I am frustrated at not seeing the picture of your new kitten.

Please tell me, ANYONE, how do I click to see the pix?

Thanks,
Robyn

Canned cat food is, indeed, better for your baby than dry food because it does help keep the kitten hydrated and it more closely approximates a natural feline diet than does dry kibble. Baby food, however, is NOT a good alternative because it is not balanced for a feline's very specific nutritional needs, which are even more critical in a growing kitten. Find a premium quality canned kitten food, and feed him that. Kitten food is higher in protein and other nutrients than adult cat food.

Also, do avoid giving him cow's milk. If you feel you must give him some sort of milk, buy a lactose-free milk from your grocery store or kitten milk replacer from a pet store. Many kittens and cats are lactose-intolerant and will suffer digestive upsets when given cow's milk.

Laurie

Laurie,
Our new rescue kitten was very - um - flatulent. :-)

And BOY could she stink up a room with her gaseous self.

The Vet recommended a spoon of live-culture plain yogurt twice a day. And it really worked.

My grown cat gets to lick the bottom of my cereal bowl about once a week for a small taste of milk, but I find if I give her any more she gets an upset tummy.

I think it just depends on the kitty.

You're correct. It does depend on the feline. The problem is that it seems a fairly large proportion of cats are lactose-intolerant, so why take the risk?

I once rescued a tiny kitten from a boarding stable where she was being abused by the barn rats (the human ones). There was a bowl of milk present from which she had been drinking. Among other serious medical conditions, she had projectile diarrhea from the milk and was severely dehydrated ... so much so that the vet did not expect her to survive. She did survive for 5 yrs.

I've never offered a cat milk since then.

Laurie

Beautiful kitten. It may be just coincidence, but I have wondered if pets who had to go hungry for a while feel it necessary to overeat, even as adults. I got a kitten about 9 years ago that was in the parking lot of a department store. Sad looking kitten that I really wasn't sure if it would survive. She developed a cataract over one eye I guess from conjunctivitis (sp?) but other than that and a fondness for food, suffered no lasting problems. She has always been a bit overweight. Well, OBESE. Until recently I always thought dry food was better than canned, & started feeding her canned food. That is the only thing that has caused her to lose weight. She doesn't really like canned food, doesn't like people food, just dry. But her health is better than it has been in years. And while she has lost weight, she is by no means a normal weight now, just less obese. I find it so hard to control her weight when my other 2 cats are not fat, and tend to graze off and on through the day. Same thing with one of my dogs too, she had been hungry as a pup & now is a non stop eating machine.
Seems like I have read that giving a cat milk can cause kidney problems later in life, especially for male cats. I do give my cats milk occasionally, not a lot & only as a treat, they love it so much.

Of the 8 adult strays, semi-ferals, and ferals who have shown up on my farm over the last 8 yrs, only one arrived in a state of starvation. She is now morbidly obese and on a diet along with most of the other cats who are in varying degrees of excessive largeness. I do think that Somer's previous state of starvation triggered her extreme overeating.

Although all our cats were found starving and dehydrated, Max was the only one who ate a lot of food, and real fast, too. He stole food all the time (even just after he had had his fill): chicken liver, tried to eat it raw; my breakfast sandwiches, tore off the foil and sawed them from left to right holding them in his front paws. The vet did say that it was because he'd been starving. He was abt 2 months old when he came home, Nikita & Simba were a bit older. We fed him small amounts every three hrs, it didn't work, he always wanted more.

We faced the same problem, limiting Max's food while allowing Nikita and Simba (they both eat only dry now)access to their food at all times. Finally found that the only thing that would work was establishing specific mealtimes. Max shed some weight when we put him on wet food, but is still obese. (Hoping the new kittens will help him burn some fat in the months to come).

Coco and Jas-purr (over 3 months old now) eat slowly, and have never seemed greedy, probably because they know they'll get their next meal in time. They get 3 tbsp wet food each, in the morning and at night, with a fistful of dry food twice during the day. This is a lot less than what Max ate in the beginning.

Okay, sto the baby food. Check the dry food for corn = it is a filler and full of sugar. Go out and get yourself a premium pet food, I recommend Natural Balance. You will need to get both dry and canned food. Cats NEED a high protein diet and I dont think the baby food is doing it. Also cut back on the milk, cows milk can give them the runs. The deal about premium pet food is this, One - they will be eating less because they are getting all the nutrients they need and not alot of filler. They will poop less because their bodies are absorbing more of the nutrients and they are eliminating less as a result. Plus your cat should stay healthier. Good that you are adopting him and that you have taken him to the vets - KUDOS to you. Now, I have seen one six month old kitten polish off an entire full dinner plate of Thanksgiving turkey cranberry sauce, green beans, mashed potatoes and yams. That cats tummy kept growing and growing, after eating every morsel on that plate he went to the couch, rolled over and just purred and purred. I think kitties can eat alot. It may be that you will want to feed your baby small meals throughout the day. that way maybe he wont be so hungry and try to satify himself all at once. Good luck

It is possible he is going through a growth spurt and the eating will level off. My cat went through that. We always gave her as much dry food as she wanted and a little wet food twice a day. One day I caught her trying to drag a cooked pork chop off the kitchen island. And she would sit with us when we ate. Sometimes she would eat more of our fish or chicken than we did.

Anyway, all that stopped. She still eats wet and dry everyday, but never begs or shows interest in human food.

We only feed our cat Wellness. It is a very good quality food.

He's beautiful, by the way.

thanks to all who have responded and for the great advice and tips....I sure do appreciate it...caring for our adult cat is such a different thing than the kitten, he definitely is more needy and their habits couldn't be further apart....

BTW: I have not seen any stomach problems from the milk he gets, (it's really just a bit on a saucer, but we have cut it back to once a day (and sometimes not even every day) I find that it seems to calm him some....he's quite active....I wish I could share a video...he bounces off the walls when he really gets going...but I'm glad we found him....

Hard to imagine how anyone could toss a precious little baby like him out on the street....He's here to stay (just ask him, he can read lips :)

thanks again for your support.

Cats cannot properly digest milk, and that is a fact. So even though you do not see the cat suffering, cats cannot properly digest milk. If you want to properly care for your cat, do not give it milk.

I have a piggy, too, and I don't know if she'll ever stop. She'll be 2 in february, so maybe in the next few months when she's done all her growing, she'll slow down. As of right now, though, she eats EVERYTHING. If the baby I watch starts tossing his snacks on the floor, she's there before the dog (beagle) makes it, and she'll gulp that all up, she begs for our food, she tries to eat the dog food. She licks plates in the sink, even though they've been rinsed.

I don't remember my other cat being this way when she was a kitten, but she's never really been one to get excited. She'll harass me when she's hungry and the bowl is empty, but she doesn't act like she's going to die like my other little one, if she hasn't eaten in 5 minutes.

Oh, and I'm guilty of giving my kitties a treat of milk every once and a while (like every 3+ months) only a bit on a saucer too. They love it, and compared to some of the things I've seen them try to eat, or manage to eat, it's not going to do that much harm to the tummy in comparison.

PetSmart (and I imagine other pet places) sell a "cat milk" that is lactose free. My vet also said a little Lactaid milk would be fine. DH drinks that as well, so we always have some in the house. We used to give our cat a little, but don't any longer. She does love a squirt of whipped cream once in awhile.

I would switch from to the Lactaid or cat milk. Lactose intolerance can show up in unexpected ways.

Please post more pics of him. He's too cute.