The 5-Step Guide to Feeding Your First Kadoatie

Intro – What is Kadoatie Feeding?

For those of you who are still unsure as to what Kad Feeding actually entails, I will now explain it for you. Kad Feeding is when you visit the Kadoatery at Neopia Central, and feed one of the Kadoaties which have been left there. Of course, when you get there most of the Kadoaties have already been fed, and you must wait until the next Restock (or RS), which is approximately 30 minutes after the last one. Details of how to find the restock times are found later in this article. Once you see a Kad needing food, you must click on the picture of it before anyone else does. Of course, this only works if you have the item in your inventory, which you usually won’t. Therefore you must use the Shop Wizard (or the search option in your Safety Deposit Box) to find the item, buy/remove it and then quickly try to feed the Kad. Of course, it’s very difficult to do this fast enough, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll be regularly feeding in no time!

Most people wonder why Feeders bother with this, as it can be difficult, time-consuming and expensive. The reality is that there are many different reasons. Many Feeders simply enjoy the excitement of seeing the Kadoatery restock full of fresh petpets waiting to be fed, and the thrill of seeing that you managed to feed one before anyone else. Others use it because of the trophy you receive – you get a bronze trophy for feeding just one Kad, a silver one for feeding ten and a gold for feeding just twenty five! It’s a nice trophy to have in your cabinet, and a thing to be proud of. Naturally, there has to be an avatar involved. For feeding a secret number of Kads, you will receive the elusive Pink Kadoatie avatar – sought after by all budding avatar collectors.

Now you know what feeding is and the benefits of it, I will now tell you how to do it properly.

Part One – Food

Now the obvious first step is to find out what kind of food Kadoaties like to eat. Obviously I cannot include every single Kad food, as there is too much (I counted 1, 489 to be exact, but more may have been added), but I will tell you the kinds of food Kads like to eat. Kadoaties will NEVER want Baked, Candy, Gross, Slushie, Aquatic, Smoothie and Coffee food types, but be warned – these words may appear in the names of other food types (e.g. Tropical Fruit Smoothie which is a Normal food). If you are looking for a complete food list, go to a Kadoatery Board on the Games Neoboard and I’m sure a helpful Neopian will point you in the right direction. Don’t be put off by the vastness of the range of foods – you do not have to buy every single food item to be able to feed a Kad. However, I strongly suggest that you buy every (or as many as possible) item with a certain word in it. This could be anything – Blueberry, Cheese, Soup, Sandwich – whatever you think will be the easiest to spot during a restock. For example, I have almost every item with the word “Jelly” in, so that I can easily recognise the items that I have and click on the Kad as quickly as possible. The advantage of this is that you can simply skim read the names of the items that the Kadoaties want, and quickly click on the Kad. You have to be quick when Kad-feeding and it’s best if time isn’t wasted by having to read each item individually. So why did I pick Jelly? Because the list was short, it’s not TOO expensive, but it doesn’t RS often which is a sacrifice I was willing to make. If you are wondering which kind of item to pick, just go for something you know you’ll be able to spot QUICKLY. No item is asked for more than another, since the Kadoatery is random, so the choice is completely yours.

You should note that you can have no more than 50 foods in your inventory at any one time. This counts as cheating, and any spare items should be kept on your Safety Deposit Box for SBD feeding (explained below). I find it less confusing to simply have my Kad foods in my inventory, as it is easier to remember what you have when you see an RS.

Part Two – Place

It may seem odd to you that the place of the feeding matters, but it really does. You have to have 100% concentration on the Kadoaties; otherwise there is no way you’ll be able to feed one. Only have THREE (or four, if you SDB feed) windows open when it comes close to the feeding time. The first should be the Kadoatery Board (on the Games Neoboard). Here you will be able to see the time of the RS, and also will be told if you’ve missed the RS or any other information you need. Try not to talk too much around the Restock time though, as you might miss the RS while typing. The second window should obviously be the Kadoatery. Make sure you refresh regularly and can see the clock so that you can refresh on the minute. The third should be the Shop Wizard or your SDB. Make sure you have “Identical to my phrase” on the shop wizard, and you click on the search box so that you’re ready to copy the name of the Kad food straight into the box. If you are SDB searching, make sure you have the “food” category selected, and that you have clicked in the search box. These little things make you that little bit quicker when searching for your Kad food – and every second counts. If you are unsure about these two methods of feeding, they are explained in further detail below.

Now, make sure that when you’re feeding, you’re in a quiet room on your own, so that you won’t be disturbed. I’ve missed many a Kad through family members irritating me, or the TV being on. Don’t listen to music if you can help it, and don’t have any non-Neopets windows open. It’s very important that you are able to concentrate completely on the task at hand – feeding those Kads!

Part Three – Time

It’s VITALLY important that you know the time of each main and mini restock when feeding. A Mini is when only a few Kads need feeding, but a Main is when they all do. Each restock (whether a main or a mini) is approximately 28 minutes apart, but if you don’t know when the last Main was, go to the Kadoatery Boards (found on the Games Neoboard) and there are always helpful Neopians to give you the times. Try to remember these times, as it makes it easier for you to know when to refresh, without having to keep checking back at the boards.

You should go to the Kadoatery window a minute or two before the approximate feeding time. If you are waiting for a Mini, the Kads will appear at the BOTTOM of the Kadoatery, and it’s important that you remember to scroll down after every refresh. If it is a Main you are waiting for, every Kad will need feeding so you have to prepare yourself for that. Now, even the fastest computer lags a little, so keep your eye on the Neopian Clock and start refreshing a couple of seconds before the minute, to ensure that you don’t miss the restock. Also, sometimes the Kads restock AFTER the minute so make sure you keep refreshing for a few seconds. Don’t be put off if after a few minutes the Kadoatery still hasn’t restocked, it can “pend” for a quite a while, so patience when feeding is essential.

Also, it is important that you realise that Mini restocks can sometimes “merge” with Main restocks. This is when there is no Mini, and there is only a Main where all of the Kadoatery restocks at once.

It is also important to note that the pending system has changed in recent times. Now the mains are 28 minutes apart, the Kadoatery ‘pends’ with 7 minute intervals. Sound confusing? It really isn’t. All that this means is that you should only refresh every seven minutes after the original main time. For example, if you read “Main at :20”, this means that you must first refresh at :20 (which is short hand for twenty minutes past whatever hour it may be), and then :27, :34 and so on, until the Kadoatery finally refreshes. It can be a little bewildering at first, but don’t worry.

Part Four – Technique

Obviously, it is important that you know every possible way of feeding Kads, as you can then decide which is easier for you and give yourself a higher chance of feeding. There are three main ways to feed, and you should try each of them to see which you are most comfortable with.

Inventory Feeding

This method is the one preferred by most beginners, but can be expensive and you must have quite a lot of initial Neopoints to be able to use it successfully. As the name suggests, Inventory Feeding is when you already have the Kad Foods in your inventory, and you simply wait for an item of that type to show up. Now, this seems rather tedious, since it can be a long while before an item you have turns up, but if you have a good selection of foods you’re bound to see something you have at some point.

As I suggested earlier in the article, it’s best to choose a selection of foods all containing the same word, such as “apple”. You do not have to buy every single item of this type, since some can be extremely expensive, but having as many as possible is always useful. However, some people do find it easier to have a variety of different items in their inventory, but a good memory is required for this as you have to remember each individual item and be confident that you can spot it under pressure.

Once you’ve chosen and bought your inventory, it’s now time to try feeding! With Inventory Feeding, all that is needed is for you to click on the image of the Kadoatie as soon as you see that it’s asking for an item of yours. Don’t be fooled into thinking that you don’t have to be quick to do this, I’ve often been “pwned” (when someone beats you to a Kad and feeds it before you) while trying to inventory feed, so you must still be alert.

Advantages: It’s quick, relatively easy, and you don’t have to buy extra foods when you might not even feed them in time.

Disadvantages: You have to wait until an item you have turns up, which could be a long time.

Shop Wizard Feeding

Also referred to as “Wiz Feeding”. I’ve fed more using this method, but it is not my most preferred. To put it simply, this is when you quickly copy and paste the name of an item, search for it using the Shop Wizard, quickly buy the item and then attempt to feed the Kad with it. This seems a very lengthy process, but if you are fast it is often the easiest way to feed a large number of Kadoaties within a few days.

In order to make sure you are as fast as possible, it’s essential that you’re well prepared for the restock. Make sure you have the Shop Wizard open as a separate window to the Kadoatery, and that you have the Search Items set to “Identical to my phrase”, so that you don’t end up buying a completely different item to the one you’re after. Now, don’t waste time making sure you get the cheapest item possible; speed is of the essence in this game, and you need to just buy the item as quickly as you can. If you’re lucky, you’ll end up at a shop which loads quickly and you’ll be able to open the Kad window and feed in seconds. If you’re not, you’ll find yourself in a shop with hundreds of flashy images which basically ruins the whole feed. This is the risk that Wiz Feeders take, and you must be aware of it.

Now, you have to be patient with wiz feeding. It’s much easier to get “pwned” this way, and most of the time you just have to hope that you selected an item to search for which not many other people did. Also, the price of the item varies a lot, and you may be unlucky to search for an extremely expensive item. I personally prefer not to wiz feed, and I often end up being “pwned”, but somehow I have fed more Kads this way. It takes time to build up the proper Wiz Feeding skills, and you just have to practice a lot before you’ve mastered them.

Advantages: You can attempt to feed on every restock and you don’t have to spend lots of Neopoints like with inventory feeding.

Disadvantages: You have to be very quick; sometimes the items are too expensive, and it requires a lot of luck.

Safety Deposit Box Feeding

Also referred to as SDB Feeding, this method almost combines the previous two methods. It involves buying much more food than inventory feeding, which can be extremely expensive, but means that you don’t have to buy any more Kad food after that. Basically, SDB Feeding involves waiting for an item you have to appear, and if it isn’t already in your inventory, quickly searching your SDB, removing it (clicking the “Rm One” button) and then finally clicking on the Kad. This is the longest method of feeding, but gives you the chance to feed on almost every RS.

Most people using this method combine it with Inventory Feeding, and have several full inventories (full set of items with a certain word in) in their SDB. It is common for feeders to regularly switch their inventories so that the most commonly appearing set of items is in their inventory, whilst the remaining sets sit in the SDB in case they appear. I personally have never used this method, as it is expensive and takes a while, but I know of many feeders who use it fairly successfully, and therefore I do suggest you to give it a go once you become more experienced with feeding.

Advantages: Gives you an opportunity to feed more often and there is no risk of buying expensive items only to be pwned – also allows you to use several inventories at once.

Disadvantages: Can be very costly and takes longer.

Part Five – Commitment

This seems to be the aspect of feeding which new feeders fail to grasp the most. It takes a fair amount of patience and determination in order to become a decent Kad Feeder, and many people get put off by the initial apparent difficulty of the game. Feeding can be a lengthy and tedious process, and if you really want to feed that first Kadoatie you simply must be devoted – your hard work will ALWAYS pay off, so just keep at it! If you’re finding it difficult to keep track of the times, or just to make time to become an effective feeder, it may be helpful to give yourself a couple of hours alone to spend solely on trying to feed – it really helps, and you’ll quickly get to grips with how everything works. Take one of my feeder friends; she spent well over a month trying to feed her first and then fed 13 within a week or two – it just takes a bit of time to learn all the tricks, so don’t let a few weeks or failure get you down. There’ll always be hungry kads wanting food, so just keep trying. If at first you don't succeed, try again!

Well, here is where my article reaches its conclusion. I have tried my best to simplify the seemingly complicated aspects of the feeding process, and I truly hope that more people will be encouraged to try to feed following reading this. When I fed my first Kadoatie, I knew less information than what is in included in this article and I still managed it, so why not give it a go and see what you’re really made of? It’s fast, fun and positively addictive, so what have you got to lose? Now you’ve got the info, get in there and feed some Kadoaties!