It's a Kad Feeding Frenzy

     Kadoaties have a voracious appetite. Once or twice an hour (roughly every 28 minutes), the Kads boarded in the Kadoatery will each demand a different food to be brought to them to satisfy their rumbling bellies. This food is any edible item up to a rarity of 95, meaning a Kad could ask for (demand) a 5 Neopoint Bagguss, or crave something a little bit more refined, like a Blue Cybunny Negg. There are around 4,000 items at the time of writing that any one Kad could ask for, so trying to anticipate their needs is a fool’s game indeed for a player like myself. In between the full refresh, there may be one or two individual Kads that get hungry for a snack, creating another window (albeit much smaller) to feed a Kad. You might be wondering, why on Neopia would I want to feed one of these fussy little creatures? Well, dear reader, if you need to be enticed with a little more than the warm fuzzy feeling that comes with helping these starving creatures through charity, how about a Site Feature Trophy for your lookup and a secret avatar?

     Yes, that’s right. Not only can you walk away with the feeling of a job well done after dropping off food for these starving Kads, but you can also work your way up to rewards to display (so all can see how charitable you are, of course). When you feed your first Kadoatie, you’ll get a bronze Kad trophy in your Site Features trophy cabinet. At 10 Kads, a silver trophy, and at 25, a shiny gold Kadoatie for the world to see. This trophy distribution is a bit unique compared to the majority of other trophies awarded in Neopia – you don’t need to compete with a high-score table to upgrade your trophy. Sure, there’s competition to feed a Kad, but through grit and determination you can work your way up in no time. Finally, at a whopping 75 Kads fed, you’ll need to view your User Lookup (to admire your philanthropic endeavours of course) and blimey, you’ll be awarded the Kadoatery – Mew! avatar.

     Now that we have the who, the what, the why, and the where out of the way, it’s time to get down to brass Kads with the how. Feeding Kads is an effort in patience. It’s similar to restocking, for those familiar with the process, in that you need to commit to monitoring the Kadoatery for a good chunk of time and refreshing the page every so often to catch a Kad refresh (this is where the Kads all get hungry again and their food requests pop up on their kennels). Once a request is generated, the best way I’ve found to feed a Kad is to have the Shop Wizard running in a separate tab, or have your Super Shop Wizard up and ready to search. Copy and paste the food item and search just as you would for any old item (ensuring that the search occurs in a separate tab so that time isn’t wasted clicking through the world to get back to the Kadoatie). A tip I’ve discovered along the way is, while our magical Jubjub friend is hunting down that item, highlight and copy a different food from a different Kad to have that ready to go as well. That way, if the Kad you want to feed has already been fed by another kind-hearted Neopian, you don’t have to waste any time picking another item to go find. The competition in this place is tough – there are only 20 Kads in the Kadoatery at any given time, and a lot of us want that avatar…I mean, to donate food to those hungry tummies.

     Another tip I’ve learned after much trial and error is that I like to pick one or two Kadoaties to look at every time I refresh the screen – for example, I always look at whichever Kad is in the first kennel on the left, three rows down. When I see that the Kad in there is hungry (today it’s a sweet little thing named Tuba), I will always search for whatever item Tuba wants. I cannot stress this enough – time is of the essence when feeding Kads. Do not shop around and be picky with which Kad to feed. Pick one (or two) and search for its item the second you see that the request is generated.

     This isn’t a fool-proof method. Sometimes, the item is more expensive than I’m willing to gamble on. I set a limit for myself to not buy anything that costs more than 150k. The limit you’re comfortable with may be different, and that’s totally fine. Just keep in mind that the food can get pricey, and even if you’ve bought the item, there’s always a chance that someone fed whichever Kad you’re shopping for a wee bit faster than you. That’s where it’s helpful to have a second (or third, or fourth, etc.) option ready to go in a separate tab so you can click, purchase, and click on the Kadoatie to feed it. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve stumbled on a Kadoatery restock, purchased an item for a relatively cheap amount of Neopoints, and gone to click the Kad in question to feed it, only to find that someone else has beaten me to it. And you know what? That’s ok. It’s all part of the process. Don’t get discouraged, keep trying, and you’ll feed your first Kad in no time. From there, it’s a slow-and-steady wins the race situation as you make your way towards feeding 75 Kads (or more, if this is your thing).

     An important note here is that once you feed a Kad, you can’t feed any more in the Kadoatery until that first Kad goes home (or gets hungry) again. You’ll be able to tell which one you’ve fed because the Kad will thank its last feeder on the front of its kennel. I’ve also found, similar to when I’m restocking, that it’s helpful to have a good chunk of change on hand (for me that’s around 500k). The Kad market moves pretty fast, and if you have to stop and withdraw Neopoints from your bank account to feed one, you might just miss it.

     There are probably a million-and-one strategies out there for feeding Kadoaties. This is just the collection of tips and tricks I’ve learned on my quest to get one of my most coveted avatars. I wish you all the best, dear reader, and hope to one day see the Neoboards flooded with Kadoatery avatars. Good luck, and happy feeding!