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The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

My cat has turned into a right dick

67 replies

BigPawsBrown · 01/12/2013 18:29

I got a rescued ginger tom (8kg) in 2011. He is between four and six. I have posted about him before, eating cheesecakes and dining out at the neighbours.

Over the summer, he had a very hard time at the vet's. He wouldn't get in the box and then he reacted to the routine vaccination (diagnosed with feline hyperaesthesia) and had to have morphine. All fine within a week.

In the early autumn my neighbours texted me and told me he'd been spending lots of time there. He'd not been eating so much here but had been gaining weight. They wouldn't stop feeding him bloody Dreamies so we decided to keep him in. I am sure even if they would stop, he would find someone else to feed him.

His personality has totally changed since he met these neighbours (and napped with them in their bed Confused), or maybe since the vet's, and has got worse since he became a house cat.

He has always been very clingy, always in same room as me, has weird very loud howling episodes when we leave him to go to bed even though he sleeps with us!! Every night it's like he forgets where we've gone, thinks he's been abandoned, then finds us when we call Hmm

He's also got issues with food. He's like a dog - will eat whatever we put down and eats it all in under ten seconds then burps, sometimes voms, and eats that

He's also dominant, will sit higher than us and square up to us etc. When I get in from work he wants to be cuddles with his arms around my neck and he shakes and cries and purrs and kneads me. It's like bloody attachment cat parenting!

Now, though, he's a million times worse. He's on two pouches of whiskas a day as he is overweight (not as overweight as he sounds at 8kg - he is two feet long, massive paws etc). He shouts at us all evening on the coffee table. He attacks things all the time and chases bits of fluff round in manner of something from exorcist. My niece grabbed a packet of his food and he properly squared up to her til she dropped it.

He is obsessed with meals, gets on kitchen counters despite shouts, patrols his food cupboard, licks old plates on the side Hmm, comes running from downstairs if a fork chinks a plate, skidding into the room with food in, squares up to guests who go in his places and bites me when I put his food down.

He's driving us nuts. He meows constantly!! What can we do?

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BigPawsBrown · 03/12/2013 15:40

Mm, he hardly ever hisses though. It was horrible! I have fed him half the amount twice today and he is, already, standing on the coffee table and shouting. I can't even watch the TV over the racket.

Yes they did text me when I first started keeping him in, I told them in was due to fireworks. They know I've been off sick and am returning to work so I think they think I've gone full time and that's why he's in all the time now. Hope they don't call the RSPCA...

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Fluffycloudland77 · 03/12/2013 15:46

Nah don't worry about it, I've pulled mine off a fence hissing and growling with no injuries.

He hissed at me when I took his dead rabbit off him too.

He's not the boss of you!

BigPawsBrown · 03/12/2013 15:49

Ah, thank you! Now, I just need to figure out how to secure the bin...

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HellonHeels · 03/12/2013 16:01

How much food are you giving him, exactly? Is the amount on vet's advice and are you sure you have it correct?

How does it measure against the feeding guidelines on the pack of food?

Drastically cutting a cat's food intake can cause fatty liver which is a fatal condition. It is safer to reduce his intake by small amounts.

Could you call the vet surgery and double check?

woozlebear · 03/12/2013 16:04

Tell neighbours he is diabetic or something, and MUST not be fed by them or he could get seriously ill. If they care about him, surely that would stop them?

Let him out. Not surprising his behaviour has changed if he's being kept in and isn't used to it.

Split meals into smaller sittings. One of mine had the same issues with gobbling and puking too. Dry food seemed the worst culprit.

Get a dog crate for travel and train him to eat in it. One of ours (giant 6.5 kilo tabby girl) was such a psycho about baskets when we got her -she drew blood and shredded jeans in the process - but moved house no problem a few months ago thanks to a dog grate large enough for a labrador!! Also google and see if you are in an area serviced by a travelling vet. That's what we use and it's fab. Not many of them though.

The running in at the sound of food being prepared sounds normal to me - or have I just always had greedy cats??!! Likewise the attachment thing and the violence - but I have a tortie, so I'm used to it. Gingers and torties are quite similar in some respects, I think.

He sounds fab!!

BigPawsBrown · 03/12/2013 16:20

He used to be on 100% dried food. I read a bit about how it's full of cereals and not very good for cats (and it was such tiny amounts that he gets similar nutrition but much more food with wet) so gradually switched him to wet. Before I did that I gradually stepped down his food using a cup with lines on it, removing a teaspoon per two weeks until he was on the right amount.

Then when we switched to wet I fed him two packets a day which on the back of whiskas is the medium amount - three/day for large cats so I thought two/day would help him lose weight. He's about as ravenous as he was at the height of the dry food diet but obviously in the interim he's been stuffing himself at the neighbours so it might be a drastic reduction! He's never ever gone in the bin before so I have just fed him a pouch now. He's pathetically grateful.

Have spoken to neighbours and they were shirty. I think with that, the fact that he wasn't always at their house when out (I think he was stealing food from another house, too), the main road outside... I just don't know if the risks of getting run over/getting diabetes are worth it for the enjoyment for him (questionable anyway - he's not wanting to go OUT, he wants to go out and eat! If we don't feed him when he demands asks, he goes to front door).

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HellonHeels · 03/12/2013 17:17

oh poor fellow he does sound hungry Sad

My boy cat weighs 5kg. He has two packs wet food per day plus a bit extra if hungry, and biscuits (royal canin dry food) in a treat ball to snack on.

If he's now indoors and not being fed elsewhere he will lose weight OK on 3 packs wet food a day and a few biscuits.

X for you and kitty boy

Corygal · 03/12/2013 17:24

He is completely adorable. You one lucky lady!

Going on a diet is horrible for everyone, including handsome ginger gentlemen. He will be nicer when he is fed normally. And less bored. Play with him lots.

Until then, enjoy the cuddling.

BigPawsBrown · 03/12/2013 18:52

He is adorable. Interesting that a cat might lose weight on 3 pouches a day. Has anyone else experienced that? He is large, so I do wonder if two is too few.

I don't think he could have biscuits to graze on. he doesn't graze Grin

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HellonHeels · 03/12/2013 21:00

Well I'm no expert at all but for a big fella I don't think two packs is enough. I'd be inclined to give him three and make sure he runs about for five-ten minutes twice a day.

Corygal · 03/12/2013 23:31

Maybe the little love is hungry? try 3 pouches a day for a bit.

Fluffycloudland77 · 04/12/2013 08:16

I was thinking about this last night and I reasoned he's having less on 3 pouches a day than he was at ndn because they fed him treats.

So yes try 3 a day and he won't be feeling so hard done by.

I bet your vets do a weight loss club. They love that kind of thing "cuddles went from 10kg to 5kg but he's still cuddly!" .

Did you change his brand of food?.

kittykarate · 04/12/2013 11:33

I'd go 3 pouches plus small treat. I'm sure by small/medium/large on the catfood box their large is probably a 5kg - 6kg cat (it is on Felix anyhow), so he probably feels like you've put him on the Cambridge Diet.

BigPawsBrown · 04/12/2013 13:51

The thing is, since the end of October (so 5 - 6 weeks) he has been inside and on two pouches a day and hasn't lost any weight! So won't it be even harder for him to lose weight on 3 pouches a day? He'd be delighted to read this thread though - he's fooled you all! Wondering if he's writing the posts saying feed him more? Grin

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kittykarate · 04/12/2013 14:38

Meow!

My 4.5 kg cat has 3 pouches a day and isn't gaining any weight. He is however mega active, running round the house like a nutter and playing lots.

kittykarate · 04/12/2013 14:39

That Meow wasn't saying you were being catty, I was just pretending to be a cat. Would love an edit feature on this board.

Fluffycloudland77 · 05/12/2013 11:30

I think you need the vets advice, I mean if you put a human on half rations for 6wks you'd expect weightloss wouldn't you.

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