Help! Cat is starving all the time

[Hangingbasketphobia]

My cat is just over a year old. We rescued him from a shelter at 5 months. He has no behavioural problems and is quite a bold cat.

However, he is constantly seeking out food. It's become a real problem as we can't leave any food out at all. He's eaten loaves of bread, raw broccoli and will claw his way into any packaging.

When we are eating he will happily try and steal food from our plates. As soon as he hears someone in the kitchen, he rushes in. If I've been food shopping and put the bags down on the floor, he straight away starts trying to sniff out any food! If we leave any drinks around, he will put his head in the cups and start licking.

My DH hates him and is talking about getting rid of him.

He has a good diet of quality wet food and sometimes dry. He gobbles down his food straight away and gets fed twice a day.

Can anyone suggest why he's like this? Is it a medical problem? What can I do to stop it?

I would appreciate any suggestions.

Presumably he's up to date with worming meds?

I'd second a guess that most likely it's behavioural, from back in the day, when he didn't know where his next meal was coming from.

How is it when you leave biscuits down for him to snack on? Give him a good quality one with a high meat content. No cereals. Applaws is good.

*Also somewhere in my mind, I recall that cats having a love for bread and other starchy stuff, can have a deficiency of some kind.

If it were me, I'd be giving the vet a call tomorrow.

We have a rescue cat who sounds very similar. DCat is on steroids for a skin condition and I think they contribute to the permanent hunger. I imagine that in the rescue centre the only food they ever saw was their own dinner, so it doesn't surprise me that DCat wants it all!

Stealing from your plates and worksurfaces isn't on though. We used a water spray bottle to teach her that our food was off limits, and silver foil on the table and on the worksurfaces.

You can add any medicine to his food as nothing will stop him eating. he can't do portion control, so we watch what he eats and weigh him occasionally too.

DCats food obsession is one of the things that brings me the most joy though. He can open DC's rucksack zips to get out the Tupperware boxes, which he then battles with for 10 minutes to get cereal bar wrappers, empty yoghurt pots, or discarded crusts. He eats anything left out for the birds, and raids the compost bin for carrot peelings and avocado shells!

Are you sure you're feeding him enough (answer probably a firm yes).

We had to initially shut the kittens out during meals (so one did protest poos ). They had to be trained (instant but kind removal) to not jump on counters and to leave our food alone; still can't be trusted if backs are turned.

I suspect your problem is training not medical.

But, if it does worry you, or it's a new behaviour, do get him checked out.

For us, this is just how he is. And it could be true for your boy too.

We were adopted by a little feral girl who was exactly like this, she would be especially interested in us when we were in the kitchen and "scrounged" food all the time. She learned how to open our food waste recycling bin lid. It is definitely "learned behaviour" but yes to checking on the worming front.

I feed mine 3-4 times a day, he has 300-400g wet a day but no biscuits because he doesn't like them.

What's his build like?.

Thanks for all the replies!
He's quite a big build and definitely has enough food. He's been wormed reguarly. He wasn't in the shelter for long and I'm not sure of his history but he wasn't underweight when we got him. He's behaved like this ever since we got him.

Also... He's not very active and prefers to mooch around the house rather than go outside so I am mindful of not overfeeding him

I have a very greedy and rather overwieght cat, I switched her to a high protein, no grain dry food (Applaws) it is expensive (worth it to avoid scratching at the door at 4am for breakfast) but it lasts a long time and seems to satisfy her for longer.

Nobody is born with manners, least of all cats. He just needs training.

What are you feeding and how much?

Have you weighed him?

We had a rescue kitty like this. She had been found starving in someone's shed. I remember she would eat slugs, veggies, anything. One time she ate through a tea towel that I had placed over a half-eaten jacket potato to get to the potato. It only had marge on, no meat. What solved it for us was a good quality dry food that was presumably filling and she could snack on whenever. She was 6 months when we got her, lived to be 18 and it was only a few months of scrounging food.

Madcat is like this. I'm sure it's because she spent some time not knowing where the next meal was coming from. She's better than she was - we used to have a full growling/hissing symphony over dinner, as well as taking food away into hiding places, both of which she only does now for roast chicken.

But yes, if I'm in the kitchen, she is in the kitchen. We had to get a lidded bin, and food is not left unsupervised.

Is a closed kitchen door policy an option?
Where do you feed him? If it's the kitchen, and that's where most of the problems are, try feeding him elsewhere.

When you feed him, does he always finish all his food in one go? I feed dry food for breakfast and wet for dinner and think dry is good for cats who get panicky about food, maybe it's less rewarding or something so doesn't engage the OMG FOOD response as much.

Clear rules eg 'no cats on tables or work surfaces' are easier to teach than a general policy of 'stop messing with human food'. (NB: I have only ever successfully taught cats not to go on tables or worktops when someone can see them) In terms of how to do this, if he gets on the surface he gets a 'NO' or 'OFF' and lifted down, even repeatedly. Alternatively, a 'NO' or 'OFF' combined with a brief period of being excluded from you - in a different room, or outside or whatever.

Also, and I don't know if this is terrible advice, but I do give in and give her a few extra biscuits sometimes, or if I'm carving a chicken or whatever and she's stayed on the floor and not attempted actual theft she might get a morsel. It definitely doesn't encourage her not to beg, but I feel like it's helped her realise that food does come, she doesn't need to worry about it.

Cats are clever sods. They are very adept at persuading people they are starving when they have just had a meal.

Make a real point of giving him attention AWAY from the food bowl and see if you can unlearn the pattern

Twice a day probably isn't enough for a young male cat. Mine are 3 years old now, and the female will eat less often, could probably get away with twice a day, but our Tom cat if fed four times a day. He is a biggish cat, very lean though, and he eats about 600g of wet food a day.

I will try and feed him 3 times a day and see if that helps. I think he weighs about 4.5 kilos (from memory!). Thanks for the replies

My cat is a bit heavier than that, but I leave a complete dried food down all the time so he can eat when he wants to. I also give him a couple of pouches during the course of the day

Is your cat getting a constant supply if water? Just a thought. They can and should drink a fair bit.

I have a Ragdoll cat like this. We got her as a kitten and she came from a good home so no psychological problems. She is wormed and well cared for. Vet just said: "she's a greedy cat."

He does drink quite a lot of water. IF I leave any food out, he will eat it all in one go! He doesn't seem to get full and stop eating!

Have you asked the vet about it?.

Probably should have asked you that this morning.

No I haven't yet. He needs injections soon so will ask then.