Fat cat constantly begging for food

[Leah2005]

Our lovely boy is constantly begging for food and has got quite fat. He did this last year at this time too but then lost it all in the spring. Any recommendations for food to satisfy his ever increasing belly? He is currently on royal canin dry food (sensible). The portions sizes are so small it's very easy to add a little too much at each meal and when he sits next to the food cupboard door crying we crumble too easily. He has us trained like Pavlov's dogs.

I know we're supposed to be very disciplined with their food portions, but it's very difficult when a huge, menacing, former street fighter is staring at you, daring you to ignore his demands. He doesn't have an off switch.

Wil watch with interest...

Could you try him on a lower calorie cat food (so he can eat the same quantity but feel fuller...?). I think Royal Canin makes one.

You need the diet biscuits and play more with him to distract him I had the same issue with my old cat I would like to say I resolved it but no he passed away almost as fat as he lived

Came here looking for advice on this topic, although my cat's not overweight (yet)
I did read an article that confirmed cats needed more food in winter, even indoor cats, but no guidance as to how much.
My one has wet cat food - I've always worked on 200g a day, but she's probably eating at least 300g at the moment, and still worrying for more.
She definitely doesn't have worms.

This is another study that I found - this one suggests 15% less in summer.
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/05/140528114828.htm

OP - would support why your boy wants more but loses excess weight in Spring.

@violetbunny just googled it - they do a satiety version so will have to give it a try. I would be interested to know if anyone has tried it.

@EveryDayIsADuvetDay I did wonder if it might be his pattern. Last year was our first winter with him so haven't had him long enough to tell. I've never had a fat cat before. It has been some years since we last had a cat and our previous ones were fed on pouches of wet feed so much easier to check portion sizes are correct. We've kept this boy on dry feed as that was what he had when we got him from rspca centre. My DH is a new cat owner and has not yet built resistance to feline demands.

@Want2beme haha ours chases us from the kitchen and rugby tackles us if we ignore him. He has also perfected puppy dog eyes (a mean feat for a cat) which is his first line of attack.

Watching with interest. We adopted a cat last May who is obsessed with food and begs constantly. He tried to steal from our plates and the bin when we first got him. We changed him to a food for hungry cats and give him puzzle feeders but there is little difference.

Much of cats and dogs food is cereal based. They are carnivores and protein is satiating. So my advice would be to feed a high protein diet.

I've got a fat food stealer too - anything unattended for more than a nanosecond gets swiped by her and she has to get shut out of the room when we eat. I feed her pouches (so can keep track) and she has access to dry food at all times. Other than that, we just don't make eye contact with her, she is horribly persistent.

Mine only has grain free cat food (+whatever of mine she appropriates), so she is getting high protein , so that's not the problem.
And she's an indoor cat, so not burning too much energy in her slouch from bed to sofa - with the inevitable rush to the food bowl and throwing all her energies into the hungry-poor-little-me performance.

We weigh out our cats dry food. When we've had a greedy cat we given them 3/4 at a meal and the last 1/4 a while later when they beg. That way you get to keep an eye on the portion size while they get the satisfaction of getting food from you.

My boy too is on the sensible royal canin. He had to come off wet food as he developed an allergy. Now he's getting fatter and fatter!

Ours doesn't steal food and we steadfastly don't give him titbit but just a few biscuits extra a day quickly mount up. I don't want not to feed him if he is hungry but I also don't want him to be fat with the health problems that can cause. @justanotherneighinparadise do you have any recommendations?

If you really can't resist his pleading, measure out his dry food for the day and give him a little bit when he "asks" so he doesn't get any extra.

Having got 10kg off a Labrador it can be done

I tried to implement a diet with one of my cats - failed miserably. If he doesn't get what he wants he waltzes over to the nearest patch of carpet/sofa/dining chair etc and claws at it until he gets what he wants, bangs on the windows with his paws, even takes a protest poo in the wash basket. I haven't bothered with the diet since

How much time does he spend outside? They burn off calories by just keeping warm at this time of year. Even if he just sits there and watches the world go by it would be helping.

It's definitely difficult to keep the weight off when cats are inside in the winter and bored. If you're only feeding one variety of dry food, this will get pretty boring too, so it might be worth giving a very small portion of cooked chicken or fish instead of extra biscuits to alleviate the boredom. Cooked chicken will often satisfy a cat for longer, just make sure it's instead of some biscuits and not as well as .

Poor starving kitty!
One of my 3 is much more interested in food than the others, which has meant a bit of a change in my habits as I've usually fed on demand. But they definitely ask less with certain foods and I would also suggest subbing the odd meal for some cooked chicken or fish. Protein definitely helps with satiety.

@prestel @beamur good idea re cooked meat. Perhaps if I mix it up with biscuits it might alleviate boredom. He does goes out but only at night so we don't know how long he stays out for. He definitely just sleeps all day. Unless he hears the food cupboard open