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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.

Original poster

Insatiable Cat

51 replies

belimoo · 29/07/2021 21:27

Does anybody else have a Ragdoll, or any other cat, who is constantly hungry?

My boy is always following me around screaming for food and is rarely satisfied. So far today he has had:

8.30am 1 pouch of natures menu country hunter (96% protein)
12pm as above
4pm 1 treat meat stick (like a peperami but for cats)
5pm 1 pouch of Felix mixed with pumpkin (he needs the pumpkin to prevent messy litter trays and Felix is his favourite so means he eats the pumpkin)
7.30pm small portion of cod
9.30pm he is screaming at me as though he is starving.

I will give him a snack before bed but it seems like a lot of food! And he is constantly asking for more. He is recently wormed and last time I took him to the vet (in Jan) she advised that he was slightly overweight.

If I don't feed him then he becomes a bit aggressive, cries non-stop and eventually starts to bite and lunge at me.

Should I just be feeding more or is this a lot already? I don't want him to get fat and unhealthy but also hate the thought that he is hungry and unhappy.

OP posts:
jaundicedoutlook · 29/07/2021 22:02

Bernard, our BSH, is quite capable of easting until he bursts, then mewing for more food / trying to steal ours. As an experiment we once gave him a whole tin of cat food in one sitting (a tin is a whole day's worth). He ate it all to the point where he looked positively swollen, then came and tried to pinch a defrosting prawn from the kitchen sink.

Some cats are just greedy bastards.

ahoyshipmates · 29/07/2021 22:08

Pumpkin???

Intercity225 · 29/07/2021 22:15

One of our cats had food anxiety - he was born feral. When we got him, he would eat anything - tomatoes, bread…..

He must have realised there is a never ending supply of food here, because it’s worn off!

BridgetInHerBravery · 29/07/2021 22:25

How old is he and what's his weight, is he active?

Does he have dry too?

I would dump the meat stick and the cod (neither are nutritionally great for cats) and add in some dry for grazing, possibly via a puzzle feeder to keep him busy.

Sunbelievable · 29/07/2021 22:25

Yup. My cat does exactly this.

But I ignore her so she remains a healthy slightly underweight/perfect weight.

I feed her twice a day with the exact portion she's allowed (ziwi peak so barely much! It's very concentrated) and I ignore any and all yowling.

Tough love. It kills me a bit as it would be easy to buy her affection 😔. But overweight cats can get health issues.

But again asking about pumpkin? I gave my dog pumpkin when she was constipated but only as a short term thing.

Sunbelievable · 29/07/2021 22:26

PS I feed at 8am and 6pm.

BridgetInHerBravery · 29/07/2021 22:27

Pumpkin is often used to firm up a cat's poo. A healthy cat on the right diet shouldn't need this regularly though.

Original poster
belimoo · 29/07/2021 22:27

@jaundicedoutlook he's definitely a greedy bastard! The question is how much to indulge that tendency...

OP posts:
Original poster
belimoo · 29/07/2021 22:28

He is 22 months old and weighs around 14 lbs, which seems appropriate given his breed but the vet said he should lose a little bit.

OP posts:
TheGirlOnTheLanding · 29/07/2021 22:29

Maybe get tests done at the vet for thyroid issues? Two of our previous cats got ravenous (and noisy with it) when they had overactive thyroids. Apparently quite common. Their fur got a bit dull and dandruffy as well.

Original poster
belimoo · 29/07/2021 22:30

@Sunbelievable it's so tempting to buy their love and I am guilty of that sometimes but he literally does not shut up when he's hungry and after a while becomes pretty aggressive. He's generally very docile so it feels like he's genuinely upset by how hungry he is.

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MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 29/07/2021 22:30

My tiny little cat would eat more than that OP , approx 4 or 5 pouches of food a day plus raw meat. He's in fine fettle and the vet congratulates us on his weight Grin

peonyjam · 29/07/2021 22:30

I have a ragdoll too and she is weirdly never been that interested in food compared to other cats I've had where they will pinch things from plates and cry for food. I think it may just be her temperament but the thing that I've done differently with her is to feed her her ragdoll dry food with wet food only a few times a week (and treats of course). She is more of a grazer and will often choose her kibble even when wet food is available.

She becomes aggressive sometimes too but it is usually when she wants to play or 'hunt' the toy bird rather than about food (although she always gets treats at the end). I'm not sure if that might help him to feel like he's hunted his dinner?

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 29/07/2021 22:31

How many pouches does it say on the box to give OP?

Original poster
belimoo · 29/07/2021 22:31

Thanks @MrsPelligrinoPetrichor that's reassuring! I did ask the owner of his brother how much their cat eats and it was possibly even more but it seems so much compared to other cats I know of and the fact he's constantly following me around hoping for food like a dog.

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BridgetInHerBravery · 29/07/2021 22:32

It really doesn't sound like much food for his weight! If he's overweight on that amount of food I would think about how to increase his activity. Does he go out?

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 29/07/2021 22:33

Ours get fed at 6, 10, 2, 6 plus raw at some point plus food down over night. No dry at all. He'll have a lick e lix too with cystaid.

Original poster
belimoo · 29/07/2021 22:35

To answer the questions about the pumpkin. He's had loose stools since we got him at 4 months. We've tried so many different diets and even boiled chicken doesn't seem to fully fix it.

The only thing that consistently helps to keep him solid is to feed some canned pumpkin each day. The vet didn't seem to think that was a problem as long as he was getting a decent amount of complete cat food every day.

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IloveStrawberrylaces · 29/07/2021 22:35

I was about to ask too, does he go out. Do cats eat from boredom?

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 29/07/2021 22:37

A quick Google suggests 4 pouches a day for a medium cat and more for a large cat.

Original poster
belimoo · 29/07/2021 22:39

He does go out but not loads. We try to keep him active but I can definitely do more on that front. I was more concerned about whether he was too hungry but it sounds like he just needs more food than I expected based on his size.

My last cat was a hunter and mainly fed herself and turned her nose up at the food we offered.

I don't usually give a meat stick, that was a rarity because I didn't have the usual dry food I'd give him as a snack. And the cod was a rare treat too. He usually has 2 or 3 pouches of cat food, some boiled chicken with pumpkin and a few dried biscuits.

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BridgetInHerBravery · 29/07/2021 22:39

@MrsPelligrinoPetrichor

A quick Google suggests 4 pouches a day for a medium cat and more for a large cat.
My rough guide is a pouch per kilo of cat per day, an average cat is around 4kg so that fits!
MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 29/07/2021 22:41

Give him more food Grin

BridgetInHerBravery · 29/07/2021 22:41

I'd use a puzzle feeder for his dry then, he will have more food but have to work and expend energy to get at it.

Original poster
belimoo · 29/07/2021 22:41

@MrsPelligrinoPetrichor

A quick Google suggests 4 pouches a day for a medium cat and more for a large cat.
Thanks for that. My brother said his 2 cats eat 2 pouches a day between them and it made me worry there was something wrong.

I think I may just not be feeding enough in that case. I would be interested to know whether cats boredom eat though. Im at home with him all day and we interact a lot but I do wonder whether I need to spend more time playing given that he's an only cat.

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