Dangerously Hungry Cat!

[07Jan]

I have a rescue cat (she was picked up as a stray) approximately 1.9 years old, I've had her about 9 months
She is neutered, great health, normal weight no worms etc.
When she arrived to me she was seriously small and underweight - I thought she was 4- 5 months old as she was so small.
Within a few weeks of eating well she gained weight and doubled in size.
Her weight is now stable as I have been very consistent with her food as the vet told me she was getting too fat.

The problem is she is ravenously hungry all the time.
She will break into the bins, fridge, food cupboards which now all have toddler locks on them.
She will steal food from your plates, hands while eating, the stove while cooking, etc.

She will eat anything of food origin, eg even raw broccoli ends from the bin etc.

She is fearless, I've tried spraying her with a water spray bottle when she goes on the table or kitchen worktops etc. it only works when you physically remove her - I currently lock her out of the kitchen-diner while cooking/eating (outside) using the cat flap, if I try and shut her out internally she digs at the door continuously.
When it's her food time, she will aggressively hassle you for her breakfast/dinner - including scratching and trying to bite for attention (needless to say whoever is up earliest feeds her immediately - which is standard - but it's the actual aggression which is worrying.

She has free access to outside/the garden - she does go out, but mostly like to stay home. She doesn't seem to hunt, only brought back one 'present' she's not particularly bored, she plays with her toys, hangs around with the humans of the house or the dog.

Is there anything I can do?

I hate having to lock her out of the house while cooking and eating etc - especially when it's cold, but it's so dangerous when you're cooking and she tries to knock the hot pans on the floor etc, or when you are chopping and she's trying to grab things.
I'm 99% vegetarian, so I'm not even cooking meat/fish!
I'm worried she will poison herself one day.

I would look at a really decent meat content food, or even raw
Anecdotal but a lot of cats on felix seem to be.. I'm trying to phrase it! Felix = chocolate and you want more. Raw food = protein and fills them up. If that makes sense

Linking here because they do a raw taster pack
https://hearmeraw.co.uk

Something like natures menu pouch wise, have a rummage in somewhere like pets at home and look for grain free section or zooplus online is good

I've just realised you said she has no worms, so please ignore my suggestion to worm.

One thing I've noticed since having a cat is that some tend to like variation in their diets which gives them the reputation of being "faddy" and going off their food for seemingly no reason. Maybe dcat is a bit bored with her food and is seeking variation by scavenging? So you could maybe have a couple of different brands/flavours on the go as well as providing a wet food and a dry food.

I use Pets Corner. The nice thing about them is they have a no quibble money back guarantee so if you buy a new food and it doesn't suit they'll refund the full amount, even if the bag is half full!
I second Nature's menu. They do a regular pouch as well as the frozen/raw and it's been great for my cat.

I would be cutting the wet food right down and swapping it with a good quality dry food.

My three are fed on Felix but they only get a pouch each per day (half in the morning, half at night) and unlimited access to dry food the rest of the time.

Only one is overweight - but that's because he's a lazy bugger and only really moves to get to his food or his litter tray the vet describes him as "a lot of cat" the other two are far more active and playful and neither are overweight at all.

I don't agree with all the posts bashing Felix - yes, they're right that it's not a great food but cats are fussy and you're far better giving a high quality dry than trying to get them to eat a fancy wet food that they hate!

Just feed her more. The feeding guideline on the Felix box is 3-4 pouches per day. Sounds like she is genuinely hungry and you would all be happier if she wasn’t. If she doesn’t need to lose weight then she doesn’t need to be on a restricted diet. Mine always have dry food available. Last time I fostered a cat that age he ate a lot, they are very active and need energy. I ended up swapping to large tins of food to keep up with him.

My rescue was like this and 5 years on is settled now but took a long time. He's on 5 pouches a day plus raw and we're always congratulated on how good his weight is at the vets but he is super active.

I would look into raw feeding or do what others have suggested. I've always understood Felix was really crappy food so you could find something more substantial.

I was going to suggest raw too. Better quality and takes longer to eat so will satisfy her more.

Can she have a bowl available all the time of low cal food that she likes? You say she's mobbing you while you cook- give her some of what you are cooking, in her dish. She's not going to get fat on broccoli!

Consider looking at raw feeding- she may find it more satisfying. It's important you get it right, though. They need taurine, so you need to be sure she's getting the right things. You'd have to handle raw meat though.

I feed Gourmet pouches and probably 3 meals a week raw. No dry at all on vet's advice after having a severe UTI.

@SpaceshiptoMars

FWIW, my last cat lived until 23. Was very sick as a kitten and the vet thought she had cat aids. I switched to a raw meat diet, and she rapidly improved. Never a problem with weight, and no other issues apart from worms or fleas a couple of times until her back legs gave out.

Mine is on a raw diet and she looks and feels fabulous. That, and a good amount of play time.

PurrForm is great raw food.

What does your vet suggest? I've just cut down to 1 pouch per day and dry for grazing as mine are very overweight (over 1kg) despite being outside running around most of the day. I suspect then of eating a lot of hunted food as well.

My dad's elderly cat is constantly asking for food. She meows all day and begs. She's on 4 pouches a day.

My cat on the other hand only eats between 1 and 2 pouches a day with a few biscuits. She still leaves some of the food and the vet says she's overweight .

One of my cats became very hungry which was unlike her. Took her to the vets for a check over and bloods. Turned out she had Hypothyroidism. Might be worth have her check as untreated Thyroid problems can be life threatening if not treated.

I understand this OP, as we adopted a cat two years ago who'd been a stray and she is also very greedy, will eat anything left out, will break into cupboards and the kitchen recycling caddy and steal food, eats bread, although she wouldn't touch broccoli!

All those saying 'feed her more' are wrong and your vet is right. However, Felix isn't good quality food. I feed my cat a grain-free diet of good quality food and the amount she gets every day is carefully measured for her size/weight. She gets 2 x 70g tins of high protein food per day, plus diet biscuits as a snack. I assume your cat is getting the right amount of food? If so, just keep doing what you're doing. It took a while for our cat to feel secure and trust us to feed her. You might want to chat to the vet though about the aggressive behaviour regarding hot pans on the stove. Our cat also gently bites and scratches us when she wants to be fed, but I firmly say 'NO' and put her on the floor when she does this and would never bring forward a mealtime to 'reward' her for her obnoxious behaviour.

Your vet should have referred you to one of the nurses who could have put a proper and realistic diet plan in place. This would usually consist of a prescription weight loss food which you can feed more of. Wet food is 80-90% water whereas dry is more like 10% water. The weight loss diets are generally high fibre so leave your pet feeling fuller. You'd be more successful dropping the pouches and feeding a dry diet.
Just telling someone to feed less is pretty lazy advice. I would ask to speak to one of the nurses who often have advanced qualifications in pet nutrition.
Obesity is actually a disease state and should be treated as one.

I can't give her raw food as I'm am phobic about raw meat (hence me not really eating fish or meat) so any good quality wet pouches suggestions gratefully received.

She's had her breakfast and unlimited dry food will be available at all times form now on. She's on her second bowl of dry this morning already

She's currently about 5kg, which I think is a bit fat for her build, but I've tried getting her to a good weight by reducing her food and I obviously have to accept I just will have a fat cat and take all the nagging and judging from the vet!

Obligatory litter tray photos attached

A PP has made a good point - when one of my cats needed to lose weight she was put on diet cat food rather than less normal food. So she could eat a normal amount of food of reduced calorie food rather than less normal food. If it’s really necessary for her to lose weight.

She's lovely!

She's had her breakfast and unlimited dry food will be available at all times form now on. She's on her second bowl of dry this morning already

What dry food are you feeding her? A second bowl in a short period is a lot of food - hopefully she doesn't vomit it back up like mine is prone to do when he gets greedy

I would go for a weight-control dry food or one designed for less active/indoor cats if she's prone to eating a lot - at least that way she can eat the same amount of food as she's used to :)

@07Jan

Thanks for the replies.

The vet told me to reduce her food as she was too fat. I reduced/eliminated her dry food and her weight is now better - she's 100% not underweight - in fact I'd still say she is overweight for a young cat, but not worryingly so.

Can someone tell me which cat food I should be feeding her if felix is crap?
(The rescue insisted she was to be fed Felix - the jelly version)

And which dry food brand?

That would be really helpful as I used all about dog food for my dog, but I dont think there's a cat version?

I've tried the cat food toys, she breaks them open with her teeth, and as the plastic is brittle and sharp I don't want her to hurt herself so I remove them.

What about something like this, then? It's heavy ceramic and very solid. My cat didn't like it, but he doesn't sound quite as determined and good-motivated as yours.

Or a dog toy, like a Kong?

Haha. She doesn't look malnourished op, at all. I guess she loves her food. Our stray was a pain too in the kitchen. Even worse when we had a bbq. I thought she might jump on it.

I can't give her raw food as I'm am phobic about raw meat
A lot of the raw doesn’t look raw. You can get it in little pellets for example. It would really help. But obviously it depends how phobic you are.

Fat Cat Slim seems to be quite a filling dry food.

I split my cat’s meals up and use cat timers. So instead of two meals a day she has four smaller meals a day. And over time she’s learnt that the food comes from the timer, not from me, so she begs less.

@zafferana

I understand this OP, as we adopted a cat two years ago who'd been a stray and she is also very greedy, will eat anything left out, will break into cupboards and the kitchen recycling caddy and steal food, eats bread, although she wouldn't touch broccoli!

All those saying 'feed her more' are wrong and your vet is right. However, Felix isn't good quality food. I feed my cat a grain-free diet of good quality food and the amount she gets every day is carefully measured for her size/weight. She gets 2 x 70g tins of high protein food per day, plus diet biscuits as a snack. I assume your cat is getting the right amount of food? If so, just keep doing what you're doing. It took a while for our cat to feel secure and trust us to feed her. You might want to chat to the vet though about the aggressive behaviour regarding hot pans on the stove. Our cat also gently bites and scratches us when she wants to be fed, but I firmly say 'NO' and put her on the floor when she does this and would never bring forward a mealtime to 'reward' her for her obnoxious behaviour.

Don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure that if I were forcibly put on a very low calorie diet of low nutrition junk with the occasional snack of diet food, I'd be pretty unhappy to be around people eating decent stuff. Which is what the tablespoon of Felix twice a day represents.

If I were a cat, I'd definitely be looking towards the nice person three doors down that thinks I'm a stray.

I agree about higher protein, grain free and dry food - what I disagree with is that it should be restricted. It'll balance out when she's not starving hungry 2 minutes after a sugar hit.