Cat begging for food constantly.

[ZealAndArdour]

Hello,

Just looking for some advice.

I’ve got a little rescue cat who I’ve had for about 8-9 weeks now. He was initially very very nervous and spent the first 4-5 weeks avoiding us at all costs and sticking to one room in the house. He’s come on leaps and bounds in the last few weeks and is now very bold and friendly, is incredibly attached to me and follows me from room to room chatting to me. He pees and poops regularly and drinks plenty of water. He plays with his toys, scratches things and approaches us for lots of affection and he’s very vocal. They estimate his age to be between 3 and 5 based on his teeth and health. He’s been neutered, de-flead and de-wormed. He’s seemed much younger and more youthful since he’s come out of his shell.

Little is known about his previous life, he may have always been a street cat, until he was picked up by the rescue. He’s a house cat now, the rescue stipulated that (and it’s what we were looking for as live on a busy road) because he’d never shown an interest in the outdoors while in foster care.

He has a pouch of Sheba wet food a day (split into two meals) with a little sprinkle of dry food on top too. We give him treats here and there; dreamies or a little bit of salmon loin or some cat soup or the webbox cat yoghurt.

The past two weeks since he’s really come out of his shell he is just begging for food constantly, every time one of us goes in the kitchen he wants to be fed something, now I understand this bit is probably normal cat behaviour. But every time we eat human food now, he is interested and very bold in getting his face right up to our plates or climbing on us. He will make his way downstairs when he smells us cooking and is a little pest when we sit down to eat. I’m certain he would tuck in to our meals if he wasn’t shooed away every time. This part seems more like having a little dog than a cat, but perhaps I’m wrong?!

Is this normal? Should I be concerned? Could it just be a hangover for his past life of food scarcity on the streets and he’s not yet realised that food is abundant here and he doesn’t need to take everything he sees?

Is there anything more to check or do to help improve this or is it just a case of imposing strict boundaries and saying no?

Thank you in advance!

As others have said he's getting about 1/3 of the food he needs! Most cats have about 3 pouches a day plus dry food.

PS He's beautiful 😻

Make sure the dry food is a complete food - something that isn't a supplement for wet
Food.

I don't agree your cat is hungry. My rescue came to us very little and very quickly put on too much weight. My cat is something like 4.4kg and looks fat and the vet always tells me off for her weight
She has half a pouch morning and night (so one full pouch) and a small IKEA cup of dry food throughout the day. She would eat and eat and does not self regulate
I think 4.7 kg sounds heavy?
The vet told me to o try not to let the cat 'graze' and to keep food to twice a day but I'm rubbish at that
My cat miaows constantly for food and I wish I'd not go into bad habits

And the advice on the Felix boxes is to sell more cat food - my vet told me one pouch a day and dry food is fine

@LethargeMarg cats come in different breeds/mixes much like dogs.

Maine Coon boys can easily be over 10kg.

Our boy cat needs to be 5.5kg, our girl needs to be 4kg as they are a larger breed.

Complete dry food is calorie dense so it depends which kibble the op is using how much the cat needs.

Some cat do over eat though/think they should be overweight.

Mine is 3.4kg and has nature's menu. He probably eats 3 pouches of that a day split into about a million meals

@LethargeMarg

I don't agree your cat is hungry. My rescue came to us very little and very quickly put on too much weight. My cat is something like 4.4kg and looks fat and the vet always tells me off for her weight She has half a pouch morning and night (so one full pouch) and a small IKEA cup of dry food throughout the day. She would eat and eat and does not self regulate I think 4.7 kg sounds heavy? The vet told me to o try not to let the cat 'graze' and to keep food to twice a day but I'm rubbish at that My cat miaows constantly for food and I wish I'd not go into bad habits

My cat is like this