Cats insatiable appetite - help and also some support

[Bucketlistticked]

This is such a stupid problem but I really do need some understanding as well as advice.

We got our cat last year from the cats protection league. He was a stray, and I think this might be the source of a lot of the problems we’ve been having as I think he just ate what he could, when he could.

He never stops eating. He won’t eat dry food and he has actually been sick after he’s eaten it - not sure why. So it’s wet pouches. He just wants one pouch after another after another. I feed him in the morning when I’ve gone down to get milk for the toddler, he then wants another pouch before we leave maybe an hour later. Then I come in from work at 4, he wants a pouch, then another, and another, and another.

It is constant. He won’t leave you alone - follows you around staring and standing over his bowl expectantly. I know it sounds such a stupid thing to get upset over but we were away this weekend and he was in the cattery and since we didn’t get back until late Sunday night we picked him up Monday evening and it was just so nice being able to sit and walk around the house without him following you and trying to grab you.

if someone’s eating he stares at them, he tries to take food from the toddler as she’s eating. It’s constant. He’s had thyroid checked and teeth, all fine.

I am so fed up. Trying to clean today and he’s following me around so I’m tripping up all the time. I end up having to put him out as it gets me so irritated.

He’s a lovely cat in all other ways but the constant demands for food are really getting me down.

All of our cats are rescues and some are more greedy than others.
They have dry food down all the time but other than that two pouches of wet food a day.

My big ginger boy would eat all day if I let him, he follows me around, gets under my feet or on my knee. Making eyes at me and crying.

I admit that I do spoil him as he had a health scare last year when we thought he had parvo, plus he's prone to wandering the neighbourhood so I try to bribe him to stay around the garden more. He's healthy, but very greedy and FUSSY.

They are lovely ❤️

One of mine is like this. He gets frantic, he tries to grab found etc. cats are supposed to regulate their food intake but judging from the number of fat cats I see it's a bit of a myth. Mine have two pouches. One in the morning and one for tea with a decent dry food and water available.

Lock them out of the room when you're eating, don't let them eat scraps etc. it's not good for them.

One of our cats is like this. We tried to feed at set times so he learned a routine. Also making him 'work' for his food by using a licky mat or hiding bits of dry food that he has to find (old advent calendars are perfect for this!) to tire him out and make a meal last longer.

We tried for a while using timed feeding trays so that food just appeared and it removed the association of us with food. He's better although we still have to be on guard when we're cooking or eating or he'll steal food!

We ended up switching to Katkin food because of an other health reason and that helped, partly because we know that one pouch = a days food and also he seems more satisfied after a meal. It's pricey though!

I find tabbies and gingers the worst

I have 3 of these and another colour. The tabbies and fingers are the worst - they are 10 and they've gotten worse over the last 12-18 months

Felix didn't agree with my two rescues, they are on Sheba now, probably still not brilliant in terms of content but they seem to like it. Maybe try something with a higher meat content?

I’d definitely try a higher quality cat food. Supermarket stuff is full of rubbish that won’t fill them up as well as a better quality one.

Also, is he bored? Does he go outside? Do you play with him enough? Lots of people don’t provide enough stimulation and then moan their cat is hassling them for food when, like many humans, they want to eat when they’re bored.

If there’s no improvement, he needs more tests at the vet.

6 posts saying get his thyroid checked and it says in the OP that his thyroid is fine.

I noticed that, sometimes I dont have the energy to say 'its in the OP', it happens on every single thread.

I know, I did include in my OP and I didn’t want to say that as it can sound snappy even when you don’t mean it to! So thanks for pointing that out 😂

Felix is fairly rubbish - no judgement as it's all my three will touch, but it's definitely worth looking for something with a higher meat content if he's not satisfied. A lot of companies will do free or cheap samples if you ask.

I know tuning them out is easier said than done but cats are chancers - and if he knows that shouting means food, he'll shout - a lot

Have you tried using a slow feeder bowl or device? It slows their eating by making it harder for them to just gobble, because they have to extract the food from nooks and crannies. It can also engage the cat's hunter (or, in your case, scavenger) instincts.

We were told to put ours on Royal canin diabetic wet food but it was expensive so I looked into all the ingredients of cat food and settled on sheba as being the closest for a better price. It'll be more than felix but less than many others.

Felix really isn’t a great food - there’s a Facebook group that’s really eye opening. It’s minimal meat and a lot of fillers and sugar.

Meowing Heads is a good one, 93% meat so should be filling, they have a feeding guide and the most an adult cat should have is 1 and a half pouches a day, so although the pouches are more expensive they are much more filling, and they’re full 100g pouches too.

I get it from pets at home think it’s on 3 for 2 at the moment

We've a ginger male who would happily eat all day, hungry or not.
We've had to ask all neighbours not to feed him or let him in. He was sneaking food from all over the neighbourhood.
We now feed him breakfast, an afternoon snack and dinner on vet's advice and never anything in between; when his portion is finished he doesn't get anything else. He is learning not to pester, slowly.
Can you 'tune him out', knowing he isn't actually starving?

Our very greedy boy (who will constantly ask for food and steal the most unlikely things - broccoli for example) got locked in a shed for 24 hours at the weekend and was starving when he got out. We gave him extra food over the next two meals, but not 24 hours worth, and found that he was leaving food by the end of the second meal which is unheard of for him.

This has got me wondering whether he would be less greedy if we were to feed him 2 larger meals a day rather than 4 smaller ones. Maybe you could try putting down more than one sachet at a time out of his normal allowance and see whether he stops pestering quite so much?

@AltitudeCheck re Katkins do you have to sign up for a trial and then commit to an ongoing order ?
I couldn't work it out from their website .

And another here who couldn't believe all the "is it thyroid" coming immediately after OP saying this had been checked .

@rileynexttime yes it's a subscription. They do a 14 day trial pack and after that it comes at 28 day intervals although you can alter the delivery date to suit you. It comes frozen so you do need some spare freezer space.

They usually have an offer to get a % off the trial pack on the website. You might find better intro offers online but if not here's a refer a friend link for 50% off a trial pack (full disclosure it also gets me 50% off my next box) LINK

Money saving tip... You enter a few details about your cat in their profile and they work out how many calories a day your cat needs and will offer that size pack (eg 200Kcal) so it's a pouch a day but it's far more economical to tweak a few numbers so you get sent the biggest size pack (400Kcal) and divide it yourself (or feed two cats!)

We switched to it after one of our cats was diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease and we wanted to cut out any grain and also chicken protein for a while. Both our cats are doing really well on it, I just wish it was cheaper!

We've had this issue until recently. The vet suggested that we switch food to a higher meat content as the food we were using was too many carbs and not enough meat, and cats are carnivores.

Previously we user whiskers wet and royal canin dried and it never occurred to us to look at the ingredients. Both have too little meat.

We're now trying Lily's Kitchen which is at least 65% meat and he seems less frantic around food. He's quite calm and content, even waits for it being put out whereas before he was climbing our legs.

It's worth looking into the ingredients and possibly switching food.

Thanks for the info @AltitudeCheck ,that's really helpful .
And might just be the push I need to get a little freezer .And figure out where to put it ..

Have you dewormed him?

Mine was from Cats Protection but was only 9 weeks old when I got him. He's nearly 4 now and he's really greedy. If he feels he's being starved he has started attention seeking behaviour, sitting on the kitchen table, picking his way across the table when we are eating.

He has been trapped 3 times, 3 nights, 2 nights, few hours (same place he was trapped for 2 nights) so I reckon he wants to stuff his face before he goes out, just in case he gets trapped again and he stuffs his face every time he comes in like it's his welcome back meal.

He's also fat despite weighing his food so I wouldn't be surprised if he gets food elsewhere but as he is petrified of people I find it hard to believe.

It is very wearing when a cat constantly demands food. Our newest cat is a rescue and although he was caught as a feral kitten, maybe his early experiences has meant he is always worried about his next meal.

Our old cat was embarrassingly greedy. He swiped a sausage from a neighbour’s barbecue - actually knocked it off the grill by climbing up on the fence. He also ate a different neighbour’s tuna salad lunch when she left it unattended on her garden table!

@PercyPhelps ours once brought an entire sandwich home though the cat flap, I can only assume stolen off of someone's kitchen worktop while they were sorting the kids packed lunches!

That's his best acquisition but he has also come home with a bag containing a few frozen chips and part of a kebab before!

Utterly gorgeous, ridiculous creature 😻