My first cat, he's always hungry!!

[DenbyDog]

Always had dogs.

Got an 11 month old ginger Tom. He's DDs. She usually feeds him before school. This morning she got up late so I fed him. But turns out she had already been downstairs and done the same.

So by 8am he'd had double breakfast and some treats, 4 dreamies.

He's now, at 11am, following me round the house, crying like he's not eaten for a week. Running into the kitchen and jumping into his feeding table.

Is this normal??

Yes, he’s still technically a kitten so he’s going to need more food than an adult.

I give my male cats 3 pouches a day each and they have complete biscuit from Whiskas range to graze on - they also pinch the dogs food if she's left any - our female cat sometimes has 2 pouches in one sitting .. but on the whole eats less than the boys

He gets fed the stated recommended amount on tins for his weight/age. Plus treats.

But my point was this morning he's has twice as much as usual and he's still pretending like he's starving.

Everyone that comes in the kitchen is meowed at like he's not been fed that day! He's so greedy!

Cats need very different amounts depending on size so they first thing to check is that you are giving him enough, preferably kitten food. Weigh him and check the guidelines on the food packaging.
Secondly, some foods have a lot of grain in as 'filler' which doesn't keep them full up, switch to the highest meat content food you can afford.
Mine used to go through pouch after pouch but we now use a good quality high meat food and the amount they eat is tiny in comparison.
But also - some cats are just greedy or food focussed, especially if they've had a hard start and been a stray for a while. So take that into account as well

Oh, as you say it's unusual for him, when was he last wormed?

Yes, gingers are greedy but he’s still growing. (Have you wormed him?)

This is cat behaviour! My cat screams murder at us that she hasn’t been fed when we know she has. They’re greedy lying fabulous arseholes!

I didn't say that? It's very usual for him, he's always been like this.
I've just not had a cat before.

Yes he's always up to date with flea and wormer.

What are you feeding him, mine have a decent kibble down all day to graze on then I feed them whiskas/felix wet food occasionally (kids call it McDonald's food for cats) normally the more expensive the brand the less you need. One of mine expects something ham/cheese everytime the fridge is open and cries like it's being tortured id she doesn't get anything x

You said in a previous post he's had twice as much as usual and was still hungry?
If it's not unusual then, check meat content of food and make sure he's up to date with worming.

Yes but it's completely usual for him to meow for food all the time.

He sneakily got 2 breakfasts and still did it.

Sounds like he has the potential to be a six-dinner Sid in that case!
Do check the quality of the food, some of the pouches are like the cat equivalent of junk food.

My current one is a rescue, she is always ready to eat, after a year of realising she is getting regular meals she has calmed down and stopped wanting to be fed all the time although she will eat if she gets the chance.

Sometimes it's because they associate certain things with being fed, sometimes because they were strays and didn't know when they would eat, sometimes because the food is full of fillers, lots of grain and minimum meat like Whiskas, Felix etc. which is compared to human junk food where you are hungry an hour later.

Is he fed good food? Something with high meat content like Blink or some of the Zooplus ones like Animonda, Feringa etc. Some of those cost the same as the crap stuff and are more healthy and filling.

Our 3.5 year old who came from a wonderful home as a baby and who is throughly adored here eats almost constantly (well he would if he had a choice 😆). Some cats just like eating more than others. My old boy is much less food focussed.
However, as yours is a kitten still, he could be having a growth spurt and just needs a bit more today.

Alternatively he’s just becoming a good player and getting food off everyone he can. Which is excellent catting 😁

Yes this is normal.

One morning one of ours got four breakfasts, one from each member of the household

The vet was always very upset about him being fat.

Check for diabetes as well but yes, cats like 12 portions of everything. It's what they're for.

@DenbyDog

This is completely normal for a cat and bear in mind yours is still growing. They are greedy little sods and very good liars. Mine is 9, has two pouches a day, dreamies and some cooked chicken breast but will run after anyone going into the kitchen and sit by his bowel pretending we starve him. When you go to the vet for his booster jab get him checked over but it all sounds normal to me.

My cat is like this too . He is 8 months old ginger . The breeder told me he was very greedy but when he first came to us he wasn't. Now he always wants food , follows people into the kitchen. He gets 1 pouch and 1 scoop of biscuits twice a day and sometimes a few treats and he always cleans the plate as if he hasn't eaten for a week! He will jump onto all the counters looking for food , lick butter off a plate or knife on the draining board etc. We sometimes have to shut him out when we are eating as he tries to eat ours too. Once my husband found him on the stove eating potatoes out of a saucepan and once he took a bite put of my cheese toasties when I left it on the side to get a drink!

I knew a cat called "Two dinners Sid" he used to go to the neighbours house for his second dinner! Little git!

Why do you think your cat is pretending that he's hungry?

Are you pretending when you're hungry?

Why don't you believe he is actually hungry?

He's basically a teenage boy at the moment. He's hungry all the time.

If you don't feed him enough you will stunt his growth, restrict his activity, create a cycle of desperate hungry challenging behaviour, and risk losing him to somebody who will feed him enough.

Feed him more.

Feed him more often.

Feed him higher meat content.

Would you starve a crying baby or toddler because they!d had the recommended amount?

Do you eat exactly the same calories every day?

I don't know what will get through to you but I feel so sorry for your cat.

Please feed him enough.

What is he being fed and how much/how often?

Puzzle feeders, which make cats work for their food, can be good for greedy active cats.

My cats are fed on a regular routine so they know what to expect, they always have a bowl of dry food on offer and I will also always feed them whenever they ask so they know they can always have more if they need it. One of mine likes to eat until full, the other one is more of a grazer who likes to eat often.

Our cats are never fat, they are active and happy and live until about the age of 20.

Most importantly they are individuals and we try to give them what they need rather than feeding them off a chart.

Youngish cats who aren't fed enough sleep a lot once they learn that there's no use telling this human they're hungry. They'll just be ignored.

Just like a baby can learn there's no use crying. Nobody's coming.

This

Do you know how much he weighs vs what's normal for his age/type?

Do you know how to body score him?

images.app.goo.gl/z8Pbr6zEvyzaSNsg8

He may/probably is just be hungry. You don't want and overweight cat but you also don't want a hungry one. He's young and growing and if a lanky teenage boy was hungry after a breakfast of toast, would you call him greedy? Or feed him - and ideally feed him protein not carbs.

Not all cat foods are created equal

www.pet-shopper.co.uk/Static/cat-food-ratings

Those with a higher meat content will satiate him more. It's like you can eat a Maccies breakfast and be starving a couple of hours later - because it's just empty carbs - which a lot of the popular cat foods are - mostly fillers/not meat.

My big girl - body score 5 - has the equivalent to 3 pouches a day and unlimited dry. She's very active a mostly and outdoor cat and she needs it.

Also perhaps hold back on the dreamies and feed more actual food.

I know it's only a few a day but they are like cat crack. My smaller cat who only eats dry and chicken (her choice) will prowl the kitchen if she thinks there is a dreamie in the offing.

Mine was permanently bloody hungry, and also overweight he'd also eat it that fast he'd sick it straight back up again completely undigested. In the end he was put on a sensitive tummy food and limited to half a sachet per meal with no biscuits or treats in between. His weight came down and the sickness stopped. Gradually he was re introduced to one sachet in a morning and one on a teatime and eventually one sachet split and biscuits of the same brand in between. I'd finally got him back on track of not begging constantly in between meals and the times he did i would carry him to his biscuit bowl so he knew that's all that was on offer until teatime or breakfast time. Then I went on holiday and he ended up going to a different cattery to his usual one and they decided to give him 4 sachets a day after I'd asked them not too and that was that. I was back to square one trying to control his eating again. Sadly though towards the end of his life I was literally begging to eat because he refused absolutely everything apart from a couple of tiny licks of those lick e lix sachets.

we have had af ew ginger cats... they always seem to be hungry! Also, cats that were stray at some point apparently can have the "I'm full" switch turned off in their brains and become like dogs - will eat and eat and eat if given the chance. That's what our vet told us while we were trying to get our fat cat's weight down!

As he's a kitten still, it's very unlikely that you can swap to a diet food. But it may be that feeding him more often in smaller amounts is a good idea. Our cat LOVES his pouches, but the bulk of his food is dry food - so he has half a pouch twice a day and then dry food. He eats every last drop of the pouch and is always looking for more, but as we can see he's got dry food, we find it easier to be strong when he's lying there looking like he might die of hunger. And if he really is hungry, he does eat the dry!

DH and I often talk about what good actors our pets are.

Oh, and we had a cat growing up who after a while we had to leave a schedule in the kitchen as he was SOOOO good at convincing everyone he hadn't eaten. On one memorable Sunday, he managed to get FOUR breakfasts!