I feel like I’m starving my cats and they aren’t happy with me

[AintNobodyHereButUsChickens]

They’ve just turned 1 so making the switch from kitten food to big boy food and they are NOT happy. The kitten food stated 100g per day for an 11 month old, the adult food is 55g per day so they are furious with me and charge to the food as soon as I fill the bowls and eat like they’ve never eaten before!

@TroysMammy - there’s no way dcat could just eat all the unlimited dried. I top it up with about 2kg at a time and the automat just spits out fresh a few times a day. It’s always set so the amount is slightly more than he eats incase he’s hungry or we are caught away so he would be fine in emergency without the wet evening food. They might stuff a few days thinking it’s limited but once they realise there’s always more than they need they don’t.

I used to feed wet twice a day but he barely ate morning stuff so it was being thrown

Mine get a pouch on a morning and evening but have dry food down all day. They're all perfect weights.

He only eats dried. I think he has PTSD as he was trapped in a shed for 4 days when he was 10 months old and feels he has to eat loads just in case he is trapped again. He was trapped elsewhere a second time for 2 days when he was 2 years old.

One of mine was missing for 9 months, he's so greedy and would just eat all day. I think he must remember being in the streets not knowing where his next meal would be. When he returned I did spoil him and he gained a lot of weight. I used to leave out dry food to keep him quiet. It's very high in calories so no wonder he piled on the weight. He's on a calorie controlled diet now with no dried food.

Cats are so different depending on their size too. We have an elderly lady who is tiny, max 3kg and she has a tiny nibble of wet food twice a day and a handful of biscuits and she's plump. Also have a long lean youngster who is nearly 6kg and thin as a rake who scoffs all his own food plus finishes off her food. He easily eats double what she does, as he's double the size. But she's the one who is a bit rotund!

if your kittens are hungry, feed them more. You will find the balance.

Do you not leave dry out for them OP? It helps 'most" of them regulate. If they're greedy gits when give them enough and ignore the whinging.

Mine would be furious too! She has 200g of wet food a day and a few cat biscuits as treats. Not over weight.

Give them a bit more!

The first rule of Litter Tray. Cat photos.

I've always fed my cats according to need rather than guidelines. Toasty Boy Cat is twice the weight of Toasty Girl Cat, as he is taller and longer than his sister. He's about 6kg, she's about 3kg.

This is exactly what we do, dry food is down 24/7 and then they share a pouch for breakfast and again for dinner. Some days it feels like our boy has his head constantly in the biscuits, others not so much. As long as they continue to healthy and active I’m not too worried about what the guidelines say

The thing with cats is that if you don’t provide what you need they will move out and find a new owner.

My neighbours not a great cat owner, his cat was out in all weathers and he’d yell at it full volume calling him all sorts after leaving him alone all day and most of the evening. The cats moved out to a 4 bed detached house down the road because it’s needs are met there.

He's levelled up because they’re all owner occupied down there not rented. The neighbour was calling him back and the cat ignored him so he called him a fucking little cunt.

They're fed on Smilla that I buy from Zooplus, they're not so keen on the tins so I just give them dry and they seem to love it! They drink plenty so I'm not TOO worried about urinary issues, they have a fountain and I'm always topping it up.

Thankfully unless they work out how to unlock doors, they won't be able to move out 😊

Cat tax paid 🙌🏼 thumbs is Chester, no-thumbs is Fynn

I’m a dog person so don’t know much about food cats need, but some foods for pets are poor quality. I would check the nutrition labels to make sure it’s good before they learn how to get the front door open.

Ours get 1/2 a 70g push or can each in the morning and a small bowl of dry (Hills Science). They get a pouch or can each early evening. They lick every bowl clean and eat the same amount each. In addition they have at least one fresh, live mouse each week and leave me the entrails.

They are little cats. One is skinny, one is sturdy. They were rescued semi feral/strays as kittens, probably between 4 to 7 weeks old. They eat as though food is going out of fashion but it's common in cats who had to forage at a young age.

I read that totally horrified for a second thinking that you were going to pet shops to buy them live mice to eat and then it dawned on me that catching them themselves is the more probable scenario 🤣

@AintNobodyHereButUsChickens yes they catch their own mice! They are prolific mousers.

Also feeding live vertebrates is illegal in the uk so the pet shop would notice the high mortality rate of mice in the family.

My two are main coon and over 6.5kg at one year old. They have 4 pouches each and dry food always available. Plus a water fountain.

They constantly ask for food. They're big cats and at over 6.5kg at one year old, they're going to get bigger. They're lovely but they eat so much!

I would love Maine Coons but I don’t think we could afford the food, litter and heavy-weight tree and scratching posts 🤣

My cat was like this when she was this age, now she's 18months old and I feel like she eats a LOT less.

I thought it might just be like when babies are small and they are growing they need more food but they tend to eat a bit less when they're toddlers as they aren't growing as quickly.

My cat gets one pouch and 30g dry food a day. She’s sitting by her food bowl waiting each time! She’s also overweight. I used to leave dry food down all day but she was fat. My last cat was very fat too . He only ate dry food and was fed on demand. It’s so hard to keep her weight down. I get a lecture from the vet every year. If I fed her any less she’d eat me!

It looks like nobody remembered to comment on how beautiful your cats are (though I suppose it goes without saying). Impressive set of thumbs there, and what glorious tails!