Am I being gaslit?

[Kw1234hhggf]

Is two 85g of wet food (one AM one PM) per day and unlimited access to good quality dry food (plus evening treats such as ham, tuna, dreamies and left over food) enough for a medium sized active outdoor cat to live on? Because he’s telling me it isn’t. He acts like he’s being slowly murdered.

His brother of a similar size but less active thinks it’s fine.

Yeah it should be fine. Cats are opportunists. He thinks that if he makes himself a pain you'll cave and give him more of whatever it is he prefers. You could try changing what you feed him and see if he prefers something else and will stop pestering.

😂 Is he a teenager? I guess I could see him wanting a bit more if he’s still growing but he’s certainly not starving. Cat tax?

Cats pick on whoever in the household will do their bidding. My lovely late cat used to bully my partner for food all the time. I used to leave notes to tell her I had fed the cat if I left in the morning before her.
If you live on your own with them they will just manipulate you anyway, it's win win being a cat.
And yes we need a picture.

He’s 1.5 years old, his ‘big’ (tiny baby) brother is 3. Binx is the (gaslighting) black cat and Simba is the ginger boy. He definitely makes an effort to be a pain, e.g. he will meow soooo loudly then roll around at the bottom of the stairs to act like he’s in pain through hunger 🤣

I definitely am the victim!! My partner does breakfast but after that it’s me who gets the manipulation. Neither cat will use the cat flap when I’m in the kitchen, I have to open the door, and simba (ginger) won’t eat his tea unless I’ve picked him up and put him on the worktop but will jump up happily for my DP!

Did you show him suitable qualifications before you took your post op? Up your game or your ndn may provide what you simply aren't..... And you will find yourself unemployed
..

How big/heavy is he? My 2 year old rescue is CONSTANTLY after food but he's a large cat (6kg). he probably would have one more run/sachet of wet food a day than yours plus dry as well. He's very rangy and lean so I don't have a problem with giving him more, I just figure he's like a teenage boy,
I also have a teeny tiny cat (2.5kg) and she nibbles at food in comparison.

He’s very long, and extremely fluffy, but not really heavy, he’s quite lean. I would be happy to give him an extra pouch a day but I worry about when we go on holiday and have family popping in twice a day to feed that he’d call RSPCA.

Luckily my NDN has a cat who is one of Binx’s many mortal enemies! He has so many I don’t think he’d move out with anyone apart from the Asda delivery driver who he’s taken quite a shine to.

Our cat allows me to feed him standard moggy nosh but abandons me for DH who is wrapped around his claw and feeds him fresh chicken and salmon. It might be yellow label or a bit of what we're having but this furry thug eats better than some people.

My parents had to feed their last cat 5 meals a day for all her life as she was convinced she was starving otherwise. The cat got the same amount of food as she would have done in 2 meals. It was as if the cat was always being fed! So you could try that. When you’re on holiday he probably won’t bag for food as you won’t be there to provide it and he’ll have to make do with two meals a day.

Do you give him cat milk? Sometimes I find that one or other of mine will pester in the kitchen, and it turns out they are actually thirsty.

Ham aside, which is like crack cocaine to our cats, Binx loves a tomato based tagliatelle or linguine 😂

Yes I tell myself this, I think he honestly doesn’t NEED it he just WANTS it….He is fine when I’m not here when working but when I’m off during school hols or weekends he’s apparently desperate.

Thank you that’s really helpful, his brother definitely drinks water but I’ve never actually seen Binx drink and I know cats aren’t great at keeping hydrated. I wonder if cat milk will help? I’ll definitely try. 😊

Just tried to take a nice photo of him to say thank you to you all and got this

I do find that young cats need to eat a lot. I'd add in an extra sachet and keep the dry available too.

When you’re on holiday he probably won’t bag for food as you won’t be there to provide it and he’ll have to make do with two meals a day.

I don’t know…

One of my fosters would meet the cat sitter at the door & lead her to her empty bowls (wet & dry).

Then having wolfed down what was put in them, she’d talk her into following it with a meaty stick treat. I’m quite sure she could have pulled off a demand for extra meals if she’d tried.

Edited to add that she’s black too & is now queen of all she surveys in her forever home.

My cats wouldn't survive off 2 x85g per day

They are more like on around 3+ 100g pouches per day plus dry food

I don't know what they put in those 85g pouches but I really don't think they fill them up the way the larger ones do. My cats are always starving after them

Have a look at the recommended amounts in the box - I'd imagine it's more like 3-4 per day

I’d feed him more. Being hungry is painful.

The Bengal had 4.5 pouches a day. 5 if dh put him to bed.

We've got a knocking 6kg boy on a 3 pouch diet. He's got constant access to dry food as well. His second pouch can be anything from 12pm-8pm, he starts asking for it at 10.30am but if he can be distracted, he forgets and goes for a massive nap without it. He gets his third pouch at about midnight. Somedays he's constantly screaming at whoever he thinks is the weakest link most likely to give in, but we've got a notice board with numbers on which has cut down the "but he said he'd not been fed" conversations.

I was thinking about giving an extra pouch in the evening, though this seems to be the time he settles and doesn’t pester! Also when we are away on holidays we can sort visitors for morning and teatime but not evening and I worry he’ll feel neglected. That said, we always get our teatime feeder to double up with an extra one so he’s never going to starve. Plus he eats his brother’s leftovers!

Where do you get the 100g pouches from please? All I can find is 85g max

The only 100g pouches I've found are PAH flakes. Except my 2.5kg tiny tyrant wont touch them. Despite me telling her she gets more food.

I used to feed my neighbours cat as he always came over to tell me he was very hungry, I also let him come in and sit on the sofa when it rained, that is until “Chilli gate” the day when I was upstairs and he climbed onto the kitchen counter and took the lid off the frozen chilli I was defrosting for my dinner and ate it. I found out later that he was also two timing me with some other neighbour up the road, we don’t talk anymore and I got a dog, that was then end of it, but we spent a lovely lockdown together in the garden, he was very loving at first. Oh he also spayed in the hallway when I wouldn’t let him on the bed and bit my ankle once.