Can I show you my new cat and ask some advice?

[Goldenboysmum]

I adopted this gorgeous boy (Frankie) last week. He was found as a stray but has obviously had a home at some point. He moved in and made himself right at home, no shyness or fear at all.

Anyway, the only problem is he is constantly screaming for food, every time I leave the living room, he's right into the kitchen looking for food and is extremely vocal about it!

I'm assuming this is because when he was on the streets he didn't know when he'd be eating again. I'm decorating my bedroom so my bed is in the living room and last week I gave him biscuits and he picked the bowl up and hid under the bed to eat 🥺

Do you think he'll eventually realise he'll never go hungry again and settle down, any tips. My daughter distracted him tonight with a toy which seemed to work for a few minutes until he realised I'd left but she's not here all the time. Other than that he's great, friendly, playful, affectionate and just totally gorgeous ❤

Photo added as well

My cat always has dry food available, 24/7. He's not interested in it.

hes so sweet!! think whilst he is settling in I would make sure there is a bowl full of dry food always left out, so he is reassured that there will always be food available to him.

A trick my vet told me is that they can panic if they can see the bottom of the dish so often it is enough just to shake the bowl so the dried food covers the bottom, if necessary adding a small amount. This seems to work with mine. I think it reassures that there is loads of food available without them being able to gorge.

He is stunning! 😻

My ginger tabby cat is also very food oriented, we feed him wet food 3 times a day, at regular times, and about 2 hours before each meal time, he starts staring, sulking, meowing…

We leave a bowl of dried cat biscuits out at all times, we don’t overfill, but if we didn’t…!

He was not a stray, either. We had him as a kitten from a cat loving family; we saw him and his siblings with their Mum a few times before we took him home. It just seems some cats are like this with food. Obsessed!

I've got a very food orientated cat who used to wake us up at the crack of dawn howling for food and he'd follow us around begging for food even after he'd just been fed (not a rescue, just greedy!) What helped for us is one of those automated feeders that people use if they are away for the night. We originally used it for that purpose but then accidentally left it running and realised that once he realised that the food came from the machine and not us he was less desperate to wake us. We've used it to give him breakfast and supper for years now and it really has made a difference. We do still give him wet food once a day but we give him that when we go into the kitchen to cook dinner, which stops him pestering us (too much) to share our food.

Oh yeah - i forgot to add that we fed my rescue a few Dreamies to get her in the kitchen to sleep at night. Ended up she would come and punch us to get that treat when it got to around bedtime… quick ‘one two’ from the arm of the sofa to the head of whoever was sitting there to send them on the way to the dreamie pack…

I had my rescue cat for 10 years and he remained vocal about food until his dying day. Loved him to bits but it drove me nearly round the bend. Sorry OP!

I've adopted food-driven rescues before. You should see my kitchen door - it looks like a tiger tried to dig its way through it.😂

They do settle down eventually, although it takes a while. Something that helped with one of mine was Hills Appetite Control dry food. It contains ingredients that help them feel full and it also prevents them putting on too much weight.

Sometimes they are thirsty rather than hungry though, so do offer cat milk instead of food if he keeps on pestering. I've also found that a dose of solid protein like raw mince or roast chicken helps to satisfy them better.

I’m going to be really boring here but has he been vet checked? This kind of behaviour can be a sign of hyperthyroidism which is really common in cats.

Those eyes 😍

(Silly question as I am sure you have done this)
Have you wormed him ?

Love the blue eyes rare in a cat. Our rescue cat is now 13 have had him 8 years. He was one of 5 abandoned uneutered toms. He is the soppiest most gentle giant. He adores his food and still pesters from about 3.30 onwards. He has been known to go out in the sideway and yell for food early in the morning or sit at the front door given the impression that we starve him at about 6.8 kilos he doesn’t convince people incidentally he has blue eyes and a very loud voice.

Love all these greedy cat stories 🥰🥰🥰

Oh he’s a stunner!!

I had an ex stray who seemed hard wired to eat whenever and whatever he could as he wasn’t sure where his next meal was coming from - even after living with me for 13 years.

i have no useful advice as I just fed him in demand and he ended up on a diet for 2 years! Have a chat with your vet about food that’s good for satiety.

Check for parasites!

He’s a snow shoe Siamese so yes, will be vocal. How could anyone abandon him? I have currently an ex street boy-massive white and tabby. When I got him a year ago, minute I stood up he’d rush to the kitchen and just constantly demanded food. As PP said, when you don’t know where your next meal is coming from you just crave grub all the time. Now the furry bastard has grown into Freddy Fussypants turning his nose up at increasingly high end cat food ! Frankie will settle in time as he realises he has a personal chef tending to all his culinary needs.

Exactly same as my rescue! Even looks the same !

OP, instead of Whiskers, give him a high quality wet food. Whiskers contain lots of fillers that doesn’t make your cat feel full. I am in Germany so cannot really recommend any wet food (unless Leonardo is available in the UK) but whiskers is available here and it is not a good choice.

Our boy was also on Whiskas wet when we adopted him - I think rescues feed it because it’s cheap and very accessible in shops. We were told to transition him off it gradually, and to wait a few weeks until we did because he had already been through a lot of upheaval. He went onto Royal Canin biscuits pretty much straight away (mainly because that’s what our previous cat ate and we were well stocked) and then it took ages to find a wet food he liked - he now has Sheba in the morning and Untamed at night. He still prefers dry tbh.

@Goldenboysmum hope he's settling. He is absolutely beautiful.

One of my rescues is the same. He is desperate for food and is greedy and eats all the other cat food too.
I've had him 6 months and no changes yet but I am hoping he will eventually realise food is always forthcoming

He is probably just a talker @Goldenboysmum especially if he is Siamese etc. have had Siamese in the past and they are needy, vocal and adore their person, they are gorgeous but demanding. Our last cat was a bengal and he didn’t shut up.

Our last cat was as a bengal and for a long time we fed supermarket cat food albeit the better ones and he was always hungry. We switched to untamed when it came out and he was so much happier so I think less hungry because of the better quality and meat content of the food.

he was still noisy though and would talk constantly if he was awake. I miss him very much even though it drove me mad at times.

Switch to a better food and I think it’s you’ll notice the difference. Whiskas etc just doesn’t give them what they need and is probably why mine was such a good hunter.

Hi, gorgeous cat! Well done for offering him a home.

My half Siamese was the most vocal cat I have ever had (Though new cat pushes her close) - literally kept up a stream of constant conversation! I used to meow back at her just so it didn't seem weird.

She was also very food driven and actually became quite overweight when for a while I was offering unlimited dry food (as per the advice of the Cat's Protection at the time, who I got her from). I had to limit it in the end for her health, bless her.

I have recently adopted a very young cat from an abusive/animal hoarding situation, and she is extremely vocal, I think it is a reassurance thing for her. Again, I meow back or sing to her. It seems to help.

She is also very food driven, I assume due to being food deprived so often. She is underweight so I am not so worried - I am currently giving all the dried she wants, plus two small Sheba sachets a day (and Dreamies as and when).

When she reaches a suitable weight for her size I will start to limit food if necessary.

From that pic it looks like yours is already a healthy weight? (No offence, not saying he is a chunk!) So I would maybe seek vet advice on quantities to be offered each day and limit to this. Some cats will eat to obesity and this will harm their way if life, sadly.

Also, if you can, verbally answer when he meows. It feels stupid but honestly makes a difference and does seem to calm them, in my experience!

Good luck.