Is my eight-month-old indoor cat genuinely hungry or just greedy?

[Bakerpuss]

Cat is 8 months and weighs about 3kg.
she is an indoor cat and seems happy-likes playing and attention etc.
but she’s always starving!
According to the instructions on the food she should have one pouch in the morning and one in evening plus 25g of scrumbles biscuits mid morning. She used to have Tesco biscuits which she’d graze on all day but inhales the scrumbles instantly.
She shouts for food at all hours of the day and is in the pouch as you are squeezing it out! She’ll also try to eat the dog’s food, our food, tries to get into the treat tin and the box that her food is kept in.

Is she just greedy or should we give her more?

That does not seem much food to be fair.
Depends on age and food type though. Some pouches may be more nutrient dense than others.
Our cat is 1 year old and has biscuits out that she can eat whenever she wishes- but does not unless really hungry, 3 pouches of Felix AGAIL (which I know is trash but what she likes having eaten it as the rescue- I did try other food she will not change), and a bit of chicken at lunch!
If yours is greedy mine is a right porker! But she is correct weight and stops eating when full so I think she is doing OK

I'd try doubling the dry food. Cats are definitely opportunists but yours does sound like she may actually be hungry. At that age they're growing and active and burning a lot of calories.

Ok thanks! Will increase the biscuits-she’ll be thrilled 😆. She’s got quite long hair so it’s tricky to see her build but she looks about the right size. When she was spayed the vet said she was quite heavy for her age but also said she was lean so maybe she’s just going to be a large cat.
I will not be giving into her 4am demands though!

Our formerly 5.75 kg porker is on a 3 pouch diet (plus biscuits) and after about 3 years of it has finally gone down to 5.5kg. At 8 months he would never have coped with 2 pouches a day, he would have wasted away! He did get less active by about 2 yo, but no less demanding of food, hence the requirement for a diet.

I've got 2 cats. One is a small cat and eats 1 small tin or pouch morning and evening and a handful of kibble through the day/night. The other is a large half Mainecoon cat and has 2 tins/pouches morning and evening but doesn't like kibble much. I always put out a handful of kibble before I go to bed. Neither cat seems overweight. I cook them a chicken breast twice a week and chop up and that replaces a small tin of food.

If my cats seemed hungry I'd feed them more food.

She's still young and possibly still growing. Sounds like if she is that insistent that she's hungry.

At 8 months old she should probably still be on kitten kibble, which is more energy dense. If it’s adult food she’ll need more than the packet recommendation.

In my experience the being an indoor cat doesn’t make much difference while they’re still young either. They still run around like mad!

I’d feed her more. A lot of cats will leave food they don’t want. And a lot of the long-haired breeds are big so she might just turn out to be a big cat.

8 months is still a kitten so she needs to be on kitten food (wet & dry) until 12 months old. Regular cat food won't be fulfilling all her nutritional needs.

My cat is three kilos and gets three or four pouches a day plus unlimited dry food. I think she's hungry.

My indoor kitten is a bit older than yours as she turns one next week, but she has dry food down all the time and has a small tin of wet food spread out over the day.

I also have to show her everything I’m eating and drinking in case she might like to try that as well. The only time she bothers me for food is when it’s Lick-e-Lix time which is currently 4am. An automatic feeder has become useful at this hour.

I'd give her another pouch at lunchtime

Is she entire and calling? Female cats can be very vocal when in season. It could also be attention seeking behaviour/boredom - make sure she has enough environmental enrichment, attention and play sessions with you.

She easily put away another portion of biscuits! They are kitten ones.
She’s not in season as she’s been spayed but it could be a bit for attention.
I’ll see how we go with extra biscuits and then add a pouch if she still seems starving!

She's a young cat that's not near enough food for a growing lady...even my now adult cats eat more, always a full bowl of whiskers available and water plus 3 pouches a day per cat and treats

I’ve got 2 and we get through 40kg of kibble a year (770g a week) and 14 pouches a week (half a pouch 3 times a day for one, and the other half a pouch once a day)

Neither are fat or chubby, one is solid though (like full of muscle and big old bones) and the other is slinky.

Paying the tax

My cats get 3 pouches and unlimited Scrumbles and are not fat

She’ll be hungry. Up until 12 months they’re still considered kittens and should basically be on unlimited food.

Wow ok- I feel bad! I was only going off the guidelines on the food.
Hopefully if I up hers a bit she’ll stop trying to share the dog’s!

Leave a bowl of kibble out for all day grazing. Unless she ends up gaining too much weight you will be able to leave it out forever.

Is she getting fat? The thing to do is weigh her and see if she is light or heavy for her size and then weigh regularly to keep track, she is still growing at 8 months so needs to eat well.

We got a cat at about 8 months old and he seemed to be always hungry and did start to look a bit chubby (we were feeding more than you are). Once we started letting him out in the day he slimmed down, I think he was partly over eating because he was bored indoors, he's still always hungry, but he does roam a lot when he is out and runs everywhere so burns a lot of calories.

This is what we were doing with the Tesco kibble-she would just graze on it throughout the day. But maybe she just wasn’t as keen on it as the scrumbles which she eats in one go. That’s what made me think it was greed rather than hunger.
She seems more settled today though so I think she will be better with more food

We feed scrumbles and ours were on a pouch for tea and 60g of dry food in morning. When they went to the vet in Jan for jabs I got told off as boy cat was very overweight! He has since been on a diet and lost weight but is a greedy pig and will eat sister cats food if not watched.

I was feeding the recommended amount so have had to reduce.
They currently have 40g (adult) dry for breakfast and a pouch for tea and a few treats at bedtime.
Boy cat would happily eat double this. Girl cat often leaves some.
He is very greedy!

She’s been loads better with the extra food. Came for cuddles this morning rather than just shouting for her breakfast!