New cat constantly looking for food

[Bichette]

We have just adopted a cat, he’s been with us for a week now. He has settled in really well - he’s friendly and confident, not hiding away at all. The problem is he’s is CONSTANTLY looking for food. We can’t eat any meals or do any cooking with him in the same room as he is jumping on the table and work tops. He is trying to jump in the fridge whenever you open it, he’s in the dishwasher trying to lick the dirty plates and he bolts his food down as if he hasn’t been fed for a week. He doesn’t look particularly thin as he has longish fur but he feels quite bony. He weighs 4 kg but has a large frame with a big head and feet. At the shelter he was getting 1 pouch of wet food a day and 35g of dry food split into 3 meals and after a discussion with them we have upped his dry food ration to 40g but he is still hungry all the time. Apparently he was given up to the shelter as he wasn’t getting on with another cat but not surprising imo as he wasn’t neutered and wasn’t allowed out. He is now neutered and will be allowed out in a couple of weeks. Anyone have any advice? I wonder if just giving him unlimited biscuits might calm him down and help him self regulate his appetite or is that a recipe for disaster?

One of our cats has always been obsessed with food. Begging even climbing up my leg for cheese !
We have other cats and they ok its just him . We feed him.twice a day with treats twice a day. He's a little over weight but healthy. He's 12 so guess its just him

He’s so gorgeous!

Has he been wormed?

We have had four rescue cats. Rescues are always looking out for food for about the first year or so, and then calm down when they realise it's not going to run out. We currently have a big boy rescue cat. At 4kg I was feeding him at least 2 to 3 sachets a day and a bowl of kibbles was left down all day. You are not feeding him enough. As he gets bigger he will need 3 to 4 sachets a day plus free feed kibbles

My cat eats 3 pouches a day plus dry food as requested, and always one fresh bowl of dry available. He is 4.5kg. Your cat has probably been underfed.

My little rescue has more than that. She gets through 2 tins of Untamed each day and has unlimited dry food down. She also has a couple of Lick-e-Lix throughout the day. She’s an indoor cat and weighs around 3.5kgs.

Cat tax… The disapproving look is because I had the audacity to have hiccups.

Oh my goodness what a beautiful boy! He looks like a Maine coon or other larger breed where he will need more food. I have always just had the dry food out for cats to access when they want. It’s never been a recipe for disaster or caused them to overeat. I would recommend having dry food and water always available.

(I use high quality fry food , usually Hills science diet).

Yes we had this with our kittens. Had to shut them out during meal times! Now they are adults and they are fine, so he’ll likely grow out of it.

What a beauty! 😍

I have a mainecoone who is about 5 kg. They get 3 pouches of wet food a day and unlimited biscuits as she was always hungry and got super aggro. I would up the wet food and have unlimited biscuits for a bit and see if it settles. If it does then you could look to reducing the biscuits a little by little. Id also make one of those wet meals something like fish or chicken as young big cats have higher metabolisms.

Ohhhh. You Are Judged !
What a beautiful girl .

That's really not enough food . I work for a shelter and 1 pouch a day is very little unlessvyoure giving unlimited dry food . Who's advised you on feeding ? Please don't leave him hungry , he will stop hunting for food if he's satisfied . You could also try a cut up cooked chicken thigh once a day .

Lovely mini panther .

Our two ( brother/sister) are quite food led even after seven years , you'd think they'd realise by now they;ll get fed!

I think they like the routine , they find security in knowing the status quo .

Our Vet said not to leave biscuits out . Ours each have a pouch at breakfast then a pouch and scoop of biscuits for supper plus water . Dreamies at lunch .
He did hint the boy was heavy but he's a long limbed cat and quite rangey in summer (I'm not in denial that the moggies are fat !)

We’re possibly unusual as we don’t leave biscuits down all the time. Louie gets one tin of wet (Untamed) split over two meals, and three portions of Royal Canin biscuits - I can’t remember the portions but it overall adds up to exactly what he should have for his weight if just over 6KG. We do breakfast (wet/dry), lunch (dry) and dinner (wet/dry) - we have a timed feeder if no-one is in during the day. He usually gets a “chicken yoghurt” late morning if someone’s home, and a couple of Dreamies after he gets brushed at night.

When we adopted him he was a total pita for food, and would eat so much he’d puke (which is why we stopped leaving dry down all the time). He was in the kitchen waste caddy, swiping our food, and ripping open any packet left unattended - it was a pure crime scene. He’d been a stray kitten and was a right little scavenger. That completely settled after about three months, although he’s always up for a bit of sausage or bacon if invited, and has been known to bother a chicken resting on the side. He recently had two big canine teeth out as part of a dental and was on only wet food - and straight back to interfering with the green caddy!

I wouldn’t feed him any dry food at all. Most of it is crap ingredients, it doesn’t allow enough fluid intake and doesn’t fill them up the way wet food does. My previous cats have all been fed unlimited wet food, and none have been overweight. Friend has two cats that are huge, both fed exclusively dry.

The consensus seems to be give him more food so I will try that and get better quality wet food. He’s on Felix at the moment as recommended by the rescue centre (CPL) which I know isn’t the best but I was just following their recommendations

Thanks everyone for taking the time to post and the lovely kitty photos

@Bichette when we adopted our boy - also from CP - he was on Whiskas but I transitioned him off it over a few weeks. In our CP branch they use donated food a lot and recognise it’s not always the gold standard - the lady said if we could afford to give him something better we should. That said, our previous girl had Felix with higher quality biscuits (Royal Canin) and our vet was completely happy with that. None of the supermarket foods would be sold if they were bad for cats!

(including a photo of my little lad just because he’s a cutie pie.)

The way I see it is the wet isn’t as important in terms of meat content, they have it for the water content so that they don’t get infections, and my boy is the fussiest cat alive and will only eat the Felox Doubly Delicious.

But, the meat content is important in the kibble because it is the bulk of their food. I use Royal Canin Maine Coon, and Royal Canin Maine Coon Kitten mixed, it’s not the best in terms of the meat but it is pretty good. There are others that are better and cheaper (Concept for life is one I tried) but he is a fuss pot and used to eat around it…I ended up using a pizza tray as a sieve to fish it out of the mix.

Bitiba or Zooplus, buy a 10k bag once you work out what yours likes. Mix it in gradually to his current dry so he doesn’t get a bad stomach from the change

that's not enough food. your question has also been posted on Facebook by Mumsnet and that's the general consensus on there
I have a smaller cat who eats four pouches a day, even the back of the box says on average the average cat should have approx four a day. 1 pouch of wet food and 35g of dry food a day is way too little , just because they were underfeeding him doesn't mean you should too although not your fault as you were following advice
he's acting this way because he's hungry ! also Felix isn't bad food, I had a cat who lived to 23 who only ate Felix and had no problems. millions feed their cat Felix . cat food is of a much better standard then it was 20 years ago
if you feed him more and he's satiated you will find he calms down x

You do have to bear in mind that every cat is different, just like with people - some can eat all types of food all day & stay slim, others can be really careful but put weight on with even the smell of a Mars Bar. Add into that the fact that not only are all foods different, but different cats do better or worse on different foods.

It can be a bit of a trial and error situation. DSis & I both had cats that needed to lose a bit of weight at the same time, and between us we must have tried about 4 different "lightweight" or "appetite suppressant" type dry foods until we found the one that worked for ours.

All our experiences here are anecdotal and things we've worked out suit us and our cats, and we post them as a guide to what works for us to help you consider options. Very rarely do people post on here adamant that what they do with their cats is the only "right" way to do it.

A fair guide is that if you can feel his spine or ribs stroking him without much pressure, they are too thin.

Was about to say this too,my cat has to be on wet only ,never any sey at all now after a terrible blockage where he nearly died.

That doesn't sound anywhere near enough food.

4kg is quite light for what looks like a big cat. I always leave dry food down and feed wet twice a day. Both are good quality foods with high meat content. At first they gobble everything in front of them but eventually realise it’s always going to be there so calm down a bit

@Bichette He is a beautiful cat but I think will be a big boy and needs more food!
It is difficult because the rescues recommend keeping your new cat on what they have fed them at least initially- but the cats do not necessarily agree!

We were told mostly biscuits as our new cat only ate at night and they did not want pouches to go off, but 1 pouch of felix original first thing.
It turns out we can leave a bowl of biscuits out and she will not touch them unless really hungry, and she prefers pretty much any wet food in jelly to felix original (which she now sniffs but will not eat).
She is about 4kg and has 2 pouches of felix AGAIL and 1 sheba fine and fresh pouch and a bit of cooked chicken a day and seems happy.
Both this cat and our previous who was a stray had food anxiety, it really helped to leave some biscuits out as security