Cats digging for food...

We have two female cats, one 4 months and one a year old. At noon they eat about a half cup of dry food each and in the evening (6-8) they have half a can of wet food. They are always very eager to eat and lately one of our cats has started trying to get into the food cabinet. The food is kept in the cabinet above the stove and she stands up on the stove and tries to open the cabinet. We have had to tie the cabinet doors closed and she still manages to weasel a paw in and get food out. Does this mean they aren't getting enough food?
Now they do eat from the same bowl and Maggie (the one year old digging for food) lets the younger one eat the dry food first but I watch and she always gets about the same as Gracie. They both eat the wet food in separate dishes and at the same time. Any suggestions?
Thanks!

Oh sorry to keep writing more but Maggie is also overweight and so we have cut down on her food (we tried to keep food in constantly for her to eat on her own but she just ate until it was gone) but it's been a couple months since we did and this just started happening about a week ago.

What kind of food are you feeding them? If the food is a poor quality grocery store brand then it may not be filling them up and keeping them full.

You should ask your vet about the amount of food they need. I also have two cats, they share a can of wet in the AM and a can in the evening. Also available is dry food always. If your babies are trying to get to the food it would seem as if they are hungry. My biggest eater is the smallest cat. The one who eats less is the larger. I think its due to the amount of exercise since my smaller cat moves around more than the other. The larger is not quite 1 yr. and the smaller about 18 months.

Depending on what you're feeding them, they might not really be eating enough. Maybe give them more wet food and see if that helps? Dry food full of grain is more often the cause of cats getting fat, look at the ingredient list and see if any of the first ingredients are grains like corn. If so, change foods, and that might really be all you need to do.

Cats can't diet the way people do, and not getting enough food can cause serious health problems.

We feed the Friskies wet food and Special kitty dry food (the cheaper stuff) So i'll look into getting better dry food and feeding them a little more and seeing if that helps. Thanks! Is Friskies a cheap brand that doesn't fill them up? And Gracie will be getting spayed pretty soon and I'll talk to the vet about other food options then.

Anything with corn in the first ingredients is cheap and doesn't fill them up. You'll find, even though a brand with actual meat in it might be more expensive you could feed them the same amount and they'll be healthier and won't be hungry anymore. Special Kitty is the equivalent of a human eating Fritos all day... it's just a bunch of corn and animal fat, basically.
Friskies is better, at least most of their types of wet food; just look for food with actual meat (not by-product and definitely not "digest") in the beginning of the ingredient list. Dry food isn't much better than Special Kitty.

But it doesn't have to be much more expensive. There is one grocery store brand I've seen that had better ingredients than lots of the higher-end grocery store national brands. Prices with cat food are deceptive: if you feed your cat a more-expensive but good-quality food, they don't need as much and aren't overweight. If you feed your cat cheap foods they eat wayyy more and use more litter and sometimes get sick more, and we all know how much vets cost.

Any feelings on what the "best" grocery store food is? I have always fed my cats Iams, except for 1 boy who had urinary tract problems & was on a special prescription diet.

Thanks

And younger cats will always want more - they can still be 'growing' for up to 4-5 yrs in some cases, even though you don't realize it, and they're bound to be more active.

The 4 month old should probably be eating kitten food, because she's still growing and needs the extra nutrition found in kitten food. The one year old can should be eating adult cat food.

Talk to you vet regarding the amount. I've always been a fan of Purina products, but my older cat is now on a special diet and can't have Purina anymore.

Stephanie

yea my kitten had the special kitty kitten food but I just went out and bought the purina kitten food but I'll have to get the older one adult food. Thanks for the input!