My cat is aprox 1.5 years of age. I got him as a kitten and he was not well fed when I got him. It took a couple of weeks but I got him back to health and all was well. Since then my cat cannot stop eating. I have tried giving him a half a cup of IAMS weight management. He will stop at nothing to get to his food. I have put it in a plastic container, bungiee corded the lid close and in a cabinet. He finds a way to open the cabinet, get the cords off, open the container and have a kitty buffet at least twice a week. I've had to resort to putting his food container outside while it's cool right now. He is not that overweight. He as a little flabby belly but it's not solid fat. He is a normal active cat. His stools are normal <alot of them> and he does not drink alot of water. Is this typical behavior or should I be worried? He is also a smaller cat. He is about a year and a half and still, compaired to other cats, a smaller cat. I'm kinda worried that he might have some kind of health issue. About six months ago the vet said that he was normal and healthy and just enjoyed his food way too much. Does that sound right?
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Insane eating problem
- Thread starter kdogtn
- Start Date
Just how big is your cat?
Several things I can think of to try.
Divide the food into a morning serving and an evening serving. It can be the same amount of food that you gave before. Zoey started this begging in the evening when we got the kittens just before Christmas, which we figured was due to their getting frequent feedings. Now Zoey whines for her dinner, but quiets as soon as she gets fed. I can live with that.
Switch to regular Iams instead of the weight management. Check the labels, but there should be a higher percent of fat in the regular. This actually makes them feel fuller than a lower amount of fat.
Try wet instead of dry. Higher in protein and fat to make them feel fuller even though the amount of food is less compared to dry. And feed twice a day. Yoou can try the weight management or regular.
Up the amount of food and up the exercise. We are doing that for Zoey by giving her a playmate. We were actually worried that she wouldn't like the kitten, being a Tortie, but they play together very well.
The binge eating can add significant calories, so switching to regular may not change the weight that much.
Several things I can think of to try.
Divide the food into a morning serving and an evening serving. It can be the same amount of food that you gave before. Zoey started this begging in the evening when we got the kittens just before Christmas, which we figured was due to their getting frequent feedings. Now Zoey whines for her dinner, but quiets as soon as she gets fed. I can live with that.
Switch to regular Iams instead of the weight management. Check the labels, but there should be a higher percent of fat in the regular. This actually makes them feel fuller than a lower amount of fat.
Try wet instead of dry. Higher in protein and fat to make them feel fuller even though the amount of food is less compared to dry. And feed twice a day. Yoou can try the weight management or regular.
Up the amount of food and up the exercise. We are doing that for Zoey by giving her a playmate. We were actually worried that she wouldn't like the kitten, being a Tortie, but they play together very well.
The binge eating can add significant calories, so switching to regular may not change the weight that much.
I agree with what the previous poster said. Many of the light or weight management foods are full of carbs. I tried one with Bradley when my vet suggested it to help him loose weight and he was constantly hungry and it didn't help him loose weight at all. In fact he gained on 1/2 cup a day. He eats canned food only now and it helped him loose the extra weight. He's not hungry all the time either. You could try looking for a food with the higher fat at suggested. Foods that have the first ingredients as chicken meal, chicken, turkey meal, turkey or whatever protein you like to feed are better than by products. Ingredients like corn grits are just filler.
We had to do this to one of our clinic cats. We fed him twice a day and after a while he would know when it was time to eat. He would bug us to death around that time and then after he was fed he would go about his business. But you have to be strict and keep to the schedule.
