Just switched to Wet and Smokie is ALWAYS hungry

I switched Smokie to wet which has stopped his vomiting. However he's always hungry. I feed him 1/2 the can in the morning and tried feeding 1/2 a can at night. NOPE. I'm feeding him now 1/2 a can in the morning, 1/2 a can at noon and 1/2 a can in the evening and he still cries at like 9 wanting to be fed again! He's 10lbs. The vet said that it was the switch to wet that dry kept him fuller longer but geez since he's been on wet he wants to eat all the time.

I'm feeding him 9 lives right now because that's what I can afford. The rest of the cats are on Taste of The Wild dry.

Is this normal or is something else up?

read the label ... the 9 lives I have says feed 1 can twice a day for 6-8 lbs ( or 2 cans a day)... you may need to increase to 3 cans a day based on wt ... NOTE: Most foods are One can ( 5-6) per 6-8 lbs of body wt... Where are you shopping? Fancy feast is the same price as 9 lives here on a oz to oz comparison( FF is 3oz per 3lbs of wt or 3 3oz cans a day...

can you do wet and dry?

How old is Smokie? What size cans are you using? I feed a combination of wet and dry, so don't have a good example to give you. Most directions that I've seen for feeding all wet is 3/4-1 oz of food per pound of body weight. Kittens need about twice as much. If you're using 5.5-6 oz cans, 1.5 cans a day is at the low end of adequate. If he's a kitten or very active cat, probably needs more. If you're using 3 oz cans, you're at about half the amount of food he needs, so yes, he's really hungry.

Well I took him off dry because he was throwing up the food with blood in it. It took almost a week and a half before he stopped. Not sure if it was the dry or what was irritating his stomach. So I switched to wet and he stopped throwing up. He weighs 10lbs. I'll probably wait a month or so before I try to give him a little dry during the day. But I must have read the can wrong but that would be why he's hungry all the time then.

We have a dollar tree here who has a 4 pack of 9 lives for 1.00. so that's what I get. I have 5 other cats on dry food which is a more expensive brand because one of them has food allergies.

The fancy feast is like .65 a can or something like that. So it's still expensive.

I believe 9 Lives has 5.5 oz cans. You might try increasing to 2 full cans a day to see if that helps.

I wonder if he's so hungry now because his stomach is just getting better and he's finally able to absorb some nutrients and isn't nauseated or in pain while or after eating. Maybe ask your vet if they think he may taper off as he stabilizes?

Glad to see its helping ! That was an interesting thread about how canned can help.
You might want to look at getting bigger cans for cost savings. Friskies and some other brands are sold that way(petsmart walmart bothe have big friskies by me-walmart only a few flavors) or getting a multi pack if not to picky on flavors. I definatly think he needs more to eat-canned is ALOT of water. And if hes energetic from feeling better he might need more on top of that

http://www.9lives.com/wetproducts/po...-beef-in-gravy

here is a graphic.. it recommends one can for a 6-8 lb cat twice a day

thus a ten lb cat would need 3 cans plus per day

I was feeding 9 lives but I thought my cats were getting bored with it. I have to feed them this due to a diabetic kitty I have.

I switched to Friskies and they have the large cans. I find they like that just as much and it is so much cheaper. At our Walmart it is 70 cents for the 13oz can.

Originally Posted by farleyv

I switched to Friskies and they have the large cans. I find they like that just as much and it is so much cheaper. At our Walmart it is 70 cents for the 13oz can.

Click to expand...

I get a 32 can pack of Friskies at Walmart for $11.00, which I think is pretty cheap. If you have to feed your cat 3 or more cans a day you might want to try to do that.

After Mama's prolapse she came back to us emaciated from the vet who told us they were feeding her 1/2 a can of wet twice a day. She was 5 lbs and was dying for food, I started giving her 2 cans a day(Friskies) and she finally started gaining weight(she came back from the vet as skin and fur stretched over bones) and was no longer always hungry. It sounds like he is eating less than that so he might just be really hungry. You might have to play around with how much you need to give him so he doesn't get too fat or too skinny, but honestly it sounds like he might not be fed enough.

Taryn

With 9 lives i was giving him 2 cans a day and dry during the day. Which so far is okay he has not thrown up at all. But it's like I give him a whole can in the morning. He doesn't even eat it all he may only eat 3/4 of it. I save the rest and when he starts crying for food I give the rest to him. And Even with the 2 cans a day and dry which he does eat. He still wants more food and he's put one pound on already. He's up to 11lbs. So it may just be now that he really likes the moist cat food and wants to keep eating it. He's not really active he sleeps most of the day. He does have his moments of friskiness in the evenings like most cats. But he's not overly active.

I have two other cats who don't eat a lot and are over weight. I try to play with those cats more but one will just lay there and bat at the cat toy. Just a lazy cat lol

I went to mounds pet foods and they had a sale on friskies which the cans were .40 each when you bought 20. I also switched from the grain free stuff to Eukanuba hairball relief which has more fiber. Because all the cats are getting a little constipated on it. I've mixed a little in with their old cat food and will gradually switch them over to all Eukanuba.

Hopefully I can switch him to dry cat food after a while. Though all the switching could have made him intolerant to the dry stuff somewhat. It just might take a while to right itself out.

sorry if you said but how much and what brand of dry are you feeding...

an overwt cat who should be say 10 lb only needs 150-200 cal a day... most premium drys have 400 cal a cup so 1/2 cup of dry plus any wet would be over the control calorie amount...

most wet food have 150-200 calories for a 5-6 oz can( grocery brands have less on ave so being 100-125)

Eukanuba IMHO is over priced for what you get ... ie same ingrediants in most grocery foods///

Cats do not need High fiber , if you have a issue with constipation consult the vet

on ave cats need 3-5% fiber

Well since switching to the Eukanuba hairball management with the higher fiber, they've all had more normal and not so stiff poops. They are getting better. I think that with more fiber they poop more which lets them pass the hair more frequently which makes their poop softer.

Smokie is on Friskies right now. I've tried to start weening him off of the wet, but he's started to throw up again. And I'm not sure if this is because I have the old cat food mixed in with the new to try a more gradual change. But it just might be that he is intolerant to the old grain free stuff, and I need to do an immediate switch slowly from wet to the new stuff.

The other thing I may have to do is to get the vet prescribed sensitive cat food that they do with allergy tests and if he's okay on that stuff I may have to switch them all over to that then.

Friskies says to feed 3/4 of an oz to 1 oz per pound of a cat per day. So essentially I only should need to feed him 2 cans a day. If he's between 10-11 lbs. Because with the small amount of dry he gets that should suffice.