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Senior cat always starving

post #1 of 5
10/8/11 at 6:30pm
Thread Starter 
Hi there
First Post

Let me give you a quick profile of my cat and us

Family of 3 (soon to be 4).
We've had Figaro for 10 years or so. Shelter cat, FIV+(asymptomatic)

He's been a great cat all along. Fixed really early, never declawed.
He's big. Not fat...huge. On his hind legs he's about 40" tall. He IS heavy, but not fat. He's around 19 pounds.

He's always been a begger for food, but his food, never ours. Around 3 AM he starts making noise for breakfast, and around 3PM for dinner. He sleeps a lot but he's a cat, and an older one at that.

Recently he's become more aggressive about getting food. Aggressive isn't really the right word, because he's not scaring us or anything, not hurting us or threatening us.

Currently he is free to eat IAMS indoor senior dry all day long, he does well with it, he doesn't pig out or anything. And he gets a total of 1 can of fancy feast grilled seafood a day.

I know it's not the best food in the world, but it works for us and for him. Seems to be ok.

Today he was all over us while we were eating dinner. He even jumped up and grabbed a piece of roast beef while we were clearing the table.

What's going on?

Thanks, sorry for the long post
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post #2 of 5
10/8/11 at 6:37pm
Have you had his thyroid checked? How has he been eating his dry kibble, could he be having problems with his teeth that are preventing him from supplementing his wet food, thus making him more hungry?

Either way, he needs to see the vet and have a chem panel with thyroid done.

Good luck.
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post #3 of 5
10/8/11 at 6:45pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by RAFM View Post
Have you had his thyroid checked? How has he been eating his dry kibble, could he be having problems with his teeth that are preventing him from supplementing his wet food, thus making him more hungry?

Either way, he needs to see the vet and have a chem panel with thyroid done.

Good luck.
Thanks!

He hasn't been to the vet in a while. He's good with his kibble, but it does look like he's messier. More half pieces laying around his bowl.

Great suggestions all. I'll get him to the vet.
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post #4 of 5
10/8/11 at 8:01pm
When you are at the vet, ask him about his weight as well, just to be sure.

My current thought if there is nothing wrong with his teeth is that the food may just not have enough protein in it and long term that has caused a deficient of some kind.
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post #5 of 5
10/9/11 at 6:47pm
Sounds like my female cat - she's been quite vocal about being fed within the last couple of years and will beg all the time for something. The difference is she eats like a garbage disposal, but she remained at a very petite six pounds. She and the other cats always have two bowls of kibbles available to them and I will split a can between the three of them (girl cat usually eats most of it).

So I began feeding her kitten chow (some folks here suggested this) on top of everything else. She's actually up to about 8-9 pounds now. I guess the point is the need for more food can start out of nowhere. She still begs all the time too and climbs all over me when I'm having a meal, so I don't think there's any cure for it besides just plain feeding her.

But since your cat is already rather heavy for a kitty, feeding him more might not be good.
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