My cat has been "hangry" lately

I've had Leta since she was 8 weeks old. She's now 11.5 years old. She's a bobtail.
A few years ago she started having problems with constipation. The vet did an x-ray and said that because of the bobtail, her spine is such that she can't get in the proper poop position. She also has arthritis in her spine, which might make the problem worse. She gets lactulose to help soften the stool and it works pretty good.
A little over a year ago, she started throwing up frequently, so much so that she ended up staying in the kitty hospital a few days. They were concerned about IBD or lymphoma, so they did an endoscopy. They diagnosed her with IBD, but I feel like maybe because they didn't find lymphoma, they chose to put the other diagnosis on the problem. They also pulled a cracked tooth. She did show some upper GI irritation, which makes sense from all the throwing up. I thought IBD came with diarrhea and she's always had the opposite problem. She was put on metoclopramide in addition to lactulose. Doc said it helps keep things moving along.
We manage the problem with the occasional small dose of pepcid, in addition to her other medications. One small dose 2 times a week works great. In the fall, she was at the vet for a dental. At the pre-op visit, I mentioned her ravenous appetite. They tested her blood sugar and it was fine. On operation day, we opted for a full blood panel to ensure she was healthy enough for surgery - not taking any risks with my baby (have I mentioned, she's my feline soulmate?). Again, blood sugar (and other blood test numbers) was purrfect. Her weight holds pretty steady, so not showing other signs of something like diabetes. She did have a few teeth removed again.
However, lately she has been "hangry". She's normally very sweet and loyal to me, but in these instances, she will get in my face and swat at me and cry. There's no pattern to it and there's almost always food available when it happens. Sometimes if I show her where her food is (she should know out of habit) or if I bring her food, the problem ends because she eats the food. Other times, it obvious she wants a certain wet food. (She eats mostly wet food - it works better for her than dry.)

I can't decide if this recent change in cattitude is something I should be concerned about (medical problem, aging and losing sensory ability) or if I have created this problem by giving into her demands for a certain food (and by usually bringing that certain food to her).
Any thoughts or insight would be appreciated. Thanks!

When they did the bloodwork, did they check her thyroid?  It could be that.  More likely, though, it is a combination of her wanting a CERTAIN food and you spoiling her by bringing it to her (or not, making her angry).  She could also be getting a form of cat dementia, which does happen.  I would think she would still be able to smell her food, however. 

Is her weight  maintaining?  If not, that could also be a clue.  Did you change her food when she started getting sick.  You mentioned meds, was that the only thing that changed?  If you changed her food, maybe she isn't satiated anymore.  Just having food out doesn't mean she's getting full.  For instance, I feed my kidney cat many, many meals throughout  the day and night.  Normally two meals in the middle of the night are enough for her, but last night she woke me up at least 4 times to eat.  This morning I figured out that nothing I served her was dense enough to satiate her, and that's why she kept coming back for more

Poor thing! I think sometimes IBD is used as a diagnosis when they don't really know what the cause is because it has such a broad definition. If her medications are keeping everything normal on that end, though, that's wonderful.

I've been working on getting my cat to lose some weight, so we've gone through some behavioral issues related to hunger. The biggest thing I've learned is that (assuming this is all behavioral) if I stay firm and stick to a schedule, she will adapt. We went through a period where she would get hungry in the early hours of the morning, and when meowing wasn't enough to wake me up and feed her, she started biting my face. I tried yelping like I was in pain (it was not that hard to simulate) but that did nothing. She wanted to get a reaction. So, fortunately I'm a very heavy sleeper, and I learned to ignore her pretty much completely. When she realized there was nothing she could do to that would get me out of bed, she gave up and just waited till breakfast. I also think her metabolism has adjusted so she's not as hungry any more, which helps. I weigh her every few days so I know she's getting plenty of food, and it's all high protein with lots of water, so I know she's as satiated as she can be.

Her demanding a specific food sounds like it could be fixed if you stay firm and don't reward her aggressiveness. I'm not very familiar with how to handle dementia in cats if that's part of it, though.

When my cat was having an IBD flare up a few months ago, the first sign was that she barely ate her normal food, but tried to steal our human food. I realized a bit later that the pet food company changed the recipe to include fish oil (among other stuff), which was probably irritating her fish allergy. I think she was trying to tell us that the food was giving her a stomach ache but I was too dense to realize it until she stopped eating completely.

Did you rule out food sensitivities when you found out she had IBD?

Thanks everyone,

Her weight has been steady. Haven't changed her food in a while. Don't think the checked her thyroid recently as that's a thought that I've had myself. Never could find any food sensitivities.

UPDATE: It appears this behavior isn't due to being hungry. Twice today she has gotten in my face and smacked me just after she ate. I'm at a loss.

onebratt08 said:

 
UPDATE: It appears this behavior isn't due to being hungry. Twice today she has gotten in my face and smacked me just after she ate. I'm at a loss.

Click to expand...

You might discuss this change in behavior with your Vet.  Any time cats change their behavior pattern, it's time for a Vet visit, IMHO.

How's her poop recently? Maybe eating is bothering her stomach and she demands that you do something about it!! My cat tends to poop after meals, and she's very vocal when she's having trouble getting poop out....

Yesterday I did notice that she was a little constipated. Today I noticed that she had evacuated. She made a feeble effort to swat at me not too long ago.

We had a vet appointment Saturday, which I decided to postpone. I have realized that this all started since getting new bar stools for our breakfast bar (which is really where the computer is). I tried removing the stools and sat on a familiar piece of furniture, but she did it again. She only does it to me when sitting on the breakfast bar. Maybe because she can get face to face with me. Moving the chairs didn't seem to help. If she jumps up now, I try to move the chairs out so she can pick one to sit in. That has helped somewhat. My other thought is that she's telling me to get off the computer and pay more attention to her.

Leta went to the vet this morning after being a little more aggressive with me. They checked her out thoroughly and couldn't find any problems. They think maybe she's having some kitty roid rage - about 3 weeks ago, she was at the vet for a flare of a facial allergy. They gave her a steroid shot to calm the inflammation, which I wasn't happy about, but they said it needed to be done or the sores would open and get infected. This would explain the increased appetite. By the way, I figured out that she got into tissues and munched on them, causing the facial allergy. So, once the steroid wears off in a few more weeks, she should be back to her old self. Thanks for all the replies and suggestions - I never thought about the steroid as the cause, but it makes so much sense!