Please need advice, Cat on a 'diet' but always hungry

My 10 year old male was severely overweight a year ago but has lost probably 6-8 lbs.It took longer because I didn't realize the dry food he was on was not the best for weight reduction. Now he is on all canned.  I don't  know what he weighs because I don't have scales.  I looked up exactly how many calories he needs to have a day so I feed him in a separate room and that is all he gets.

Primarily he is eating 6 oz of Friskies Mixed Grill daily which is around 185 calories. I sometimes will let him just lick the remainder of the other cat's plate so basically is getting a little more than 185/day.

The problem is he acts like he is starving. He eats so fast like a dog. If I am holding a plate of food he has knocked it out of my hand before. If I open the door where he is he tries to get out to where the other cats are eating and he is hard to hold back.

Should I increase his food? I guess I worry something could be wrong with him to make him be so hungry all the time.

Thanks for any replies. Extreme stress in my life contributed to him getting this way and I am just relieved he is finally losing weight. It's been tough in many ways.

I sure do not know the answers and curious for some input. I have a similar situation with my 14 year old Xena. She demands food all day long when she is awake. I know she is not starving. Think she is just exercising the power she has over me. I imagine getting her way is positive reinforcement. I just want her to be happy and that makes it hard to ration her intake. When she demands to be fed, I try to distract her with brushing and play.

I used to feed Dry food & Friskies, and both of my cats were always starved. Once I went to 100% canned and chose better foods w/o a lot of fillers things calmed down. They still get hungry, but are no longer starved ready to eat straight from the can. Fillers top off the can but have little nuticional value. My guess is your cat is starving and I would try to find something he likes that is of higher quality and feed him a bit more. Good luck.

Odd because I just came home from work and he is not crying to be fed yet. I have to think of some of MY behavior that causes his reaction. I am not going to let him lick the little bits off the other two cats plates anymore. That is causing him to push at the door if I go in there and probably the excessive crying since he finishes his food so much faster than the others.

I looked at the calories again of the Friskies canned. I can't afford another food because I have a cat that has to be on Royal Canin Urinary SO. I could feed him another ounce or so and it would still be about the amount he needs to lose weight.

I may try adding some higher quality yet inexpensive FF to it like I used to and see if that helps.

Hello. My cat is like that he will gulp all his food super fast and will try and steal the other cat's food and also steal human food. I know i feed him more than enough so i put it down to healthy appetite and/or just greedy!

Have you tried this site, it has a simple calculator, and since you mention you know how many calories you feed him it might give you a rough guide.

http://petsci.co.uk/feline-calorie-calculator/

Hth

The SO prescription food may not be necessary. See this http://www.thecatsite.com/t/254489/alternatives-to-expensive-urinary-so-food

Try feeding a little more food. I know it's typically recommended to feed 20 to 25 calories per pound of ideal body weight daily but that's just a guideline. Some cast may need more or less calories. Try 200 calories a day and make sure to get the cat moving with fishing pole toys and other interactive toys.

Did you start the 185 calorie diet right away or did you do a gradual reduction? A gradual reduction is always best. Cats don't adjust to a sudden change in diet very well.

Is the Friskies Mixed Grill the only canned food you feed? A lot of the other Friskies have a simiar calorie content.

http://www.petobesityprevention.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Cat_Canned_Pouch_Foods.pdf

http://catinfo.org/docs/FoodChartPublic9-22-12.pdf

There are lots of threads here on TCS about affordable canned foods: http://www.thecatsite.com/newsearch?search=affordable+canned+food&type=35

If your cat has been prescribed to eat the Urinary SO I would not change your cat's diet without consulting your vet. There is a reason your vet prescribed this food (and no, vets do not get kickbacks, commission from Royal Canin). Up to you but if your cat is on it because he had crystals or stones, then it would be risky to change it. Increase water intake of course but there are certain nutrients that contribute to the formation of urinary crystals and stones. If anything, change to Hills c/d as its sodium level is lower than Urinary SO and it contains an ingredient that prevents the formation of calcium oxylate stones (it also controls strive scrystals). I am all for better food with better ingredients. I don't know is Rayne Clinical Nutrition is available where you are but it is a fairly new veterinary food company. Their foods are based on whole foods. Thy have a urinary formula. I'm feeding my cats the Urinary RSS wet and my cats love it. Ask your vet if they can get it. If not hopefully they will expand to the U.S. sorry to hijack this thread.

catlover100 , do you feed your kitty the full 6 oz all at once (ie, only one feeding per day) or is it split up in multiple feedings? Maple, my 15 pounder (she's lost weight!), would kill me in my sleep I think if I only fed her once a day. Granted, we do free feed still (can't afford to do 100% wet unfortunately, especially with one kitty being sick), but she's much happier getting a little bit of wet food multiple times a day.

No, actually they are all getting fed 4 times a day. I can't break them of the habit of waking me up at 6:00 AM. I live in a small apartment and I wish I had another room that didn't have a door connected to my bedroom so I didn't have to hear their scratching at the door. So I get up and feed them and go back to sleep for a few hours. Then they get a little more when I get up. LOL

But all of the overweight cat, Hadrian, is measured out. He seems a little better since I have increased it a little bit and am not letting him lick the little bit left on the other cat's plates. He would about knock me down to get into the other room.

He is moving around a lot faster then he used to and his overall body is shaping so I know he is steadily losing weight. I know taking all of this off will be a long process. 

 Thanks Sweetpea, I am not going to change from the Royal Canin food with my cat that had the blockage. That's his picture. The sweetheart!!  I had decided after that awful incident that it is just not worth it to take a chance with putting him on just canned food or anything else. I was fortunate it was not worse or more expensive than it was. He wasn't great about eating Royal Canin but I mix a little Purina Pro Urinary in there and he is eating about what he should be for his weight now. 

 Thanks Sweetpea, I am not going to change from the Royal Canin food with my cat that had the blockage. That's his picture. The sweetheart!!  I had decided after that awful incident that it is just not worth it to take a chance with putting him on just canned food or anything else. I was fortunate it was not worse or more expensive than it was. He wasn't great about eating Royal Canin but I mix a little Purina Pro Urinary in there and he is eating about what he should be for his weight now. 
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Depending on what type of crystals he has there is a medication you can put him on that will maintain the proper ph to prevent crystals. It's called ammonil and it is a flavored tablet. My cat was on it until I switched her to a higher meat content, then she never had struvite crystals again. I'm a vet tech so I know quite a lot about alternate treatments. It's cheaper than the food also.