Eating food all the time in the evening/night

chint · Feb 26, 2017

My cat wanders around, forth and back, and eats food every 2-3-4 minutes or so in the evening/closer to the night. I suspect this to be boredom, but thought I should just ask for a second opinion. I play with "da bird" every evening usually... how much depends on how tired I am. And he has a lot of his own toys. Though they're always out... I got some tips about packing them up and just having a few of them out at the time. They're not "intelligent" these toys, so I have my doubts as to how stimulated she gets from them... she is a very playful cat, or kitten... (she's about 10 months old). I just bought a couple of intelligent toys the other day... a ball you put treats in, which gets out when you roll it. but she doesn't seem to understand the concept. I've tried showing it to her. Or she just doesn't care. I've also bot a mouse which activated upon touch, and stops upon touch. But she's not really interested, it seems. It's also not that sensitive... so it'll only go off sometimes when she touches it. I guess you just have to try different toys to find out what she likes, ey? Any suggestions? I saw some recommendations for SmartCat Peek-a-Prize Pet Toy Box, thought of maybe getting something like that. Although this is getting to be a little expensive, buying toys and testing out.

Or maybe the problems isn't that she is bored? Is this common? She seems restless, and it seems kinda odd eating like that. She doesn't eat much, just nibbles a little, then does it again. Maybe it's the food itself? It's IAMS Pro Active Health Kitten & Junior.

jennyr · Feb 26, 2017

If you are worried about the amount she is eating, why not weigh her and work out from the IAms (or other manufacturer site) how much she should be eating without weight gain. Then weigh out this amount once a day and give it to her at intervals or free feeding as you prefer. If she gobbles it all up and demands more you can usually give a little more without fuss, as every cat's metabolism is slightly different, but if she seems really hungry still then check her for worms. You can weigh her regularly too to be sure she is not losing or gaining. If none of this works then a vet check is in order. But it could be behavioural, in which case she will put on weight if she is eating too much, and you will need to cut it back, maybe making sure there is enough of her daily ration left for a snack at night.

chint · Feb 26, 2017

I'm not worried about the amount she's eating, she's not overweight, and she doesn't eat a lot, she eats little portions, just very often when she gets restless. I think it's behavioural. Or might have something to do witt the food itself, but I doubt it. I haven't gotten her the ringworm vaccine yet (it's the one you smear on hear neck - she's not tame enough to be handled yet), but she hasn't been outside, and she was health-checked by the shelter from wich I got her from a month and a half.

jennyr · Feb 26, 2017

I have never heard of a ringworm vaccine - ringworm is a fungus, so I don't see how there can be a vaccine for it. Can you tell us more?

chint · Feb 26, 2017

JennyR said:
I have never heard of a ringworm vaccine - ringworm is a fungus, so I don't see how there can be a vaccine for it. Can you tell us more?

My bad, I meant regular worms, of course. But I hardly think that has got anything to do with it anyway, she hasn't been outside, as I've said, and she was health-checked at the shelter.

jennyr · Feb 26, 2017

Chint said:
My bad, I meant regular worms, of course. But I hardly think that has got anything to do with it anyway, she hasn't been outside, as I've said, and she was health-checked at the shelter.

Ok, thanks! But worming is a treatment not a vaccine, and even indoor cats need regular deworming, though not as often as outdoor cats.

chint · Feb 26, 2017

JennyR said:
Ok, thanks! But worming is a treatment not a vaccine, and even indoor cats need regular deworming, though not as often as outdoor cats.

I know, just didn't know what word to use

Ok

jennyr · Feb 26, 2017

It's OK - I just wanted to make it clear in case anyone reading it got confused.

growlithe66 · Feb 26, 2017

I have a cat that is like this somewhat. She's terrible about food, especially at night time or in the morning, hours before it's time to be fed. We confirmed with the vet that she was getting the right amount of food, and that the brand was good quality- sometimes the type of food doesn't have enough protein in it, which can cause them to not feel satiated enough. But like you said, it kind of seems behavioral. If you can, you might want to get bloodwork done on her to make sure she doesn't have any type of thyroid problem or other issue that could cause the behavior.

One thing I tried with my restless eater was getting one of those gravity feeders. But she eats like a pig if you let her, so I couldn't just give her what was essentially a 24/7 all access buffet. I cut out part of a milk jug in the same size of the opening of the gravity feeder (I hope that makes sense) and then cut a TINY hole in that, big enough to basically only let one kibble out at a time. I put it in the feeder so that she literally gets 1-2 kibble at a time. This is good for cats who eat compulsively because they can't just eat constantly out of boredom- they have to paw at it a bit to get a kibble out, eat it, rinse and repeat. However for my kitty, even this was too much for her- she sat at the feeder nonstop and did this until she vomited from eating too much. I can't really win with her! If your cat only eats a bit at a time, though, you could try this and see if the mental stimulation of getting the kibble out helps her behavior at all.

elliesvictim · Feb 26, 2017

It's sound like you might be worrying about a problem that isn't really a problem. My 15 month old went through a phase, at about 9 months, where meal time included picking up a chunk of wet food, walking into the next room, eating, walking back to the bowl and repeating.
Cats are weird and they do weird stuff. If it amuses her let her do it.
If she's really bored you'll know about it.
My girl growls and sprints around if she finds the current level of play unsatisfactory.

chint · Feb 28, 2017

growlithe66 said:
I have a cat that is like this somewhat. She's terrible about food, especially at night time or in the morning, hours before it's time to be fed. We confirmed with the vet that she was getting the right amount of food, and that the brand was good quality- sometimes the type of food doesn't have enough protein in it, which can cause them to not feel satiated enough. But like you said, it kind of seems behavioral. If you can, you might want to get bloodwork done on her to make sure she doesn't have any type of thyroid problem or other issue that could cause the behavior.

One thing I tried with my restless eater was getting one of those gravity feeders. But she eats like a pig if you let her, so I couldn't just give her what was essentially a 24/7 all access buffet. I cut out part of a milk jug in the same size of the opening of the gravity feeder (I hope that makes sense) and then cut a TINY hole in that, big enough to basically only let one kibble out at a time. I put it in the feeder so that she literally gets 1-2 kibble at a time. This is good for cats who eat compulsively because they can't just eat constantly out of boredom- they have to paw at it a bit to get a kibble out, eat it, rinse and repeat. However for my kitty, even this was too much for her- she sat at the feeder nonstop and did this until she vomited from eating too much. I can't really win with her! If your cat only eats a bit at a time, though, you could try this and see if the mental stimulation of getting the kibble out helps her behavior at all.

Oh, that doesn't sound quiteright. Yeah, I've been thinking about proteins and not getting the right nutrition as well. That might be the case... anyway, I'm switching from IAMS to Applaws - applaws is 80% proteins/meat/fish, so maybe that'll do the trick. Anyway, it might just be a quirk of hers... she doesn't really eat that much, and it's not that often... usually in the evening/night.

Elliesvictim said:
It's sound like you might be worrying about a problem that isn't really a problem. My 15 month old went through a phase, at about 9 months, where meal time included picking up a chunk of wet food, walking into the next room, eating, walking back to the bowl and repeating.
Cats are weird and they do weird stuff. If it amuses her let her do it.
If she's really bored you'll know about it.
My girl growls and sprints around if she finds the current level of play unsatisfactory.

Yeah, thanks, that's good to hear. I do worry a lot about her, so it might just be overblown. That's about the same behaviour as my cat. Yes, she has a ton of toys, and if she gets really pent-up with energy she starts racing around, so I guess there's no danger there

elliesvictim · Feb 28, 2017

My 15 month old loves to case balls. If I roll a ball at speed across my apartment she will trip over herself with excitement. Like she hunting it. Try and vary the way you play and change it up. My girl likes chasing balls, jumping after mice/plush toys, bouncing the mice/plush toys near her, toys on a string, moving my hand under the blanket, hunting my hand behind or around pillows blanket and looking at her and hiding/playing around corners.
The more you play the more you fall me different ways to play.

chint · Mar 2, 2017

Hmm, just come to think of feliway - the feliway is in an outlet right next to where the cat eats. Maybe that's why?

Eating food all the time in the evening/night

chint

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jennyr

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chint

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jennyr

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chint

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chint

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growlithe66

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elliesvictim

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chint

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elliesvictim

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chint

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