Loulou seems to be permanently hungry

For the last couple of months our Loulou (10years old, spayed) has seemed to be constantly hungry. We have three other cats and she goes round finishing up what they don't want, but still she demands more throughout the day (we don't give in though). She's always had this tendency (we call her the lurker) but it seems to have got worse. She's not really overweight and I don't think she's putting on any extra weight either, her weight seems quite normal. She runs around and plays quite a bit, although she is quite stressed out by the aggressive situation between our two male cats and sprays round the house sometimes. I wormed her a couple of days ago in case that's the problem. Vet has suggested a blood test, but not given me any indication of what she thinks could be causing this. Any other ideas?

I'd definitely go for the blood tests. I'm not a vet, but hyperthyroid is very common in older cats, and can cause increased appetite and weight loss.

Here's an article about it:
Feline hyperthyroidism (click here)

Have they ruled out worms?

I agree re the blood tests...they can check not only for hyperthyroidism, but diabetes, and can get some baseline kidney values to be sure those are still doing well (with a 10 y.o. it's a good idea,imo as an ower of a kitty with chronic kidney failure, to get a check done - better to catch kidney values as they begin to change, then to find out when function is already lost).

Please come back and let us know what is found out and how she is doing?

Hunger was definitely a symptom of hyperthyroidism with our two (now departed) elderly cats. There was just no filling them. Jimmy in particular, because he was so intelligent, because very crafty at stealing food, resorting to tricks such as knocking the milk bottle down the steps to break it, when it had been delivered by the milkman. He would even take things like teabags and green peppers that had been left in the composting bag. Yuck.

I'm with the others. Have the blood tests done.

Thanks everyone for your support. We'll see if she changes her habits now that we've wormed her. And we'll get the blood test done straight after Christmas. Interesting about the hyperthyroidism - the only thing is that she is not losing weight, which seems to be a symptom... The vet mentioned testing glucose levels - presumably this might have some connection with possible diabetes? Also, she has been on a renal formula diet before, so good idea to get her kidneys checked agin. I''ll keep you posted, thanks again.

Meeko used to behave this way when he was getting scheduled feedings instead of free feeding - definitely I would see a vet first, of course, but switching to free feeding fixed the problem for me.

Yes, please do keep us posted about what you learn at the Vet and how loulou is feeling!

As Hissy said,worms may be it.They can make a cat alot more hungry then normal.If I am corect,worms eat the food before it is digested making it so youre cat has less in its stomach.

I'd have it checked for worms and maybe even a blood test.