Splitting up 3oz can to trick cat?

[dkb817]

Simon‘s stomach is apparently a bottomless pit - he is the kind of cat who would eat one of those large gravity-fed free feeders empty just because it was there. The vet has repeated looked at him, ran tests, and there’s nothing that would be causing this medically.

He currently gets two 3oz cans of Hills C/D Urinary Care wet food (as he has a propensity for crystals) and a mid-day meal of a can of Fancy Feast. I know he should purely be on the foods safe for FLUTD kitties, but that food is expensive, y’all; We are doing the best we can on limited income. Some days, even three cans of food don’t seem to be enough - though I can’t figure out if he wants MORE food or if small meals more frequently would do the trick.

Im thinking of just splitting up the 3 oz cans of Hills and instead of having one for breakfast and one for dinner, he’d get 1/2 can for breakfast, 1/2 can a few hours later and the same with the dinner.

what are y’all’s thoughts? Has this method worked for any of you?

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! I would try your idea of splitting up the cans - I keep reading that cats in general will eat more frequent smaller meals when given the opportunity.

My Poppycat varies (sometimes he chows down and eats quite a lot at one go) but mostly he seems to graze throughout the day, which is to say he will have a few bites, a bit of a grooming, then a nap, then later on a drink and a few more bites and so on.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. You could try that for sure. So, exactly how many meals do you feed him now? 3? You want to feed him the same amount of food, but maybe make it 5 meals instead? Is he getting enough food for his weight, assuming he is not overweight?

Btw, adding non- script canned food to his diet other than just the Hill's is probably just fine, IMO.

 

[daftcat75]

My senior cat was introduced to wet food late in life. She could never finish a 3 oz can at once. Together we figured out that two ounces was her limit. Two breakfasts and two dinners was our norm for a long time. My tip for you would be spoon the food into a plastic baggie and warm it under hot water until it’s luke warm. Do this for both halves of the can and your cat won’t know the difference between the first portion from a fresh can and the refrigerated leftover half. Press the baggie flat as possible and that will speed up how quickly it will warm up. Use the water bath, not the microwave. Microwave can create hot spots and destroy nutrients.

 

[dkb817]

FeebysOwner - he’s currently getting three meals a day. I think we would just be splitting up the Hills in the morning and night as the fancy feast he gets mid-day is almost too much liquid and would be difficult (and messier) to try and separate. The vet says his weight is perfect for his body size (8.6 lbs at last check about a month or so ago).
he’s just a hungry dude

 

[maggie101]

My cat Maggie 9 pds eats 3x a day. Morning meal She eats a 3 oz can but not all at once. Every 5min she comes back for more. Last 2 meals 3 oz can split. Usually does not eat it all. I have started feeding her some of the 3oz can late at night and the rest when I get up so shes not so hungry in the morning

 

[Babycat1]

I believe three are some urinary health dry foods for cats. if he is allowed to eat it, give it to him in his mid day meal but make him work for it. Hiding some bits under a small cup or putting some in a toy that will fall out when he plays with it, etc. This way he won’t gulp it in 3 sec n look at you for more.

 

[Caspers Human]

Sometimes, it's not about the food. It's about the fussing that comes with feeding time.

When a cat gets fussing, attention, petting and yummy food to eat, all at the same time, they get acclimated to the routine but, even if they are hungry, food takes second place. Cats just like it when their human fusses over them.

My first cat "K.C." wanted to be fed as soon as I came home from work.
He would meow at me and lead me toward the kitchen, wanting to be fed. If I didn't feed him in a few minutes after getting home, he would flip over his water dish and spill it all over the kitchen floor.

For our current cat, Casper, it really IS about the fussing!
If he feels like the level of food in his dish is getting too low for his comfort, he'll start doing the "scarf and barf" thing. We have to keep his dish full enough that you can't see the bottom. If even one speck of silver shows through, Casper gets antsy.

However, if I pick up his food dish, put it on the kitchen counter and get out his food container and make some noises like I'm filling the bowl, he calms down and stops worrying.

Technically, Casper gets fed twice per day but it's only really once.
We feed him at the beginning of the day, before we go to work then, after we come home, we just "freshen" his bowl.
We go through the motions, make the noises and give Casper his attention but don't actually put any food in his bowl unless he needs it.

So, maybe, you can cut down your cat's rations by just "freshening" his bowl instead of actually feeding him.

Or, maybe, just go through all the same fuss and feed him every time but just dish out less food.

 

[Babycat1]

Sometimes, it's not about the food. It's about the fussing that comes with feeding time.

When a cat gets fussing, attention, petting and yummy food to eat, all at the same time, they get acclimated to the routine but, even if they are hungry, food takes second place. Cats just like it when their human fusses over them.

My first cat "K.C." wanted to be fed as soon as I came home from work.
He would meow at me and lead me toward the kitchen, wanting to be fed. If I didn't feed him in a few minutes after getting home, he would flip over his water dish and spill it all over the kitchen floor.

For our current cat, Casper, it really IS about the fussing!
If he feels like the level of food in his dish is getting too low for his comfort, he'll start doing the "scarf and barf" thing. We have to keep his dish full enough that you can't see the bottom. If even one speck of silver shows through, Casper gets antsy.

However, if I pick up his food dish, put it on the kitchen counter and get out his food container and make some noises like I'm filling the bowl, he calms down and stops worrying.

Technically, Casper gets fed twice per day but it's only really once.
We feed him at the beginning of the day, before we go to work then, after we come home, we just "freshen" his bowl.
We go through the motions, make the noises and give Casper his attention but don't actually put any food in his bowl unless he needs it.

So, maybe, you can cut down your cat's rations by just "freshening" his bowl instead of actually feeding him.

Or, maybe, just go through all the same fuss and feed him every time but just dish out less food.

Cats sure are interesting characters, lol

 

[cataholic07]

For urinary cats the more times you can feed them the better so I would try for 4 meals a day. Timed feeders are great for that. You can feed wet food that is low in phos instead of urinary wet. Just no fish at all!

 

[dkb817]

Update: Well, it's been a couple of days and had minimal success. If anything, he's worse now than he's ever been - He gets so restless when he's hungry to the point that he's now chewing on things like power cords which is as dangerous as it is destructive (We can't really hide them anymore than they already are either). I sent a pre-emptive message to the vet and let him know that we were up to 4 cans a day - two of the special urinary wet food, two of the fancy feast wet food. I know this increases the likelihood of inevitable issues with crystals, but we just can't afford to give him more than two cans of the "fancy food" a day or any further testing to get to the root of his issues with extreme hunger.

 

[Caspers Human]

I know this increases the likelihood of inevitable issues with crystals...

Feeding good food is important but the real key to reducing problems with crystals is water.
No matter what food you feed, even the very best, it won't do any good if the cat isn't drinking enough to "wash the crystals out," so to speak.

Put out multiple water sources if you can.
Casper has three watering places: The bathtub, a watering can underneath the plant stand and a fishbowl by the window sill. He does drink from all three, in rotation.

I don't know how you can work it out but I think it would be good to try putting out more water and, occasionally, moving them around until you find places where your cat likes to drink.

The more water, the better.

Also, try to feed at least 50% wet food.
When we first got Casper, he didn't eat wet food. Only "Meow Mix." That's what his rescue and adoption group fed him when they brought him in and, I guess he got used to eating it. We had a heck of a time switching him from Meow Mix to Purina Cat Chow. (Fair-to-middling but a damn sight better than what he was eating.) It also took some doing to get him to eat wet food, too.

Y'know what did the trick, there? One of the last times we took Casper to the vet, he had to stay overnight and they fed him canned kitten food. We were surprised to hear that he ate wet food and liked it! The vet tossed in a can of the stuff they fed him (Fancy Feast Kitten) and we fed it to him at home. Once he ate that, he started eating regular canned cat food, too. Go figure!

Now, Casper eats about 60/40 (wet/dry) and, even though he has had problems with crystals and with constipation, he does his #1 and his #2 pretty regularly, almost as he should. We have pills to give him if his digestion or urination start to slow down.

We've had Casper for, going on six years. It's been hard, sometimes, to get him to eat the way he should but we just keep trying and don't let up until he does.

Have you tried making a fuss over your cat's dinner times but just dish out a little less food each time?

Like I said, to a cat, it's not so much about the food as it is about the fussing.
Some cats just want to be fussed over when they are fed. It's about the routine and about knowing that their human is paying attention to them.

Casper has always been a picky eater but half the problem was solved just by fussing over his feeding times.

Make a big show out of it. Fuss, pet him and baby talk to him if he's the sort of cat that likes to be baby-talked.

Yeah, I know that baby talk is something that "crazy, old cat ladies" do and it feels stupid when you do it but, if it gets your cat to eat like he should... what the hell? It can't hurt. Right?

 

[Furballsmom]

Also, try to feed at least 50% wet food.

Without looking back through the thread, I think the OP is

dkb817 This is sounding more like Pica than actual hunger...?

 

[Caspers Human]

Yes, I understand that.

I was just trying to relate the kind of trouble we had getting Casper to eat the right foods, in the right amounts. Hopefully, others might gain some insight about how to deal with their own cats' food issues.

Dealing with cats isn't often accomplished by saying, "Do this or that." It has a lot to do with hearing about how others have dealt with their cats then trying to piece together a puzzle, using deductions made by listening to others.

There's often more art than science involved with caring for your cat.

 

[Furballsmom]

There's often more art than science involved with caring for your cat.

 

[dkb817]

Furballsmom - Yeah, he's purely on wet food now (He hasn't even had any of the dry treats in awhile, not since his hunger really shot up and we started eliminating things trying to get to the cause; They're like kitty crack - Temptations knew what they were doing! ). I'd say it was Pica too, but he's not eating them - just chewing on things and spitting them out again to get my attention to come and feed him.

I didn't get to speak to my vet today because he was out of the office, but the "substitute" vet said that having Simon eat two cans of the non-urinary food a day was okay as long as I understood that he wasn't getting the benefits of a purely FLUTD-friendly food diet. She also said that if I wanted, we could try a preemptive course of dewormer (said it was possible his last fecal was a false negative) - but I think we'll hold off on that for the time being while we keep adjusting food amounts/timing to see if we can find one that works for us. I'd go ahead with it if he were currently displaying any symptoms but the hunger - but he's not right now.

 

[Furballsmom]

just chewing on things and spitting them out again to get my attention to come and feed him.

Oh my goodness!

 

[daftcat75]

How old is Simon? Krista chewed hard plastic when she was younger. I think it was just kittenhood and boredom. She grew out of it. But I also got her a lot of catnip mice and kickers and other things she was allowed to chew on that she could get into if she got bored.

 

[dkb817]

He's roughly 5-6 years old. We initially had a bunch of little toys to chew on - one was his "fishy" (that he subsequently threw up on, so it got tossed) and a bunch of those crinkly toys that we caught him trying to shove in his mouth in an attempt to swallow it whole (so those went too, as we couldn't feasibly watch him 24/7 and it became a choking hazard).

Unfortunately, his behavior has continued to worsen - There were a couple of good days, but he's sliding backwards again. He's showing increased anxiety (he jumped at his own shadow last night) and aggression, increased restlessness (tests show nothing and the only remaining tests run several hundreds of dollars and still likely wouldn't give us definitive answers on how to proceed). The behavioral shifts combined with his medical issues have us at the discussion of "quality of life vs quantity of life" with our vet.

Love this boy, but I can't feasibly force him to live in a world where he is miserable all of the time. Just waiting to see what the vet thinks.

 

[dkb817]

Update: Spoke with the vet this morning, who confirmed that we've tried just about everything there is to try and that Simon's behavior is likely a behavioral/psychological issue more than a physical one at this point. He helped me see that we're at the point of "enough is enough" and that anything further would likely just stress him out even further (especially with the increased anxiety and fear Simon has been displaying). We're not helping across the rainbow bridge just yet, but the next bad day will likely be it.