OBSESSED WITH FOOD

[vinnie20]

Hello all!

I am new here to the forum and I am hoping to get some answers or suggestions.

I have a 8 year old, male, orange tabby, I've had him since he was 8 weeks old.  Within the past I would say two years he had become crazy food obsessed. He will try and eat anything, tears open coffee bags, bags of chips, if anything is left out he is trying to get into it. He will crawl in the sink to lick dishes. Obviously this is a huge concern to me because a lot of food is dangerous to animals. I have tried to always remember to put things away and never leave anything out. He never did this until about two years ago.

He also about 6 months ago has started crying before breakfast and dinner time. I feed him twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. Wet cat food, half a can in the morning and half in the evening.  Well now as early as two hours before he will start crying and bellowing throughout the house. In the morning it is before I get up for work so he will walk all over me and wake me up, like I said this is 2 hours before time to eat. I am getting terrible sleep because of it. I mainly just want to see if anyone thinks something is wrong with him?? He is driving me crazy! This is all new behavior and I tried to ignore him and hope things improve but it really is driving me crazy. I would never think of giving him up but I want to know if he is ok? His weight is normal, drinking, eating, and bathroom behavior is all normal and ok. He recently went to the vet and I mentioned it to her, but she didn't have much to say. She said this may be just a new behavior, but I have a hard time believing this. If anyone can please help!!!   

 

[gangsta chanca]

I'm not too sure about him trying to eat anything, but demanding food so much? My cat does the same. Whenever he doesn't get fed in time, something is broken. When its longer than that, he attacks my dog and the other cat in the house. Hes already overweight, so even when I try and feed him less he wont stand. 4am is when he wakes me up, which is insane. When i asked about that, i was told it was just a behavior thing. So maybe it is the same for you cat too.

 

[kittyluv387]

How big is this wet can of cat food that you're feeding him? If it's 3oz that could be much to little for some cats. Maybe you can try giving him a lottle more? My 7 month old eats almost 7 ounces a day, and would eat more if i let him. He is still slender though.

 

[vinnie20]

Thank you for the thought, but I feed him a 6 oz can a day. Half in the morning and half in the evening.  This is the recommended amount for indoor cats. He is kinda active, I play with him daily and he get busts of energy but other than that he is napping  

 

[kittyluv387]

Yeah but every kitty is different.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

How big of a cat is he? Did you change his food at all? Or did the manufacturer change anything?

One of my cats needs a little more. Compared to my mother's cats; mine are huge. She got sick last winter and went below 10lbs. She looked emaciated. Because of her illness i started feeding 3 meals a day. (I feed both wet and dry at this time.) Every cat is different; but generally a bigger body needs more calories. The Nutrition forum & the site have some articles that might becinteresting to you if you want to begin researching this further.

If you determine your kitty is getting adequate food you will have to basically ignore him when he is acting out for food. Any attention, even negative attention, lets them know they've gotten your attention with their antics. Can you shut him out of your room when you sleep?

 

[vinnie20]

Vinnie is 12 pounds, he is a short haired orange tabby. I haven't changed his food since changing him from dry to wet, which he loves even more than dry food! So he is a lil bit bigger but I have to be careful not to over feed him because he is in remission of feline diabetes.  Dry food caused the onset of this and we have finally gotten him off insulin and his blood sugar normal. I was concerned to go over the recommend amount since his blood glucose level is finally normal.  Nope there is a no closed door policy in our house just for our animals, Vinnie sleeps at the foot of my bed most nights.  I do ignore his behavior, but he seriously does not stop. I never "punish" him for crying or give negative attention, I would never want him to be scared of me for anything. 

My big fear is if I try to feed him more often that this will actually encourage the crying, and breaking into food items he isn't suppose to have. Almost like "oh the worse I am the more I get fed"!  Is thing the wrong way of looking at things? I appreciate all the feed back and please keep it coming. I have done some research to try and find what could be encouraging or triggering this behavior but no one really talks about when a cat is THIS determined to get food. Last night a cabinet was accidentally left open and he tore open a bag of brown rice. 

 

[kittyluv387]

My cat is actually like that. Whenever i open the refrigerator he will run to stick his head in there. Even his whole body at times. Or whenever i go to the kitchen for myself he is expectant. Maybe you can try the same amount of food with higher meat/protein content and less filler? I just ignore my cat whenever he gets piggy but sometimea i get frustrated and annoyed because he really gets in the way like crazy when im in the kitchen.

 

[cattycd]

Story of my life. I swear to you my 2 cats are the same. If anything falls to the floor, they automatically think its food and make a run for it. I have an automatic feeder for them, which I engineered to protect as much as possible from their determined paws. If I left it out as is, Diego would shove his paw way up there and push more food out...no wonder he gained weight...So I insulated this machine inside a cabinet, drilled a two-inch hole and there you go. But no, he still found a way to shred the innards of the machine. So I put a funneled wire mesh in the whole to lessen his grip, but that only worked for a few weeks. Now I have finally found a way to keep him out with S-shaped PVC pipes placed in the hole. However, now that he can't get to it, he's started opening up ALL my kitchen cupbards AND drawers and licks the tuperware and dishes!! THEY ARE CLEAN DISHES!!! When I feed them their wet food meal in the evening, they eat with such excitement that they gobble with joy (yes, you can physically hear them gobble) and somehow food ends up on the walls! I am not kidding.

But anyway back to the original subject...

My question to you is when did you make the switch to wet food? Maybe the change is what triggered his behaviour? For my cats, I am not worried about their behaviour as they have been like this their whole lives. They spent their first 8 months as barn cats and were used to being fed scrap foods constantly by the farmers.

I would love to know if you have any tips for me concerning cats and food obsession!

Sincerely,

Cyclops' and Diego's Mommy.

 

[raina21]

You're lucky your cat took so well to being switched to wet food. I had a cat that got diabetes from eating dry meowmix (and he was outdoor/indoor so he would go over to the neighbor's house and eat the cat food off of their porch too! He was also a great hunter and killed and ate all the moles, bird and shrews in our yard He was a PIG). He never liked wet cat food. No matter what type we tried to give him. He was 25lbs when he got diabetes and he never made it to remission because he also had a tumor on his face that was inoperable because it was so close to his brain. I used to give him his insulin shots every day. I miss the little fella dearly.

That being said, if you are feeding him the correct type of food (which I assume has been modified for diabetic cats?) You may want to consider upping the feeding to 2/3 of a can in the morning and 1/3 in the evening with weight management dry dood as an alternate option. This might stop him bugging you for food in the evening. But make sure you are feeding him weight management dry food/wet food! Its better for diabetic cats and doesnt effect their blood sugar much!