Cat Always Hungry, Could He Have Worms?

We feed our cat pouches at regular times (morning, early evening when get home from work & before bed) however sometimes he just seems to get really hungry. He usually tries to steal what we are eating and we have to put him in another room. He normally gets the message and stops bothering us. He also tries to wake us up every day at 5am for food but we ignore him and he then happily waits until 7am. However during weekends or holidays when we are in the house in the early afternoon outside of his normal feeding times he will do his usual begging for food. This involves brushing his body against our legs, begging like a dog, loud meowing and going to his empty food bowl. I admit sometimes I do feel he is genuinely hungry and will give him food.
We recently went to the vet and she said he is a healthy weight.
My only other suggestion is could he have worms. I haven't noticed nothing in his stools. We haven't dewormed him at all and goes outside during the day?

He very well may have parasites if you have not treated him. Almost all cats do if they are outside. Untill the problem is very severe you may not notice anything in the stool. Best to take him to the vet and get meds. Trying to treat parasites with over the counter meds is somewhat hit or miss, you dont know exactly what he has, and different meds for different parasites. The vet can test, and give medications for all of them. Or treat with something like profender that kills most parasites. You do need a prescription for profender.

I dont know what you feed? How many calories is he getting per day? How big is he? Indoor outdoor cats often need around 30 to 35 calories per pound of body weight, depending on age and activity. It may be that he is not getting enough calories per day? Do you feed him only the pouches, or leave dry out as well?

We don't feed dry food because his brother died from bladder problems but I guess I could mix wet with dry.
We feed 3 pouches a day which according to the packet is enough.
We don't leave dry out because last time I did it, it eat it all within 2 minutes so fast it made him sick.

humanracer said:

We don't feed dry food because his brother died from bladder problems but I guess I could mix wet with dry.
We feed 3 pouches a day which according to the packet is enough.
We don't leave dry out because last time I did it, it eat it all within 2 minutes so fast it made him sick.

Click to expand...

Its fine not to feed dry, to feed wet only. But different foods can have big difference in the calorie count. What pouches are you feeding, or have you checked the calorie count? And all cats are different, just like people. some have higher metabolisims, or may be more active. two different 8 lb cats may need vastly different amount of calories, i pay no attention to the "how much to feed" on the labels. I go by my cats weight, and activity levels, and calories of the foods i feed for a rough estimate. Normally if a cat eats so fast he throws up, he is hungry. I have one of those and if i ever let him get too hungry he scarfs it down, and barfs it right back up

He is 5kg, we feed him Whiskas pouches. He is very active.

I don't think he is getting enough food. I'm in the US so without knowing where you are I can't be sure of the calories on the pouches. But the international version I did find is around 75 calories per pouch. Common standards is 20 calories per pound for an inactive indoor cat (actual varies but it's a starting point). 5kg is 11 pounds roughly, so the three pouches ends up being just enough if he is an inactive cat. But if he is active it might be 20-40 calories shy of what his body wants.

Another issue could be the food itself isn't filling him up. The UK version of Whiskas has "various sugars" and that could be leading to a false sense of energy and fullness that fades. It could also be contributing to a sugar addiction that is making him want more to get more sugars.

I'd shop around for something else if there are other options and try to get him 220 calories a day of the new food. If that still does help, up to 240 calories a day (which could just be a piece of boiled chicken as a treat on top of his food or a salmon snack or something like that instead of trying to add more wet food and partial cans/pouches).

The whiskas pouches i know of have anywhere to 55 calories to 70 calories per pouch. i dont know which one you feed, you will need to check the label to be sure. but lets say it is the 70 calories per pouch one, 3 of those per day would be 210 calories if he eats all of it.

A very active indoor.. out door... cat will need somewhere around 30 to 35 calories per pound of weight. Im not so good with kg, im in the us and we use lbs but 5 kg would be about 11 lbs. an active, outside during the day, 11 lb cat would need somewhere in the range of 330 calories. that's using the average of 30 calories per lb of weight. whether he has been neutered or not will also make a difference.

All of the math is fun, and gives a rough guide, but all cats are different. If he is begging for food, and not heavy i would see about feeding him more. 1 or 2 more pouches per day, and watch his weight and see if the begging for food stops.

I would also ask his vet about treatment for parasites, as that can be a problem too.

i have a link that shows calorie requirements, again it is an estimate on average cats, yours may be different.

Feline Calorie Calculator - PetSci

Ask your vet about giving him a de-wormer regularly, I think Milbemax is the common brand in countries other than the US. Every 3-4 months is recommended for cats that go outside.

Here’s an article that explains how to figure out how much to feed a cat: How Much Food Should I Feed My Cat?

The vet can check for worms with a fecal flotation test, so bringing a stool sample to the vet would be the best.

Here’s an article that gives more information about intestinal parasites in cats: The 4 Most Common Worms That Can Make Your Cat Sick

Thanks
The problem I find with these articles is that they are talking about the dangers of overfeeding whereas I am worried about starving my cat.
The article says the vet is the best person to help yet my vet says my cat is a healthy weight and this has been over a month after feeding him the usual number of pouches.
Thanks for the article about the worms. I will get him dewormed. He definetely isn't sick at the moment.