Cat Hungry All The Time?

I just got a cat a few weeks ago from the shelter and I'm trying to figure out if I'm underfeeding her or if she's just being a bit on the dramatic side. She weighs 10 pounds, which the vet says is her ideal weight, and she gets fed 3.3ish ounces of Authority wet food twice a day (so it's about 6.6ish ounces a day). From my feverish googling this technically should be enough cat food a day for her to maintain her weight, but Winnie acts like she's starving by the time I get home around 3pm. She does get fed at around 8:30am and 8:30pm.

So I'm wondering a few things: am I underfeeding Winnie? Is her licking her bowl a sign of hunger or just wanting to eat because why not? Should I feed her less in the morning and add a third meal in the middle of the day to account for the midday hunger (the only issue with this is my schedule isn't always set in stone, so I don't know if I can always do a meal in the middle of the day)?

Any help or advice is greatly appreciate because I feel terrible that I'm not being a good cat parent!

Hi!
Maybe try a different brand with a different carb and calorie makeuo, and add that third meal as you were thinking, - it doesn't have to be every day.

What Makes The Best Canned Cat Food?

How many calories is the can of wet food you’re feeding? The typical rule is between 20kcal-30kcal per pound per day, depending on cat activity level. So assuming the cat is inactive and 10 pounds is the ideal weight, they should get about 200 calories a day. Most wet food large cans are below that (around 160-180kcal) so you may want to add an additional meal. Having a feeding right before bed is helpful.

I would also suggest rotating brands of food to make sure the cat doesn’t get picky in case the brand/flavor changes and to ensure nutritional completeness.

Azazel said:

How many calories is the can of wet food you’re feeding? The typical rule is between 20kcal-30kcal per pound per day, depending on cat activity level. So assuming the cat is inactive and 10 pounds is the ideal weight, they should get about 200 calories a day. Most wet food large cans are below that (around 160-180kcal) so you may want to add an additional meal. Having a feeding right before bed is helpful.

I would also suggest rotating brands of food to make sure the cat doesn’t get picky in case the brand/flavor changes and to ensure nutritional completeness.

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From looking at the nutrition spreadsheet, this food isn't the best I don't think, so I might need to change the brand. This one has 158 calories in the 5.5 oz. can, so I believe at 6.6oz she's getting a bit under 200 calories. Winnie is pretty active and gets about 20-30 min of playtime with her like running/chasing things, so it could be she also needs more calories based on that as well.

Furballsmom said:

Hi!
Maybe try a different brand with a different carb and calorie makeuo, and add that third meal as you were thinking, - it doesn't have to be every day.

What Makes The Best Canned Cat Food?

Click to expand...

That's a good point! The cat food spreadsheet had Authority as a pretty bad brand, so I likely need to buy Winnie something better and more satisfying. It's good to know the third meal doesn't have to be everyday either -- I would hope to do it at least most days in an ideal world!

Do you know your cat's history? Was she a stray before she went to the shelter? What food did they give her? Have you tried that? If she was on the street prior to being rescued, she may have food security issues.

I'm not experienced with feline nutrition. I free feed my cats a high quality dry food, with animal protein as the primary ingredient. And several times a week I give each one a half tin of canned. I have been fortunate in that none of my cats have been "over eaters" or fat.

sassysnape said:

That's a good point! The cat food spreadsheet had Authority as a pretty bad brand, so I likely need to buy Winnie something better and more satisfying. It's good to know the third meal doesn't have to be everyday either -- I would hope to do it at least most days in an ideal world!

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I would stick to a schedule to be honest. Cats really like routine and skipping an entire meal also means they won’t be meeting their daily caloric intake.

I was thinking that on those days that there wouldn't be a third meal, that the OP would go back to a larger morning meal

ArchyCat said:

Do you know your cat's history? Was she a stray before she went to the shelter? What food did they give her? Have you tried that? If she was on the street prior to being rescued, she may have food security issues.

I'm not experienced with feline nutrition. I free feed my cats a high quality dry food, with animal protein as the primary ingredient. And several times a week I give each one a half tin of canned. I have been fortunate in that none of my cats have been "over eaters" or fat.

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I'm pretty sure she was a stray (she was found on the street with her kittens), but beyond that they were sparse on details. They also didn't/wouldn't tell me the food she was fed before because to quote them "she's a shelter cat, she doesn't care".

I was considering free feeding as a potential option throughout the day because I give her dry food when she acts like she's starving, but I'm hoping to do a wet food only diet.

She doesn't necessarily overeat, I think she may just want more food than "technically" is recommended. But feline nutrition is a hard thing to parse out!

In my experience with stays/semi-ferals (abandoned cats), almost all of them have always eaten as much as they can as fast as they can. It's not that they eat more than usual but they usually tend to freak out when they do get food because they are used to not getting consistent meals. So, they feel the need to gobble as much as they can in one sitting "just in case".

What I find helps is setting times to feed everyday and sticking to those times almost down to the very minute. That way, after a while, they learn to expect food from you at that time. I've also accompanied the food with positive things like a high pitch sweet voice and the crunching sound the food bag makes when you open it.

However, I don't know if this is the case with your cat.

My cats eat 3x a day....they always seem hungry around 3pm...so they eat at 7am, 3pm and 8:30pm. One meal of pate, and the other two are usually the pieces in gravy (so one higher calorie and two lower calorie). It works out to around 200 or so cal a day. It works for my two

Agree with cats knowing when feeding time is coming with a set schedule.

My cats don't usually beg for food anymore, they know exactly when they get food. Roughly 30 minutes before food time they just sit and stare at me, trying to seduce me with their eyes...

Use a timed feeder to give your cat a meal or two during the day when you're not at home. Canned food is ok if left out all day. It's a cooked product. You can freeze the food first and / or add water, too. I like this programmable timed feeder but there are others: 5 Meal Pet Feeder Some feeders have an ice pack to keep food cool.

It would be ok to leave a small amount of a good quality dry food out during the day, too, for snacking on. Or freeze dried raw or air dried raw food.

S sassysnape -- I have read many comments on TSC threads that what nutrition is "technically recommended" by pet food companies and other sources is on the low side.I think you will sort things out with Winnie. Maybe increase t he amount of food, until there are left overs? Then watch to see if she gets fat. If so, you can always back off bit from that point.

Thank you everyone for all the good advice! I ordered some more nutritionally dense/complete cat food that should be here tomorrow. For today I tried leaving out less than 1/4 cup of the high protein/grain free cat food for her to graze on and eat during the day. Winnie is pretty good at self moderating it seems because she'd only eaten half by the time I got home (at 6ish) and ate the rest once I was home.

She's still whining a bit for food, but I think that might just be to the point Graceful-Lily made about her being a former stray. I only adopted her 3 weeks ago and she was in the shelter for 5 months before that, so I think once she gets more settled she'll realize that there's not a food scarcity.

sassysnape said:

I was considering free feeding as a potential option throughout the day because I give her dry food when she acts like she's starving, but I'm hoping to do a wet food only diet

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For me (and my crew of 4 semi-/former-ferals), there is no real need to go wet-food only. Of course it has benefits for hydration, etc....but I wouldn't feel bad about feeding your cat a high-quality dry food as a supplement.

Though I wouldn't free-feed all day! You're just asking your cat to reject the wet food in this case, and will be a waste of money!. But you could do something like wet food in the AM, and alternate dry vs wet in the PM. Or maybe if for the PM feeding, if she devours all her wet food, provide a bit of kibble between meal time and bed-time (but pull it when you go to sleep).

One thing to add when you switch her food around, get in the habit of weighing her. Get on the scale with her and then without her and do the math at least to keep an eye on her weight. Seeing your cat everyday it is hard to tell if they are gaining too much weight.