Anybody Else Have A Scarfer?

[Gizmobius]

Without the barf that usually follows!

Gizmo is a raw/canned fed boy who can polish off a meal in as little as 30 seconds. One time I placed his dish down, turned away briefly to look at my phone, and when I turned back he was already finished and looking around his bowl for any scraps he may have missed. On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, my other cat Stevie will take upwards of 10 minutes to finish her meal.

Let's not even talk about Gizmo's raw chicken wings he gets weekly for teeth health. I've seen the videos of normal cats taking their time and being thorough with how they eat it. He chews for the most part, but really all he's doing is chewing just enough to be able to swallow it. He gets the meat off and then swallows the slightly gnawed down bone. Just yesterday he gulped down the wing tip like he was a snake. Gizzards and hearts? Minimal chewing. He does just enough work to be able to swallow it down in one big gulp.

Anybody else have a need-it-now scarfer cat who seemingly does not understand that food is to be savored and enjoyed?

(I thought this fit better in the behavior forum rather than nutrition since I'm pretty sure it's a weirdo behavioral trait but feel free to move if necessary!)

 

[susanm9006]

Chicken wings? The bones can splinter and get stuck in their throat or intestines. Would definitely discuss it with your vet.

 

[Gizmobius]

Raw chicken wings. I'm not too concerned with them splintering. I'm more concerned with the choking hazard of raw meaty bones but he's always supervised.

 

[rubysmama]

How long have you had Gizmo? And has he always been a food scarfer?

When I first adopted my Ruby, she would inhale her food in seconds. Her dish always looked like it had just been cleaned!

I think her food obsession came from being a stray for a while before she ended up at the shelter. I've read that former strays will eat everything at once, because they don't know when they'll get fed again.

It took about 6 months or so, but eventually Ruby did learn that she would always be fed again, and she started leaving food in her dish for later.

 

[KarenKat]

Yes! Olive is a scarfer, and she has pretty much not barfed unless she was nervously trying to steal more food (only twice - we learned the hard way to remove uneaten wet food after an entire meal of undigested Whitefish came up). I feed her only wet food because she would never allow kibble to go uneaten.

She was a cared-for stray before the neighbor moved, and on the mildly underweight side. But she hasn't slowed the scarfing down in the 9 months she has been living with us. She also is not picky at all lol.

 

[Gizmobius]

rubysmama I adopted him when he was 10 weeks old and now he’s almost 2! He was actually the one rare exception to the “feed a kitten as much as it wants” rule because of this very reason; he’d eat everything I put down on front of him so fast that he gave himself digestive issues. But even after all this time he still scarfs.

KarenKat That reminds me that Gizmo did barf one time and that’s when he snuck Stevie’s dry food (back when she was being transitioned to wet.) I think he knew he wasn’t supposed to have it because it was gone in an instant and quickly thrown back up. I had made a joke about just rinsing it off and putting it back in Stevie’s bowl since it was still completely in tact. But I’m glad I’m not alone in having a scarfer. Giz isn’t picky either. Actually I think I’m more picky about what he eats than he is!

 

[RufusGizmo]

my two kittens who I have had for almost a year now are both scarfers, so much to the point where I have to feed them a third of their food, wait ten minutes, feed them a third more, etc. I also have two older cats that eat slow, so I have to feed the kittens in the basement, and leave them down there for awhile, so they don't eat the older cats food. if I give them too much, the will barf, and then, grossly enough, eat their throw up. its been a year, and it is a pain in the butt, I cant even get anyone to watch them to go on a vacation. but their super cute otherwise! and they were found in the woods, but have not got to realize that they will always be fed, I guess.

 

[RufusGizmo]

my little barfers

 

[KarenKat]

my little barfers

And what lovely little barfers you have!

That’s what is so amazong about cats, they allow us to we love them so much because of their fluffiness and personality that they show us all their inner bodily fluids so we may love them through and through ..

 

[jen]

Chicken wings? The bones can splinter and get stuck in their throat or intestines. Would definitely discuss it with your vet.

I have yet to find a vet that is a fan of a raw diet It's sad really. We know more about cat nutrition then many of them do. Raw bones are great for teeth cleaning.

I have a scarfer. I call her a "snarfer" She snarfs her food. She is my bf's cat and when I moved in she was diabetic, on an all dry food diet, free fed and 21 lbs.... Now she is non-diabetic, on a strict amount of canned, low carb food only, and down to around 15 lbs and STARVING. Or she would have you think. Ohhh the sounds she makes when I place her food down. She practically stands on my feet tripping me while I scoop the food out, then she almost knocks it from my hands as I am setting it down. And the sounds, the snorting, grunting, heavy breathing.... She has no shame. It's ridiculous.

 

[KarenKat]

Olive does that. I put her canned food in the bowl and chop it / smush it with some warm water. It probably takes about 20 seconds - Oh, sorry Olive - I meant HOURS! All I can say is if I were to play basketball now my “boxing out” skills would be off the hook.

And then there’s the anticipation of me turning to go down to her feeding area and OH the Humanity! Meows! And then silence, with only a wet snarfing snound to be heard ...

 

[Gizmobius]

Oh yeah, the walking all around my feet and trying to trip me tactic. Doesn't make me move any faster, Giz. Of course if he didn't jump on the counter 80 times while I'm preparing his food causing me to stop and put him back down on the ground, we'd cut half the waiting time. Silly boy.

 

[1 bruce 1]

I have a scarfer, kind of.
He's in the large colony and is less of a scarfer and more of an a-hole because he takes 3 bites of food, the bulls his way into other bowls to see what they got and the other cats back off despite my telling them "kick his ***. Tell him that's not cool", but they don't so I shoo him. He over-reacts, runs under the couch and acts like the demons of Hell tried to shove a taser up his rear end.
Ugh.
This cat is a spook. If I give him a look or freeze and stare his way he runs and hides, but for some reason the other cats don't tell him off. One good smack and he'd run like a crying toddler, but they don't.
So feeding time is baby-sat. Ugh.

 

[danteshuman]

Have you tried some of those slow feeder bowels? & ditching the chicken wings?

I have a crazy food cat in my house. He eats until he throws up if he is stuck outside for to many hours. Since he refuses to stay inside it is frustrating, the cat is lucky nocturnal humans live in the house. If he is locked out for 4-6 hours he scares until he throws up in his food bowel! If it was up to me that semi-feral would be an indoor cat, at least all night long.