Anyone's Cat Keeps Eating If You Let Them?

[Sammiches]

So it's my day off and I figured since I'm eating whatever I want, I'll feed my cat whenever I eat. She's eaten 10 ounces of wet food today and I'm willing to bet if I were to feed her more, she'd eat more. She is currently 1yr 8mo old atm and I personally think she's very healthy. Not sure if this is a normal thing or what but my cat loves food SO much yet somehow maintains her weight. She eats roughly 6.8 ounces of food per day+night treats which is half a Virbac Dental Chew and about 10 pieces of dental treats.

I'd like to note that I feed her a rotation of Wellness, Weruva, Nutro, Ziwipeak, and Tiki Cat wet food so it's not like it's cheap food devoid of nutrition either which I heard can cause a cat to eat more trying to fill the nutrition requirement.

Picture of my cat Luna to show what I consider healthy -

 

[rubysmama]

Oh, she's beautiful.

About always wanting to eat, sometimes cats that were strays have "stray cat food obsession" for a while after they are adopted. But usually it goes away after they realize they'll always have more food available.

As for your Luna, do read the labels/websites of the food you are feeding her to ensure she's getting enough calories. Different cans of food, and kibble, have different caloric amounts, so you want to ensure she's getting the same amount of calories per day.

Here's a TCS article with a bit more info:
How Much Food Should I Feed My Cat?

 

[KarenKat]

I feed Olive about 220 calories or so ... three meals of 75 kcal each. And she will con us out of all treats. Once I fed her and went back to bed. My BF assumed I overslept and fed her again. She was so happy and ate it all down, purring. She was part stray, and so far a year in and she’s so food motivated.

I would check calories, Weruva and Tiki cat have great nutrition but can be extremely low calorie compared to other foods.

 

[lisahe]

Luna looks like she's just the right size, so I wouldn't worry too much about her eating for now, particularly if you keep feeding foods like Weruva and Tiki which, as KarenKat notes, can have fairly low calorie counts.

rubysmama raises a good point about cats who were underfed before being adopted: our cats came to us very skinny and hungry, and one of them is still obsessed with food, even five years later. If allowed, there are some foods that she would eat, quickly, until regurgitating -- because of that, we feed four small meals a day. Another factor: some cats keep growing well beyond turning one. Our cats' appetites didn't start to taper off until they were at least three! I'm not sure if this was because of their kittenhood (we adopted them at ten months), because they've always been very active indoor cats, or both.

Anyway, I'd probably just take a look at calorie counts on the cans you feed and then keep an eye out for potential weight gain later on. Young and active cats burn a lot of calories so you may be feeding quite a bit for a while!

 

[kozeta.leka]

Oh, what a lovely cat. I have 2 cats myself. One of them eats only when hungry, no matter how much food it is offered to her. The other eats everything she can, whenever possible .
I don't think there is anything to worry about. Maybe she burns calories running around

 

[Kieka]

Luna is an absolute doll. She looks really good and giving her one day of overindulgence probably won't harm her. But just like with people, it's easier to not go overboard if you dont overindulge.

Some cats, like my Link, have no problem leaving food in the bowl and walking away when they are full. Other cats, like my Mom's Nightfury, will eat themselves sick if allowed to. Nightfury was abandoned in a box with no food when he was about four weeks old. So I dont think it is a stray survival instincts in his case; just a glutton.

 

[daftcat75]

I learned the long and messy way that Krista's stomach is about 2 oz large. Any meal larger than that, she may very well finish but it's going to give her discomfort and very likely come back up. I wonder how much of her IBD was precipitated or exacerbated by the mistaken feeding suggestions that would have me believe she should be eating a whole 3 oz can twice a day. Now that I have found her ideal meal size, her ideal meal frequency is as often as she can get it. We're working on this. I'd like about four daily feedings. She'd like about ten.

 

[Sammiches]

Oh wow thanks guys! Never thought to look at the calorie mostly because of the feeding guidelines on the cans, I'll be taking a better look at those from now on.

Luna was a stray from what I remembered, she was taken in about 2 months at the SPCA. Picked her up at 6 months and she's been with me ever since. So that may be it too.

 

[lisahe]

Oh wow thanks guys! Never thought to look at the calorie mostly because of the feeding guidelines on the cans, I'll be taking a better look at those from now on.

Luna was a stray from what I remembered, she was taken in about 2 months at the SPCA. Picked her up at 6 months and she's been with me ever since. So that may be it too.

It may be a lot of things together! Figuring out the best way to feed a cat isn't easy and even when you do think you have it all figured out, you may get hit by food recalls, reformulations, or Luna's taste changing. This is part of why it's such a good thing not to feed just one kind of food -- you can minimize difficulties if anything changes.

 

[Sammiches]

It may be a lot of things together! Figuring out the best way to feed a cat isn't easy and even when you do think you have it all figured out, you may get hit by food recalls, reformulations, or Luna's taste changing. This is part of why it's such a good thing not to feed just one kind of food -- you can minimize difficulties if anything changes.

Oh yeah I keep a rotation mainly because I figured that she'd get bored of the same food. Even if she continues to eat it every day, it's not like she has much say in the matter so I decided to expand her food variety.

Several different brands, textures, and several different types of meat which includes chicken, turkey, beef, salmon(rarely), and lamb(very rare). As of recent I give her an isolated organic free range chicken yolk about once a month as well because I heard it was very nutritional for a cat. As they are much smaller than we are and even us humans aren't supposed to eat that much egg yolks, I figured it'll be easier for them to go overboard with it.

I haven't faced the problem of recalls and reformulations yet so looks like I'm at least prepared, thanks good to know!

 

[LadyLondonderry]

Luna is a beauty, and I agree that she looks just perfect.

In the past three decades I've lived with two cats. The first was a purebred who never missed a meal except perhaps during the flight from the breeder to me. She was brilliantly self-regulating, always eating just as much as she needed and no more, even though I left dry food out for her whenever I wasn't around, as well as wet food when I was.

The second is a former feral who spent her first few months in a colony based in a parking lot and presumably had some competition for food. Her appetite seems to vary depending on how much she likes what's being dished out. She likes her usual menu (Rawz rabbit and duck) well enough and will eat the full portion or almost that much and then saunter off and forget about it. But if she's offered an especially toothsome dish (this currently means either Primal pork nuggets or Wellness Complete Health beef & salmon), she'll hoover it up and vocalize for more until she gets it.

I'm starting to think that the perfect cat food is one that your cat likes just enough to eat the correct amount for his/her weight ... not one that he/she loves, adores and craves enough to snarf endlessly!

 

[Kat0121]

Luna is stunning. Look at that gorgeous, glossy coat.

My cats pick at their food unless I work late and their meal is late. Then they eat more at once but they rarely eat everything in their dish at once.

 

[kittyluv387]

My cat will eat a couple of days worth of food if i let him. He was at the shelter since 3 months of age.

 

[lisahe]

I'm starting to think that the perfect cat food is one that your cat likes just enough to eat the correct amount for his/her weight ... not one that he/she loves, adores and craves enough to snarf endlessly!

Yes, this is my conclusion, too! Our combination of an always-hungry snowshoe mix and a not-that-stuff-again lynx mix makes me wish for a happier medium! (Not that I'd trade these two cats in for anything, though!)

 

[susanm9006]

Whether it is kibble or wet food, Willow will eat excessively. She has to be on a measured out two meal a day diet (1/4 cup dry kibble, 1.5 oz wet) and even with that she is overweight.

 

[Purr-fect]

Off topic, but I recognize your scratching post....an "ultimate scratching post".

Greg and arnold have several of these posts.

Your cat seems very trim. My boys couldn't balance on top of one of these posts, it would completely disappear underneath them. Lol. And they dont eat as much as your cat.

 

[Sammiches]

Off topic, but I recognize your scratching post....an "ultimate scratching post".

Greg and arnold have several of these posts.

Your cat seems very trim. My boys couldn't balance on top of one of these posts, it would completely disappear underneath them. Lol. And they dont eat as much as your cat.

Yeah my cat too had trouble keeping on top so I decided to stick on some felt material around it so my cat can claw onto something when she climbs up top(for whatever reasons the company decided the top of the scratcher should be super slippery). Worked like a charm and now it's one of her favorite spot to be on.

If your cats are large though it's worth investing the time to create a platform on top that they can stand on. I heard the company made one that you can attach on but is pretty flimsy. If their feet and paws do fit on the top of the stand though, you can still try the felt material and see how they like it.