Cat Is Suddenly Food Obsessed

[kathryncrawford]

Hey guys!

We adopted a cat a few months ago. He was mildly sick for the first couple of months we had him (ear infection, eye infection, worms, then bacterial infection in gut). We trained him and his brother both to be quiet when waiting for food (using this method). They'd both be quiet while we prepared food, and may have meowed a bit when we picked up the food bowl, but then they'd sit down and quietly wait for their food.

Fast forward to now. The same time that he was cleared by the vet from his various ailments, he started being super demanding about food, as well as being more energetic and talkative in general. He now starts meowing at us sometimes 2 hours before food time (they get a morning, afternoon and evening meal), and it's almost impossible to get him to be quiet to put down his food. He's been jumping on the counters (a new thing) constantly hunting for food, tearing apart ziploc bags that used to have food in them and overall freaking out.

The constant meowing is driving us NUTS, and his brother is doing it too, guess he's easily influenced. I've been using treats to reinforce quiet behavior positively, and we don't yell at them or spray them with water for being noisy. We just ignore it, but it hasn't been improving.

He's fully healthy right now, and I've been monitoring his weight and he has maintained the same weight for months now. Please help!

An added note: we currently feed them in the kitchen, but I wonder if switching to another part of the apartment will help? The only other part that isn't carpet is the bathroom, but we do go into the bathroom less frequently than the kitchen. Right now almost every time I walk into the kitchen, the cat freaks out and starts meowing, even though we walk into the kitchen way more times than we actually feed them every day.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! How old are they? If they're big breed cats and younger than 3 or even four, they are probably hungry.
Or, the food you're giving them doesn't have enough nutrients, and they're probably hungry.

Start adding some cooked egg, canned kitten food ( it typically has higher protein) and leave some kibble out overnight.

 

[Diana Faye]

It sounds like you have a "chatty catty" and he's feeling much better now.

I really don't know the answer to your problem, but my experience working with people with disabilities wants to say to acknowledge the communication once, and then initiate planned ignoring. Meaning, respond in some way to let them know you heard them, but you will not engage further. I found with my work experience, planned ignoring alone can give the impression that you didn't hear them, so they try harder. Now, obviously cats are not people but I wonder if it wouldn't have a similar effect. Otherwise, your best bet is to ignore the behavior and stick to the routine. Eventually they will learn that you will not be swayed.

Also, I don't know how old they are or what your feed is like, but you could try putting dry food and/or treats in a puzzle feeder to occupy some of their time in between meals.

 

[kathryncrawford]

Hi! How old are they? If they're big breed cats and younger than 3 or even four, they are probably hungry.
Or, the food you're giving them doesn't have enough nutrients, and they're probably hungry.

Start adding some cooked egg, canned kitten food ( it typically has higher protein) and leave some kibble out overnight.

Hi! They are a little over a year old. We feed them raw food, which is a base of a bone/meat/organ grind and a supplement that has added egg yolk and stuff like taurine in it.

They may be hungry, but it's hard to tell. I've been watching their weight closely to know how much raw food to feed them and settled at about 4% of their body weight, which should be the upper limit of what they need. So far their weight has been steady except when the noisy one was sick and lost about .5lb of weight.

 

[kathryncrawford]

It sounds like you have a "chatty catty" and he's feeling much better now.

I really don't know the answer to your problem, but my experience working with people with disabilities wants to say to acknowledge the communication once, and then initiate planned ignoring. Meaning, respond in some way to let them know you heard them, but you will not engage further. I found with my work experience, planned ignoring alone can give the impression that you didn't hear them, so they try harder. Now, obviously cats are not people but I wonder if it wouldn't have a similar effect. Otherwise, your best bet is to ignore the behavior and stick to the routine. Eventually they will learn that you will not be swayed.

Also, I don't know how old they are or what your feed is like, but you could try putting dry food and/or treats in a puzzle feeder to occupy some of their time in between meals.

I definitely do wonder if breed is part of it. They are both colorpoint shorthairs and he is the more Siamese of the two. He looks like it in the face and has the same "accent" as a Siamese. He's also more prone to cute little noises, like when he jumps or you pet him. I am kind of worried that it's just his tendancy, but I know even chatty cats can be trained!

Acknowledging the communication is an interesting tactic. That might be worth exploring.

Unfortunately I do not feed them dry food at all, so leaving food out is not an option.

 

[Diana Faye]

Hi! They are a little over a year old. We feed them raw food, which is a base of a bone/meat/organ grind and a supplement that has added egg yolk and stuff like taurine in it.

They may be hungry, but it's hard to tell. I've been watching their weight closely to know how much raw food to feed them and settled at about 4% of their body weight, which should be the upper limit of what they need. So far their weight has been steady except when the noisy one was sick and lost about .5lb of weight.

What do you use for treats?? I'm not knowledgeable with raw diets, but if you have a kibble type treat you could use those in puzzle feeders. There are ball type toys that will spit out a kibble as they get knocked around.

 

[kathryncrawford]

What do you use for treats?? I'm not knowledgeable with raw diets, but if you have a kibble type treat you could use those in puzzle feeders. There are ball type toys that will spit out a kibble as they get knocked around.

That's actually a good point. I have two treats, one is freeze dried sardines (gross, I know) and the other is freeze dried rabbit bites. The rabbit bites are pretty kibble like!

 

[Diana Faye]

That's actually a good point. I have two treats, one is freeze dried sardines (gross, I know) and the other is freeze dried rabbit bites. The rabbit bites are pretty kibble like!

It may be worth a try, then. Worst case scenario they get a fun new toy.

 

[Furballsmom]

With their level of activity and age, I would strongly suggest looking at your recipe to make sure they are getting enough nutrients. If the recipe itself is fine, then he needs more of it.

This is really important; you should have been feeding them as much as they could consume during their entire first year, so as soon as you got them, they needed to eat a lot.

So, now, there's absolutely nothing wrong with testing the theory by feeding him some more, and seeing if he stops working so very hard to get more food.

In other words, he's trying his darndest to tell you he's hungry. Every cat is different, and his nutritional requirements are probably different from your other kitty's although the other one could likely benefit from more food as well.

At this age, for the first year and a bit beyond that, cats are still developing/growing all of their systems, brain, eyes, bones, nervous system, etc. The weight may stay the same but that is not an indicator of nutritional requirements. Help your baby meezer out and provide him with more.
In addition he's "playing"catch-up from his illness and may very well be going through a final growth spurt that was stalled while he was sick.

 

[kathryncrawford]

With their level of activity and age, I would strongly suggest looking at your recipe to make sure they are getting enough nutrients. If the recipe itself is fine, then he needs more of it.

This is really important; you should have been feeding them as much as they could consume during their entire first year, so as soon as you got them, they needed to eat a lot.

So, now, there's absolutely nothing wrong with testing the theory by feeding him some more, and seeing if he stops working so very hard to get more food.

In other words, he's trying his darndest to tell you he's hungry. Every cat is different, and his nutritional requirements are probably different from your other kitty's although the other one could likely benefit from more food as well.

At this age, for the first year and a bit beyond that, cats are still developing/growing all of their systems, brain, eyes, bones, nervous system, etc. The weight may stay the same but that is not an indicator of nutritional requirements. Help your baby meezer out and provide him with more.
In addition he's "playing"catch-up from his illness and may very well be going through a final growth spurt that was stalled while he was sick.

Hmm, yeah it's worth a shot!

 

[Furballsmom]

 

[kathryncrawford]

Well I bought them a treat ball, and while that does distract them a bit while I'm preparing their food, they're still pretty noisy about wanting food. They lose interest in it pretty quickly unfortunately, so it only works sometimes.

I also started feeding them more, but no change seen so far. That might take time though, if they need to gain weight.

It's just super frustrating having them constantly crazy for food. Yesterday one of them knocked a bowl out of my hand as I was setting it down and it just drove me nuts. Please tell me there's a light at the end of this tunnel! I'm wondering if some of the issue is just that they are young cats, and maybe they'll mellow as they get older.

Still pushing on with the training, and hopefully that kicks in at some point. They're great at sitting quietly for actual treats, just not so much for meals.

 

[kathryncrawford]

Right now they are yelling at me for food, and sprinting into the kitchen every time I get up. I don't normally feed them for another 2 hours. Lord beer me strength.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hang in there!
Temporarily, could you pick up a bag of Merrick with raw, or Instinct raw boost and let them have some overnight?
I don't know, I'm mentally searching for a way to help...

To have some dancing when anticipating food, sure, but with what you're describing I get the impression that they are almost hangry.

 

[kathryncrawford]

Hang in there!
Temporarily, could you pick up a bag of Merrick with raw, or Instinct raw boost and let them have some overnight?
I don't know, I'm mentally searching for a way to help...

To have some dancing when anticipating food, sure, but with what you're describing I get the impression that they are almost hangry.

The supplement powder I add to their food has egg yolk in it. I'd be hesitant to give them more of it since it's already added to their diet.

I think they are probably hangry for sure. I'm hoping that your idea of feeding them more helps out with that! Since they are so young, they may still be growing boys, especially after illness. Hopefully that is the case. They are usually more calm before their evening meals than morning, which makes sense because they go the longest without food before the morning meal.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! I realized that about your already using egg after I'd hit post, and edited my post LOL sorry about that! (bless you for your patience with that)

I was wondering if temporarily, until they calm down about food and/or grow to the point of maturity and don't need as much food, could you pick up a bag of Merrick with raw (Merrick Raw Infused), or Instinct Raw Boost and let them have some kibble overnight?