Gobbler cat is out of control!

[julia123123]

I have one elderly cat (Calliope) and adopted two kittens (now almost a year old - Frances and Barnabas). Frances was the runt of the litter, so incredibly tiny that I was worried about his health.

Well, he's made up for it. A couple months ago, he suddenly got "hungry." He ate his food. He ate Barnabas' food. He ate Calliope's food...and begged for more. I've had multiple cats and I've never, ever seen one so food-motivated. He's been to the vet and no health issues. I bought a slow feeder but it doesn't seem to help. He'll laboriously pull out the food and then go back to begging. It's sad because he used to want to snuggle all the time, and now it seems like he's so food-obsessed that he pulls away when I try to pick him up because he's sniffing my hands for cat treats.

He's small-framed and still weighs around 11 pounds. He outweighs both other cats. He's got some pretty serious rolls for such a small cat.

I'm no longer able to leave food out for Calliope, which means that I have to be present to feed her 4x/day. If I leave food down, Frances will eat it.
I have to feed Frances and Barnabas in separate rooms. They probably each eat 1 1/2 cans of wet food and maybe a quarter cup or so of dry food daily. Barnabas is a normal weight on this diet and does still beg for more sometimes. I end up feeding them about 7x/day.

I work from home so this plan is somewhat workable, although annoying. But I have travel plans coming up. I'm afraid to use one or even two automatic feeders, because Frances would just scarf up both servings. I don't want to separate them for multiple days, because they're a bonded pair and do everything together. I live way out in the country, really far for a cat sitter, and we aren't close to our neighbors. We're at least a 25 minute drive from friends, too. What I have done for years and years when I travel is set out multiple pans of water and food, an extra litter box, and a nanny cam. I have a friend on call in case I see anything wrong. I have never had an issue with this and all cats have just eaten when they're hungry. But now I feel like I can't even leave for THE DAY. How can I get this situation under control? Please help!

 

[Draco]

What are you feeding them? Sometimes cheaper low/quality food doesn't fill them up enough. You may need to look into different food.

7x a day feeding is insane to me. I'd reduce the feedings and feed more at that time. Try splitting twice a day. It'll be an adjustment to the cats, but with fewer feedings, they'll know when they'll expect to be fed over time.

 

[Antonio65]

I have an identical situation at home, where one of my two cats eats up all her meals in a very few seconds, but she's never full, and after a meal she asks me for more. I have to feed the two cats separately, because the other one is a little slower and would see her food disappear in a blink of an eye should the first cat have free access to both dishes.

With my previous cats I was used to leave some kibbles out for the day, even when I was away, and when I was back home there were still some of them in the dishes.
Not now.
Same as you, all vet visits came back clear, she is just obsessed by food. The only difference is that my cat has always been like that, your Frances has turned to a gobbler lately.
I was told that when kitties come from a feral condition, they take with them this "atavic" hunger from they had to fight for some food.

 

[julia123123]

What are you feeding them? Sometimes cheaper low/quality food doesn't fill them up enough. You may need to look into different food.

7x a day feeding is insane to me. I'd reduce the feedings and feed more at that time. Try splitting twice a day. It'll be an adjustment to the cats, but with fewer feedings, they'll know when they'll expect to be fed over time.

They're getting Friskies Shreds for the wet and Purina Indoor for the dry. 7x/day IS insane, but here's how it goes: I give them each 1/2 can wet food - separately. Barnabas doesn't eat it all, but I have to pick it up, because Frances will go back and eat it if I don't. After they have their zoomies, they both want more food. I put down another few TB each of wet food and some dry food. They're good for a couple of hours, but start begging and crying again at lunch. Repeat for midafternoon snack, supper, and bedtime feeding. I feel like they're totally in charge. If they're both crying for food, they must be hungry, right? Meanwhile I'm burning through cases and cases of wet food.

 

[julia123123]

I have an identical situation at home, where one of my two cats eats up all her meals in a very few seconds, but she's never full, and after a meal she asks me for more. I have to feed the two cats separately, because the other one is a little slower and would see her food disappear in a blink of an eye should the first cat have free access to both dishes.

With my previous cats I was used to leave some kibbles out for the day, even when I was away, and when I was back home there were still some of them in the dishes.
Not now.
Same as you, all vet visits came back clear, she is just obsessed by food. The only difference is that my cat has always been like that, your Frances has turned to a gobbler lately.
I was told that when kitties come from a feral condition, they take with them this "atavic" hunger from they had to fight for some food.

They are both formerly feral! Any advice on how to handle being away? And do you feed yours just 3x day, despite the crying?

 

[Antonio65]

Both my indoor cats are former ferals that I rescued.
The elder one was rescued at the age of 3 months and a half (December 2019). The younger one was 6 weeks old when she was rescued (November 2020).
So I guess that the elder one had more time to understand that living in the wild wasn't going to give her regular meals, and nearly three years later she still hasn't understood that the house life is secure in any aspect, she's still scared that food might not come.

Due to covid restrictions and all, I haven't found myself in the situation of being away for longer than one day.
Currently, I feed them four times a day. Wet meals in the morning and at dinner time, dry meals at noon and shortly before midnight. If we're out for a day trip (the longest time we have spent outside in the last three years), I feed them the morning meals, and then the first dry meal about half an hour/an hour later shortly before we leave, then the remaining two meals when we come back home late in the evening.
Sometimes the elder cat cries for food, but I just ignore her, and she adapts to this.

Should we be away for longer times, I don't know how to handle this, but at least I would have a cat sitter coming at home twice a day and instructing them to give my cats a richer meal every time.

 

[LTS3]

I'd take the cat to the vet. Some health conditions can cause an increase in hunger. The vet should do full blood work.

 

[Kflowers]

I would take him to a different vet for a second opinion.

 

[zygote]

I have a rescued street cat who's always been like this. Luckily she's an only cat, so I don't have to worry about her eating another cat's food. But it still makes it hard to travel. We normally feed her 3 times a day when we're home, and she constantly begs in between. When we're gone, she basically eats her whole day's worth of food as soon as the cat sitter gives it to her. She will occasionally make herself throw up over it. We've also talked to the vet and there's nothing physically wrong. She just still has the food scarcity mindset from when she was on the street and can't pass up any food in front of her.

We actually just got her an automatic feeder and I'm hoping it will help. The new vacation plan is to have the cat sitter give her one can of wet food midday, and give her automatic kibble feeds in the morning and at night.

Have you ever looked into those automatic feeders that respond to the cat's microchip? It might be expensive to get one for each cat, but at least that way the food would be portioned out and Frances couldn't steal the other cats' food.

EDIT: I will say that I do agree with the others that it's also worth digging deeper about a health condition, since this is a new development for your cat.

 

[ArtNJ]

Glad you got some good advice on the main issues. I have a few minor observations that may or may not be worth anything. Firstly, just FYI, my impression from how multiple cats have reacted to the cans over the years is that Friskies Shreds tends to have a lot less calories than Friskies Pate. Edit: I just googled and saw that one flavor of Shreds is 138, and one flavor of pate is 179 calories per can, so my observation is true in at least some cases. Secondly, I believe cats need 25 to 32 calories per pound, give or take depending on age and activity level, so it sounds like your possibly being coerced into overfeeding -- may as well "run the numbers" and see what it shows.

My girl cat is a maybe a tiny bit underweight despite being young and healthy. I've recently learned she seems to prefer the shreds, so I've switched to that, but if the above numbers are right, its definitely not very economical compared to pate. Its also messier, but I can hardly say no to a possibly underweight cat that just isn't food motivated. In your situation, you might consider switching the other way to ease your burden.

 

[Antonio65]

On a second thought, you should see if this gobbler cat is getting the proper amount of daily calories. It might be that based on his weight and level of activity, he isn't getting enough calories, that's why he's always hungry.

 

[julia123123]

I've decided to make another vet appointment to have a full blood panel done, just in case! I'm going to get the vet's opinion on what I can do (a friend with a similar dog uses doggy Prozac to help?) and exactly how much and how often they should both be fed. Then I'm going to STICK TO THAT. I'm pretty sure these clever boys are manipulating me into overfeeding for sure!

 

[Antonio65]

Have a fecal done too. Take two or more poop samples, one for each day, store them in a closed and sealed container in the fridge until you take them in.

 

[julia123123]

Have a fecal done too. Take two or more poop samples, one for each day, store them in a closed and sealed container in the fridge until you take them in.

Good idea, thanks!