Hungry Cat and Wants to Eat All the Time

vvicin01

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I have a 11 1/2 month old cat. He is very active but he wants to eat all the time. He did have round worms which has been treated but boy can he eat.
He is overweight (12 pounds) and we try to control his diet but it is not easy. He eats (2.25) 3 ounce cans of wet food and around 1/3 cup of Hills dry food plus some treats. I know he is overeating but he is so obsessed with eating. He is eating over 300 calories a day. He could eat more..lol. Any suggestions?
 

Alldara

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11.5 months is still growing. Cats grow for up to 2 years for average cats and some purebred cats up to age 4.

Can I ask why you think he is overweight? Did a vet mention he is heavy for his age?

I'm wondering if his body condition actually suggests that he is overweight. Can you show us a photo of him from top down and one from the side? If he has a little waist and you can feel his ribs when you press lightly, then he is not overweight.

I also attached a photo of our cat Calcifer who was well over 12 pounds at a similar age. You can see his little waist at the back..

With wet food, you can't really overfeed a cat at that age. He very likely needs more food and that's why he's bugging for it.

The amount of calories he should eat depends on activity level. At that age activity is very high, so they may need more calories, plus some of they are going through a growth spurt.

He may have a small primordial pouch already which is fine as long as it stays small. A primordial pouch is for protection and is not due to being overweight.

Calcifer used to bug a LOT for food. We increased it and it stopped. We didn't notice any more weight gain, just that he just played more. He's starting to slow down on eating as he approaches the age of 2. We did notice he would lose his waist for a day or two before a growth spurt, eat a lot for two days and then sleep a lot and eat a normal amount for a day.
 

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vvicin01

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Sure, I will get a couple of photos. In looking at your pic I would say my Louie has a little wider belly on the sides (#7). I will update soon.
 

arr

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My boy weighed about 12 pounds too at that age. He was always the biggest kitten and the biggest eater. For awhile it seemed like he was getting wider, not longer and taller, but he grew into his weight. He is now almost 3 years old and close to 18 pounds. Not overweight, just a huge cat. No special breed either, just the baby of a stray.

My observation is that kittens seem to get fatter in preparation for a huge growth spurt. My boy continued growing well into his second year. I feel like the common idea is they stop growing by 1 year, and whatever you do, don’t overfeed them because they will become overweight. Well, overweight isn’t good, but I wouldn’t worry about it until around two years old. Especially if you are mostly feeding wet.

At that age, kittens are so extremely active and growing so much, it’s hard to believe they could become overweight, but I suppose it happens in some cases.
 

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I have a 11 1/2 month old cat. He is very active but he wants to eat all the time. He did have round worms which has been treated but boy can he eat.
He is overweight (12 pounds) and we try to control his diet but it is not easy. He eats (2.25) 3 ounce cans of wet food and around 1/3 cup of Hills dry food plus some treats. I know he is overeating but he is so obsessed with eating. He is eating over 300 calories a day. He could eat more..lol. Any suggestions?
He's almost reaching adulthood and from 7 months onwards, he'll tend to eat more as he is are going through a phase called growth spurt as what arr arr mentioned and this will run into his early 1st year and the food intake will slowly taper off.

If you are feeding him strictly wet food, I would not worry that he'll put on weight but I see that you are feeding him both wet and dry, I'll just watch on the dry.

As he is eating 300 calories a day, which is normal as he is still a kitten, a growing kitten. If he's playing and exercising, he'll burn off the extra calories. After he's turn well into an adult and food intake is stable, he should be getting around 200 - 250 calories a day. Also please keep him hydrated.
 

Norachan

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12lbs isn't really over weight for an average sized male cat. Boys in particular eat a huge amount in their first year. If you can aim to get him on all canned and no dry he'll feel more satisfied and less likely to put on weight.

Dry food is high carb, which is bad for their teeth and can cause weight problems in the future.
Wet food is high protein, which will help them put on more muscle and will satisfy their cravings better than dry.
 

Gizmobius

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At the last vet visit, they told me one of mine was 12lbs and I actually had to ask them to repeat WHO was 12lbs because I couldn't understand where he was putting it. :lol: Levi's over a year old and a very long lanky thing who gets between 250-300 calories a day and he's a 4/5 on the cat body chart.

I find, as far as feeding is concerned, that counting calories is much easier and that canned food certainly keeps my cats satiated much better. If dry is something you want to keep in his rotation, I wouldn't pay much attention to the feeding instructions on the bag because they always seem a bit exaggerated to me. Just as an example, I had to get a bag of dry for Levi temporarily as I navigated a suspected intolerance to certain proteins and he only gets 3 tablespoons of it for his breakfast which comes to about 76 calories.
 
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vvicin01

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Sure, I will get a couple of photos. In looking at your pic I would say my Louie has a little wider belly on the sides (#7). I will update soon.
Here are a couple of images. There he is waiting for food...lol.
louie1.jpg
louie2.jpg
 

Alldara

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V vvicin01 He looks not too bad to me! I wouldn't let him get any bigger, but I would maintain and see if he doesn't think out in a few weeks after a bit more growth. I can see his hips there, he has a small primordial pouch which is good.

If you can afford to adjust to a bit more wet food and a bit less dry food, feel free to do that.

If not, try to get all of his dry food intake done through movement. Puzzle toys, treat dispensers, tossing them or even just leaving one or two here or there for hunting. There are LOADS of DIY versions of these things you can make, so no need to break the bank. I'm happy to share a few diy videos if you want.

My boys for example, get a tablespoon each of dry food 3 or 4 times a day. (the fourth if they've been very energetic and big for it). Cal is almost 2 and Magnus turns 3 next month.

They always have to move to get their dry food. Magnus won't use a treat ball but he will "hunt" the food that's placed around his cat tree. They both love treat toss. There is some literature that some dry food is good for cat's teeth IF they will crunch it, which my boys do (Cal more than Mags).
 
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