My cat is constantly hungry!!

Ginsiv

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I have a 9 year old female cat who is a very tiny petite cat. She has always suffered with allergies which I have never really looked into with the vets to be honest.
She overgrooms and leaves sores and hair loss sometimes. I thought it was a seasonal allergy and then I thought it was her flea treatment, or a reaction from a flea bite.
Also I have also always wondered if it was a food allergy.
Anyway she went missing a 3 or 4 weeks ago for a few days and luckily I managed to find her. I had run out of food so I gave her a pouch of dog food and she loved it. She’s only ever eaten whiskers dry food (refuses any other brand)
I thought it would be a good time to switch to wet food and trial her on it to see if it helps her allergies and they have completely gone!! (How guilty did I feel) 😞
The problem I am left with is she is just constantly starving! She eats a full pouch and wants more food straight away. She is eating about 4 pouches a day and would probably eat more!! She has been recently wormed with drontal.
What else can I give her inbetween meals to keep her more satisfied?
 

Maurey

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Are you still feeding her dog food? It’s not nutritionally complete for cats. First step is to switch her to something more appropriate. If budget is an issue, non fish fancy feast classic and tiny tiger are good options, as is American Journey.
 
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Ginsiv

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Hiya - thanks for your reply.
No she’s on wet cat pouches now and we’ve tried lots of different brands and she eats all of them! She’s not fussy 😊 but she’s just not satisfied and always asking for food now. I’m in the UK by the way.
i suppose when she was on dry, she could happily go back and forth an graze all day long..
 

Maurey

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Is she getting enough calories? She may be seemingly getting a lot of food, but a lot of pouches are fairly low calorie, so she may not be getting enough.

Good UK wet food options are animonda vom feinsten (or the cheaper carny line), wild freedom, granatapet delicatessen, feringa, and macs.

If she’s getting enough calories for her weight, she may need a vet trip to rule out hyperthyroidism.
 

LTS3

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What brand of food are you feeding?

Look at the back of the pouch for the kcal information. How many kcal does one pouch have? It's generally suggested to feed roughly 20 to 25 calories per pound (0.45 kg) of body weight daily. If your cat weighs, say 10 lbs (4.5 kg), she should be eating between 200 and 250 calories daily That may mean multiple pouches of food. Cats who do not get enough calories daily will be "hangry" and exhibit bad behavior such as constantly meowing for food, getting into the trash can to find any scrap of food to eat, not using the litter box, etc.
 
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CindyH66

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Have you had kitty checked for diabetes ? extreme hunger can be a symptom of illness. ( extreme thirst , urination, hunger ..) can be something else going on. the overgrooming can be a sign of stress. maybe some bloodwork might show you something .. ?
 

mani

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A hungry cat may decide to show displeasure or frustration at not having enough food by going everywhere but in the litter box.
I'm not so sure about this one. Any cats I've had have ways of letting me know they're not happy, but not using the litterbox is never a 'thing'. I think they care about cleanliness too much to use it as a 'message'.
 

sivyaleah

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Have you had kitty checked for diabetes ? extreme hunger can be a symptom of illness. ( extreme thirst , urination, hunger ..) can be something else going on. the overgrooming can be a sign of stress. maybe some bloodwork might show you something .. ?
This for sure!

Also could be an over active thyroid which also has similar symptoms of weight loss, hunger and poor coat.
 
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