My Cat Started Eating Less

[CurlyEmy]

I have a 1 year old Siberian cat that has always been eating 3 times a day. He normally eats in the morning, afternoon, and night around 6 hours apart each meal. I haven’t changed his diet at all, however for the past few days he has been skipping lunch. I’ll offer it to him but he will just ignore it. He is just eating breakfast and dinner, maybe around 12 hours apart.

Is this normal because he is growing more slowly now? Siberians are a very slow to mature breed (apparently full size at 5 years old), so I thought he would be eating more. He is a big eater, so it feels strange to me that he has been skipping lunch.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[lisahe]

Is it warm where you live, CurlyEmmy? Our cats -- who are about six but eat pretty heartily for their age and size -- seem to slow their eating a little when the weather warms. I cut one of their (five daily) meals back a little bit because they just weren't finishing everything. We've also found they go through spells of eating more and less.

Since I'm a fan of many small feedings and our cats really love the routine of their feedings, I might suggest dividing up the amount you're currently feeding into three meals. How much is your cat -- what is his name? -- eating, in terms of calories? And how much was he eating before he started refusing his lunch?

All that said, if he keeps skipping lunch, it's probably a good time for a vet visit.

 

[maggiedemi]

My cats did the same thing! When they got past 1 year old, they didn't want lunch anymore, they want to sleep at lunch time. They eat pretty well at their 2 meals though, at 7am and 7pm.

 

[lisahe]

When they got past 1 year old, they didn't want lunch anymore, they want to sleep at lunch time.

That's a very good point: cats' sleep schedules change can vary a lot and that and that can throw off their meal schedule, too.

 

[darg]

There was a study on this that included both indoor and outdoor cats. I'll post a link if I can find it again. At any rate, I believe that the general conclusion was that there was an average 15% reduction in calories consumed during the summer months. It wasn't all contributed to temperature. They theorized a possible connection to the changes in sunlight during the summer to possibly explain why indoor only cats (which don't experience as much of a temperature swing as seasons change because indoor temperatures are obviously more stable) also showed a reduction in how much they ate.

I'm down south and my cat hasn't been eating as much since it really started getting hot out, starting maybe 2 or 3 weeks back. He also spends more time in the afternoons in his favorite, cool spot ... under our bed which is in the coolest room in the house. Otherwise, he's acting the same and he hasn't dropped any weight yet. I'm keeping an eye out because this is the first time I'm watching his calories as he was a dry kibble only cat up until a few months back. But I'm pretty sure it's just a summer thing with him.

 

[maggiedemi]

He also spends more time in the afternoons in his favorite, cool spot ... under our bed

Yeah, Maggie has been sleeping underneath my mattress lately. So I just put her dry food dish near my bed and she comes out and nibbles every so often.

 

[CurlyEmy]

Is it warm where you live, CurlyEmmy? Our cats -- who are about six but eat pretty heartily for their age and size -- seem to slow their eating a little when the weather warms. I cut one of their (five daily) meals back a little bit because they just weren't finishing everything. We've also found they go through spells of eating more and less.

Since I'm a fan of many small feedings and our cats really love the routine of their feedings, I might suggest dividing up the amount you're currently feeding into three meals. How much is your cat -- what is his name? -- eating, in terms of calories? And how much was he eating before he started refusing his lunch?

All that said, if he keeps skipping lunch, it's probably a good time for a vet visit.

It is starting to get very hot where I live. His name is Bambi. He follows a raw diet and I was feeding him around 3% of his body weight. According to my research, they should be eating around 2% as a full grown cat, 3% if they’re growing and up to 4% or more as kittens. When he was a kitten he was definitely eating more than 4%. Now he was eating 3% which is about 8oz of his raw food a day. Right now (since he started eating less) he is eating around 5.5oz per day. Two percent of his body weight would be 4.8oz so he is still eating over 2% of his body weight.

 

[CurlyEmy]

My cats did the same thing! When they got past 1 year old, they didn't want lunch anymore, they want to sleep at lunch time. They eat pretty well at their 2 meals though, at 7am and 7pm.

That makes sense! He has been sleeping more.

 

[CurlyEmy]

There was a study on this that included both indoor and outdoor cats. I'll post a link if I can find it again. At any rate, I believe that the general conclusion was that there was an average 15% reduction in calories consumed during the summer months. It wasn't all contributed to temperature. They theorized a possible connection to the changes in sunlight during the summer to possibly explain why indoor only cats (which don't experience as much of a temperature swing as seasons change because indoor temperatures are obviously more stable) also showed a reduction in how much they ate.

I'm down south and my cat hasn't been eating as much since it really started getting hot out, starting maybe 2 or 3 weeks back. He also spends more time in the afternoons in his favorite, cool spot ... under our bed which is in the coolest room in the house. Otherwise, he's acting the same and he hasn't dropped any weight yet. I'm keeping an eye out because this is the first time I'm watching his calories as he was a dry kibble only cat up until a few months back. But I'm pretty sure it's just a summer thing with him.

How interesting! I had no idea. It makes a lot of sense, because it’s starting to get hot here where I live. My cat is strictly indoors. I try to keep the temperature inside my house stable, but the days have been longer and hotter.

 

[CurlyEmy]

I also wanted to add, he has been asking for food way earlier than usual. He usually eats at around 8:30am, but recently he has been eating at 6:30am. He will wake me up exactly at 6am. He never did this before, but after reading that sunlight changes can affect their eating schedule it seems to make sense. Sunrise is earlier now that it’s the summer.

 

[lisahe]

That's very interesting on the study, darg! I love it when science backs up what our real-life cats do!

Our cats are also strictly indoors, though they do have a screened veranda where they love to sit and watch (mentally hunting!) birds and chipmunks. They definitely get a good sense of the outdoors.

Based on the numbers you mentioned, CurlyEmy, it doesn't sound like Bambi's food intake has dropped too horribly, though I'd keep a close eye on him since he is still young. Your post on Bambi's food requests coming earlier just popped up: that's very interesting! If you do get up early to feed him earlier, I wonder if he'd eat a little more again if all his meals were moved up. Then again, does he really need to eat more again? He may just be slowing down a little for the season and/or for having grown? I'd keep a good eye on him and see how things go. We observe a lot of fluctuations in our cats' appetites and I've come to see them as normal but I still watch them!

Good luck!