Stray Cat Food Addicted

[FeralSOS]

We recently were adopted by a stray who has had medical exam and will be neutered tomorrow after being inside for 3 weeks. He is a one year old with no known history but has been socialized in the past. We live in a rural area and he traveled under cover of night for several months to eat our feral cat's leftovers. Finally he stayed into morning for breakfast and quickly became a one cat member of the household. We feed him a well balanced meal in am and pm, both wet and dry, and give treats but it is never totally satisfying to him and he is either surfing or looking for more. We're trying to stay regimented. Round worms are cured so there is no obvious medical reason. I read something about stray cat syndrome when it comes to wolfing down food and would like to know if this is a common occurrence with strays and does it resolve due to neutering and to time.

 

[Sarthur2]

This is common in strays who have experienced prolonged food insecurity.

Sometimes it resolves as the cat settles in and learns that there is always food, but not always.

I adopted a young stray that I had for 18 years who never resolved her food issues, but what a sweet cat she was.

I took in a pregnant stray a couple of years ago who got over her food issues.

Are you sure the cat is not genuinely hungry?

I always leave dry food and water out 24/7 for my cats. They especially love to eat during the night. The wet meals are now 2x/day since they are grown.

 

[shadowsrescue]

The latest feral I brought inside the house is always looking for more. I think it is just part of him. He lived outside for over 2 years struggling to find food and never feeling full. It helps to stay consistent with meal time. You can ask the vet about feeding amount guidelines. I do not feed dry food any longer. This feral that I brought inside last year, developed a urinary blockage. He had to have surgery after blocking for a second time a few days later. Cats don't drink much water so it's important a large portion of their water come from wet food. Giving up dry food was like a cigarette smoker giving up cigarettes! He was so upset. It took weeks for him (and my other cats) to adjust. Now all is well and they eat only wet food and moist cat treats!

I guess you will just need to wait and see if his food cravings diminish as time goes by.

 

[FeralSOS]

Not surprised that the results are different for each cat. He is receiving 5.5 oz can split morning and night (Wellness gravies with chicken, salmon or turkey) and 1/2 to 3/4 cup dry (Fromm ducken (rabbit, etc.) and probably too many Temptation treats. Doesn't that amount seem like plenty for a young adult male? I can tell when he smells raw meats it's a turn-on but I went through a period of feeding raw rabbit to our then 3 feral and it's too expensive and too much work so I'd rather stick with prepared food. I do plan on boiling chicken, bagging it and using the unseasoned broth as a liquid add. Any further suggestions? Thanks.

 

[shadowsrescue]

That certainly does seem like plenty of food. Rabbit is really expensive this time of year. I have heard that it is much cheaper to purchase in the winter months.

I do the same thing with chicken except I make bone broth instead of just broth. You can do a search for it. It is so good for cats especially if they ever get sick. It is also great for humans. I make mine in a crock pot.

 

[FeralSOS]

Can you guess I'm retired and have the time to fixate on these topics? Chicken in the crockpot sounds good but I may want more liquid than it'll hold. I'll try both. You may have heard of a pet meat farm in PA called "Hare Today Gone Tomorrow". They have a variety of meats for pets and excellent service. After our little guy is snipped I'll have to get serious about a stable diet. Ordered a Kitty Holster harness after reviews/videos. It promises to be less escape proof and looks more like a straight jacket than a harness. Hopefully it'll work out. He is a follower so that should give us a better chance for success outside.

 

[shadowsrescue]

I do order from Hare Today. That is where I learned that it is cheaper to buy rabbit in the winter! I will stock up this year.

I hope the harness training goes well. I have one kitty that really enjoys the harness. I had to try a few before I found one that was easy enough to get on as well as escape proof too.

 

[kittychick]

One of our indoor kitties (Bowie - my avatar) was a very abused "failed foster" of ours and I can definitely say it's greatly influenced his food pattern over any other cat - feral or otherwise - we've ever known. He was found at the end of a driveway "for sale" during a garage sale in a hamster cage that was so small he couldn't even turn around - where he'd been for almost 3 days straight in the middle of summer, in the heat, without food or water. A rescue organization we foster for was made aware of it and took him - - - when we got him on that third day he came straight to our house, where we had to introduce food and water slowly---and he literally was so voraciously hungry that we watched in horror as at his first meal he actually tried to eat the ceramic bowl his food was in. Needless to say - he so touched our heartstrings that we adopted him immediately. And we absolutely feel - even years later - he's never gotten over the horror of "what if there's never another meal" idea. He will literally eat himself sick if he's not monitored. And despite the fact that he's never had a single hungry day since those three days years ago AND being at the bottom of our "kitty hierarchy" as a very lovable "scaredy cat" - meals are the only time we have to watch as he'll shove every other one of our guys out of the way, eating every one of the other four kitties' meals if we don't watch. BUT I will say - we've had other fosters that came to us as very hungry, thin kitties (although few as abused as he was) - and none has had the never-ending panic over food our sweet Bowie just can't get over. So it's something - at least in our experience - that's individual. Hopefully soon your guy will lose the "never-satisfied" food pattern once he really gets he's never going to be hungry again. It sounds like he's finally found a wonderful, loving home!