Will former stray ever stop acting famished?

[silverpersian]

We have adopted a stray who is estimated to be around a year old and only very slightly underweight, if at all, according to our vet.

We have had her for about a month now. She has been spayed and dewormed and given a clean bill of health.

She acts famished despite being fed regularly. Will that ever change? She will eat anything you give her, and runs so fast when she hears the refrigerator open that she slips on the hardwood. She raises a ruckus and begs for food whenever someone so much as passes through the kitchen.

We feed her around 3.5 ounces of raw per day, and a few treats. Based on the guidelines I have read, that amount seems to be appropriate for a 7 lb. cat.

Is she going to stay this greedy? Is there anything we can do to make her feel more secure with respect to her food supply?

Thank you in advance for your advice.

 

[Primula]

It's very common behavior. She wants to eat as much as possible since she is afraid that she will be hungry again. She eventually will eat normally. I don't think you are feeding her enough. She should definitely have a plate of dry food to free-feed on whenever she wants. 3.5 ozs doesn't seem much to me. My 2 cats have dry kibble in their bowl 24/7 and they eat about half of a 3 oz can of wet food 3 times a day. I don't think your cat is being "greedy". Quite simply, she is hungry.

 

[NewYork1303]

I would definitely worry about if you are actually feeding her enough. It seems like a cat that size should still be eating around 5 oz of food? But I don't know much about raw feeding.

Kibble isn't necessary to add and free feeding is definitely not recommended. I think most cats get used to the food being available and calm down about it, but some take a long time to do that. 

 

[trickytree]

A seven pound cat should be fed at least a 6oz can of wet food a day plus almost a cup of kibble.

I'm afraid your cat is malnourished. You need to up the amount and frequency of feeding ASAP!

Cats don't need treats. Just leave dry food/kibble out and she will eat it as she deems necessary.

Also, don't forget to leave her plenty of clean water out.

 

[Columbine]

I know that raw food is more calorie dense than some wet foods, so I can't say for sure if you're feeding enough or not without knowing exactly what you're feeding (I've just looked at a few online calculators, and they do differ by as much as 2oz depending on the exact raw diet). Your best bet is to work out the caloric content of the food (whether commercial raw or homemade), and go from there. This article should help:-[article="31116"][/article]

If you've only had your girl for a month, then I'd say her behaviour is pretty normal - especially if she was underweight or in any way malnourished when you got her. I rescued a 9 month-ish semi-feral girl from a farm about 18months ago. She WAS dreadfully malnourished - little more than skin and bone - and it took months for her appetite to regulate and settle down. If I'd free fed during that time she'd have made herself sick, so free feeding is definitely not always the best choice (especially outside of kittenhood).

First, make certain that you ARE feeding your girl enough (remember, the more active she is, the higher her caloric needs will be ). Then, look at how often you're feeding. Especially if her brain is stuck in 'starvation mode', more frequent and smaller meals should help a lot. Naturally, cats will eat little and often - think mouse-sized meals - so more feeds per day may help her both adjust to a regime and help her brain to register that food is going to keep coming. I'm lucky enough to work from home, and my guys get around 6-8 mini meals a day. Of course, you don't need to feed that often, but more frequent meals should definitely help matters.

You could look at slowing down her eating speed too. If you're feeding ground raw, then spreading it thinly on a plate (think buttering bread) will slow her down. This will give her brain time to register that she's eating, and hopefully help with satiety as well.

Good luck with her - she sounds like a real sweetie :heart3:

 

[basschick]

We have adopted a stray who is estimated to be around a year old and only very slightly underweight, if at all, according to our vet.

We have had her for about a month now. She has been spayed and dewormed and given a clean bill of health.

She acts famished despite being fed regularly. Will that ever change? She will eat anything you give her, and runs so fast when she hears the refrigerator open that she slips on the hardwood. She raises a ruckus and begs for food whenever someone so much as passes through the kitchen.

We feed her around 3.5 ounces of raw per day, and a few treats. Based on the guidelines I have read, that amount seems to be appropriate for a 7 lb. cat.

Is she going to stay this greedy? Is there anything we can do to make her feel more secure with respect to her food supply?

Thank you in advance for your advice.

is your cat putting on weight?  if not, she needs more food. 

if so, indulge her for a while - she was homeless, mostly doing with very little, and she thinks this will all go away.  but i, too, don't think you're feeding her enough.

 

[silverpersian]

Thanks to everyone for the prompt and detailed responses.

I used the guideline of 2-3% of the cat's weight as the amount of raw to feed, and used 3% because she is active.

I had never actually looked up feeding guidelines before. Our resident cat was practically free-fed until we adopted this new one. I say practically because we fed him twice a day, but he eats very slowly. He self-regulates very well and has been at an appropriate (per our vet) weight throughout. It turns out that he was eating roughly 2% of his body weight in raw food, which is in line with the feeding guidelines for a not-so-active cat.

It sounds like it may be a good idea to feed our new cat more and see what happens. She has put on over a pound since I began to feed her. Our vet was very concerned that she may end up overweight, and recommended that I cut down the amount. Our vet said that strays can overeat to the point of making themselves sick, and our new cat has a very small frame and can afford to gain at most 0.5 lb. 

I can't trust her to self-regulate, because she will eat as much as you give her. I tried it one day and stopped after a little while because the amount she ended up eating was alarming. She gobbles up her own food, then makes a beeline for our other cat's food. I have to feed him separately, behind a closed door, because he takes his time and if his food is accessible, she will eat it all before he has two bites. This is going to be a problem during a short trip we have coming up. It will be the first time that we travel since adopting the new cat. Until now, we had someone feed our cat twice a day. He would set out the food and leave. Now he will need to lock our slow eater in a room with his food.

I tried feeding her bone-in meats and even gizzards to slow her down. She does slow down a bit, but not by much.

I feed treats mostly to create a positive association between the two cats and break up their wrestling matches.

Thanks again for the advice.

 

[Columbine]

I can't trust her to self-regulate, because she will eat as much as you give her. I tried it one day and stopped after a little while because the amount she ended up eating was alarming. She gobbles up her own food, then makes a beeline for our other cat's food. I have to feed him separately, behind a closed door, because he takes his time and if his food is accessible, she will eat it all before he has two bites. This is going to be a problem during a short trip we have coming up. It will be the first time that we travel since adopting the new cat. Until now, we had someone feed our cat twice a day. He would set out the food and leave. Now he will need to lock our slow eater in a room with his food.

Have you considered installing an internal cat door programmed to your boy's microchip? That way, your sitter (and you, for that matter, when you're busy) could shut your boy in his 'dining room', secure in the knowledge that he can come and go as he pleases without your girl stealing his food This really is the simplest solution when you have one cat who does wonderful vacuum cleaner impersonations

I used the guideline of 2-3% of the cat's weight as the amount of raw to feed, and used 3% because she is active.

It sounds like it may be a good idea to feed our new cat more and see what happens. She has put on over a pound since I began to feed her. Our vet was very concerned that she may end up overweight, and recommended that I cut down the amount. Our vet said that strays can overeat to the point of making themselves sick, and our new cat has a very small frame and can afford to gain at most 0.5 lb. 

Your vet is definitely right that strays can make themselves sick from overeating at first - I actually made this mistake in the early days with my girl (in part because she was so malnourished and was still growing), and it was NOT pretty :uuh: I felt so guilty when I realised my mistake too. You might find it helpful to feed a little lower calorie canned food in addition to the raw for right now, to give her something to eat that won't impact so much on her weight. I found things like Applaws pouches (chicken/chicken&pumpkin) really helpful when Asha was really begging for food...and still keep a few on hand for helping with calorie restriction when necessary. Whilst it isn't ideal to feed a proportion of unbalanced food every day, it is definitely a godsend with a permanently ravenous ex-stray during the adjustment period.

I feed treats mostly to create a positive association between the two cats and break up their wrestling matches.

That makes perfect sense to me, and there is nothing wrong with feeding a few (low-cal) treats regularly - especially whilst the two cats are getting comfortable with each other. Things like Purebites (which, btw, are raw too ) are fantastic for this, as well as making great toppers when a cat needs a little tempting to eat

It sounds to me like you're doing great :bigthumb: Especially with a permanently ravenous cat, it can be so easy to second guess yourself. Keep doing what you're doing. I'm sure she'll settle in time

 

[dhammagirl]

Five years ago we adopted an orphaned kitten.
He was ravenous and would eat and eat, he was a bottomless pit. (We fed dry kibble at that time.)
We fed him as much as he wanted because he was a growing kitten. He got to over 20 pounds and was seriously overweight. Now we're working on getting him to lose weight.
One way we got him to slow down his eating is putting a little bit of raw ground or can food in a small can like a 3 ounce cat food can. With a raw food diet and monitoring his intake we have been able to get him to lose weight. Feed your kitty as much as she likes but monitor her weight.

 

[silverpersian]

Have you considered installing an internal cat door programmed to your boy's microchip? That way, your sitter (and you, for that matter, when you're busy) could shut your boy in his 'dining room', secure in the knowledge that he can come and go as he pleases without your girl stealing his food

This really is the simplest solution when you have one cat who does wonderful vacuum cleaner impersonations

Your vet is definitely right that strays can make themselves sick from overeating at first - I actually made this mistake in the early days with my girl (in part because she was so malnourished and was still growing), and it was NOT pretty

I felt so guilty when I realised my mistake too. You might find it helpful to feed a little lower calorie canned food in addition to the raw for right now, to give her something to eat that won't impact so much on her weight. I found things like Applaws pouches (chicken/chicken&pumpkin) really helpful when Asha was really begging for food...and still keep a few on hand for helping with calorie restriction when necessary. Whilst it isn't ideal to feed a proportion of unbalanced food every day, it is definitely a godsend with a permanently ravenous ex-stray during the adjustment period.
That makes perfect sense to me, and there is nothing wrong with feeding a few (low-cal) treats regularly - especially whilst the two cats are getting comfortable with each other. Things like Purebites (which, btw, are raw too

) are fantastic for this, as well as making great toppers when a cat needs a little tempting to eat

It sounds to me like you're doing great

Especially with a permanently ravenous cat, it can be so easy to second guess yourself. Keep doing what you're doing. I'm sure she'll settle in time

 

[silverpersian]

Five years ago we adopted an orphaned kitten.
He was ravenous and would eat and eat, he was a bottomless pit. (We fed dry kibble at that time.)
We fed him as much as he wanted because he was a growing kitten. He got to over 20 pounds and was seriously overweight. Now we're working on getting him to lose weight.
One way we got him to slow down his eating is putting a little bit of raw ground or can food in a small can like a 3 ounce cat food can. With a raw food diet and monitoring his intake we have been able to get him to lose weight. Feed your kitty as much as she likes but monitor her weight.