Food Issues

[mhenze]

Greetings,

Our male cat has food issues. We're not completely sure where they came from, but about two years ago the vet asked that we try to regulate his food so he would lose a couple of pounds (he's a large cat and is quite active).

We got him down to a good weight, but now that we're restricting his food, he's become... uhhh... kinda neurotic about food. For instance, after his evening meal he spends literally hours scouring every inch of the kitchen floor for crumbs. If we go out, he's on the stove as soon as the door shuts. When we go to bed, he's on the counters.

We're careful to not leave food out for him to find, but he's so crazed about food that he'll eat just about anything that he can find.

Last weekend vacation we took, we had a friend come in to feed our two cats and she didn't regulate his food. We came back to find out he'd been sick from what we assume was overeating.

We're considering trying to free-feed him again, in hopes that he'll realise eventually that he's getting sick from overeating, but I was just wondering if anyone's had a similar experience or any advice.

Thanks

[jenluckenbach]

Is he still losing weight? Maybe, if he has reached his goal weight, he might need just a little more food now to maintain it (vs. the SAME amount of food which helps him LOSE weight).

[mhenze]

Hi jenluckenbach,

His weight has definitely been stable for a few years, and he's seen the vet since and they agree he's at a good weight.

One of the reasons we think a bit of extra food wouldn't work is that if I feed him when i get home from work, by the time my wife gets home, say 20 minutes later, he'll act like he's never been fed.

He also starts meowing for food pretty early in the morning, and scratches the door, hoping we'll get up.

[mruffruff]

What kind of food is he eating?

There might be a food that contains more fiber that would work better than increasing the amount of food. The extra fiber would keep him from being hungry. Maybe ask your vet for a recomendation.

Mary

[mhenze]

Thanks Mary, that's a good suggestion.

We've tried varying his food to include more filling ones, maybe it's time to go back to that, but i think the food issues will still be there.

Does anyone have experience free-feeding cats that don't seem to have a stopping mechanism.

Is it likely he'll figure it out after getting sick from over-eating a few times?

Any ideas would be much appreciated.

[Soapets]

He sounds just like my dog, Oreo!! We had to put Oreo on a diet, too, and he is at his ideal weight now, and gets fed twice a day now. He licks his bowl clean, sniffs and licks the floor for any littel morsel he can find, and acts like he thinks he's starving to death in between feedings.

Maybe your cat is just so used to eating more that he thinks he needs more than he really does. He probably thinks he's starving to death, too. But in his best interest, it is probably best to just keep feeding him at a regular time each day. Otherwise he'd probably eat as much as you would give him if you were free-feeding him. Then he would gain weight again and you'd have to start all over again.

[mhenze]

Thanks for the thoughts Soapets.

I think you're right that it's in his best interest to keep restricting his food. Otherwise I don't think he'd be able to stop himself.

Our only worry is that the few hours a day that he does get to go outside, we've seen him wandering further away, likely in search of food. We're very careful with what we throw out, but a couple of months ago he found, and ate half of, those little plastic absorbent pads that are found beneath supermarket chicken.

Needless to say we were very worried when he went off his food for a few days, until he was able to bring the plastic up. We were shocked and figured it must've come from garbage in the neighbourhood.

Anyhow, there's some idea of the lengths he'll go to to get some "food".