My cat won't stop begging for food

Per MaryL:
He is now up to 14 lbs, and I refuse to give him more until his late
night feeding, but this goes on all day AND NIGHT. He wakes me at
least 3 times a night. I can't see why he wants more food when he
leaves so much behind.

What do I do? I'm really frantic about this.

This is just a stab in the dark from somebody who knows next to
nothing....

Having said that... I'd try the hypothesis that
attention/stimulation is what it really craves - and food just
happens to be the familiar choice.

How about buying one of those pet grooming brushes with the steel
bristles on one side and regular bristles on the other and
starting a little brushing routine?

Mine has removable combs that are handy for getting the hair out
of the bristles.

With our cat, we'd loose blood if we tried to touch it with that
brush 3 years ago. Very slowly over time, it has acclimated to
it and now aggressively seeks being brushed - as in meowing
loudly until it's done. It seems to *really* enjoy it.

Ours gets locked in the rec room at night - and we sleep a lot
better...

--
Pete Cresswell

I agree with everything MaryL has written, but it's essential to educate yourself about why the canned food is so important (see www.catinfo.org and www.catnutrition.org).

After consulting with vet tech Megan (www.MegantheCatLady.com), she advised that Wellness or other grain-free AND FISH-FREE canned food is not that expensive if you're only feeding two or two and a half ounces every 12 hours. Switching to canned is usually easy (if transitioning from dry food, only leave the dry food down for 30 minutes, and add a little bit of canned to it, then pick up all food until 12 hours later).

The majority of vets are not well-educated about cats or feline nutrition, so YOU will probably have advocate on behalf of your cat. If you get your cat tested, she is able to consult with you about the results to help you.

Megan also posts more info about how much canned food to feed on the Main Street Vet site: See "Cat feeding spreadsheet (Excel)", http://www.msvets.com/FelineDMDownloads.html

"This spreadsheet provides the calculation of your cat's food requirement according to its weight and body condition."

The vet should also check for dental problems as that can affect so many things and how cats behave. Anne writes about her "Really Big Wakeup Call on feline oral health" he http://www.catnutrition.org/periodontal-disease.html

"The odds are higher than most of us care to believe that kitty has periodontal disease (PD). According to the detailed paper that board-certified veterinary dentist Dr. Thomas Chamberlain shares with his clients, approximately 85 percent of cats and dogs have PD by the age of two."

wrote in message
...

Canned food doesn't have to be expensive. The amount recommended on the can
is quite a bit higher than what cats actually need, according to educated
veterinary professionals like Dr. Pierson on her non-commercial site
Catinfo.org.

If you continue to feed kibble, it will likely lead to diabetes and urinary
blockages. We rescued a diabetic cat to prevent him from being killed, and
believe me, you want to PREVENT these problems as it's MUCH easier and less
expensive than veterinary treatment. (YOU need to learn about this stuff so
you can advocate for your cat as vets are generally NOT educated about
feline nutrition. Both Dr. Pierson and my cat vet agree with that fact.)

Canned food does NOT go bad in a few hours! Most people leave the food down
for 12 hours, but when feeding a reduced amount the cats usually eat it all
within 30 minutes.

Kibble will lead to higher vet bills, so it will NOT save you money in the
long run. Even with expensive kibble, it's like you are paying for steak but
really ending up with high-carb meatloaf.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Agreed. When I switched from kibble to canned (primarily Wellness but also
some EVO), I found that the cost was less than expected because my cats
maintain their weight on less canned than expected. Premium canned food
without grains is more dense (my word - probably not the best description of
the nutrition I am trying to describe) than poor quality food, and they
simply do not need as much. I think people would soon have fat cats if they
followed the instructions found on most cat food. I have found that I need
to leave canned food out for longer than 30 minutes for my cats, but they
will soon reappear to eat some more.

Cats that are fed kibble are more prone to diabetes and UTI. This certainly
does not mean that this will happen to *all* cats fed on kibble, but there
is a clear relationship. I have even heard people claim that dry food is
"good" for a cat's teeth. One response to this that I heard from a cat
expert was, "Would you feed your children pretzels to help their teeth?"
Cats do not even chew, as people do. They tear and bite and "crunch" on
hard objects.

MaryL

MaryL wrote:
wrote in message
...

Canned food doesn't have to be expensive. The amount recommended on
the can is quite a bit higher than what cats actually need, according
to educated veterinary professionals like Dr. Pierson on her
non-commercial site Catinfo.org.

If you continue to feed kibble, it will likely lead to diabetes and
urinary blockages. We rescued a diabetic cat to prevent him from
being killed, and believe me, you want to PREVENT these problems as
it's MUCH easier and less expensive than veterinary treatment. (YOU
need to learn about this stuff so you can advocate for your cat as
vets are generally NOT educated about feline nutrition. Both Dr.
Pierson and my cat vet agree with that fact.)
Canned food does NOT go bad in a few hours! Most people leave the
food down for 12 hours, but when feeding a reduced amount the cats
usually eat it all within 30 minutes.

Kibble will lead to higher vet bills, so it will NOT save you money
in the long run. Even with expensive kibble, it's like you are paying
for steak but really ending up with high-carb meatloaf.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Agreed. When I switched from kibble to canned (primarily Wellness
but also some EVO), I found that the cost was less than expected
because my cats maintain their weight on less canned than expected.
Premium canned food without grains is more dense (my word - probably
not the best description of the nutrition I am trying to describe)
than poor quality food, and they simply do not need as much. I think
people would soon have fat cats if they followed the instructions
found on most cat food. I have found that I need to leave canned
food out for longer than 30 minutes for my cats, but they will soon
reappear to eat some more.
Cats that are fed kibble are more prone to diabetes and UTI. This
certainly does not mean that this will happen to *all* cats fed on
kibble, but there is a clear relationship. I have even heard people
claim that dry food is "good" for a cat's teeth. One response to
this that I heard from a cat expert was, "Would you feed your
children pretzels to help their teeth?" Cats do not even chew, as
people do. They tear and bite and "crunch" on hard objects.

MaryL

The advantage of kibbles is that they are dry, so they last
indefinitely.....(a week or more) I don't see why you couldn't do the same
thing with the canned food by simply drying it out. My cats always have a
fresh water supply, so they could eat the dried food and then drink as much
as they please. If the canned food is good for them then dried canned food
would also be good.... Right? IOW, one might ask, "Why is there any
difference between dried food and canned food?" Perhaps I will buy a dryer
and dry my own cat food.