Greedy cat...help!

Bangton

My cat is beyond greedy. Actually so greedy it's becoming really annoying!

She does have an overactive thyroid and is on tablets, we don't feed her titbits but she has 3 wet pouches a day plus a bowl of biscuits!

She weighs just 2Ibs and the vet wanted her to put on half a Ib as she is an adult cat hence the reason we feed her quite a bit.

The problem is she constantly follows us into the kitchen and watches expectantly for us getting food out for her (even though we only do that at meal times), she meows constantly for food and sits in front of us watching our every move when we are eating (even though I'm a veggie and my food would be of no interest to her). If I put a bowl down on the floor she's over to it like a shot expecting food to be in it and she has taken to climbing on my knee when I'm eating. I've even caught her eating cat litter as well as cress growing on the window and plants.

She used to live with my sister (as a stray that they took in) but she hated the other cats at my sister's so we took her in. While she lived with my sister the kebab shop down the road used to tell my sister she was constantly there, waiting outside for titbits like she was still a stray! I'm quite sure my neighbours feed her too as she sometimes comes home smelling of someone else's house and licking herself!

I love her I really do but at times it's so infuriating. Has anyone else had a cat as greedy as mine...and what did you do?

(She has been to the vet loads as we have to go frequently with her overactive thyroid but they always think it's no big deal as they want her to put on weight but I can't help feeling something is really wrong!)

Badger_Lady

My cat will easily go through 5-6 pouches of wet food a day, and I do give him bits of my food too, although always in his bowl so he doesn't get used to crowding me (I'm also veggie but he loves some of my food).

Basically I just keep his bowl topped up all the time. If he begs for food, I check to see whether he's got some... he very often has got some but needs to be encouraged to revisit it once he's wandered off. I also give him a bowl of water with a tiny capful of milk in it, which seems to keep him happy.

He hasn't been diagnosed with an overactive thyroid although he does measure as 'on the cusp', and he's considered to be a correct weight but seems skinny to me - I can feel all his bones too easily.

My personal view is that he's not fat so he can have as much food as he likes, no restrictions.

gettingready

I got 2 of those.... Fred who is 6.5kg (that is over 14lb) and baby Macisu sho is 2.1 kg (4.6 lb)

Both go for a kill whenever I as much as move my mouth... God forbid I open the fridge.....

What do I do? Nothing, just give in sigh......

Is your cat really just 2 lb? That is just 1 kg... Macius is twice this size...

gettingready

Right now I am TRYING to have some egg/mayo on ryvita but have to elbow Fred on one side and Macius on the other.

Well, form of aerobic exercise for me I guess

Bangton

gettingready wrote: »

I got 2 of those.... Fred who is 6.5kg (that is over 14lb) and baby Macisu sho is 2.1 kg (4.6 lb)

Both go for a kill whenever I as much as move my mouth... God forbid I open the fridge.....

What do I do? Nothing, just give in sigh......

Is your cat really just 2 lb? That is just 1 kg... Macius is twice this size...

Yep she really is. She is around 14 according to the vet but could pass for a kitten the size that she is. She's as big as my partner's hand (though they are quite big!) That's partly why we took her to the vets and discovered her overactive thyroid. Being so small the vet wasn't sure how many tablets she should take for the thyroid and we wondered if it's enough what we are giving her.

Her greed knows no bounds..she licks the living room floor and allsorts!! Earlier she was licking my mobile phone that I had left on the sofa (had McDonalds fries and made a phone call so I am assuming I've got food on it!) Sometimes I laugh about it but other times I'm seriously concerned. I've been really good not to give in but it's getting harder to do..............:o

gettingready

But with THAT weight I would give her food all the time - very little but very often.... unless the vet said otherwise?

gettingready

You say you feed her pouches, what brand?

Perhaps changing the food for her may help her put on a bit of weight?

Have you tried some good quality food like Animonda Carny or Bozita? With high meat content?

If I only had one cat (have 4) I would probably feed it home prepared food and/or very good quality high meat content one...

2lb? OMG, she must be just skin and bones poor thing, is the weight related to thyroid I guess?

Bangton

gettingready wrote: »

But with THAT weight I would give her food all the time - very little but very often.... unless the vet said otherwise?

The vet suggested meal times were structured as feeding titbits encourages bad habits. Unfortunately because we work during the day this means a pouch at about 7am, dry food always out during the day, a pouch at 5pm and a pouch again before bed. I know that's a tiny weight but the vet seemed to feel she was tiny anyway and that half a Ib would be a good-ish weight.
The little and often thing might be a better way round it though and I do have an auto feeder I could set while we are out

gettingready

What brand wet and what brand dry do you feed her?
Maybe that is not filling her up poor thing....
I can not imagine how tiney she must me, I am looking at Macius who is twice her size at 4 months of age.
Have you had her for a long time?


A photo perhaps? We love photos here

fluffnutter

Yep, my cat's this greedy. I just feed him, tbh. If your cat's not fat (and at 2lbs I think not!) then what's wrong with giving her lots of food?

Bangton

gettingready wrote: »

You say you feed her pouches, what brand?

Perhaps changing the food for her may help her put on a bit of weight?

Have you tried some good quality food like Animonda Carny or Bozita? With high meat content?

If I only had one cat (have 4) I would probably feed it home prepared food and/or very good quality high meat content one...

2lb? OMG, she must be just skin and bones poor thing, is the weight related to thyroid I guess?

I've actually never heard of those brands. I give her Iams mainly but alternate as she turns her nose up and seems to get bored. I'm going to look into that .. thank you:D

Her weight is related to the thyroid and she is considered underweight although she is also really small. When we first took her in in January last year (from my sister) we learnt that they had only fed dry food as they had a kitten that got tummy problems with wet food. She also ran away from them alot and was generally quite moody because they have children and other cats and we assume she didn't like it there as she is completely fine with us (our house is quiet and peaceful!) so we initially thought her weight was because she was unhappy. We automatically fed her wet food twice a day plus biscuits but noticed she never got any fatter. In May we decided to take her to the vets over it and it turned out she had hyperthyroidism but also has poor liver function.

Now the vet says the treatment of her thyroid could cause her kidneys to fail too so I'm quite concerned about her health and the greediness just makes me more concerned that we are not treating her illnesses properly even though the vet has told us it's correct. Yes she is thin but definately not skin and bones which I know sounds bizarre!:D