Scavenging cat

Make-it-3

For a couple of years now our vet has been saying at our cat's annual check up that ideally she should be a bit lighter, especially now she is hitting middle age/slowing down to keep diabetes etc away.

So we took it seriously and cut back on extra biscuits etc and she just has one portion of dried food in the morning and one pouch of wet food in the evening.

Problem is she has become such a scavenger, I can't leave any food out, dirty plates etc as soon as my back is turned she jumps on the kitchen worktops. Tonight she jumped on the hob and was licking the remaining oil in a pan I had cooked some salmon in.

Its really annoying, unhygienic, and the some of stuff she is eating can't be good for her.

So is she genuinely hungry? Should we go back to offering her more of her own food?

gettingready

Shut the kitchen door?

I have a dog on a diet.

Came home yesterday to a 10kg bin full of cat food on it's side, the part that locks chewed off and a very happy dog.. sigh.....

Good luck...you will need it

Gold_Dust_2

How many grams is she eating per day, and how much does she weigh? How much did she used to eat?

You might find that spacing her food out into a few small meals per day as opposed to just twice a day helps, as she's never far from a meal that way. Adding a tbsp of water to her food will also help to make her feel fuller.

Make-it-3

Our kitchen just leads off the hallway and has no door on it unfortunately, her basket and food are in there as is her cat flap for access to the garden so can't just ban her from the room.

She has licked cheese off a lasagne, tries to get at the butter dish, has knocked the food scraps bin over sniffing around - the list of naughtiness is endless.

Weight was just around 4.3 kgs last time, the pouch is 100g of food - not sure what the portion of dried food is. Food we put down is always gone in an instant.

She's just average size, common tabby - she'd never go out and kill her own food way too scaredy for that.

gettingready

4.3kg cat was considered by vet as fat? serious

My Macius is 40kg and small frame and looks skinny...

Fluff15

gettingready wrote: »

4.3kg cat was considered by vet as fat? serious

My Macius is 40kg and small frame and looks skinny...

40kg cat!! :eek:

OP, can you just keep her out the kitchen? Our two are forbidden in the kitchen at all times because they will eat anything, they get their paws all on the clean sides and they can get into cupboards where all the cleaning stuff is. We feed them on a mat in the hallway which works out good for us. Funnily enough one of them has learnt how to open doors, but they know they'll get told off if they go in there so it's the only room they don't let themselves in to!

Gold_Dust_2

gettingready wrote: »

4.3kg cat was considered by vet as fat? serious

My Macius is 40kg and small frame and looks skinny...

40kg?? That, my friend, is a very small manatee.


O.P.: where does kitty's appearance fall on this chart?

Make-it-3

Thanks Golddust - that's a useful chart - I would say she is probably a six maybe a seven. She doesn't look any thinner from cutting back her meals (maybe that's because of her scavenging).

40kg that's surely a typo!

Make-it-3

Vet said that as they slow down as they age they need less food - she is definitely lazier these days - although has her moments.

I don't know what they put in cat food, but she still zooms round the house like on acid after her meals.

gettingready

LOL - yup, Macius is 4kg not 40 kg :P

But Teddy is 7.5, Fred is 6.5 and George is 6 kg - none of them is fat, they are just big cats.

Macius is small comparing to the rest of my boys - how small is your cat then?

Photo?