# Cat seems obsessed by food



## dav88 (Mar 9, 2017)

Hi!

This is my first time posting here but I'm hoping for some advice.

My girlfriend and I have a one and a half year old female tortoiseshell called Luna. She's an indoor cat due to a number of busy roads in and around our house but she has a lots of access in the house and a good array of toys that we swap around, e.g. cat tree, scratching post, cardboard box, balls, chase toys, kickaroo, etc, etc.

Ever since we've had Luna she's always had a pretty (un)healthy appetite and we worried that we weren't feeding her enough. The vet stated that a 70gram tin of Encore and 35-40 grams of encore/science plan/more biscuits would be more than enough. However, she has always begged for food and at certain hours in the day she has picked up bad habits where she just meows and tries to lead you to the kitchen cupboards. Additionally, we've caught her eating various items if ever left on the side and even goes into the sink to lick plates, cutlery or whatever she can get her paws on!

We also have a problem where she runs around on our dining room table and chairs (they're made of wood) when I sit in the living room with my girlfriend. When my girlfriend is on her own she tends to be really well behaved but as soon as I join her she starts acting up and we have to put her in the hall with the door closed. Another tactic that we've been doing (that's probably stupid) has been taking biscuits with us in the living room and hiding them. Although this keeps her off the table for a short period she seems to be addicted to just trying to get food off us. The same thing happens if we're watching tv in the bedroom. Luna will insist on going behind the tv constantly. The only way to control her is shut her out or hide some food to keep her mind off this or play with her.

At first, we were concerned it was a medical condition but upon checking the vets have said everything is fine. However, in recent weeks we've noticed the problem is getting worse and worse. She even eat one of her small squishy balls which she threw up thinking it was food. Many of these toys she seemed to play with before but now her efforts are just trying to find where she can find her next meal.

The problem is it's getting nearly impossible to ever make something to eat and we find ourselves locking her out the room constantly. When we're making dinner in the kitchen she will just meow and whine constantly until she gets what she wants. 

Just for information her eating structure is this:

7am - half a tin of encore (before gf leaves for work)
8.30am - 20 grams of biscuits (before I leave for work)
6:00-7:00pm - other half tin (whilst we're eating dinner)
11-12pm - 20 grams of biscuits

We give her treats and other things sometimes after playing with her, etc.

My question is simply, does anyone else have the same problem. This is clearly behavioural so is there anything we can do to improve the situation? If you need anymore information...or want to see a picture just let me know. Any advice would be much appreciated!


Best wishes

Dave


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## Yorkshirecats (Oct 5, 2016)

Hey

I am not an expert in cat nutrition but that seems like way too little to feed a 1.5 year old cat. Do you mean 70g wet food per day, or per meal?? My 2 kittens are both 7 months old and they eat at least 300g of wet food *each* per day, plus a little dried food for texture. They both have good appetites and are healthy weights. Is your cat a normal size or small? Is she underweight?


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## dav88 (Mar 9, 2017)

Hey,

Thanks for your response. No I mean one tin of encore which is 70g and 40g of dry food. We've always thought this is far too low and have told successive vets but they always state that this is the correct amount for the her. She's quite a large cat and definitely not overweight or underweight and believe the vet said she's at the top end of the weight for her size.

We've also tried feeding her two tins of encore a day plus some dry food as an experiment. She gobbles it all up no problem and I believe she was still on the prowl for more!


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## dav88 (Mar 9, 2017)

I've attached a pic below just so you can see her size!


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## buffie (May 31, 2010)

As a slave to a fussy sod I'm in no way an expert on food or the best foods to offer but I'm fairly sure some of the Encore wet foods are not complete meaning that they don't contain all the ingredients needed.
It might help if you tell us which wet and dry foods you are feeding,I also agree that the amount being fed doesn't seem enough which may be why your girl is looking for more.
I'm sure there will be someone along soon with a better grasp on the better quality wet foods that you can try and also ,just a suggestion,maybe look at increasing the amount of wet food and either decreasing or ditching(preferably) the dry food she really doesn't need it.
Have a look at this thread it gives a good guide to some of the "good foods" available on line from Zoo Plus one of the most popular on line pet suppliers .............http://www.petforums.co.uk/threads/...-just-the-good-stuff-work-in-progress.440844/


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## Yorkshirecats (Oct 5, 2016)

She's very cute btw


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## dav88 (Mar 9, 2017)

Thank you both. Encore has always been the main wet food that we've offered her purely because it's the most accessible in terms of shopping from Morrisons/Sainsburys.

We tend to feed her the tins or the pouches (both 70grams) as can be seen here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Encore-Cat-Food-Chicken-Pack/dp/B005QMU8CW

The vet recommended it as one of the 'better ones' so we'd figured it's ok. She's also eaten Lillies kitchen and a couple of science plan ones from time to time but eats them both the same.

In terms of dry food we tend to buy MORE which was recommended by the vet and garden centres: http://www.petscorner.co.uk/more-pet-foods/more-adult-cat-food-lamb Is her favourite as they also are quite dense so clean her teeth. We sometimes buy encore dry but don't think the smell is great and they're a bit small. She's also had the Science Plan and Royal Canine dry at various points and is happy to eat any of them.

I'll study the link you sent me when I'm home to see if there is anything else we can do. My main problem is that I do agree we need to feed her more and play with her to make sure the weight keeps off. However, I still think she'd be after food constantly. Whenever I'm making lunch and cutting up cheese or ham for example she just comes in and tries to swipe it.

Many thanks

Dave


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## buffie (May 31, 2010)

dav88 said:


> Thank you both. Encore has always been the main wet food that we've offered her purely because it's the most accessible in terms of shopping from Morrisons/Sainsburys.
> 
> We tend to feed her the tins or the pouches (both 70grams) as can be seen here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Encore-Cat-Food-Chicken-Pack/dp/B005QMU8CW
> 
> ...


If the tin you linked to is the one you are feeding it isn't a "complete food" (see ingredient list)

" 100% Natural Ingredients

* This complementary recipe is made with 75% Chicken Breast*

Real muscle meat contains naturally occurring Taurine, an essential Amino Acid

Low in Carbohydrates

No artificial colourings, flavourings or additives

Feed with Encore complete wet or complete dry foods for a balanaced diet

The dry food you linked to is not one I'm familiar with ,but a quick look at the recommended amount required to feed based on weight of cat seems quite high ,which would lead me to believe that it has a lot of "fillers" in it and the one thing I do know is that dry food is usually the main cause of weight gain in cats .
As I said I'm no expert so hopefully someone will be along soon to help.


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## Babyshoes (Jul 1, 2016)

It would be interesting to see exactly how much food she would eat in a day if given as much as she asked for... If she stopped asking at some point then you'd know she was full. If not, would she continue eating until she was sick? If so, that's something the vet should know. 

Personally, what I'd try is: a) check nutrition facts of her current food then either change or swap around regularly if necessary, and b) feed her more wet food for a few weeks while keeping an eye on her weight to see what happens. I would either reduce the dry or keep it the same during this experiment as it's full of carbs, which cats don't need...


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

@dav88

Hi Dave and welcome 

Your cat is gorgeous!  . But I have to say she sounds like one very hungry cat to be so utterly obsessed with food, bless her. If she has taken to eating items that are not even food then she sounds as though she is desperate for nourishment.

At only 18 months old she is still growing and therefore she needs plenty of protein to build strong bones and muscles and plenty of calories to give her energy. The feeding guidelines on cans and packets are just that - _guidelines. _Each cat's needs will differ in terms of how much, depending on their individual metabolism and level of activity etc. My two slim female cats were both eating 350 grams or 400 grams of wet food each a day when they were 18 mths old. At 3 yrs old they still eat 250 grams of food a day each.

Most vets are not experts on the subject of feline nutrition, (there is very little taught on the subject in veterinary undergraduate courses). If a vet has done post-graduate studies in pet nutrition, or a lot of their own research into nutrition that's different. Research does not show there is a benefit to the cat's teeth from eating dry food, and because dry food can cause chronic low level dehydration it is not good for their kidneys or bladder.

I don't think 70 grams of wet food a day is anything like enough for Luna. Also as said, Encore is not a complete food, only a supplementary food, and is very expensive. I would stop feeding her the dry food (except a few treats a day) and instead feed her a balanced grain free wet food diet, as much as she wants to eat, with NO rationing at all. This is what I did with my girls until they were aged 3 and had stopped growing and they were never overweight. (they still are not overweight).

At first you may find Luna cannot stop eating, but once she knows she can trust she will get enough to eat, she will relax and start to manage her own intake so she does not become overweight. But this has to be on wet food. Cats are bad at judging how much dry food to eat because it is concentrated and they are not built to eat concentrated food.

If you want to buy Luna's food from Morrisons and Sainsburys look for some balanced grain free wet foods preferably with no added sugars. In Morrison's there's Hilife Just Chopped Chicken in jelly:

https://groceries.morrisons.com/web...&parentContainer=SEARCHcat+food+wet_SHELFVIEW

Sheba Fine Flakes (though it does have added sugars)

https://groceries.morrisons.com/web...rentContainer=SEARCHsheba+fine+flak_SHELFVIEW

Sainsbury's also sells Sheba Fine Flakes.

But to be frank you'll find far more choice and better value for money if you buy canned wet food in bulk on line as many of us on the forum do. One of the best sites is The Happy Kitty Company, which imports good quality German cat food. Many cats love it! Mine certainly do. 

https://www.happykittycompany.co.uk/collections/cat-food/Cat

Another excellent site is Zooplus UK, which sells quality foods such as Grau, Feringa, Bozita, Animonda Carny, Catz FineFood, Miamor, all at good prices. Order over £29 and delivery is free (with Yodel).

http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/canned_cat_food_pouches


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## dav88 (Mar 9, 2017)

Thank you for the detailed response and all your recommendations. We've started feeding Luna two tins a day and reduced the intake of biscuits and I'll let you know if this has any effect. We're also looking at putting in some orders online from Zooplus once she gets close to finishing her current batch.

Just as an aside, assuming things don't improve does anyone have any tips for behaviour management when it comes to feeding Luna? For example, I'm picking her up and placing her on the floor each time she tries to eat food whilst I'm putting it in her bowl (she jumped up about 16 times in a row!). We're making a bit more effort to not eat in front of Luna and also playing with her a bit each time she tries to guide us to the kitchen.

Once again, we appreciate your comments and hope that we can come back with some positive results!

Best wishes

Dave


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

Dave, I would be very surprised indeed if Luna's behaviour does not calm down dramatically once she is getting more to eat. Her behaviour as you describe it is so typical of a cat who is hungry. If she continues to be frantic around food in spite of an increase in her rations then it would suggest to me she is still hungry. 

For the time being, continue gently lifting her off the work top and placing her on the floor whilst you're serving her food. 

However, cats do like to be up high in the kitchen to see what's going on. If you have the room in your kitchen you could put a cat tree (5ft or 6ft high) there for her, and when she jumps on the work top, gently place her on the cat tree. Soon she will learn to sit on the cat tree and wait for her food instead of jumping on the work top.


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## jasmine2 (Apr 30, 2019)

You are feeding her too little. There are other good variety foods like Blink which is complete, Canagan which is complete as well. Give her as much as she wants


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

jasmine2 said:


> You are feeding her too little. There are other good variety foods like Blink which is complete, Canagan which is complete as well. Give her as much as she wants


The OP has not been seen on the forum for over 3 years so he may not read your message.


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## Calvine (Aug 20, 2012)

@chillminx: He did say:


dav88 said:


> hope that we can come back with some positive results!


but never did. Ah well . . .


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