# Help! Cat Wet Food Addiction



## TheDeep (Nov 21, 2013)

My cat used to always eat dry food. He started on wet food about 6 months ago. I read that it was more healthy and thought I should give it a try. For the last few months he has been really addicted! He keeps meowing for food all day! 

I feed him twice a day, once at 8:30 am and then at 5 when I finish work (I work from home). I feed him a whole tin per day and he weighs about 5kg. He is obsessed! I am starting to worry that he is unhealthily addicted. He does have dry food by the side of his wet food topped up to ensure he does not get hungry but he never seems to touch it. 

I know he is not hungry because he will not touch his dry food but I am concerned that he is getting over the top in his obsession. We also live in a flat where we are not technically allowed to be (cats not allowed) so I do not wanting him meowing at 5am and upsetting the neighbours!


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## Cheryl89 (Jun 24, 2013)

Aw dear 

My Bugsy is just like this...but it doesn't bother me.

She came to me on a terrible dry food diet and was deadly underweight. Now she talks to me in the mornings and when I get home from work dying for her wet food (I feed her Bozita gravy) and she loves it and I don't mind and my girl eats alot now! :thumbsup:

Her meowing has never bothered me, I'm so happy she's put on weight and is now on a healthy diet... sorry I don't have much input just thought I'd share.


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## moggiemum (Mar 28, 2013)

aww bless, stick with it , its so much better for them, tell th neighbours you are having some issues and if it gets too much for themto let you know, im sure they'll understand

i would give her some raw as well as it really does seem to satisfy their hunger, try a raw chicken wing to start you may have to pull the skin a bit to expose the flesh even cut off a tiny bit of the pink flesh to get started, it improves coat condition too, warm raw up by popping it in a ba and then sit in a bowl of warm water until at least body temp.

let us know how you get on


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## CoCoTrio (Jan 3, 2013)

TheDeep said:


> My cat used to always eat dry food. He started on wet food about 6 months ago. I read that it was more healthy and thought I should give it a try. For the last few months he has been really addicted! He keeps meowing for food all day!
> 
> I feed him twice a day, once at 8:30 am and then at 5 when I finish work (I work from home). I feed him a whole tin per day and he weighs about 5kg. He is obsessed! I am starting to worry that he is unhealthily addicted. He does have dry food by the side of his wet food topped up to ensure he does not get hungry but he never seems to touch it.
> 
> I know he is not hungry because he will not touch his dry food but I am concerned that he is getting over the top in his obsession. We also live in a flat where we are not technically allowed to be (cats not allowed) so I do not wanting him meowing at 5am and upsetting the neighbours!


What brand of wet food are you feeding?


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## TheDeep (Nov 21, 2013)

Thank you for your replies. I am glad I am not the only one this is happening to; I was really frightened that there was something wrong.

I feed him either Tesco own brand or Aldi's own brand. I do sometimes mix it up and feed him a different brand because I have this idea that he might get bored with the same food all the time and I feel that there might be other nutrients in different brands of food. 

I may try the raw meat thing. He should be okay with it because he used to catch birds occasionally when he was on just dry food. One additional factor which might have made the problem worse is that my partner and have become vegan. We have been vegan for the last couple of months. Before that we used to occasionally give him table scraps. It was really only a little bit because we were concerned that it was unhealthy but perhaps he misses this? We do give him cat treats sometimes.


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## moggiemum (Mar 28, 2013)

i fear he may not be getting enough protein or the other additives are irritating him- i think tescos do the butchers range of cat food i would go with this over the own brand, its grain gree.

by the sounds of it i think your cat will love his diet being supplemented with raw, after i feed my boy raw he goes and sits at the mouse hole like he wants the real thing

just remember to give muscle meat too as this contains taurine - chicken/beef hearts are good and not too expensive


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## Cheryl89 (Jun 24, 2013)

Oh lordy, tesco/aldi own brand?

No wonder he's addicted hun, this food is awful for cats.

Why don't you give zooplus.co.uk a shot for your supplies? If you don't fancy feeding raw then a real good quality wet will do 

Bozita Tetra Pak Wet Cat Food: Free P&P on orders £25+ at zooplus!: Bozita Chunks in Gravy 6 x 370g

I get my girl these all the time now! I've tried her with raw but she's too fussy...I'll keep slowing introducing it though to get her off all commerical kind of foods completely :lol:


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## TheDeep (Nov 21, 2013)

That is a good point about the brands. Perhaps it is like giving him junk food. I heard that the main brands were not very healthy and I was concerned so I tried to steer clear.

The Tesco near me is a small one and only stocks Tesco brand and Felix. :-( There is an Asda pretty near by though, they may stock Butcher's.

I would probably be better off ordering from the internet because I do not have a car any more so buying in bulk is harder. There is nothing worse than running out of cat food and having to pop to the shop knowing your cat is hungry!


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## Satori (Apr 7, 2013)

You should be so pleased with your clever boy that he doesn't want to eat his death nuggets any more 

A better quality wet or raw food will make all the difference. Too many calories from those supermarket foods end up in the litter tray, not in the cat, so it's no wonder he is not feeling satisfied.

I would experiment with your feeding schedule too. 5pm to 8:30am is a 15 1/2 hour wait which seems a little too long IMO.


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## TheDeep (Nov 21, 2013)

Lol! I am glad that he is on wet food now. 

In regards to the feeding schedule I thought feeding him twice a day was for the best? 9 to 5 is my work hours so it fits in best for us but he still seems so desperate for food between 9 and 5. Should I feed him more times a day?


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## Satori (Apr 7, 2013)

I'm all over the place with feeding schedules myself so not the best person to advise. I used to do 4 per day 7am, 11am, 7pm, 11pm. Then, it just stopped working. I think the move to winter lighting conditions changed something. The last week, fingers crossed, 7am, 2pm, 9pm is working well. I don't like them to go more than 12 hours without food ideally.


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## Cheryl89 (Jun 24, 2013)

I feed my girl (ALOT) at 6am and she wolfs it all down then again when I get home at 4pm (again, LOTS) 

Bozita is great cus you can bulk buy and it's not too expensive either but so much better for cats then the crap from supermarkets.

In between that she gets treat toys to keep her occupied for a few hours and my OH works from home all the time anyway so if she's hungry for more he'll just pop a little bit down for her if needs be 

Agree with all on here, he's just not getting enough from the food itself he's currently on

Good luck 

x


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## MoggyBaby (Mar 8, 2011)

Excellent advise from all above ^^^^^ so I'll just pop on a couple of other little bits....

I feed three times a day. As soon as I get up at 6.15am, when I get home at 5.30pm and just before bed at 10.30pm. My lot know their routine and never ask for extra food in between. Feeding a good high protein brand is the key.

The other tip - add hot water to his food and give it a good mix in to create a nice meaty gravy. The extra fluid will make him feel fuller, he will eat slower and this leaves some food in his bowl to go back to. Cats genetically prefer to eat little and often so the extra fluid helps with this. Also.... The extra fluid is very good for keeping his kidneys flushed out. Most important for wee boys who are more prone to cyctitis than girls. Finally, the heat from the water warms up the food and will make it more appetising & appealling. In the colder weather, it also puts nice warm food in their tummies. 

I hope that helps.


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## Cazzer (Feb 1, 2010)

Actually bozita (unless tins) is not a great food due to the high amount of jelly/gravy in it. Yes the cubes of meat contact a high percentage of meat but by the time you factor in the gravy/jelly it is much lower, if fact not much different to the likes of stuff sold in supermarkets. Bozita tins are higher in meat but there is a high percentage of offal in it which causes dire rear in some cats. There are much better wet foods to keep a cat fuller for longer eg Grau, macs, feringa, ropocat etc as well as of course raw!

The bozita pate in a tetra pack was a good food but I don't think this is available any more.


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## Cheryl89 (Jun 24, 2013)

Ahhh if my girl wasn't so fussy I'd have her on different brands 

After her being on an Iams diet with her previous owner anything was better then that and since Bozita was introduced it's made her put on weight and kept her nice and healthy

Obviously raw will be best for her, but she's such a princess so Bozita is a big win in my household :drool: ...for now!


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## TheDeep (Nov 21, 2013)

I have had a look at Bozita and it does look pretty good and fairly reasonably priced. I think I'll stock up on that and give it a try.

I might try feeding him again before bedtime. At least then he we can get a good night's sleep providing he does not arrive home during the night! :angry:

I think mixing in some water is a good idea. He doesn't seem to drink an awful lot of water when he is at home but I have caught him drinking from puddles outside!


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## lorilu (Sep 6, 2009)

TheDeep said:


> Lol! I am glad that he is on wet food now.
> 
> In regards to the feeding schedule I thought feeding him twice a day was for the best? 9 to 5 is my work hours so it fits in best for us but he still seems so desperate for food between 9 and 5. Should I feed him more times a day?


Yes. In addition all the other great advice, improving the quality of the canned, and/or adding raw, and _eliminating the dry all together_, feed more servings a day.

Since you are there, this should be easy. Just divide his daily intake into three or even four meals instead of two.

Incidentally he may be bored. Make sure he is getting enough interactive play time with you.

One more thing. Please research raw diets and how to balance them. Raw is a great way to feed, but it is very important to balance the meat/organ/bone ratio properly if you are going to feed more than 10 % of the diet raw..


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## Aeschylus (Sep 19, 2013)

Mine are still kittens, so I'm feeding them four or five times a day, but I think it's working pretty well, because they never pester me for food, although they are certainly excited when I show any sign of impending feeding...

I always feed them last thing at night, which means that on the days I'm not up before 7 they let me have a lie-in 

I feed wet (canned) food: Animonda Carny, Smilla, Grau, Feringa, Bozita etc; I vary it so they get a kind of rotation. Every couple of days I give them a raw treat: a chicken wing, or some liver or kidney. I don't know how you'd feel as a vegan giving your cats raw farmed meat... Perhaps it's easier to use cans, where it doesn't look quite so animal... 

The other thing I do (and again, I don't know how vegan-friendly this is) is to give my cats defrosted snake food as a treat: frozen mice that have been bred for reptile feeding. The kittens absolutely love them and they eat the whole thing, which is pleasanter than the alternative. But I don't know how that would work in your circumstances.

I do think that if you feed three times a day and move onto cat food with a higher meat content you will probably find things much easier. I get mine from Zooplus and so far it's been very easy.


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## Jannor (Oct 26, 2013)

Lots of great advice already.

I feed Zooplus brands and Butchers for cats if I run out. When you've used the ZP stuff you can see the difference - lot more jelly in Butchers.

Mine are fed at 7 am, 6.30 pm (when I get home from work) and again at 10.30 pm - Nothing like a full belly and heating on to make them sleep!


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## TheDeep (Nov 21, 2013)

Just to let you know I just got the delivery through today from zooplus and fed him one of the tins I got. I bought lots of Smilla and lots of Bozita. I have fed him the Smilla. He did not seem very interested at first but he has started eating it now.

I compared the ingredients to what I was feeding him before and it looks so much more healthy!

Thank you for all your advice everybody! :biggrin:

I look forward to him getting a lot more healthy and not being constantly hungry. It was really driving me crazy because I could tell something was wrong because he seemed so desperate for extra food but I could tell he was not hungry. I really hope this new diet helps him feel more satisfied!


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## moggiemum (Mar 28, 2013)

hey thats great news, but we made need pics just to be sure any excuse...

im lucky in as i ve got the most unfussyest cat ever, he will eat just about anything , but when he has raw it really seems to satisfy him for longer and he dosent bully me into the kitchen as much , his best one is throwing himself down at my feet , cupboard love


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## MoggyBaby (Mar 8, 2011)

TheDeep said:


> Just to let you know I just got the delivery through today from zooplus and fed him one of the tins I got. I bought lots of Smilla and lots of Bozita. I have fed him the Smilla. He did not seem very interested at first but he has started eating it now.
> 
> I compared the ingredients to what I was feeding him before and it looks so much more healthy!
> 
> ...


Don't forget to add the hot water to make the food smellier and, hopefully, entice his taste-buds a bit more. 

Also, take a good look at his fur today, and also a good feel of it because, in three weeks time, it will look and feel TOTALLY different!! Much much softer and really really shiny!


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