Cat suggestions? Bored? Hungry? Just a pain?

I feed my cats more than the recommended amounts ( but not in excess ). Every other night they get canned food. The problem is they are always acting like they are starving... Scarlett is a kitten and growing fine, Sensei is about three and is in great condition, not thin, not fat, just right. Bruce is a bit of the heavy side... but they all share the food fine, and I usually feed in multiple dishes. Sensei seems to be the worst, Bruce seems too lazy to care, but if it was there he'll eat it, working to get it... nope.

I had the bag in the kitchen, top folded over because I didn't get it dumped in the tub ( being lazy ) right away... and next thing I know they're clawing it open to get at the food! My three cats go through food faster than my dogs do!

They don't usually get on the counters etc... for the dogs they get chewies to keep them occupied between meals. I don't know of anything like that for cats.

Are they just being brats? Are they bored? They have toys all over the house, scratchy thing to scratch on, houses to hide in... Thoughts on this?

I've only had two cats, but my thoughts are yes, the kitten is being a brat. And perhaps inspiring your older cats to do the same. Are you sure they are the ones eating all of their food? 'Cause my cat's dish is always empty but I know half of the time it's the dog eating her food. Works out okay because she sneaks some of his food as well. Do you have a laser pointer for the kitten? Those are a fun way to give them some exercise.

I love cats and their persistence. It just makes me laugh! So this video is a new favorite in our house. My daughters have watched all of the "Simon's Cat" videos over and over and the end result is always the cat asking for food.

Simon's Cat on YouTube

I have always given my cats free choice food. Mikey is a bit fat, not too much, but he is just a big lazy boy and it doesn't matter to me.

What are you feeding? I had the problem with my cats always seeming to be hungry, too, and when I talked to someone at the vet's, they suggested getting a food with a higher protein. Doesn't stop Speed from being a pain in the rear and ripping the bags open if I don't dump them, but he does seem to be full longer and doesn't beg for food.

I free feed my cats, too. I rarely, if ever, feed canned. I used to give them canned food every evening as a treat but they began "asking" for it and anticipating it, being royal pests when canned food time neared. Then they got earlier and earlier begging for the canned even though they had a small tub of dry food available. I finally stopped feeding canned except as a rare treat.

I can't free feed ( and don't agree with it personally ) because I have dogs who eat the food otherwise. When I used to free feed with two cats, the middle cat would eat, and eat, and eat. They would easily eat three cups a day if allowed, they would literally eat me out of house and home, and the more the eat, the more the poop, so if he's a healthy weight I don't see the point in spending more money to clean more poop...

All the dogs are put away when the cats are fed. They get all night to eat, if there is anything left in the morning, I put it up. There usually isn't.

The kitten is not the one causing the problems, it's the middle one. The kitten sleeps with me and my yorkie in my bedroom, the door is shut. She usually does not eat all of her food, and in the morning the middle cat comes in and eats what's left. The yorkie doesn't eat her food because he is night blind and he knows that if he jumps off the bed during the night, he will not be able to get back up.

I don't have a problem with the canned food... well unless you open a can of like chicken noodle soup that has the pull tab tops, lol. Because they sound the same. They know what nights are canned food night and don't make a fuss until I go into the kitchen to get them their canned food. After having two cats go through chronic urinary tract blockages I will always feed canned food, at least every other day.

I feed CSFTPLS regular. Then they are currently getting Fancy Feast wet cat food every other night, once we are done with this flat though they will be getting the CSFTPLS canned as well.

We have laser pointers, we have the rolley ball things with the "fountain" toy in the middle, hidey house condo things, feather balls, feather braids, a weasel ball etc.

The thing with that cat that instigates it is that if I do feed him more, like if I feed the canned too close to when I put out the dry, he'll over eat and get sick.

The cats:
Scarlett


Bruce


Sensei ( the culprit )

Just wanted to throw this out there.

Cat's should not be on a 100% dry food diet. Cats do not have a high thirst drive, as cats are carnivores and are designed to get their water intake from prey. Prey is 70% water while dry food is 10% water. A cat needs to drink 1.25 cups of water for every cup of dry food eaten, and most will only consume half of that. Without the water intake they can go through out their life somewhat dehydrated. Dehydration effects all organs, especially the urinary system. Urine becomes very concentrated which can lead to infections and/or crystals, which can cause blockages. The lack of water effects the kidneys, possibly leading to failures. Dehydration is also very bad for their skin causing it to be dry, itchy and scaly. It can cause lots of shedding because the skin will pull away from the hair shaft.


Carbohydrates are also a problem. A cats prey is protein, fat and minimal carbs (whatever little pre-digested amount of grain in the stomach). They do not have a lot of digestive enzymes needed for carbs. The lack of enzymes cause the carbs to not be digested and thus turn into fat. Dry food basically replaces the missing water with carbs, so dry fed cats are usually (not always) overweight, especially if free fed. Being overweight has the same effects on cats as it does on humans.... diabetes, heart disease, ect. Dry food is also very hard to digest and is implicated in Inflammatory Bowel Disease and subsequent to lymphoma.

So dry food has no benefit and lots of detriments for the cat, but it does have it's conveniences for us humans and sometimes that needs to be part of the equation. My cats are fed a mix of Wellness Chicken, Turkey, and Beef and Chicken, EVO 95% Beef, Turkey and Chicken (wet food), with a 1/8 of a cup of dry EVO (which is grain free also) at night for a snack.

Raw fed is ideal, but if you're not able to do 100% wet, please atleast try to do 50/50 dry/wet.

Here are some articles about dry food, and also raw-fed cats.

http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library&act=show&item=whycatsneedcannedfood

http://www.rawfedcats.org/

I have more if you'd like to see them, too.

Also would like to add that I LOVE Scarlett!

Cassi

My cat, Goat, is just a pain. She always has food (she has taught the dog not to mess with it) and she is always begging for food. She will either eat all of it, or if she leaves any, she will not eat it later and wants fresh. She is big, but not overweight since she also hunts outside (she bathrooms outside and does some hunting in the process).

I agree with Cassi and Riven about the wet food. I've seen a lot of cats with chronic urinary problems stop having problems once put on wet food.

It sounds to me like Sensei is just being a butt. Since he's a brat either way and will eat himself sick, it's just a personal problem. I'd ignore him and just continue your feeding schedule since he's healthy.

My mom has a cat that will overeat...she ate her way from 8lb to 18.5lb to the point she could barely walk and I forced them to put her on a strict diet. She would beg and cry for food even having a full bowl all day, and she still cried and begs and tries to snarf dog food or whatever she can get. She'll be a pill either way, rip open bags and beg for food. My parents gave into that and really badly overfed her.

We have three dishes out for our three cats. They can all be full but Thor must beg and beg for you to at least go stir them. He's just a pest but very cute while doing it as he will whisper like he's starving and will let you snuggle him.

Cassi, I will rethink the wet food. My cats are indoor/outdoor cats. The dogs do not have access to the cat food as the cat food is in the basement and it's up on a shelf. My cats are quite slim despite having food available at all times. I only had one cat that had urinary tract problems and I've had a lot of cats. I currently have three boys right now, none with any problems. Mostly my cats potty outside but I do have three litter boxes in the basement. The boxes get used more in the winter, of course. Almost all my cats have lived well into their teen years. I will consider offering canned food, now, though.

Out of all of my cats and dogs we've owned, I have found that they always eat more than the package says to feed. Although yours sound like piggies

I have a 12 lb ragdoll and a 14-16 lb ragdoll mix. The ragdoll eats 1 1/2 cups, while the mix eats about 2 cups. I also give them treats of canned food, wild alaskan caught (baked) salmon, and chicken breast. Rotating They love their Solid Gold Indigo Moon food.

Everyone I know pretty much free feeds but and their cats don't over-eat.

I generally break up their food into mini meals, they seem to be "less starved" then .

I used to free feed my cats, and grew up doing that with all of our cats, but I now have one cat with a good weight, and one cat that got up to 20 pounds. I now only feed 2-3 times a day, and they get a can of wet as a treat for bedtime. My chubby cat constantly goes to the food area and begs for food, but I figured that for his well-being, I would have to be tough. He has gone down from 20 pounds to 16 pounds so far. I think if your cats are being fed a high quality food, then they are probably being fed enough and may just be bored. A cat's weight and a vet's opinion about it should tell you if they are being fed the right amount of food. My fatty is a really lazy cat, and is a very picky eater, so I definitely restrict his food and will need to continue to do so. My other cat needs to be monitored to make sure she doesn't lose any weight, otherwise I will give her more feedings throughout the day. And I do have to hide the food bags, and I do have to keep the kitchen clean, or the cats will be looking for food in the middle of the night.

Yea, the cats don't care if I leave things on the counters, etc. The trouble maker can jump up there, I've seen him. He also seems to prefer hard food to soft food.

Overeating to the point of being huge, and just eating more than needed are two different things. I don't see any point in spending extra money feeding the cats more food, so I can buy more litter to clean their box more often if they are the same weight eating 1 scoop or 2 scoops... obviously two scoops creates more poop.

You need to move to another house for your cats' sake. Specifically, here: http://lovelylisting.com/2010/07/14/funny-real-estate-stinky-utopia/

I suggest joining www.catforum.com, it's a great forum dedicated to cats with many wonderful and knowledgeable people that are very helpful. I would post this there.

Cassi

It must be a Tuxedo thing..I have a Tuxedo named Shadow that does most, if not all, of the things your Sensei is doing! She was a rescue that my son brought into our colony and from that first day has created havoc and mayhem in every part of the house, especially the kitchen, where her and my orange tabby, Lucky get fed. She has ripped into bags that I have not poured into containers, run Lucky off from his dish and his treats, and just been a pain in the arse!!
I am glad to see I am not the only one with a cat that I love but that is a big pain in the butt!

@Cassi: Thanks for the information! I have had many cats that have suffered from UTI's and have often wondered if maybe their food had something to do with it. I am definitely going to be doing the 50/50 wet to dry ratio and see how their tummy's do with the wet food and hopefully I will be able to get them to a 100% wet diet.

Wonderful! Let me know if you need any help finding reasonably priced brands of wet food.

Actually that would be great! what do you recommend?

Right now I am feeding a combination of EVO 95%, Wellness, and Felidae Grain Free. Honestly, what is usually said is that any wet food, whether it's high or low quality, is still better than the best dry food out there.

My recommendations (price-wise, for high quality ) would be EVO 95%. The Turkey and Chicken 95% and Beef 95% are the two cheapest. I order cases at a time. I can get a case of 12/13.2oz cans for $22.90, which I think is great.

My recommendations ( price-wise, mid quality ) would be grain free Felidae (turkey and chicken formula). I can get a case of 12/13oz cans for $19.99, which isn't bad and it certainly is not a bad quality food.

Wellness is more expensive, I buy cases of 12/12.5oz cans for $25.03. Wellness CORE is also more expensive, and it only comes in 5.5oz cans. It's up to you though!

I reread your response and noticed your cats have suffered from UTI's, I recommend staying away from fish as much as possible!

Let me know if you can't find some of these brands, and what brands you can find! I say do the best you can, anything is better than dry.