SOME1 PLEASE HELP ME WITH MY GREEDY CAT

lucky111

Hey guys, need some help with my fat greedy cat:eek:
I found my lil angel:rolleyes: when she was about 3 wks old [ dumped ]

Skin and bones,
She is spoilt rotten by every1 and gets away with too much;)
She's well fed, About 4 times a day, and no matter how much i give her she wants more and more...........She's a bit on the podgy side from all of this
I'll catch her on the kitchen top eating our left overs, if the kids have dropped crisps, chocolate anything, she'll be there to hoover it up with her gob:D before i get a chance to grab it
She's even gone so far as to munch through our frozen chicken that was out defrosting the night b4 for our Sunday dinner:mad:
Shes wormed so don't think that's a problem
Please some1 help me..................

IvySlayer

Put her on a diet.

Stop feeding her 4 times a day! Feed her once a day and that's it. If the cat wants more, tough. Close all presses, put defrosting food in microwave or cover it.

If she jumps up on the counter, pick her up and put her on the floor until she gets the message.

The Sweeper

Chocolate is poisonous to cats, and unless your cat loses her 'labrador' tendancies she could become very ill.

As IvySlayer says, put her on a diet. Give her two set mealtimes a day, one wet food, one dry food. Give her a constant supply of fresh water, no milk.

Cats who have starved in the past can have a very bad relationship with food, but really spoilt cats associate food with their dominance - it's a bad idea to feed a cat that begs for food, especially if you're feeding them human snack foods. Alpha cat eats first (and also climbs the curtains, sleeps on your pillow and craps wherever she likes in the house).

Finally be more careful where you leave things to defrost or cool down, and use a water mister to squirt her if she gets on the counters.

lucky111

IvySlayer wrote: »

Put her on a diet.

Stop feeding her 4 times a day! Feed her once a day and that's it. If the cat wants more, tough. Close all presses, put defrosting food in microwave or cover it.

If she jumps up on the counter, pick her up and put her on the floor until she gets the message.

Once a day
Do you actually own a cat?? When i say i feed her 4 times a day these are small potions, spread out over a number of hours
Thanks for your advice:rolleyes:
But no thanks !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Sweeper

Lucky111, you feed kittens four meals a day to ensure they get optimum nutrition throughout their day and to offset their high levels of activity. You don't feed adult cats that many times - especially not if they're scarfing everything else in sight.

You'll know if you're overfeeding your cat, especially if she's developed an enormous fat pad - that's the low-slung, dangling beer gut stomach.

lucky111

I am not feeding my cat human food.........
She does not beg for food .............
She does not climb the curtains or crap wherever she likes [ litter box ]
What kind of picture do you all have in your head of her lol

The Sweeper

Okay, what do you want me to say?

You're overfeeding your cat if she has access to enough food to get fat, and you're feeding her human food if she gets access to crisps and chocolate and tomorrow night's defrosting dinner.

The picture I have is the end result of the beginning you're painting. I live with a lot of cats at the moment, and one of them is a badly managed brat who has the run of the place, is spoilt rotten, is never admonished and has access to human food as well as an excess of cat food. She believes she is alpha cat, and as a result is aggressive to other cats and people, and will crap outside her litter box as a protest.

Put your cat on a diet, and stop reacting badly to the advice you're being given.

"Hey guys, need some help with my fat greedy cat"
"Okay, put her on a diet"
"What? No way! How unreasonable!"

If that's the way this thread is going to go, there's no point anyone contributing anything else if you don't want to hear it.

lucky111

I hear what you are saying and i am going to limit her feed to twice daily
Please in future, read my replys, and note what i have said and have not:rolleyes:

IvySlayer

lucky111 wrote: »

Once a day
Do you actually own a cat?? When i say i feed her 4 times a day these are small potions, spread out over a number of hours
Thanks for your advice:rolleyes:
But no thanks !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I own a cat who is not overweight. You did ask for advice. My cat is 12 years old, I feed her once a day in the evening. A whiskas pouch and some dog biscuits, which she loves for some reason.

Jules

First off the bat i would say to worm your cat. Common things are common, if your cat is eating a lot of food and is always hungry and has a belly she may have worms.

It is normal, ivyslayer, that cats eat less as they get older, unless they have a metabolic issue. So once a day is ok. But i would seriously doubt one pouch is enough for any cat, unless you are giving her a lot of dry dog food, which btw, isn't very good for cat, seriously lacking in the right nutirents required. For a younger cat twice a day is plenty. You have to remember it the quailty of the food you are feeding which is important. Also making sure you are feeding correctly for their weight.

Btw lucky111.. you would do well with dropping your attitude, people are only trying to help.

lucky111

The reply was directed to IvySlayer.
You sound very old school form the other threads you have up.
To the rest of you guys, i do hear what you are saying and will take your advice on:)
But please note, that I AM NOT FEEDING HER HUMAN FOOD [ CHOC ]

lucky111

Jules wrote: »

First off the bat i would say to worm your cat. Common things are common, if your cat is eating a lot of food and is always hungry and has a belly she may have worms.

Btw .. you would do well with dropping your attitude, people are only trying to help.

Jules i do not have an 'attitude'
She is wormed though, and is, will be fed twice daily form now on
I am greatful to all the advice;)

Ruu_Old

4 times a day is madness. Start with 2 set meal times as mentioned and diet food, it'll have all the nutrients that are needed also. Our cats are 1 1/2 and 2 years old, they have a small amount of dry food in the morning and another small amout in the evening and thats it. My wife and I look after cats of all shapes, sizes and ages so I would like to think we have learned a bit. Buy some of these to keep the cat off the counter.

The Sweeper

I know you say small portions, but if she's putting on weight then they're not that small. Feed one wet and one dry meal a day. Most cats will scoff down the wet feed, but not the dry feed. Feed the dry in the morning, because she's more likely to make it last the day, and then feed the wet in the evening. Because she'll return to the dry food bowl repeatedly, she gets to balance her dry meals and may eat as many as 10-15 times during the day from the dry food bowl - a very natural eating situation for a cat.

The recommended feed amounts will be on the packets you buy - the better quality the food, the more metabolised calories per 100g they'll have, so the less you'll need to feed (beware of this - a 100g tin with 125 calories vs a 100g tin with 85 calories - same volume, different nutrition - she'll eat it all either way, but one lot is more likely to help pile on the pounds unless you adjust the serving size).

The average good sized adult cat weighs about 4kg (9lbs or thereabouts), and they need about 240 - 280 calories per day. Your cat should be closer to the 240 calorie mark if she's overweight and even less than that if she is not a large cat.

(The calorie requirements of a cat change during their life cycle, depending on their size and weight, age, health and, if they're female, whether or not they're reproducing.)

Cats ideally need a all of their protein from animal sources, whereas dried foods contain a lot of protein from plant sources, hence the need for a mix of canned and dried foods.

Look at it this way - the idea meal for a cat is a couple of mice. When you can't feed a cat a couple of mice, you need to reflect the composition of the mouse in a cat's diet. Feeding dry food is like feeding your kids mac-n-cheese with a vitamin tablet. The better quality the dry food, the better quality the vitamin supplement, but it's still mac-n-cheese. Tinned foods contain far higher doses of animal protein, but a cat that eats nothing but soft, loafy tinned food will get terrible dental problems.

A mix of top quality (the best you can afford) dry food (Hills Science Diet or Royal Canin) plus good quality wet food (the "gourmet" range of wet supermarket pet foods that are like recognisable meat and fish suspended in aspic jelly, as opposed to a loaf-style food) is the best modern solution to a cat's dietary requirements (seeing as you're not about to start putting whole chickens into a blender with a bunch of supplements and doling that out).

Good luck with her - cats are buggers when it comes to food. If you're a softie, you can mistake the "feed me" yowl for "I'm starving" and you'll cave in.

lucky111

Hey RUU, i know i know
4 times is bad. i know now:o
Thanks for the help;)

The Sweeper

IvySlayer wrote: »

I own a cat who is not overweight. You did ask for advice. My cat is 12 years old, I feed her once a day in the evening. A whiskas pouch and some dog biscuits, which she loves for some reason.

Just a point - dog biscuits are a bad idea. There's a difference between what your cat loves to eat and what is good for your cat.

Dried pet foods are made palatable to animals because they're sprayed with an oily substance to make them smell and taste good. This oily substance is often made using processed oils that have been discarded by, for example, fish and chip shops. Subsequently the smell and initial taste of a dog biscuit will be just as attractive to a cat as her own dried food, but the nutritional composition of a dog biscuit is not suitable for a cat.

Dogs are more opportunistic eaters - hence they used to survive happily on the remains of the family dinner, with its mix of carbs, fats and proteins. A cat requires a far higher proportion of protein than a dog. A typical adult cat weighing 9-10lbs needs 12-13g protein a day, plus around 5-6g of fat. Their systems are well designed to digest and metabolise that food, they aren't designed to digest and metabolise plant protein.

IvySlayer

Minesajackdaniels wrote: »

Just a point - dog biscuits are a bad idea. There's a difference between what your cat loves to eat and what is good for your cat.

Dried pet foods are made palatable to animals because they're sprayed with an oily substance to make them smell and taste good. This oily substance is often made using processed oils that have been discarded by, for example, fish and chip shops. Subsequently the smell and initial taste of a dog biscuit will be just as attractive to a cat as her own dried food, but the nutritional composition of a dog biscuit is not suitable for a cat.

Dogs are more opportunistic eaters - hence they used to survive happily on the remains of the family dinner, with its mix of carbs, fats and proteins. A cat requires a far higher proportion of protein than a dog. A typical adult cat weighing 9-10lbs needs 12-13g protein a day, plus around 5-6g of fat. Their systems are well designed to digest and metabolise that food, they aren't designed to digest and metabolise plant protein.

I did not know that. I told my vet about the dog biscuits, he said it was fine as long as I did not SOLELY feed her on dog biscuits. Which I don't. The one pouch, according to him, is also fine. She's never really been a big eater. I give her an egg once every month for her protein levels. She's a very fussy about food.

MsFifers

To OP - one of my cats is greedy too and had started to put on weight, so I found a brand of dry cat food which is high quality but he is not overly fond of! (Royal Canin) He eats up but doesn't gobble the way he would have done with other brands. He gets two meals of that and a Whiskas Oh So Meaty every now and then as a treat. He has lost his belly now and is in great form.

To Ivy Slayer - I remember reading before that it is a bad idea to give dog food to cats because cats protein requirements are much higher. If you switch over from dog biscuits to dry cat food, I'd say your little kitty will be getting better nutrition.

hadook

What food are you feeding her?

The Feline Horde have constant access to food - the bowl is never empty here. They eat Royal Canin Sterilised or RC Digestive and graze all day, eating a mouthful or two at a go with only one leaning towards being even slightly overweight (and that's more an issue because of being intentionally starved by her last "owner", not the feeding style here). She's actually lost weight in the last year because her attitude to eating has changed (she's no longer afraid that the food won't be there). Of course, playing with the other cats and various cat toys helps too.

I'm surprised that no one else has mentioned it but exercise is just as important as portion control. Does she like toys? A wand toy + a small child = one very happy cat in my experience.

And put the defrosting food out of cat reach. Of course she'll eat the defrosting chicken - it tastes nice. :rolleyes:

hadook

IvySlayer wrote: »

I did not know that. I told my vet about the dog biscuits, he said it was fine as long as I did not SOLELY feed her on dog biscuits. Which I don't. The one pouch, according to him, is also fine. She's never really been a big eater. I give her an egg once every month for her protein levels. She's a very fussy about food.

Cats need a number of things that aren't found in dog food that they can't synthesise themselves. Taurine being one of them.

As long as your cat is getting a high quality cat food along with the occasional bit of dog food then, no, it shouldn't do them any harm as long as a significant amount of their diet is made up by cat food or a more natural diet. The biggest problem I can see with your current cats diet is that whiskas pouches are not a high quality cat food.

My MIL's cat became a very picky eater at about 17 and wouldn't eat anything except cooked meat and whiskas pouches. We introduced her to the senior range of dry cat food from Arden Grange and she loves it. She's put on weight etc. It's worth checking out the senior foods for your 12 year old cat if she becomes fussy as they've been designed with softer kibble, more appetising smells etc and will probably be just as attractive to your cat as the dog food is.

kitten_bar

lucky111 wrote: »

Jules i do not have an 'attitude'
She is wormed though, and is, will be fed twice daily form now on
I am greatful to all the advice;)

When worming the cat make sure you get the worming tablets as well - the spot on drops, though convenient, only cover come types of worms.

Check with your vet to make sure the cat has full worm coverage.

We have four cats in the house and they all graze happily. There's always a bowl of dry food (mixed RC yound adult male & female - there both and a bit of each won't harm the other!) and plenty of fresh water.

Though the food is there all day they don't over eat and we do have defined 'top up times' morning and evening so the cats are associating the food with us. Normally when we top up they each nibble a little and then head off again - it's just a routine thing that says "we're home, here's food, or we're up, here's food"

One of the younger ones would just on the counter at food for divelment rather than hunger so we just stopped having food out on the counter. Trying to keep the cats off the counter is a pointless excersize as a) they do it all day when we're not there and b) we don't really mind.

xxKate

hadook

kitten_bar wrote: »

Trying to keep the cats off the counter is a pointless excersize as a) they do it all day when we're not there and b) we don't really mind.

The rule in this house is "No cats on the counters when we can see you".

GigaByte

lucky111 wrote: »

I hear what you are saying and i am going to limit her feed to twice daily
Please in future, read my replys, and note what i have said and have not:rolleyes:

You do not have to only feed her twice a day. Carry on feeding her 4 times a day just feed her smaller portions.

Feeding her once a day is the worst advice someone can give you!

lucky111

GigaByte wrote: »

You do not have to only feed her twice a day. Carry on feeding her 4 times a day just feed her smaller portions.

Feeding her once a day is the worst advice someone can give you!

Hi Gigabyte, she was being fed 4 times daily but in small portions [ not 4 tins:eek: ]
Was thinking that too........ once a day:eek:
Cheers

lucky111

I'm feeding her wet food [ whiskas, tins ] She goes through about a tin a day but will not drink water only milk but i do water it down.
I will try her with dry food but have before in the past but she would not go near it:(
I have started her eating plan today...............

The Sweeper

Look, if she gets hungry, she WILL eat what's put out for her.

Plus the milk thing - you have to stop that. Many cats are lactose intolerant and milk is bad for them. Just put out fresh water - change it twice a day, and put it in a ceramic bowl instead of plastic (plastic retains smells of other food).

As hadook says, exercise is also important, even if it means just buying some new toys or tying pieces of string to a chairback where she can savage them as she passes.

Most important: SHE WILL NOT STARVE IF THERE IS FOOD THERE.

Don't spend two days watching her like a hawk and then feeding her half a chicken because you feel guilty because she's turned her nose up at what's in her dinner dish.

lucky111

Minesajackdaniels wrote: »

Look, if she gets hungry, she WILL eat what's put out for her.

Plus the milk thing - you have to stop that. Many cats are lactose intolerant and milk is bad for them. Just put out fresh water - change it twice a day, and put it in a ceramic bowl instead of plastic (plastic retains smells of other food).

As hadook says, exercise is also important, even if it means just buying some new toys or tying pieces of string to a chairback where she can savage them as she passes.

Most important: SHE WILL NOT STARVE IF THERE IS FOOD THERE.

Don't spend two days watching her like a hawk and then feeding her half a chicken because you feel guilty because she's turned her nose up at what's in her dinner dish.

She does get plenty of exercise, she's out most of the day and in at night.
She won't drink just water, i have tried for 2 days straight, no luck.
I don't feel guilty whatsoever, she's fed and exercised well.
I''l be keeping her on the wet food though and the milk [ water in there too ]
Thanks guys for all of your advice,
Cheers:)

GigaByte

Is your cat lactose intolerant? If not then she's one of the lucky ones, if your not sure and you're cats a milkaholic you can give her lactose free milk. :pac:

lucky111

Good idea, i'll pick up a batch of it tomorrow:)
Cheers

GigaByte

Best get the skimmed one for your cat.

Jules

lucky111 wrote: »

She does get plenty of exercise, she's out most of the day and in at night.
She won't drink just water, i have tried for 2 days straight, no luck.
I don't feel guilty whatsoever, she's fed and exercised well.
I''l be keeping her on the wet food though and the milk [ water in there too ]
Thanks guys for all of your advice,
Cheers:)

OK you say she get plenty or excerise as she is out day and night, do you watch her? How do you know what she is doing?

You have been told milk is bad for her yet you are still going to give it to her. Lactose free or not, milk is not good for cats full stop. Unless it is specifically cat milk. Of course she isn't going to drink water if she knows there is better stuff out there. Also do you know cats are extremely fond of drinking rain/puddle water?

Also wet food is not the best food for them either a good veterinary recommended dry complete food is what she should be eating. If she is overweight she should be put on a weightloss food also, ask at your vet for advice.

People are trying to help you but yet you dont seem to be listening to the advice you are being given.

GigaByte

Jules wrote: »

You have been told milk is bad for her yet you are still going to give it to her. Lactose free or not, milk is not good for cats full stop. Unless it is specifically cat milk.

Only ture for lactose intolerant cats. Not all cats are lactose intolerant, cats only become lactose intolerant when they stop taking milk. They aren’t born lactose intolerant.

GigaByte

Another point I'd like to make is, wet and dry food is the best combination. There's alot of reason why you shouldn't just feed a cat dry food.

In this cats case, it would not be recommended. As you've said your cat doesn't take much water. If you were to switch your cat from wet to dry food you would have to increase the cats intake of water.

Pound for pound dry food has more protien in it which is one of the reasons why many people think dry food is better. If you where to take the moisture out of wet food, then pound for pound wet food has more protien in it.

http://www.blakkatz.com/dryfood.html
http://cats.about.com/od/catfoodandnutrition/f/cannedvsdry.htm
http://www.homevet.com/petcare/feedingyourcat.html
http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/bpo_ch4.php
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071203164728.htm

lucky111

Jules, if you actually take time and look at my replys you'll see that i am taking on peoples advice:P
Of course i don't go walk about with my cat when she's out and about !!
What person does??
I'm quite sure she gets plenty of exercise
I've taken on board what advice people are giving me and i'm taking it on board
Thanks:rolleyes:

lucky111

I see if she'll start eating wet and dry food together,
Fingers crossed she'll enjoy it other wise i'll be the 1 getting evils from her all day lol
Thanks gigabyte;)

Jack B. Badd

GigaByte wrote: »

Only ture for lactose intolerant cats. Not all cats are lactose intolerant, cats only become lactose intolerant when they stop taking milk. They aren’t born lactose intolerant.

Like humans, many cats are not lactose tolerant. Cow's milk is quite high in lactose in comparison to cat (or human) milk so the inability to effectively process the lactose in cow's milk can cause digestive problems for both species.
As for your statement that cats only become intolerant of lactose when they stop taking milk, I presume you mean when they are weaned from (cat's) milk as kittens as opposed to cow's milk.

biko

We have 2 kittens that we only feed dry food now (a bit of the wet stuff when they where tiny). The reason is that if they get used to wet food they'll turn their noses up at dry stuff and it's a drag getting them to eat that.
Dry stuff can be left out all day while wet food should be put out and taken away (much like your own meals).

GigaByte

Jack B. Badd wrote: »

Like humans, many cats are not lactose tolerant. Cow's milk is quite high in lactose in comparison to cat (or human) milk so the inability to effectively process the lactose in cow's milk can cause digestive problems for both species.
As for your statement that cats only become intolerant of lactose when they stop taking milk, I presume you mean when they are weaned from (cat's) milk as kittens as opposed to cow's milk.

You're correct I should have said weaned. There's lots of articles floating around the net on this.

GigaByte

biko wrote: »

We have 2 kittens that we only feed dry food now (a bit of the wet stuff when they where tiny). The reason is that if they get used to wet food they'll turn their noses up at dry stuff and it's a drag getting them to eat that.
Dry stuff can be left out all day while wet food should be put out and taken away (much like your own meals).

Thats the convenience of dry food for you. What you could do is leave out a small bit of wet food in a bowl, don't put more in it than they would eat in one sitting and leave dry food there all day.

Tabitharose

just one point;
If your cat is out & about you dont know what she is eating when she's not at home - many years ago my tortie used to go two doors down where the two elderly ladies who lived there feed her cooked sausages every morning, and then in next door at lunch time where she was given whatever was on the go - it varied according to what meals on wheels delivered.... she was at this for a number of years, while still eating her meals at home before I found out :rolleyes:

my next door neighbour's cat comes in to me at least once daily for a meal... which btw my neighbour knows but only becaue I told her

Emerald Lass

some cats do need to be fed a little and often as otherwise they will at all of what you leave down for them and get hungry later.

our family cat is big old fatty catty! (he is mine and my sisters, and when I moved out my sister got custody!

Oscar is naturally a big build cat, so he was always going to be heavy, but he developed a big spare tyre about a month after we got him (he was a full grown male when we rescued him). He is not one of those cats who will pick at dry food til and walk off and leave the rest for later. if you fill the bowl, he will eat the whole bowlfull - he seems to have no switch off mechanism to tell him he is full. So if I put out his food out in the morning he will eat it all in one sitting, and then in the evening make me feel SO guilty with his big sad eyes because he was obviously hungry again.

I had to start measuring out his food in the morning and giving him small quantities through the day. He is now on a restricted diet. He gets 100 grams of dry food in a day (or 75 gr dry and 25 gr wet in the evening). He does try and pull on your heart strings - by the way he moans and gives those big sad eyes you would swear he hadn't been fed in days! but you just have to be strong - restricting the diet is for their own good.

Fat cats are prone to many health problems,urinary infections being one. If Oscar gets too much food very rich in protein or fats, he gets cystitis, in addition to becoming a porker. Restricting his diet is in his best interests, even if he does put on the poor mouth!

If your cat eats a lot of dry food then again you need to be careful about urinary infections as not enough fliuds increases this, and also if they eat too much calorific food that also increases their risk of infections. We don't give Oscar wiskas or anything like that - our vet said the best thing is chicken (cheap cuts will do or left overs) cooked in the microwave or steamed is best, mixed with rice. If you cook the rice and then add extra water and leave it an hour or two it soaks up the water so it is a good way to get water into the cat without them realising it. For a treat add some gravy or oxo so its not too bland. This is the only way we can knowingly get water into Oscar - he will not drink water from a bowl - he only ever seems to drink water out of the toilet! lol
He would love milk every day, but he is lactose intolerant and it gives him the squits which is not nice (a lesson my dad learned shortly after i moved out! he started giving him milk everyday as a treat (he thinks I was too strict on him!), low and behold two days later Dad found a big runny smelly poo in his work boots as cat got diahorrea and the door to where his tray was had been left closed! funnily enough now Dad never offers to give oscar milk! serves him right for not listening to me and my sis! lol)