Overweight cat is constantly hungry

[lucky428]

Is it possible for him to have a medical condition where he can't stop eating or can't feel full?

Background - he's always been big, he grew super fast.  He used to be free fed but we stopped and put him on a diet kibble following our vet's recommendation.  He kept gaining.  Last year, the vet said he's a "poor converter" so he put him on satiety control.  It worked well.  He lost 1.5 lbs in a month.

He howls for food all the time and he acts like he is genuinely panicked.  Sometimes we try to remain strong but he will howl from 4am on.  He is relentless.  We have been caring for my husband's grandpa's cat.  She is free fed so that has been a challenge.  He scaled a bookshelf to get to her bag of food and ripped it open and ate tons of it.  He has never acted this hungry before.

It is annoying and frustrating.  He isn't picky.  He has even started going after human food which he never has before.

He has had lots of changes this year -- his best friend passed away 5 months ago and we moved halfway across the country.  But I don't think that could still be affecting him.  He seems so worried that he won't be fed.  He was never a stray.

What do I do??

ETA I'm sorry if this sounds stupid, duh my fat cat likes to eat.  But it has gotten significantly worse these last few months.

[Deleted]

I don't know much about cats, but is there a possibility he has some nutrient deficiency or isn't absorbing a nutrient well? That could make him unreasonably hungry.

For dogs, the recommendation is to give them low-fat food with a lot of volume, like green beans, to fill them up if they are still hungry after eating their dog food, but I have no idea if something like that would work for a cat.

[lucky428]

Sept 29, 2014 10:56:03 GMT -5 @moonbeam said:

I don't know much about cats, but is there a possibility he has some nutrient deficiency or isn't absorbing a nutrient well? That could make him unreasonably hungry.

For dogs, the recommendation is to give them low-fat food with a lot of volume, like green beans, to fill them up if they are still hungry after eating their dog food, but I have no idea if something like that would work for a cat.

That makes sense.  I will have to figure out what the recommendation is for cats.  Thank you!

[cmeon]

This is really spot on for cats:
www.allfelinehospital.com/getting-your-cat-to-lose-weight.pml

I would ditch the kibble and go to a wet food diet, be very careful to control his portions, and encourage him to exercise (you do have to get creative with cats- heh). Good luck!

[lucky428]

Sept 29, 2014 11:24:08 GMT -5 cmeon said:

This is really spot on for cats:
www.allfelinehospital.com/getting-your-cat-to-lose-weight.pml

I would ditch the kibble and go to a wet food diet, be very careful to control his portions, and encourage him to exercise (you do have to get creative with cats- heh). Good luck!

Luckily for me, he is surprisingly active, esp since he's 8.  Thank you for this information!

[mich1]

Have you tried feeding him a little several times throughout the day, with his largest meal at night before you go to bed? If you feed him dry chow, can you find the biggest kibble that there is to try to get him to chew it rather than gulp it down whole? It might slow him down some.

[katietornado]

We have a fatty who can't free feed or he goes berserk (same thing, he screams, he rips open bags of food like he's a raccoon, he acts like he's deaf when we try to call him away from food, he wolfs everything he eats, etc). We switched him to a raw diet maybe two years ago. We feed 2 oz in the morning and 2 at night. He still lets us know that mealtime is coming about 2 hours ahead of time, and he can get pretty frantic, but it's in his best interest to eat like this. Bonus: he's always had bad teeth and breath, and that cleared up with a raw diet.

This is what we're feeding him: www.primalpetfoods.com/product/detail/c/7/id/10