Have I been starving my cat?

I have a 1/2 great dane cross. According to the dog food bags I should be feeding him twice the amount I do. When I asked the vet, she laughed and said I could most definitely feed my dog the "recommended" amount, but I'd be picking up way more poop, from a very fat dog. The companies that make this food just want to make big sales, more often. Talk to your vet if your concerned, but if your kitty is happy and healthy, I think your doing fine.

Stinky gets 1/3 of a 5.5 oz (used to be 6 oz, when did that happen?) can every night before bedtime.

he always has kibble, but eats it mostly in the morning.

cats will let you know if they aren't getting enough food. they're not real shy as critters go...

hahah..unless she's preggers, don't let her con you. 2 cans is sufficient (along with the kibble). Perhaps you might consider switching her over GRADUALLY to something organic with more nutrition. Think of Fancy Feast nutritionally as being more like ice cream than main course dinner.

I prefer a more nutrient-rich food. Blue Buffalo. Here's their website with info. I buy mine at Pet Smart (large discount pet store) who carrys it for dogs as well as cats.

http://bluebuffalo.com/healthy-cat-food

The cat might be hungry.

You might try leaving dry kibble always available for her to eat at will. Then give her the can of Fancy Feast as an additional evening meal/treat. I don't think I'd increase the amount of Fancy Feast beyond one can in the evening.

Many cats like to graze on the kibble throughout the day. Generally the cat will regulate her intake and not consume an excessive amount even if the kibble is always available. If your cat has been going hungry, she might eat more at first and then level off.

The Fancy Feast cans are very small and, if the cat hasn't been getting enough dry food, she might be genuinely hungry. Try leaving the dry food always available for her and see if that makes a difference in how demanding she is for food.

Thanks for all the quick answers.

I agree, the pet food people want to sell, but my Fig is getting plump, so I don't want to buy. She doesn't do the usual cat thing of nibbling throughout the day; she gobbles till her dish is empty and 10 minutes later wants more. No matter how much I feed her she wants more - and is she ever insistent! If I fed her every time she asked she'd be obese in a week.

P.S.Thanks for the tip about Blue Buffalo. I'm going to try their food for adult cats who need slimming.

Have you discussed this with your vet?

Unlike certain other animals I could name... cats are bright enough to eat what they need and not sit there and eat themselves to death in the presence of more than they can eat. Keep the kibbled stuff out there and add a can of the tuna or whatever once in a while.

Okay, that's a clue. If she's getting fat, there's a good chance she's not starving.

As for the notion that cats will eat what they need, and stop, I live with living proof to the contrary. One of mine is overweight, and the other borders on obese. They free feed on kibble, and won't stop till they see the bottom of the bowl. Once any part of the bottom is visible, they just sit around looking mournful.

I tried free feeding with mine as kittens.

They ate until I had to restrict their food as they were fat. Kittens! Id never thought of restricting kittens' food before. As nearly adult cats if I gave them food when they asked they would be unable to walk by now.

Most of my cats have been just fine with freely available kibble.....these two and one other I have owned would eat themselves to death.

If your cat is healthy and a healthy weight I'd not change a thing.

As I mentioned before, try a higher nutritional food. They get fat because they hunger for a denser higher nutrional food. Their hunger actually gets satisfied by the right food. Before I tried Iams and then Blue Buffalo, my cats ate too much. Eventually, once I settled on the right food, they balanced out and stopped over-feeding themselves. Some cats, depending on the group dynamics and their anxiety-dominance issues, will over-eat due to comeptition. so I would feed the cats in different areas.

I pulled the bowls away after 9 pm, but that can be a problem for some spoiled cats. for some at night just leaving enough kibble on the bottom of their bowls will make them feel as though they won't starve. It's often times in the long run a case of who is conditioning whom.Finicky and spoiled cats are often created more than that are born that way. (I know, I know...I'm crazy..right? YOU never spoil your cat).

My 2 cats made it to a relatively healthy 19.5 and 17.5 yrs, respectively. I was lucky but I think I did a few right things, besides making them mainly in-door cats in their later yrs..

I can attest to that. When grumpy old cat was my only cat, he would contentedly graze on his food all day long, nibbling a bit now and then. Then, after I brought home happy new cat, grumpy old cat would eat all of his food as soon as I poured it out into his bowl. It can all be explained by elementary game theory -- it's a classic prisoners' dilemma.

But Fig i n't the alpha cart. She's the ONLY cat.

I suggest...then...over time that dynamic of where's-my-next meal-coming-from-abandoned-cat anxiety behavior will fade. You can help influence that by trickling off the amount of food you leave out in the bowl in the off-hours after she/he eats those main meals during the axctive hours. Sometimes you can create exercise activities with engaging in active play with her to get her to burn off some off those calories. Shuffle board can be fun..lol

If your cat is plump, why did you post a topic asking if she's starving?

Good question. Though, I think it was a figure of speech...(no pun intended).

However, when some critters have a distended belly it can be a sign of starvation, too. I doubt that is the case here.

I know the question sounded funny, but I was worried about too much fat and too little nutrition.

The trouble is that while I don't think she's starving, she does.

I can't leave snacks in her bowl because she doesn't believe in that. In her view a bowl should always be full so that she can gobble it all down at once, or else completely empty so she can do the Oliver Twist thing and ask for more. I've had Fig for nearly a year now, and she hasn't backed off her "I'm starving" pitch in the least. To look at her you know she can't be; to listen to her -well, call the SPCA.

Ragman commented on this when he suggested backing off of the Fancy Feast. That stuff is candy for pets, not good quality food (also leads to stinkier than necessary pooh <shudder>).

Hi Tomkitten
Just a suggestion: why not replace the tinned food occasionally with some raw meat? Like a chicken wing? Adds balance to the diet & great for cats' teeth, too.