Why is my cat craving carbs?
September 13, 2011 2:48 PM   Subscribe

My cat, who has been on a prescription diet for FLUTD for nearly a year, recently started acting much hungrier, and steals our food when she gets the chance. Lately she's been tearing into bread and cereal. Is there a reason she would suddenly crave carbs?

She was a big and fat cat for the first nine years of her life, with zero interest in people food. She lost weight when she started the diet, and spent a few days meowing for her old dry food before stabilizing and getting used to the prescription stuff. For months, she was fine with her half a can, twice a day, and the vet said she was at a perfect weight. Then around the middle of the summer, she started scavenging the kitchen and/or meowing insistently at non-feeding times.

I don't want to starve her, but don't want to make her sicker either. Any food other than her prescription food seems to trigger urinary problems, so I'm a little leery of supplementing with pumpkin, chicken and rice, or other things suggested on previous askmefi threads.
posted by pernoctalian to Pets & Animals (6 answers total)
 
This is a question for your vet, honestly.
posted by vers at 3:24 PM on September 13, 2011 [1 favorite]


Is she losing weight at her one can a day? You can always talk to your vet about adding another .5 can a day and see if she gains.

Is it possible that the bread and cereal are more available for scavenging?
posted by Nickel Pickle at 3:52 PM on September 13, 2011


Please see a vet and don't listen to people on the internet. Medical advice, whether it is human or animal, on the internet is a bad idea.
posted by TheBones at 6:52 PM on September 13, 2011


Best answer: (Advice from MULTIPLE vets is better than animal advice on the Internet—but I'd put the Internet up solidly against your average single vet. :) )

Your larger point, that there's something going on, is totally correct. Unfortunately, I have no idea what it is, nor will 99.9999% of us. I would definitely up her regular food though (in consultation). Cats with urinary tract or digestive issues, well, the good news is it's all trial and error... but sadly the error is real messy for us.
posted by RJ Reynolds at 7:08 PM on September 13, 2011


It might be worth it to buy a used baby scale off of CraigsList so you can track your cat's weight more closely.
posted by amtho at 8:58 PM on September 13, 2011


Things to discuss and/or check out with your vet: the food she's on (is it dry kibble?) may be high in carbs and producing insulin spikes that make her hungry; or she may be developing diabetes or hyperthyroidism. Or, possibly something completely different and innocuous.

You may also want to look into additional ways to keep FLUTD at bay, particularly increased water intake and supplements for UT/bladder health. You may find a second vet's opinion valuable at some point.

Wishing good health for your cat.
posted by vers at 3:59 AM on September 14, 2011


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