OMG I'M DYING OF HUNGER FEED ME!
August 10, 2009 3:23 PM Subscribe
One cat vomits after eating too fast. How to pace her consumption?
Maggie came from the SPCA at four months old. She was fed a large, hard kibble that she couldn't eat there, and didn't eat well until we switched her to a different kibble. As a result, she seems neurotic about food. An hour before feeding time she nags us, meowing and poking. When her food dish goes down, she wolfs it. When we first got her, she'd throw up from eating too fast. That problem seems to have come back recently.
Other than that, she seems a very happy, healthy cat. She loves her roommate, a slightly larger tuxedo named Bergamot who bathes her with obscene thoroughness. We can't detect any bullying between them, and going by the size of each cat's ass, Maggie's getting at least her share of the food we put out.
Currently she gets 1/2 a small tin at 2 p.m. and 1/2 cup of kibble at 10 p.m. She doesn't bother us in the morning to feed her; it's only when her regularly scheduled meal is imminent that we get the "hurry up" from her. This took her from 2 lbs. at homecoming to 12 lbs. now, which looks quite portly on her small frame, so she's definitely not undereating, and this defeats one answer: always keep her dish full so she never feels stress about being hungry. We've thought about spreading out her feedings more so she's getting the same amount but with smaller gaps between feedings, but she'll still be hungry and get stressed, and this makes it difficult for us to be absent from the apartment.
Any ideas or insights into her paranoia that she'll starve to death within the next ten minutes, and how we can alleviate it?
Maggie came from the SPCA at four months old. She was fed a large, hard kibble that she couldn't eat there, and didn't eat well until we switched her to a different kibble. As a result, she seems neurotic about food. An hour before feeding time she nags us, meowing and poking. When her food dish goes down, she wolfs it. When we first got her, she'd throw up from eating too fast. That problem seems to have come back recently.
Other than that, she seems a very happy, healthy cat. She loves her roommate, a slightly larger tuxedo named Bergamot who bathes her with obscene thoroughness. We can't detect any bullying between them, and going by the size of each cat's ass, Maggie's getting at least her share of the food we put out.
Currently she gets 1/2 a small tin at 2 p.m. and 1/2 cup of kibble at 10 p.m. She doesn't bother us in the morning to feed her; it's only when her regularly scheduled meal is imminent that we get the "hurry up" from her. This took her from 2 lbs. at homecoming to 12 lbs. now, which looks quite portly on her small frame, so she's definitely not undereating, and this defeats one answer: always keep her dish full so she never feels stress about being hungry. We've thought about spreading out her feedings more so she's getting the same amount but with smaller gaps between feedings, but she'll still be hungry and get stressed, and this makes it difficult for us to be absent from the apartment.
Any ideas or insights into her paranoia that she'll starve to death within the next ten minutes, and how we can alleviate it?
Best answer: Put a golf ball in the food dish. It will force her to go slower.
posted by silkygreenbelly at 3:30 PM on August 10, 2009
posted by silkygreenbelly at 3:30 PM on August 10, 2009
I read somewhere -- maybe here -- that a trick you can use is to put a large object in the bowl that is too big for kitty to eat but gets in the way of her gobbling up the kibble too fast. Something like a ping pong ball. This worked for a time with my cats but they got smart and now will take the ball out of the bowl.
The bright side is the regurgitated food is pretty easy to clean up.
posted by birdherder at 3:32 PM on August 10, 2009
The bright side is the regurgitated food is pretty easy to clean up.
posted by birdherder at 3:32 PM on August 10, 2009
As an alternate to the golf ball, you can spread the kibble out on a plate (or plastic tray or a serving or casserole dish) so it's a single layer deep. Takes more work to inhale that quite as fast.
But 16 hours between feedings may be a little much. If you can't feed her something in the morning because of timing, you might consider a 2-compartment electronic timed feeder so she can have a couple of small dry meals during the day, and do the wet food when you're home at night.
posted by Lyn Never at 3:35 PM on August 10, 2009
But 16 hours between feedings may be a little much. If you can't feed her something in the morning because of timing, you might consider a 2-compartment electronic timed feeder so she can have a couple of small dry meals during the day, and do the wet food when you're home at night.
posted by Lyn Never at 3:35 PM on August 10, 2009
I'd maybe add a little dish of kibble in the morning, just so she starts to realize that food will always kinda be around.
posted by rhizome at 3:52 PM on August 10, 2009
posted by rhizome at 3:52 PM on August 10, 2009
This is very common with dogs - especially labs.
My wife and I are raising our first Guide Dog and part of the protocol that we have to follow for food obsessed dogs is to float their food in water. The labs eat their food so quick that they can literally inhale it into their lungs. This can be very dangerous - often fatal.
Anyway, floating it in water not only makes it more difficult for them to grab the food (think 'bobbing for apples'), but it also dampens it so it is less likely to turn to powder and be inhaled.
The golf ball idea may also work for cats, but would be out of the question for most larger animals. Even if it wasn't in a bowl of food, a golf ball would look like candy to a big 'ol lab!
posted by siclik at 3:56 PM on August 10, 2009
My wife and I are raising our first Guide Dog and part of the protocol that we have to follow for food obsessed dogs is to float their food in water. The labs eat their food so quick that they can literally inhale it into their lungs. This can be very dangerous - often fatal.
Anyway, floating it in water not only makes it more difficult for them to grab the food (think 'bobbing for apples'), but it also dampens it so it is less likely to turn to powder and be inhaled.
The golf ball idea may also work for cats, but would be out of the question for most larger animals. Even if it wasn't in a bowl of food, a golf ball would look like candy to a big 'ol lab!
posted by siclik at 3:56 PM on August 10, 2009
I bought these small bowls for my two cats, and it slows down their eating pace so that they don't vomit on a regular basis anymore - with their old bowls they would wolf down food like they hadn't eaten in weeks. I purchased mine at the vet's office, but it looks like there are many places you could buy them online. I also started feeding them slightly less at one meal, and adding another small meal right before I go to bed, which seemed to help as well.
posted by macska at 4:05 PM on August 10, 2009
posted by macska at 4:05 PM on August 10, 2009
Seconding siclik's suggestion - that's what we did with my two dogs, both of them the canine equivalent of vacuum cleaners.
posted by awesomebrad at 4:06 PM on August 10, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by awesomebrad at 4:06 PM on August 10, 2009 [1 favorite]
Feed her more often, though perhaps switching to diet food if you're worried about weight. And give her those toys that leave out a trail of food. Just have more food available, so she isn't terrified during her 16 hour wait -- feed them less food, more regularly, using an automatic feeder if you need to. Cats can be neurotic little things.
Is there any particular reason you don't just leave (diet?) dry cat food out all the time? Once she knows food is always around, she might get to a healthier weight.
My cats rather like it when I have accidentally poured their dry cat food into the water. It didn't seem to slow them down at all.
posted by jeather at 4:13 PM on August 10, 2009
Is there any particular reason you don't just leave (diet?) dry cat food out all the time? Once she knows food is always around, she might get to a healthier weight.
My cats rather like it when I have accidentally poured their dry cat food into the water. It didn't seem to slow them down at all.
posted by jeather at 4:13 PM on August 10, 2009
Have you thought about it possibly being a combination of hairball problems plus the past eating habits? Just thought I'd toss this out because our cat has a similar problem. Well, the result is similar anyhow.
Our cat has been warmphing (well, that's the noise!) up his food - and I'm pretty sure it's a hairball issue. One reason I suspect this is because it's summer and the cat sheds a lot more - thus cleans a lot more hair off himself. Current solution - never give him the food and leave (a new rule, you can guess why), feed him only a small part of the small can, and watch him. If he's acting normally he'll eat a bit, wander away, then return to eat more. (Being an only cat there's no food competition, the one good thing about having a single!) If he's gulping too much down (because canned food is apparently exciting! the cat becomes Anthony Bourdain going at a pork dish!), take it away, let him calm down. Also more frequent brushings - I'm working on doing that more.
So far this is working, though it's a pain as the cat is extremely needy as it is. (He has abandonment issues since a kitten. Aw, how cute sad - you may think. Problem - each time he wakes up from a nap - and you know how much cats nap - he has to run around the apartment yowling until he finds me, as if I've gone and left him for years. This is a daily ritual at this point. Luckily the apartment is small.)
No idea if yours might be having hairball fun too - just thought I'd throw that idea out there. Especially if yours has hairball plus past eating issues - maybe it could be a combination?
posted by batgrlHG at 4:29 PM on August 10, 2009
Our cat has been warmphing (well, that's the noise!) up his food - and I'm pretty sure it's a hairball issue. One reason I suspect this is because it's summer and the cat sheds a lot more - thus cleans a lot more hair off himself. Current solution - never give him the food and leave (a new rule, you can guess why), feed him only a small part of the small can, and watch him. If he's acting normally he'll eat a bit, wander away, then return to eat more. (Being an only cat there's no food competition, the one good thing about having a single!) If he's gulping too much down (because canned food is apparently exciting! the cat becomes Anthony Bourdain going at a pork dish!), take it away, let him calm down. Also more frequent brushings - I'm working on doing that more.
So far this is working, though it's a pain as the cat is extremely needy as it is. (He has abandonment issues since a kitten. Aw, how cute sad - you may think. Problem - each time he wakes up from a nap - and you know how much cats nap - he has to run around the apartment yowling until he finds me, as if I've gone and left him for years. This is a daily ritual at this point. Luckily the apartment is small.)
No idea if yours might be having hairball fun too - just thought I'd throw that idea out there. Especially if yours has hairball plus past eating issues - maybe it could be a combination?
posted by batgrlHG at 4:29 PM on August 10, 2009
We have two cats and we always leave a huge bowl of dry food out for them. They are both very healthy and, if anything, on the thin side. So I've never understand why people restrict food for their cats. Perhaps we are just lucky to have healthy cats that don't overeat. But I also think it's possible that our cats aren't neurotic about food like other people's cats are - they don't nag us or try to wake us up in the morning to feed them, they don't inhale large amounts of food quickly, and they don't pace around the house looking for food. They simply eat a few bites here and there throughout the day. The other thing we do that I feel helps with their weight is we feed them extremely high protein, low fat dry cat food. Most dry cat food is corn and it just doesn't make sense to feed cats huge amounts of corn. If you instead started purchasing cat food that is mostly made of animal protein, then I feel like your cat obesity problems might being to wane. I'm not a vet or anything, I just know that leaving out high protein dry food at all times for our cats has worked well for us, our cats are healthy and lean and far from neurotic.
posted by billysumday at 4:31 PM on August 10, 2009
posted by billysumday at 4:31 PM on August 10, 2009
One thing I've seen that often works is to elevate the food dishes slightly -- say on a small step stool or something similar. Not high enough that they have to stretch to eat, but enough that they aren't bending down to eat. With some cats this makes quite a difference.
(FWIW, I ran into this after seeing a few Abyssinian breeders doing it; Abys tend to eat like every bite might be their last and then toss it all up in the nearest inconvenient place. I've tried it myself on several cats since, and it seems to work, but I couldn't tell you why)
posted by nonliteral at 4:35 PM on August 10, 2009
(FWIW, I ran into this after seeing a few Abyssinian breeders doing it; Abys tend to eat like every bite might be their last and then toss it all up in the nearest inconvenient place. I've tried it myself on several cats since, and it seems to work, but I couldn't tell you why)
posted by nonliteral at 4:35 PM on August 10, 2009
We've solved the wolfing down -> throwing up problem (happens for ours with flavours he particularly likes!) by feeding him half his meal then making him wait a few minutes for the second half. Seems to work.
posted by springbound at 4:40 PM on August 10, 2009
posted by springbound at 4:40 PM on August 10, 2009
Response by poster: Is there any particular reason you don't just leave (diet?) dry cat food out all the time? Once she knows food is always around, she might get to a healthier weight.
Her weight is fine--maybe a little too high, even. She's 12 lbs. now, but she has a small frame, so she's already pear shaped, with a blorp that swings most charmingly when she trots. We're afraid that if we simply left food out all the time, she'd balloon. We think we're at the right amount of food now to keep her from becoming obese, and we want to avoid those health risks.
Have you thought about it possibly being a combination of hairball problems plus the past eating habits?
We've had very few hairballs overall, and we're giving them catgrass to help with that. They're both very short-haired, and they've been getting furminated quite frequently as well. So no, I don't think hairballs are an issue.
We don't want to put food out first thing in the morning because we've already been through a spell of her waking us up to feed her. She's actually quite good first thing in the morning, not bothering us. She only gets yowly when it's an hour before the times we've established. We're going to try the golf ball tonight, and maybe elevating the dishes a couple inches.
posted by fatbird at 4:48 PM on August 10, 2009
Her weight is fine--maybe a little too high, even. She's 12 lbs. now, but she has a small frame, so she's already pear shaped, with a blorp that swings most charmingly when she trots. We're afraid that if we simply left food out all the time, she'd balloon. We think we're at the right amount of food now to keep her from becoming obese, and we want to avoid those health risks.
Have you thought about it possibly being a combination of hairball problems plus the past eating habits?
We've had very few hairballs overall, and we're giving them catgrass to help with that. They're both very short-haired, and they've been getting furminated quite frequently as well. So no, I don't think hairballs are an issue.
We don't want to put food out first thing in the morning because we've already been through a spell of her waking us up to feed her. She's actually quite good first thing in the morning, not bothering us. She only gets yowly when it's an hour before the times we've established. We're going to try the golf ball tonight, and maybe elevating the dishes a couple inches.
posted by fatbird at 4:48 PM on August 10, 2009
We used to have a cat we had to feed on a plate for this reason. Just putting the food on a plate instead of in a bowl seemed to help.
posted by not that girl at 4:52 PM on August 10, 2009
posted by not that girl at 4:52 PM on August 10, 2009
Is there any particular reason you don't just leave (diet?) dry cat food out all the time? Once she knows food is always around, she might get to a healthier weight.
Her weight is fine--maybe a little too high, even. She's 12 lbs. now, but she has a small frame, so she's already pear shaped, with a blorp that swings most charmingly when she trots. We're afraid that if we simply left food out all the time, she'd balloon. We think we're at the right amount of food now to keep her from becoming obese, and we want to avoid those health risks.
As jeather notes, perhaps diet food might be an option.
posted by billysumday at 4:54 PM on August 10, 2009
Her weight is fine--maybe a little too high, even. She's 12 lbs. now, but she has a small frame, so she's already pear shaped, with a blorp that swings most charmingly when she trots. We're afraid that if we simply left food out all the time, she'd balloon. We think we're at the right amount of food now to keep her from becoming obese, and we want to avoid those health risks.
As jeather notes, perhaps diet food might be an option.
posted by billysumday at 4:54 PM on August 10, 2009
My shelter cat was, how you say, a P-I-G for the first few months and her skinny body ballooned alarmingly- my other cat is a dainty little ballerina so I leave food for him all the time, and fatty would just eat his share, endlessly. She's calmed down a lot, though, and after 6 months or so, now she leaves food on her plate and while she's still fat, she isn't gaining weight any more. Maybe she just needs time to settle in and trust that the food source is stable?
posted by pseudostrabismus at 5:03 PM on August 10, 2009
posted by pseudostrabismus at 5:03 PM on August 10, 2009
Also, if you think it's hairball-related, you can try one of those hairball pastes. My cats won't eat it from the tube, but I smear a 1cm dab on the top of their paws every few days and it's cut down on hairballs and coughing a lot. Use that stuff away from carpet- my cats sometimes flick it off and it leaves a grease spot if it hits something fuzzy.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 5:06 PM on August 10, 2009
posted by pseudostrabismus at 5:06 PM on August 10, 2009
I have three shelter cats, and each one ate like a fiend at first, then simmered down after realizing that yes, the food is always available (with one caveat: between 11 and 6 they are in their own room, with the litter box and cat beds, so the rest of us can sleep, so don't have access to the food for that period of time).
I think the measured eating, though done with the best intentions, may be why your second cat is ballooning up: she sees there is limited food and knows she has to share it with the other cat, so she is hoarding it, eating so quickly she makes herself sick rather than (in her kitty mind) having to go without any food at all.
I'd consider leaving food out all the time, or if you are really opposed to this idea for some reason, getting a smaller bowl or a small plate, which tricks the cat into feeling she is eating a larger portion than the other cat (I'm assuming you do have separate feeding bowls) since hers looks fuller.
posted by misha at 5:20 PM on August 10, 2009
I think the measured eating, though done with the best intentions, may be why your second cat is ballooning up: she sees there is limited food and knows she has to share it with the other cat, so she is hoarding it, eating so quickly she makes herself sick rather than (in her kitty mind) having to go without any food at all.
I'd consider leaving food out all the time, or if you are really opposed to this idea for some reason, getting a smaller bowl or a small plate, which tricks the cat into feeling she is eating a larger portion than the other cat (I'm assuming you do have separate feeding bowls) since hers looks fuller.
posted by misha at 5:20 PM on August 10, 2009
My parents cat was a rescue who had the same problem. Even leaving food out constantly for her didn't work and yes, she ballooned. What worked to save my parents' carpet was dividing breakfast and dinner into two sections.
She got either half a can or a whole can of food per day and it was divided into first breakfast, second breakfast, first dinner and second dinner. Unlike your cat, though, any time anyone was in the kitchen, she'd go in and meow pitifully like she hadn't been fed in years.
They had the cat for 15-17 years, with some of the middle ones shared with a second cat - she ate desperately no matter what any time food was present.
posted by bookdragoness at 6:25 PM on August 10, 2009
She got either half a can or a whole can of food per day and it was divided into first breakfast, second breakfast, first dinner and second dinner. Unlike your cat, though, any time anyone was in the kitchen, she'd go in and meow pitifully like she hadn't been fed in years.
They had the cat for 15-17 years, with some of the middle ones shared with a second cat - she ate desperately no matter what any time food was present.
posted by bookdragoness at 6:25 PM on August 10, 2009
Oh, and I nth the recommendation to mush the wet food into a thin layer on a plate - it helped a lot!
posted by bookdragoness at 6:26 PM on August 10, 2009
posted by bookdragoness at 6:26 PM on August 10, 2009
Just have to say, as a feline owner that I love the title.
posted by sien at 6:28 PM on August 10, 2009
posted by sien at 6:28 PM on August 10, 2009
Oops sorry I repeated myself back up there, guess I can't multitask while talking on the phone as well as i thought! *blush*
And thank goodness on the hairballs, I wouldn't wish those on anyone. Ugh!
posted by batgrlHG at 7:13 PM on August 10, 2009
And thank goodness on the hairballs, I wouldn't wish those on anyone. Ugh!
posted by batgrlHG at 7:13 PM on August 10, 2009
Nthing the golf balls. My cats like dry food much better than wet, but they have kidney issues so their dry food is restricted. Whenever I feed them dry they act like OMG YOU NEVAR FEED MEEEEEE! The golf balls have been almost 100% successful at forcing them to slow down enough so that they don't just inhale the food, but, you know, stop and chew a little.
posted by DiscourseMarker at 7:25 PM on August 10, 2009
posted by DiscourseMarker at 7:25 PM on August 10, 2009
Best answer: I had a similar problem with one of my shelter cats (I adopted two at once). Things that have worked with her:
1. Feeding her smaller meals, more frequently (currently three meals a day, approximately eight hours apart).
2. Setting down the cat dishes more than a cat-body length apart and training the two cats each to eat only from his or her own dish. I think she felt she had to wolf food down because the other cat would finish his first and then go head-butt her out of the way and eat what was left of her food. I invested a little time in training him not to do that.
3. Feeding the cats their dry kibble from a pair of Slimcat balls instead of from open dishes. I don't do this regularly, though, since the two strategies listed above seem to have really done the trick. The gobble-and-puke cat no longer gobbles and pukes; in fact, both cats routinely eat half of their meal and leave the other half in the bowl to come back to an hour later.
You say:
We don't want to put food out first thing in the morning because we've already been through a spell of her waking us up to feed her.
Can you feed her in the morning, but not FIRST thing in the morning? Could you make it the last thing you do before leaving the house for the day? Or perhaps get an automatic feeder and time it to dispense a meal an hour or two after you leave? I feed my cats in the morning, but only after I've been up for about an hour, made my own breakfast, gotten dressed, etc. They start asking for food after I get up, but they don't wake me up to feed them, since they've never associated me getting out of bed with them getting fed shortly after.
posted by Orinda at 7:43 PM on August 10, 2009
1. Feeding her smaller meals, more frequently (currently three meals a day, approximately eight hours apart).
2. Setting down the cat dishes more than a cat-body length apart and training the two cats each to eat only from his or her own dish. I think she felt she had to wolf food down because the other cat would finish his first and then go head-butt her out of the way and eat what was left of her food. I invested a little time in training him not to do that.
3. Feeding the cats their dry kibble from a pair of Slimcat balls instead of from open dishes. I don't do this regularly, though, since the two strategies listed above seem to have really done the trick. The gobble-and-puke cat no longer gobbles and pukes; in fact, both cats routinely eat half of their meal and leave the other half in the bowl to come back to an hour later.
You say:
We don't want to put food out first thing in the morning because we've already been through a spell of her waking us up to feed her.
Can you feed her in the morning, but not FIRST thing in the morning? Could you make it the last thing you do before leaving the house for the day? Or perhaps get an automatic feeder and time it to dispense a meal an hour or two after you leave? I feed my cats in the morning, but only after I've been up for about an hour, made my own breakfast, gotten dressed, etc. They start asking for food after I get up, but they don't wake me up to feed them, since they've never associated me getting out of bed with them getting fed shortly after.
posted by Orinda at 7:43 PM on August 10, 2009
The health risks of an overweight cat need to be balanced against the health risks of a bulimic cat. If you're unwilling to allow your cats to eat at will (something which will most likely work out long term, once she's used to regular food, and especially if you ensure she gets enough exercise), then you really should consider a toy which lets food out.
It's unclear how long you've had the cat for, but if she's never had at will food, you really ought to consider it. Go for diet cat food. Go for an automatic feeder that dribbles out food every 2 hours. Your cat is worried she won't get fed enough because she isn't getting fed at normal intervals, and because she has a history of insufficient food.
posted by jeather at 8:57 PM on August 10, 2009
It's unclear how long you've had the cat for, but if she's never had at will food, you really ought to consider it. Go for diet cat food. Go for an automatic feeder that dribbles out food every 2 hours. Your cat is worried she won't get fed enough because she isn't getting fed at normal intervals, and because she has a history of insufficient food.
posted by jeather at 8:57 PM on August 10, 2009
You can buy "treat dispenser balls" for small dogs, but I've also seen people take some of those plastic easter eggs, punch a small hole in the side, and then put kibble in there and let the cat bat the egg around on the floor; kibble comes out a piece at a time, cat eats more slowly, and gets some small amount of exercise and "hunting play" by this method. My sister does this for her cat; each day Kitty gets a measured amount of food into her easter eggs and carefully rolls the eggs around until they are empty. If they neglect to feed her when she's due, she will SMACK the empty eggs meaningfully across the floor, and glare.
posted by The otter lady at 10:30 PM on August 10, 2009
posted by The otter lady at 10:30 PM on August 10, 2009
Response by poster: We've tried treat dispenser balls. Honestly, neither of seems smart enough to figure it out :)
We tried the golf ball tonight, and it certainly did slow down their consumption, so that's a good first step. We may try other things suggested here (in particular we've been looking at an automatic feeder). Thanks everyone for your input.
posted by fatbird at 12:16 AM on August 11, 2009
We tried the golf ball tonight, and it certainly did slow down their consumption, so that's a good first step. We may try other things suggested here (in particular we've been looking at an automatic feeder). Thanks everyone for your input.
posted by fatbird at 12:16 AM on August 11, 2009
I have the same problem with one of my cats and I haven't been 100% successful with preventing it, but I got him down from overeating and vomiting at every meal to only doing it once a month or so. I give my cats 3 meals a day: 2 wet food with a small amount of kibble overtop, one kibble only (the morning one as I'm most rushed then). The kibble I use is t/d, which has larger pieces that cats have to chew to eat - this is designed to keep their teeth clean and sharp, but I find it also forces my 'bulimic' cat to eat more slowly. I feed all cats at the same time, so that they cannot eat more than one dish each.
posted by Kurichina at 10:17 AM on August 12, 2009
posted by Kurichina at 10:17 AM on August 12, 2009
The recs might have changed in recent years but like other responders we leave dry food down for our single cat all the time. He gets anxious when he's eaten a hole in the food to the tiniest part of the bottom of his dish. We just shake the bowl to cover the hole and his world is restored. Food insecurity for cats does seem to be relative.
posted by Mertonian at 12:11 PM on July 19, 2010
posted by Mertonian at 12:11 PM on July 19, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by wcfields at 3:27 PM on August 10, 2009