Cat Appetite Increase

"Angel" has for years had 1/2 can in the AM, and 1/2 can in the PM
It used to be it could take the rest of the day for her breakfast to disappear
Over the last few weeks, it seems she's been eating her breakfast quicker and quicker
It could've started a month or two ago, it's been a subtle increase

Now she's done in minutes, and meowing for more, dinner and breakfast

Her activity has increased a little (toys and playing with us), but I wouldn't say a big increase

She's an inside cat, with occasional supervised forays to the backyard

I don't think she's skinny, but I'm not sure she's overweight either

Should I feed her more like she seems to be asking?

 

i think that you may need to increase her intake a little, i don't know what size can you are feeding her i will assume the small ones. this is what i do and you can adjust to your situation,
going on what you feed kitty now one half a can, and then have a bowl of kitty kibbles for her to snack on during the day until dinner time then the other half of the can with a little kibble for the night time snacking. remember, she has grown up so her dietary needs are a little greater and always use the quality foods for her.
hopes this helps some, my mother raises kitties and i asked her about this as well as i have three health cats that want for nothing, and are in great shape.

barry

 

Hi Slickshift,

I've found that outdoor cats tend to eat more in winter. If her appetite has increased and you can't tell if there has been a weight change you might want to check her weight. My vet allows anyone to bring in an animal for a weight check at no charge. They would be able to tell you what kitty's weight was on the last check up. Cats can develop a thyroid condition that will cause them to either want more food or to eat less and still gain weight. If you notice a weight change you might want to have a check up.

Newt

 

Thank you for the replies

It's the 5.5 oz cans we feed her

We bought some (what seems to be) quality dry food from the feed store
Start reading the labels and it's a lot of junk in some of those popular cat foods...just like people food lol
She had a tendency to getting Urinary Tract Infections when she was just eating the dry food, that's why we switched to canned
So we really read up on the ash content etc. of the dry foods before buying any

So I put down some for a snack this afternoon when I got back
She munched a bunch, but not too much (I think)
She got her 1/2 can for dinner, and only ate half of that with some dry
The rest is still there, dry and canned
We'll see if she eats either during the night

I can find the paperwork from when she was last weighed at the vets I'm sure, but she had just had an operation at the time so I suppose that weight would be off anyway

We haven't found a vet since we moved, guess we should
Maybe I should weigh her on our scale to get an idea anyway
(I really have no idea how much she weighs now)

Maybe she just needed a little extra kibble

 

I don't know a lot about cats (my wife and I show and breed dogs; we have 1 cat), but I presume food quality is similar. I feed Royal Canin cat food to my cat because Royal Canin is well know as a quality dog food and I made the leap that if they make a quality dog food, their cat food is probably a quality food also. It is well known by the reputable dog breeders that if you can buy a food in a grocery store, it isn't a quality food. The Whole Dog Journal (kind of like Consumer Reports for dogs) puts out a list of quality foods for dogs; I have recently heard that there is also the equivalant publication for cats. Oh, and the Science Diet that the vets sell all the time has NEVER, EVER been on the WDJ list in the 10 years or so that I have followed it.

Personally, I would feed at least 1/2 dry kibble. The dry kibble will at least help keep some of the tarter off the teeth. And, like others have said, keep an eye on her weight. Better to have an animal that is slightly underweight than overweight.