please Help....

[Fire Fox]

They are clever little monkeys!  Noah just came and sat staring and miaowing, the way he does when he wants me to make space for him to jump up. Moving over didn't work, then I realised the window was ajar and there is the start of a thunderstorm, so I stood up to shut the window .... At which point Noah chirruped and hot footed it to the kitchen. 

[purrdy1]

  thank you for the replies.....seems ive been chumped! she is a little terror! i think you are right!...she HAS trained me!.....Twiggy isnt hungry like Fern...and she is almost mute and only squeaks if she is REALLY hungry!...

I have ignored madam this last few days or i will pick hjer up and give her some attention and snuzzle etc.....Mollie seems to do the same!.......seems ive played right into their hands!

she kept on and on and aon last night and i ignored her and she went unitl 10pm!! just goes to show ehy

i will let you know how it goes! xxx

[Millys Mum]

In the evenings he will start  asking for it a bit before it's due but I refuse to give it before 10pm (so he'll start asking for it about 9pm usually!).

Ever the optimist! Gooey tries this sometimes, he'll be there and you think to yourself is that the time already but it isnt hes 2 hours early 

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

she will follow me inot the kitchen and just YOWL and YOWL and YOWL....... ive treid talking to her, playing, dcuddling,distracting....but she wants FOOD!....she hs food then in no time at all is yowling again

Assuming their is no physical cause, e.g. worms, that's your answer!  She cries, you feed..... she cries, you feed..!    She's found out how to get food from you and you're playing along.  You're rewarding the crying.  So she'll just do it more.   Best thing is to ignore her and only feed her at set times.  Eventually she'll get the message.  Jaffa is a bit like that but he knows that he only gets fed in the morning, at teatime and before bed.  Fortunately I'm out at work during the day so there's no-one to whine to and I feed him when I get home.  In the evenings he will start  asking for it a bit before it's due but I refuse to give it before 10pm (so he'll start asking for it about 9pm usually!).

[Millys Mum]

Like HK i think she has trained you to feed her on demand!
If she genuinely does have a bigger appetite than she can eat more wet than dry calorie wise so wouldnt suggest free feeding biscuits, you will end up with a big porker that will then need a diet reduction 

[Hippykitty]

As was suggested earlier, ensure she is wormed with a wormer from the vet, not a pet shop.

If worming is up to date, then this may be learned behaviour: she has learned that when she miaows in a certain way, you give her food. If you stop responding to her demands, she'll stop demanding. Feed her at set times so that she learns that no amount of howling will get more food from you. She'll learn and stop bothering.

It's a bit like those tests they do with rats when they give them a choice of "taps" one of which gives them sweet water, the other gives nothing. After a while, they stop nudging the one which gives them nothing.

[purrdy1]

  that was so funny i keep going back and looking at those orange chops.... cats are sooooo funny arnt they!...yes im sure that Fern is greedy too. I am trying to get them all inot a morning and evening feed routine....just lately Mollie and Fern have gorged on biscuits and then sicked them all back up again! so i will continue with the wet feeds and try and keep thier appetites strong!


pesto and bacon chops

[Fire Fox]

Noah is just plain greedy, so much so he picked bacon bits out of pasta pesto the other day! Despite being 6.5kg nothing is EVER left on the plate; no way could I free feed!

I am sure you are not doing anything wrong, it's obvious you love your furbabies to pieces and would do whatever it takes to make them happy and healthy. I have read a little about feline nutrition as (human) healthcare is what I do for a living; as a result I feed a mix of high meat/ low cereal content foods. Noah seems most satisfied on raw days, maybe because it takes time and effort to eat??

I have also done a little research on cat behaviour to try to understand Noah's vocalisations, and the thing that strikes me is that most mewing/ yowling is for human benefit. Cats are sooooo clever: if Noah can learn to bite my hair for attention in a couple of days, and to offer a paw for a prawn in ten minutes flat I bet he can train me with his miaows.

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Presumably they dont free feed?

Just wonder if you put her ration of wet food down and a big dish of Purina biscuits and wait ande see what happens. if she just gorges the lot then it wont work but if she feeds on part and leaves the rest, then goes back later and them later it may work, cos she makes the decision when she eats.

Its trial and error and most cats can only eat so much LOL, Misa is 4 dinners Misa and has to test every bowl but he will be sick if he eats too much, doesnt stop him but I prefer free feeding and one time it was stopped it just caused misery to him and to me.

Having said that I throw more wet food away than is eaten and two cats share 2-3 pouches a day but in the warmer weather often just decide to have biscuits.

[Gillian Harvey]

Presume you've wormed her recently? Dry is full of carbohydrates, so maybe less dry, more wet? Look at the labels on wet food too - many contain cereals as fillers that are completey unnecessary and can pile on the pounds, especially if they are not going outside to burn off excesses!

There are quite a few threads about cat proofing systems, have you shown OH any of those to see if he would change his mind? 

[purrdy1]

I love fern who is one of the two babies i have...well she is about 9 months old now.....she appears to be hungry ALL of the time!.....she will follow me inot the kitchen and just YOWL and YOWL and YOWL....... ive treid talking to her, playing, dcuddling,distracting....but she wants FOOD!....she hs food then in no time at all is yowling again!.....its lie having a baby that cries all the time....

I dont want to overfeed them and for them to become fat cats!!! they are a good size at the moment but are starting to look a bit chunky!

I have treid feeding purina bisucits which they adore

I have treid Felix wet food (about 1/2 tin a day as well as some go cat or other crucnhy foood)

what am i doing wrong?

she wants to go out but my hubby wont let me let them out......he was here wehen Purrdy was run over and he has been terribly overprotective of the babies......the road out the front is a bit busy and i really thought he would have devised some sort of cat keeping in system...but he says they are fine indoors.....He was broken hearted when purrds died.....


help!