You know they can be pretty obsessed with food if you’re a cat owner. And while it’s cute when they beg for scraps or try to sneak into the kitchen, but it’s not so cute when they track food all over your house.
So, how to minimize a cat’s food obsession?
We all love our cats. They are cuddly, cute, and often provide us with hours of amusement. But cats having this downside become extremely demanding. So here we discuss five ways to deal with food obsession.
But first, look at signs of food obsession; these will help you identify the problem quickly.
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8 Signs of Food Obsession in Cats
Some of the most common indications that your furbaby is a little too focused on eating include:
- Aggressiveness around the food bowl
- Rubbing up against your legs while you are in the kitchen
- Seeming impatient at mealtimes
- Vocalizing louder than usual
- Over-excited behavior at mealtimes
- Seeming over-interested in your food
- Generally pestering you for food
- Bad behavior at his or your meal times
8 Ways to Minimize Cat’s Food Obsession
At first, need to make sure your cat is healthy, and there is no ailment behind excessive hunger. When we rule out the medical issues, you can focus on:
1. Serve Enough Food To Let Your Cat Feel Full
Ask your veterinarian if you’re not sure how much to feed your cat. But in general, cats should have around two times as many calories in a day as they weigh in pounds. So it would help if you fed them enough to feel full. Until they feel full, they wouldn’t look for different meals.
2. Provide Right Nutrition
Make sure your furbaby has the right nutrition. If you recall, every cat has different nutritional needs based on age, weight, and activity level. Therefore, you need to ensure that they get enough nutritious food in each meal.
You must not ignore this fact while providing the quantity of food to provide a full feel.
3. Follow a Feeding Schedule
Cats are creatures of habit, so try to feed them regularly. This will help minimize food obsession and make your life easier, too!
Moreover, while following a schedule, your cat will only expect food at the said times and never beg for food all day.
4. Make Eating a Challenge
Make your cat work for their food by feeding them from a puzzle feeder or putting them in places they can’t reach easily. It will help to minimize their obsession and also keep them entertained.
As well as such efforts will keep them busy for a reasonable time, and it will satisfy them.
5. Provide Negative Reaction on Begging
If your cat begs for food, ignore them completely. You can even provide a slightly adverse reaction to make them understand that you are not happy when they whine, meow, cry, etc, to get attention.
Similarly, if you are trying something different with feeding sessions or food storage, they avoid begging tricks in the future.
6. Do Not Leave Bowls Of Food Out
This is a common mistake that most cat owners make. When you leave food out all day, your cat will become obsessed with it and will constantly beg for more. By removing the food bowl entirely or putting it away after each meal, you can help minimize their obsession.
7. Break The Crying Habit
Cats cry for many reasons, one of which is being hungry. If you’re not available to feed them when they cry, have someone else do it or put them in a place where they can’t see or reach the food. This will help break the crying habit and minimize their obsession with food.
8. Involve Them In Activities
A great way to tire out your cat and keep them from being bored is to engage them in activities. This could include playing with a toy, going for a walk, or even just letting them sit in a sunny spot.
Boredom can lead to excessive hunger, so keeping your cat busy will help minimize their obsession with food.
Does My Cat Eat Too Much?
Follow our diet chart keenly and observe for a few days if your cat is eating more than our experts suggest; she is eating more.
Such cat food advisory charts are also available with vet hospitals; you can follow any of them and make sure that they serve the right quantity.
Learn to know about the food ingredients which cause urinary crystals in cats as well as we recommend you to visit a well-researched piece from our experts why does my cat eat dog food? It will help you figure out ways to keep your cat away from dog food.
Why Are My Cats Always Hungry?
When your cats are always hungry, they are not eating too much; instead, you are serving them less food, making them hungrier after a short time.
So if you want to minimize their food obsession, you need to give more food quantity with a proper nutritious value that will make them feel full for a long time, or else they would keep looking for food.
Ask your veterinarian if you’re concerned that your cat may be overeating. But in general, cats should have around two times as many calories in a day as they weigh in pounds. So it would help if you fed them enough to feel full. Until they feel full, they wouldn’t look for further meals.