Savvy Pets

My Cat Is Always Hungry! How to Deal With a Food-Obsessed Cat

What if your cat is always hungry, is constantly begging for food and steals food from the other cats? Here’s how to deal with a food-obsessed cat.

Is your cat transforming from a fierce feline into a lazy Garfield? In other words, is your cat constantly hungry, begging for food, and even finding ways to steal food?

If you have a food-obsessed cat, you’re probably wondering what you can do to make it stop eating so much. 

If your cat is always hungry, check out this guide to learn how to deal with a food-obsessed cat. 

1. Don’t Encourage Bad Behavior 

We hate to break it to you, but there’s a good chance that you’re the reason for your cat’s food-obsessed behavior. 

When your cat is hovering, meowing, or head butting you to get some attention, what do you do to get it away? If the answer is, “give it food”, then you’re basically rewarding your cat for bad behavior and encouraging it to beg for food. 

Luckily, you can teach a cat old tricks. Next time your cat is bugging you, don’t give in to its demands with food. Instead, find another way to discipline your cat. For example, you could squirt a small amount of water in your cat’s direction with a spray bottle. 

Eventually, they’ll learn to not associate begging with free food. 

2. Don’t Make Food Easily Accessible 

You can’t really blame your cat for going after food if you’re constantly leaving it lying around for the taking. 

For starters, make sure you’re not leaving any food on the counter that your cat may be tempted by. Everything should be put away in the cupboard, freezer, or fridge.

Also, make sure you’re not leaving any food unattended. If you’re having a snack in the living room and the phone rings, don’t leave a bowl of chips sitting out for your cat to munch on. Make it a habit to keep your food out of sight. 

Lastly, make sure you’re securing your trash can. Some cats will go to great lengths to get free food, and that includes digging in the trash. Either put a child-proof lock on your trash can or keep your can in a closet that your cat can’t open. 

3. Don’t Leave Bowls of Food Out

Some cats can have a bowl of food out all day and only eat when they’re truly hungry. But, other cats will eat themselves sick. 

If you leave their bowl out all day, you may be absentmindedly refilling it and they may be absentmindedly eating from it. 

To prevent this from happening, only leave the bowl out at scheduled feeding times. You may also want to consider installing a microchip cat feeder so your pet doesn’t overeat. 

4. Rule Out Any Medical Reasons 

Lastly and most importantly, you want to make sure to rule out any medical reasons as to why your cat might be overeating. 

Conditions that may cause your cat to overeat include:

*Parasites

*Diabetes

*Hyperthyroidism

Running tests will help eliminate the possibility of a serious illness. According to Programming Insider, giving CBD oil to cats can help eliminate many health risks in them. petslady has more information about it. 

Cat is Always Hungry: Wrap Up 

Now that you know what to do if your cat is always hungry, it’s time to put these tips into action. Soon, your cat won’t be overeating and will be back to a healthier weight. 

If you liked this article, be sure to check back in with our job for more pet-related tips and tricks. 

2 Comments

  • Linda Linneman

    I used to have a cat but she has passed away. I loved her a lot. I wish I would have had this information back then. Who knows, I may even get another one. Thank you so much for sharing. God Bless

  • Judy Thomas

    It is especially important to take your cat to the vet if it eats a lot more than it should but does not put on any weight. Our cat eats a lot and plucks her fur out in patches. The vets are clueless we are reluctant to go back to them after months & months of paying them money for no results.