My cat (Nevermore) is such a fucking fat ass and it genuinely worries me sometimes. In the same way that a hypochondriac worries they have the plague when they have a mild cough. Let me explain 😅💀🗿
When I first got him, he was a quiet cat. But after I moved in with my fiance and their cat (Smudge), he found his voice. After a while, he took to meowing very loudly when he wanted food. It was cute at first but got old quickly. Especially when he nags me about it. We eventually got into this routine where whenever he's hungry, he goes over to the cabinet where his food is kept, leaps onto the stool next to the cabinet, and meows as long and loud as he can. More so when I get within range of the cabinet.
Now, a bit of context. All the cats in our house are food motivated/obsessed to a degree. Smduge was actually the first to be visibly food obsessed and I used to tease that he was a cosmic fatass. The reason this worries me about my cat is because he wasn't always like this. Smduge has somewhat of a history being excited for food. With Nevermore, it feels like a switch just kicked on one day. And now this obsession is so strong at times it genuinely gets on my nerves and in the way of things. I literally trip on him sometimes just making my way to the cabinet for something and he runs over thinking he's getting food.
We used to have an issue of Smudge eating Nevermore's food and vice versa. I literally used to have to chase them away from each other's bowls with a spray bottle. To little avail. But now that we have three cats in the house, we had to buckle down about that. Now they have timed separate feeding. They eat on our schedule. So the first feeding for the day is around 12pm and the last feeding for the day is between 10pm and 12am. They all get up to an hour to eat the food we set out before we put it away. We do this several times a day. And we've been doing this for over 6 months now. Nevermore has a habit of taking a few bites and then napping the rest of his feeding time. Despite my best efforts, he does this at least once a day. And he can get very tetchy between feeding periods, regardless of how much he's eaten.
Of the three types of food we keep for the cats, one bag usually stays sitting out (with the top clipped shut) because we don't always have the cabinet space to put it away. This is Dahlia's food. The kitten food. And Nevermore has taken it upon himself to rub against and bite into this bag between feedings. Or as a way to signal to me that he's hungry. This behavior isn't totally unique to him, but he's definitely the loudest and most entitled when it comes to his food. He will literally harass me in the "mornings" when I get up, screaming until I set out his food. Or scream at me after his last feeding for more food. And then he has the audacity to eat too fast or something and yak it all up on the floor or my bed. I truly don't know what makes him throw up. It's not often but it's still concerning. And he's the only one who does so somewhat consistently. Smudge has only thrown up once or twice in his whole life and the only times Dahlia has thrown up was a hairball.
I know the obvious answer here is to take him to the vet. But I can't afford that. Not right now. But I don't know what a vet would tell me about this. If it's not a symptom of some medical condition, then it's psychological. And what do I even do for that?? We live in a basement. We're currently in the process of renovating to try and make more space, but we only have so much to begin with. If it's a boredom thing, I don't know what to do about that. He's not a playful cat. I've tried so many toys with him and he just doesn't give a shit most of the time.
Uuuuuggghhhh. I just wanted to vent/rant about this because truly, his attitude when he's hungry is unbearable. I don't know how I let this happen or how to reverse it. He's soooooo goddamn entitled, I've created a monster. Sometimes he bites me (softly) when I pet him to signal he's hungry. IT'S ENOUGH ALREADY!!!! If he's smart enough to try biting a hole through a bag of kitten food, he's smart enough to understand timed feeding and cutoff times. I just really don't know what I can do about this
Note: Nevermore = orange and white, Smduge = all black, Dahlia = black and white
Another note: despite my ramblings in this post, Nevermore is not fat or overweight. Neither is Smudge. They're both at a perfectly healthy weight. They just have terrible attitudes and eating habits 😤😮💨🙄😒
