My cat always begs for food. Is this a behavior problem? How to stop?
Updated On September 23rd, 2025
Pet's info: Cat | Norwegian Forest Cat | Male | unneutered | 12 lbs
My cat is always following me for food no matter how much I feed him, is that some sort of behavior disorder ? ( he is an adult rescued cat) and is it fixable ?
2 Answers
Most Helpful Answer
Published on October 28th, 2017
You may want to try an automatic feeder. You can program it to release a certain amount and at a certain time. Eventually Steeve will not associate you with food anymore, although it may take a few weeks. Best of luck and thank you for using Pet Coach.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Related Answers from Veterinarians
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Published on March 28th, 2018
Some kitties will just beg for food constantly. There are great food dispensing toys available which make the cat work for their food. They are balls with an opening. You fill the ball with dry food and Jasper will have to roll it around until it drops a kibble. This will extend feeding time significantly and it will keep him from just eating out of boredom and gives him exercise. your local pet shop should carry this food dispenser, or you can find it on the internet.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Food & Nutrition
Hi, there. As far as we can figure we are definitely feeding my cat enough. He is maintaining weight, he gets fed several times a day, but he still begs incessantly. His only focus is food and his urgency is a bit alarming. Is there any low-cal tummy
Some kitties will just beg for food constantly. There are great food dispensing toys available which make the cat work for their food. They are balls with an opening. You fill the ball with dry food and Jasper will have to roll it around until it drops a kibble. This will extend feeding time significantly and it will keep him from just eating out of boredom and gives him exercise. your local pet shop should carry this food dispenser, or you can find it on the internet.
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Health & Wellbeing
My British shorts being a fatty. He meows for food every 3 hours. Should I just ignore him and give him his daily 2 meals. I fed him dinner, a big wet hearty ration of beef and then an hour later he started meowing for more, circling his plate. So I
Great name! It is true at this age he could be having a growth spurt, but cats also learn very quickly to keep asking for food when they are rewarded! I would make sure his body condition is good (not too fat or too thin), and that he is on a good quality food with enough protein. If that is the case, I would get him on a meal schedule so that he (and you!) are not as tempted to ask for (or give) food when it is not meal time. If he is still staring at you, try playing with him or giving him new cat toys instead of feeding him. I think it is good you are asking this question instead of feeding him more as many of our cats are overweight!! I hope this is helpful!
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Food & Nutrition
Hi! I'm trying to help my cat loose weight, but even if we control his portions he keeps stealing my other cat's food who is a slow eater - more on and off eating and not in one go. Do you have any advice? Thanks !
There are only two ways you can control this. The first is to separate them during feeding times, offer multiple feeding times in a day and not to leave food down to free feed. The second option is to purchase one of the specialized automatic feeders with the individual collars. Each cat will wear it’s own special collar and when it approaches the feeder, the feeder will read the collar and dispense food or not. Best of luck.
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Food & Nutrition
Why is my cat always hungry? I was overfeeding her and she's a little overweight, so I now feed her the recommended amount of food twice per day, but she's always hungry much sooner than the next feeding time. This morning she went so far as to eat
It is more likely she is bored rather than hungry. You should do some environmental enrichment for her and I would also suggest you get an automatic feeder that will dispense food every few hours (her daily amount broken up into multiple smaller feedings through the day). I would cut out the wet food all together. Some Feliway diffusers may help to calm her a bit as well. ( https://www.feliway.com/us/Products/FELIWAY-CLASSIC-Diffuser ) ( thedrakecenter.com/materials/environmental-enrichment-indoor-cats ) ( https://www.amazon.com/PetSafe-5-Meal-Automatic-Dispenses-Digital/dp/B000GEWHNS/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3LGP5X3KNCN9U&keywords=automatic+cat+feeder&qid=1563116991&s=gateway&sprefix=automatic+%2Caps%2C485&sr=8-3 ) Hope this helps. If you have more questions you can always opt for a private consultation where we can chat back and forth. That way you can ask as many questions as you'd like. Best wishes.
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Health & Wellbeing
My cat meows so much (constantly) the morning. For food but also for attention after he is fed. He's a great cat but it's too early. I'm so tired and I have to get move sleep- how can I get him to be quiet? My roommate also has a cat (they are best o
How frustrating! Unfortunately this is a common complaint. Cats are notorious for training their people to do all sorts of crazy things when it comes to their food. Right now Albert is requesting food early in the morning and you (reasonably) give him food/attention to quiet him, so he learns that meowing at ungodly hours is a successful strategy and keeps on doing it. What you need to do is change that dynamic. A couple ideas: 1) Ignore Albert until a certain time in the morning that you find acceptable. This is very hard at first and you'll sleep less, but he should get the idea after several days to a week. You must truly ignore him -- no positive or negative responses to his attempts to interact. 2) Switch to an automatic feeder that dispenses a set amount of food at certain intervals and then ignore all Albert's request for you to feed him. He'll learn bugging you doesn't results in food. You'll still need to ignore him in the early morning until he learns you're not available 3
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Food & Nutrition
My 4 year old cat seems to be constantly hungry. I already feel like she is borderline over weight and feed her "weight control" food. But she will meow at me until I feed her, even after giving her food. She's gained 1.5 pounds in the last year an
I would recommend getting a ball that dispenses treats or a different treat dispenser. I would put Malsey's meals in this and then let her work for her food. Then you can give her the wet food as a treat. That way she has all day to work for it and maybe it will stop the meowing for food since there will probably still be more in the dispesnser. You can try something like this: https://www.amazon.com/PetSafe-Egg-Cersizer-Interactive-Dispenser-Treats/dp/B003H44R5K/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1545441803&sr=8-4&keywords=treat+dispensing+cat+toys Thank you for using Boop by Petco.
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Health & Wellbeing
Is there an easy way to feed multiple cats? How do I keep one cat from eating the others' food?
This can be a challenging situation, especially if you have one cat that's more of an "eater" than the others. I would try to offer canned food for one meal, and dry for another. For the canned meal, you can put it out into separate bowls, ensure that everyone has their own bowl, and monitor the situation until they finish. Most cats will go ahead and finish a portion of canned food, unlike dry, which they will often "snack" on.
You can also reinforce the "ownership" of each cat's bowl by calling them, and then feeding that cat only in that bowl (and consequentially, in that space) at all times. That way, you're teaching them that they will get fed at "their" bowl at all times. Interlopers onto other bowls should be discouraged and redirected back to their own bowl.
Finally, if you're up for spending some money, there is an [automatic feeder](https://www.surepetcare.com/en-us/pet-feeder/microchip-pet-feeder) that opens only for a signal from your pet's microchip. This can become
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Food & Nutrition
For my other cat Luna, as soon as her food opens (automatic feeder) she finishes it all right away, but for Mina she only eats a bit at a time and takes almost the whole day to finish it. Right now their food is in different rooms and I monitor them
Thanks for using Boop by Petco! It is difficult to change a cat’s eating preferences; there are a couple of options to try, however. There are automatic feeders that are triggered to be open by a specific tag on the collar; this way, Mina could come and go as she pleases and only her collar would open the feeder. Another option, if she likes wet food, is to feed her a larger portion of wet food that she will eat right away. If these options don’t work, I would recommend reaching out to your regular veterinarian for more options. Good luck!
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Training & Behavior
Hello, please can you help/give me some advice? Pepper has started to get up very early (5am) asking for his breakfast. He’s meowing constantly, jumping on the bed and scratching my pillow. He’s also learned that my alarm means breakfast is served! I
Hi there. This is a common problem in cats. I would recommend using a timed automatic feeder to give him breakfast in the morning, so that you're not personally involved in the process - that way, there's no point in waking you up. Here's an example of one that would work well for this purpose: https://fulcromarket.com/products/automatic-pet-feeder?variant=19256144166974&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Google%20Shopping I would also recommend closing your bedroom door to keep Pepper out of your room at night, until the new feeding routine is established.
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Food & Nutrition
I feed Julian both wet and dry food, in the quantities recomnended by the food producers for his weight (4kg), but he always seems starving and is begging for more food. He would eat practically anything, including vegetables! He looks good and fit,
If Julian's weight seems appropriate and your vet has confirmed that his body condition is ideal you should not offer more food. Some cats have big appetites and will continually beg for food even though they are getting enough calories. If ignoring the begging is difficult you could look into using an automatic feeder for the dry food, or try hiding smaller amounts of dry food around the house so he has to 'hunt' for his meals.
Updated on September 24th, 2025
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