Fairly Constant Hunger

[LittlePenBigHeart]

Gizzy is 6 years old and she's always been a little bit of a pig, given the chance, but she's not really one for begging (unless one of us has chip shop chips - then she'll try to snatch them straight out of our hands!).

However, in the last couple of weeks she seems like she's hungry an awful lot of the time. She stays very close whenever we're eating, tries to lick the plates/bowls when we've finished and tries to get us to give her food while we're eating.

I thought maybe she might have worms so we're treating her for that, but when I looked up the symptoms, it suggested cats can go off their food when they've got worms, along with a whole bunch of other symptoms she has none of, so I don't think it can be that.

Any idea at all? It's not like she's rabid with hunger or anything but I don't know really whether it warrants a vet trip, especially since she is a HUGE wuss when it comes to going there!!

[Lilith]

Well ... this is a classic symptom of hyperthyroidism (and as you know there are two very in-depth threads on this atm ) except for Gizzy's age. It's extremely rare in cats under 10 - but it can happen and the only way of knowing for sure is a blood test. Which of course means vet ...

Alternatively - does Gizzy go out? Could neighbours have been feeding her and now stopped for whatever reason, so she's brought her appetite home to you?

All the best, whatever

[Ruth B]

The first thing I would do is to start monitoring her weight, if there is a steady change over a few days then it would certainly be worth a trip to the vets to get bloods done and start to rule things out.

The other question might sound daft, but is she still eating her normal food at a normal pace. If she is turning her nose up at that but trying to get yours it could be she is just being fussy and wants something different, or if she is wolfing that down and then still trying after yours it could be a sign of something wrong, or like Lilith says that someone else was feeding her and has stopped.

The only other thing I can think is depending on what she is fed is there any chance they have changed the recipe and she is finding it deficient in something and is instinctively trying to supplement her diet to provide the additional things she is used to.

[LittlePenBigHeart]

Thanks so much, both.

She was referred to by the vet as 'slightly porky' when she went for her vaccinations a few weeks ago, and nothing has changed since then. I didn't think about neighbours but actually, I have caught one set of them feeding another neighbour's cat because the cat was a normal size and they assumed it wasn't being fed (all their cats are pretty drastically overweight). Gizzy isn't obviously overweight; she's just ever so slightly pudgy at the sides.

Gizzy is still eating her food very happily, and it's got a really high meat content so I don't think it's a lack of nutrition or a dislike of the food.

I'll try monitoring her weight and I'll look at keeping her in for a couple of days to see how she gets on, then take her to the vet if she still seems a bit, you know, rabid. I had a few crisps earlier and she was trying to swipe them out of my hand!!!