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pantyless_angel
2008-04-25 06:23 am UTC (link)

What is with all the people who sound like they think cats are too stupid know when they are not hungry anymore? We leave food out for our indoor cats all the time, and they get canned food once a day. They've never gorged them selves. Even our barn cats who only get a big heap of dry food once a day don't gorge them selves. They eat what they want, go, and come back if they get hungry again later.

Sort of off topic but while were talking about cats does anyone else have a cat that insist on taking showers with them?

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chibikaijuu
2008-04-25 06:47 am UTC (link)

Some cats don't - they just lack the "I'm full" gene. Most can self-regulate pretty easily, particularly if they are only cats, but not all. We've always had multiple cats who, for some unknown reason, feel they are in competition for food, and so we have to feed them in separate rooms - I suspect if we just left food out, whomever could get to it first would gorge themselves (and then barf it all over my bed, goddamn it).

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dana
2008-04-25 09:29 am UTC (link)

I've had four cats in my life, and two of them were always hungry (supposedly, but they so weren't), from what I've heard from a breeder, most cats don't have impulse control with food, they will eat everything you put in front of them, and more. And it's up to the owner to be responsible for limiting the food to a normal healthy amount.

I don't know about dogs, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's the same, because I do see a lot of fat dogs at the vets.

The breed of cat I own is prone to obesity, just because most of them love their food, but so far I've had a picky cat, and my vet says I'm fairly luck with that.

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	maegwin_of_hern 2008-04-25 01:05 pm UTC (link)
	Same with dogs, that's why people shouldn't feed their dogs from the table. The dogs smells that there's food and will beg, but you shouldn't give them any. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

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dana, 2008-04-25 03:15 pm UTC

wyf_of_bathe
2008-04-25 03:00 pm UTC (link)

It's definitely the same with dogs. Oh, man, is it the same. It's in their set of rarely-used "wild" instincts to eat whatever is available in the largest available quantities. My dog doesn't know whether she's being fed a lot or not so much because, when she's done, she immediately looks for more. If anything at all smells like food, it must be eaten. For my dog, this has included an entire tube of hydrocortisone cream.

Yeah. She's not the brightest.

Anyway, the food obsession depends primarily on breed and personality, from what I've seen. Some dogs do not care so much about food. Others, like mine, though she has never received table food, will put their enormous, drooling heads in your lap while you're eating.

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ellensmithee
2008-04-25 10:16 am UTC (link)

I was thinking about that this morning because one of our cats really only eats till she's full and is really slender, but the other can eat constantly and is now 2 lbs. overweight because one of our neighbors leaves food out for their cat, who they don't let in. The vet says there's nothing we can do because we obviously can't stop feeding her because we can't know if the neighbor has put out food and if she's eaten what the neighbor has put out.

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	nekoama 2008-04-25 11:31 am UTC (link)
	It happens. My first cat cat ate everything big enough to fit in his mouth, which is good incentive to keep the house clean, but it did result in making him a fluffy jabba. Of course, the fact that he was so adorable over being fed bacon didn't help. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	dragonfangirl 2008-04-25 11:35 am UTC (link)
	Actually I think dogs are worse about that than cats. Our dog will never not want to eat. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	saieboux 2008-04-25 04:28 pm UTC (link)
	D: I kinda wish my dogs did that. As it stands, they hardly eat their dinners and are so picky. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	dana 2008-04-26 07:22 am UTC (link)
	Really? My vet says it's harder with cats, because when a dog gets a bit tubby you can take them out for walks and exercise, you can't exercise a cat very easily, so it gets a bit difficult with cats. (Reply to this)(Parent)

rosehiptea
2008-04-25 12:47 pm UTC (link)

My cat did fine on unlimited dry food. He's big but not fat. He's on wet food now which I can't just leave lying around in large amounts but he still seems to get as much as he wants and be OK. But judging from the comments that's not the only way cats act.

I take baths, not showers, but if the door is open (I live alone) he'll come in and get up on the edge of the tub stare at me. If I showered he'd probably want in. My daughter's cat climbed into the tub with her a couple of times but was then unhappy about being wet.

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pantyless_angel
2008-04-25 05:47 pm UTC (link)

judging from the comments that's not the only way cats act.

This is actually really interesting to me because we've never had a cat that overate. I wonder if it's genetic in cats like it is in people?

Cadbury, the cat in question was a barn cat we had to bring in as a kitten after he was injured. We decided he needed to stay a house cat after finding out he's partially blind, and partially deaf. Even before we brought him in he liked to just sit in poring rain. After bringing him in he started playing in the toilet after it had been flushed, and climbing into the sink when ever it was turned on. The shower thing was something my dad started. Cadbury always watched us take showers, and Dad wanted to see if he would get in. He did, he likes to sit on the side of the tub on the side under the shower head where he gets soaked, and soaks the bathroom. (I have never been so thankful for tile, and linoleum.) Now we have to keep the door open for him when we shower or he throws a fit.

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rosehiptea, 2008-04-25 06:05 pm UTC

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pantyless_angel, 2008-04-25 06:48 pm UTC

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rosehiptea, 2008-04-25 07:02 pm UTC

soupspooks
2008-04-25 01:02 pm UTC (link)

Really depends on the cat. I have one that's as close to being bulimic as an animal can get - If I don't watch him, he'll stuff himself silly, go throw up, and then go back to eat more (and then later eat his own vomit.)

He was a stray cat I took in from the street. He's adapted just fine to everything else. Regular meals, though, still aren't something he takes for granted.

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	lerefuge 2008-04-25 02:17 pm UTC (link)
	AWWW poor thing! My cat does that sometimes too but he never was stray. He's just a greedy fat ass ;) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

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soupspooks, 2008-04-25 03:17 pm UTC

	chibikaijuu 2008-04-25 08:18 pm UTC (link)
	One of my cats does that occasionally. She'll snarf down her food as fast as possible and then try to get into the bathroom where we feed the other two, to steal their food (she only does this sometimes). Then, because she ate so quickly, it all comes back up. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	catmoran 2008-04-25 01:27 pm UTC (link)
	I've owned a number of cats, and all but two have gotten slightly overweight with my 'dry food 24/7' policy. Just the dangling tummy, but still. Well, one is a little more overweight than that. But he's blind so he doesn't get as much exercise as the rest. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	willywanka 2008-04-25 01:59 pm UTC (link)
	My first cat was like your cats, but my current cat will eat and eat and eat. I guess it's like with people, some of us will eat even when we've had enough nourishment for the day. hides Doritos On the bathroom question, my cat likes to hang out in the bathtub while I shower, but our shower is one of those stand-up stall things separate from the tub. (Reply to this)(Parent)

risha
2008-04-25 07:54 pm UTC (link)

I have three cats. They get a bowl of dry food and a can of wet food each day.

The Meep: Massively furry, somewhat overweight, and likes to graze at the dry food all day. I'm pretty sure that she's just bored most of the time.

Max: Fluffy, in good shape but with a slight paunch. Eats a bit in the morning and then grazes occasionally during the day. Sometimes eagerly eats the wet food and sometimes doesn't touch it.

Sam (pictured above): Short fur, and terrifying skinny. Very high strung and sometimes stops eating for a couple of days. A light eater even when he's eating.

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	ruby_falls 2008-04-25 09:34 pm UTC (link)
	My cat doesn't get in the shower (although he does like to lick the water after I get out), but he'll lay in the sink and let the faucet drip on him. He gets out of the sink, and he's completely drenched, and happy as can be. It's only annoying when he decides that when he wants to cuddle. (Reply to this)(Parent)

msmanna
2008-04-25 11:26 pm UTC (link)

They've never gorged them selves.

We have one cat who was brought up with several other cats and a couple of labradors. At first, she would eat all the food we put down, no matter how much, even if she threw it up again right away because she was so stuffed. I think it was because she'd always had to eat as fast as she could before the dogs finished their own food and came to polish off the cats'. She just had no concept of stopping eating when there was still food in the bowl.

She did put on a lot of weight at first, but she eventually figured out the food was not going to disappear instantly any more, and then she stopped gorging and slimmed down.

does anyone else have a cat that insist on taking showers with them?

One of our cats loved sitting on the edge of the tub and watching when we showered. I think she was just generally entertained by humans do weird things. She used to get quite wet from the spray, but she never actually got in the tub.

(Although she was less welcome after the time I walked into the room while my husband was having a shower. He was rinsing shampoo out of his hair, eyes closed, and the cat had her paw raised, juuuuuuuuuuuuust getting ready to take a swipe at the fascinating dangling thing.)

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knightrider
2008-04-26 12:36 am UTC (link)

I've always been able to leave dry food out and the cats don't gorge - they just come and go as they please. If I put out something extra tasty like tuna or something, they're all over it. One of them will even leave a portion of that uneaten, though, which the other one polishes off. The "other one" in question is a twelve-week-old kitten, however - not exactly known for their moderation skillz.

Showers...oh yeah. My last cat, Archie, used to sit on the end of the bath, out of the spray, and just...watch. His sister Chester (long story) likes to sit IN the bath, but on the outside of the shower curtain so she stays relatively dry. I just have a big lump of cat on my foot for the duration. The new kitten, Starbuck, is just learning the joys of joining Mummy in the shower, as well. Odd little critters.

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	julesnoctambule 2008-04-26 12:50 am UTC (link)
	Our cats are like that, too; the fat one always demands fresh food but will eat a bite or two when given the food and then wander off. The other two will eat from the communal dish whenever they're hungry but Fat Girl prefers fresh. It's rare that they clean their plate during a day. (Reply to this)(Parent)

vzg
2008-04-26 01:13 am UTC (link)

My cats and dogs are the same. My last two dogs, before the two I have now, though, were fatties — one only after being neutered, though. We had to have meal times for them because they were such idiots about it. The two we have now, even though one of them lived with one of the other ones, not only don't gorge themselves, they tend to not finish what we give them — and they even eat from the same bowl and share well. It still amazes me. (They are extremely active, though, so that could account for part of it — they've got energy like no one else I know.)

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	platedlizard 2008-04-26 04:18 am UTC (link)
	My mom had a cat who if given unlimited food would binge and purge all over her rug. He would literally eat until he was sick and threw up, then go back for more. We had to limit his meals and get him a kitten to stop it. Not all cats know when to stop eating. :/ (Reply to this)(Parent)

agent_hyatt
2008-04-26 04:51 am UTC (link)

We got my old cat after he was put up for adoption after begging cookies from people (he used to live in a bookstore with a cafe) and getting sick. Repeatedly. We kept him on a diet and usually had to check if anyone had fed him, because he would beg even if he'd just been fed.

He also thought that if it was raining outside the front door it might not be raining outside the back door and only realize his mistake after he'd gone out. Sometimes he'd double-check the doors, too, running back and forth between them.

On the other hand, he also figured out how to open unlatched doors. Selective intelligence.

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