psycho kitty - or eating disorder? [View All]

[Donnachaidh]

We adopted a new cat at Christmas from the local pound. She was a year and a half old, looked very clean and healthy, but scared shitless when we looked into her cage. She was literally -dug in- to her litterbox and would not move. I took her from her cage and she stayed in a tight little ball when I held her. She was NOT happy about being in the pound.

Since then we've had her spayed, wormed, all shots - she looks like a new car, all shiny and clean. But she has a quirk that I cannot figure out. It's about FOOD. She CANNOT get enough. She CANNOT share a double dish with our other cat. She starts popping him in the head at mealtimes. It's so bad we feed him in another room, just to keep the peace.

I've had tests run after the worming, to see if they missed something. But she's clean as a whistle, so to speak. But STILL she turns into a begging machine when we get up in the morning. And it's non-stop. She's pulled apart bread wrappers to get at the bread. She tried acting bad-ass to the dog to snatch her food, but she got the message that THAT wasn't going to fly (she's not a dumb cat anyway). I'm kind of at a loss as to what is causing this problem. And if there is a real solution that will stop her anxiety about food.

We feed twice a day, canned cat food. I was thinking of setting up a dogproof area on a counter to leave out dry food. Do you think this might help? I've tried to get some background history on her (I suspect she might have been feral, or worse, in a house with too many pets and not enough food) but haven't had much luck.

I really like her and would love to help her get over this obsession. She's a very loving kitty and she needs some help. ANY advice is appreciated.