My Cat is Miserable

[magenta321]

This is my cat (and my father's foot ) :

[img]http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0SACvBI0W6UpbLP11IuihvqpX9KOkqPquavuChENsj*XtLJT3Y4!K8lKysJepPCY2ud*VK!H4gq0Jb4we!WMXpeC9X0ABu01YYfJlrkDi138wAAAAYXIsBA/orph.jpg?dc=4675422751265559821[/img]

Orph (Orphan), my cat, is about 15 years old. He's about average cat sized. He used to be fat, but then he got old.

He's not original to my home. Someone gave him up for adoption because he was eating them out of house and home.

My cat is VERY loud and VERY demanding. He only wants a few things -- in, out, and food. Attention is ok too, but he doesn't ask for it.

He has always been fed in the morning and in the evening. He always would ask for more food, but, we never gave in.

Lately though, he MEOW!!!s at a level akin to screaming until we give in and feed him. We just give him more dry food (as, we know he'd eat two bites of a can of food, walk away, and waste it -- and cat food grosses my mom out -- we're not allowed to use spoons to spoon a bit of food out of the can, or put the can in the fridge to save some for later).

Any ideas what is wrong? He's always acted like he's starved. But, now he's AGGRESSIVE about it. And feeding him doesn't make him any happier. Two seconds later he's demanding food again.

He just seems like he wants to complain for the sake of complaining, or something. (Reminds me of my grandma). Is this part of old age?

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

My 14-year-old fattie does the same thing - meows for food all day long, seeming not to notice or care that there's already food in his bowl. Can you just keep the bowl filled with dry food all day? Buffy gets 1 cup of dry diet food a day, and the whining rate goes down if we make sure there's always at least some food in the bowl.

And shoot, at his age, he should eat all he wants. What's the point of living so long if you're miserable doing it?

[magenta321]

We buy those gigantic plastic tubs of dry cat food, and have been leaving the entire damn tub open, telling him to knock himself out

Something happens as soon as we pour it into the cat's dish -- the dog wants it then. So, we can fill the dish, and two seconds later the cat walks away, and the dog scarfs it up. Repeat umpteen times, and you have a typical day.

So, now the container is out, and tipped on its side so the cat can get at the food... he's got access to more food than he could EVER eat, and the dog leaves it alone.

My cat really isn't fat. IIRC he's 7 lbs. He looks it -- he always looks big. But, he's really not that big.

I can't figure out what's wrong. He's never happy anymore

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

7lbs? Buffy's down to 19 from 23!

I'd ask the vet. Something may be bothering him, or maybe it's kitty senility or something.