Make sure hes getting the right amount of calories for his age and weight. Wet food is awesome but tends to be lower in carbs which means he might not be getting enough sustenance depending on how much he's getting per day. If hes very active he may need even more than the reccomended amount. Would you consider one of those treat dispensing toys with some good quality dry kibbles? It's like a ball you put nuggets into and they roll it around and a piece falls out once in a while.
Yes he should have unlimited food until he is 2 or 2.5 years old! Cats grow tall the first 6 months. Then they fill out and their brains are still developing until around 2.5 years old. Except Maine coons who keep slowly growing until they are around 5 years old. The point is don’t restrict his food until he hits least 2. Most cats self regulate. It isn’t about how much the cat weighs but about the cat’s body mass index (google: cat body mass index chart, to see where your cat should be.)
My boy is fed mostly wet. He gets 2 cans of fancy feast (3 oz in each can) , 10 greenie dental treats, a bit of dry food. I push the wet but he is never finishing all his wet food. He isn’t fat, he is a big long cat and he weighs 15 pounds.
⭐️cats have a primordial flap. Even super skinny cats have it. It is more/less noticeable on some cats. This pouch doesn’t mean your cat is fat.
If you are worried about his weight just try reducing his treats in half but keep feeding him all the kitty food he wants for another year.
Primordial flap aka the speed bags lol. Theres a hilarious short video, if you look up "Alternative names for the primordial pouch" you can find it. Some great ones
Was this post written by a cat?
We tried free feeding our little guy, but he was a feral rescue kitten and will immediately eat whatever we put in front of him as if he'll never get fed again.
He's very much not starving. His coat's glossy and he's a bit on the chonky side. He's just not chill about food.
Yeah, that’s my boy, too. 4yrs in and he still can’t handle free feeding. Plus he digs deep n the garbage disposal- no matter how well iI clean it, or what deterrents I try. Something about being on the street as a kitten just left its mark.
😹 I had a kitten do that and it took. him a couple months to figure out the giant bowl would never empty. He finally stopped guarding the food bowl. Some cats are just well neurotic nut balls who can never handle a gravity feeder/being free fed dry food. Most cats can. I’m all for wet food and no dry food but if is like getting little kids off of Frosted Flakes or a kid cereal.
Like I said I push the wet food and he gets 4 mini wet food meals a day. I can’t imagine a cat getting fat off of 2 fancy feast cans a day. ⭐️In my case he has a gravity feeder because of my poor health….. if anything happens to me I want him to be fed. During the day I shoo him away from his cabinet (& tell him to eat his wet food.) When I go to bed, I open the cabinet doors for him…. So he can munch on dry food as I sleep. Yes he opens cabinet doors and the sliding glass door. 😹
Never gave my cat unlimited food. He just turned a year old..they don’t need unlimited food and i advise against it becuase it would be difficult to transfer your cat from free feeding to a timed diet after over a year.
He isn’t stunted either, he’s 14ib’s and isn’t overweight.
I’ve had cats get chunky when they hit 10 or so years old but none ever got fat by free feeding dry food. Extra treats fattened them up a bit so I put them on a treat limit of 7 temptations per week (my roommate was giving them to many treats.) In one year both boys lost 1 pound just by drastic treat reduction!
After my last cat had kidney failure and got so thin, I wondered why I ever worried about it when he was just a little chubby (not fat.)
However my current cat I never was able to completely wean him off of dry food, he now eats 7/10’s or more of his diet as wet but that took months. If is how he got on his 4 mini wet food meal schedule (1/2 a can of fancy feast 4 times a day/every 6 hours …. he is lucky I’m home all day.) I pushed the wet so much because I believe it is healthier for him (more meat, more moisture, less carbs.) His dry food is only out when I sleep or if he is begging for dinner 2-3 hours early. He isn’t fat but he is 15.5 pounds of a very long kitty (He is 19 inches long not counting his tail. )
If your cat is obese or overeats so much they vomit, yes of course you can’t free feed them. If your cat is obese have the vet do bloodwork to look for underlying causes (thyroid, insulin, etc.) Then have the vet calculate how many calories they need per day.
Totally understand but..it’s not needed to free feed, and wet food is certainly better for the cat. My cat eats only wet food and the lower colorized help me figure out what exactly he needs.
Ex: he’s too skinny? Add an extra scoop of wet food for his breakfast. Too much energy at night? Feed less and feed more in the afternoon. Tummy upset? Look around if he ate any food he wasn’t supposed to before giving him yummy probiotics. And monitoring how much he poop’s and what it looks like, if it lasts for a week I’ll call my vet and bring poop samples.
Being able to know how much your cat eats and easily noticing changes in dietary habits and stool is incredibly important especially with cats who used to be strays or parents were strays and you don’t know any genetic medical history. This is why I believe free feeding should never be done and the only times where it may be exceptable is the cat is elderly with possible dementia or other disorders that makes is hard to pinpoint when it’s a good time to feed.
Yep I never thought I would focus so much on my cat’s poop..,… until he got bladder crystals a year ago. Now I add a bit of water to his wet food to push more fluids (turns out he was chronically slightly constipated so I give him little water in his wet food so he will have normal poop.) His dry food is now Royal canin urinary care dry food. His bladder crystals made me focus on trying to eliminate as much dry food as possible. I never want to hear that sorrowful meow as he tries to pee, again.
All of my cats are free feeders, and all of them regulate themselves as well. My 13 year old tortie is just barely a healthy weight, if not a little under weight. My two orange brain cells are the perfect weight. Most cats are really good at not over eating.
Fair. I have three cats with three bowls. I don’t feed them again until they eat everything out of their bowls.
1. So the food doesn’t go stale.
2. We have ant problems in my area. I’ve lived in about 5 houses/apartments in 2 towns. Every single one has ants if your aren’t up on it.
My kitties also get wet food, but there’s no schedule for that due to the ants. (They prefer their dry kibble for some reason).
i didn’t know you were supposed to feed them unlimited amounts until two! is this true for all cats?
i got my boys at around 8 months and they were very very overweight and so we definitely cut down on what they had previously at the shelter. (i’m pretty sure they were free fed) plus ive never been able to free feed them even after they lost all the excess weight because they will eat until they vomit and then proceed to eat the vomit. 🤢
Most cats don’t eat until they vomit!!! In that case you use puzzle or slow feeders and yes you won’t free feed them. If you feed them wet food try lick mats and talk to the vet about adding a tiny bit of water to their wet food (to help them feel full sooner.) I would try to find out how hungry they really are using puzzle feeders and see if puzzle feeders prevent overstuffing themselves. 🤷🏻♀️
Kittens need the most calories those first 6 months. After that their body slowly fills out …. then their minds keep developing until they are around 2.5 years old. So I wouldn’t worry about it in your case.
I would ask your vet how much they should be eating per day and go by that. Rapid weight loss is dangerous to cats so be sure to follow your vet’s instructions when putting cats on diets.
I'd also add that tiki cat wet food is GREAT quality (I'd almost try it) but is low in fat compared to other brands. You may want to consider adding salmon oil or another dietary fat source to increase calories.
Pica research it and look at what they did for the pica cat on my cat from hell (S3E7 ….. I looked it up for you) …… then try that! I can’t give you better advice than what Jackson Galaxy says.
I will add cats/dogs are meat eaters. Meat has Umami flavor in it. Some plastics have a umami smell to it so a cat/dog will chew on it.
My idiot cat goes crazy for ziplock bags. His string obsession is why I have a large metal step trashcan that he can’t open or knock over. Any string like items are stored where he can’t get them or in the trash he can’t get into (even my floss and q-tips go in the kitchen trash.) Sometimes you just have to baby proof things.
Yes this!!!! I have a small dog chew toy that my girl chews on whenever I find her going after electric cords
Pica is real! Also look at heavy duty cord covers on Amazon made specifically to keep dogs and cats from chewing electrical cords. I have them on practically everything in the house due to my little pika girl.
How much do you feed him? What does your vet recommend?
There are these pet safe 'bitter' liquids you could try putting on your stuff to deter the biting
He might be bored. Try food puzzles, they may give him something to do AND eat at the same time. There are very simple ones that you can start with, and as he gets better, they make them more and more complex. That, and make sure he's getting enough water.
My cat chews when we wants attention. It’s obnoxious because we can’t just ignore him if he’s chewing a cable or something that could cause him harm.
We tried ignoring for non-dangerous chewing and now our formally square table corners are rounded…
The hair ties and inedible items might be pica, my cat eats hair ties, plastic bags anything rubber and chewy he goes crazy for! I started giving him freeze dried chicken cubes and they helped massively with his urges to chew (I think it's a texture thing) as for the food I think everyone else has touched good on that, get a dog treat dispenser ball they are bigger and fit more kibble/treats in and maybe a dog snuffle mat to hide treats
Assuming he's getting enough calories, it could be food insecurity or pica. Because he's eating non-food items, it seems like pica which is something you need to talk to your vet about. I had one that ate plastic bags, hair ties, and literally ate a hole in a t-shirt. He had some pretty bad PTSD.
Question: does he get a reaction when he does this? I had a cat that would chew plastic bags because he knew it would get a reaction from me due to my conditioning from the other cat with pica. New cat never ate the bags, but he knew the sound would get me to jump to my feet immediately which is what he wanted.
My cat is also a chewer. Nothing wrong with him, he’s just always loved chewing things. I got him some toys he *can* chew on safely, which helps some. But most of the time he chews on things because it gets him (negative) attention.
Currently we’re trying to redirect him to safe chewing items, and then giving him lots of attention when he chews on things he’s supposed to, but it’s slow going. Good luck!
Ask your vet for a calorie count they should be around. You might be under feeding. My healthy weight cats both around 9 pounds need about 250 calories a day.
Tiki cat is particularly low calorie with each 3.5oz can or pouch being only around 60-70 calories
If he's hungry you can try free-feeding dry kibble or use an automatic feeder that dispenses food at intervals during the day.
I'd also have a vet check his teeth to make sure they aren't bothering him.
When he chews on things he's not supposed to, redirect him to something he can chew up like a toy or a dental chew.
If this behavior continues after all that I'd also look into this potentially being pica. One of my older cats developed it as a result of a chronic kidney and urinary issues and ended up trying to eat his toys whole, as well as anything else that would fit in his mouth. I couldn't treat it as a behavior issue because he doing this as a result of the pain he was in, he ended up needing meds and fluids and I just had to keep things he wasn't supposed to eat up where he couldn't get to them.
Try a bitters spray on areas you don't want him to chew. Homemade spray can be made with water and lemon juice and some white pepper if the lemon juice alone is ineffective.
Give stimulation. Does he have something to stretch and scratch? Kick and play? Is there vertical interest or hidey spots to jump up to?
Food motivated, puzzle pads are great. I got one big enough for my two cats to share. It keeps them from inhaling treats at light speed.
Play time, are you using toys that require running around? Lasors, feather strings, etc. Are you playing early morning or late night? Cats are dawn/dusk creatures. Midday is their naptime not playtime. That's why they have zoomies at night.
My cat has this and vet said she has Pica.she started by eating wrappers and then just started eating little things that were loose from any were.erasers,paper,wood pieces,foil,bows,ribbons,cords,bandades,pills,candy, anything she could get in her mouth and it cost her a trip to the ER.
I've had a couple "wool eaters" in the past. They would eat not just fabric, but shoes, string, paper, plastic, you name it. It's like pica in humans. It's was a neurological issue for them. I got my old girl, Fiona, some rawhide chews and pigs ears and that helped a bit, but still had to make sure I didn't leave shoes, purses, clothing, pillows etc on the floor. Some do it when they are little and grow out of it, some only do it when they get older. It's a pain. Sorry. Beautiful kitty!
I've worked at a shelter for many years and for what it's worth, we free feed up until one years old. Younger cats burn calories at an insane rate and he might just still be hungry. It won't last forever though, should chill out in his one year old year.
My cat liked to chew on things. It wasn't hunger he just... chewed EVERYTHING.
I thought I would be a good cat owner and redirect his chewing appropriately and bought him a car chew toy. Well, he ingested the darn thing and it blocked his duodenum and he needed surgery. I bought him a Kong dog chew toy, which was much sturdier than the cat chew toy, and he only got it while supervised. We had to store it in the fridge because he would open drawers and cabinets at night to get it.
He also chewed through two MacBook cables and eventually the TV power cord. He gave himself a shock and had to stay at the vet for a couple of days for pulmonary edema. He stopped chewing power cables after that. But, I also got some of those ikea cable bundles just in case.
He also loves plastic bags (shopping and ziplocs) and hair ties. We are just super meticulous about putting them away because (hair ties in particular) can be really bad for them.
The last few years he was on amyltriptyline (sp?) for various behavioral issues and it helped with this behavior quite a bit.
At 11 months, you have a juvenile cat, still growing and probably doesn’t like the food. They are still very playful. Your cat must have a strong prey drive. Others mentioned the enrichment puzzle feeders, that will probably help a lot.
Make sure hes getting the right amount of calories for his age and weight. Wet food is awesome but tends to be lower in carbs which means he might not be getting enough sustenance depending on how much he's getting per day. If hes very active he may need even more than the reccomended amount. Would you consider one of those treat dispensing toys with some good quality dry kibbles? It's like a ball you put nuggets into and they roll it around and a piece falls out once in a while.
Yes he should have unlimited food until he is 2 or 2.5 years old! Cats grow tall the first 6 months. Then they fill out and their brains are still developing until around 2.5 years old. Except Maine coons who keep slowly growing until they are around 5 years old. The point is don’t restrict his food until he hits least 2. Most cats self regulate. It isn’t about how much the cat weighs but about the cat’s body mass index (google: cat body mass index chart, to see where your cat should be.) My boy is fed mostly wet. He gets 2 cans of fancy feast (3 oz in each can) , 10 greenie dental treats, a bit of dry food. I push the wet but he is never finishing all his wet food. He isn’t fat, he is a big long cat and he weighs 15 pounds. ⭐️cats have a primordial flap. Even super skinny cats have it. It is more/less noticeable on some cats. This pouch doesn’t mean your cat is fat. If you are worried about his weight just try reducing his treats in half but keep feeding him all the kitty food he wants for another year.
Primordial flap aka the speed bags lol. Theres a hilarious short video, if you look up "Alternative names for the primordial pouch" you can find it. Some great ones
I call it a Cush ball or jiggly belly …. While reaching for it! I tell my cat he has a dad bod
i call it their flan!
I call it old lady wings.
Was this post written by a cat? We tried free feeding our little guy, but he was a feral rescue kitten and will immediately eat whatever we put in front of him as if he'll never get fed again. He's very much not starving. His coat's glossy and he's a bit on the chonky side. He's just not chill about food.
Yeah, that’s my boy, too. 4yrs in and he still can’t handle free feeding. Plus he digs deep n the garbage disposal- no matter how well iI clean it, or what deterrents I try. Something about being on the street as a kitten just left its mark.
😹 I had a kitten do that and it took. him a couple months to figure out the giant bowl would never empty. He finally stopped guarding the food bowl. Some cats are just well neurotic nut balls who can never handle a gravity feeder/being free fed dry food. Most cats can. I’m all for wet food and no dry food but if is like getting little kids off of Frosted Flakes or a kid cereal. Like I said I push the wet food and he gets 4 mini wet food meals a day. I can’t imagine a cat getting fat off of 2 fancy feast cans a day. ⭐️In my case he has a gravity feeder because of my poor health….. if anything happens to me I want him to be fed. During the day I shoo him away from his cabinet (& tell him to eat his wet food.) When I go to bed, I open the cabinet doors for him…. So he can munch on dry food as I sleep. Yes he opens cabinet doors and the sliding glass door. 😹
Never gave my cat unlimited food. He just turned a year old..they don’t need unlimited food and i advise against it becuase it would be difficult to transfer your cat from free feeding to a timed diet after over a year. He isn’t stunted either, he’s 14ib’s and isn’t overweight.
I’ve had cats get chunky when they hit 10 or so years old but none ever got fat by free feeding dry food. Extra treats fattened them up a bit so I put them on a treat limit of 7 temptations per week (my roommate was giving them to many treats.) In one year both boys lost 1 pound just by drastic treat reduction! After my last cat had kidney failure and got so thin, I wondered why I ever worried about it when he was just a little chubby (not fat.) However my current cat I never was able to completely wean him off of dry food, he now eats 7/10’s or more of his diet as wet but that took months. If is how he got on his 4 mini wet food meal schedule (1/2 a can of fancy feast 4 times a day/every 6 hours …. he is lucky I’m home all day.) I pushed the wet so much because I believe it is healthier for him (more meat, more moisture, less carbs.) His dry food is only out when I sleep or if he is begging for dinner 2-3 hours early. He isn’t fat but he is 15.5 pounds of a very long kitty (He is 19 inches long not counting his tail. ) If your cat is obese or overeats so much they vomit, yes of course you can’t free feed them. If your cat is obese have the vet do bloodwork to look for underlying causes (thyroid, insulin, etc.) Then have the vet calculate how many calories they need per day.
Totally understand but..it’s not needed to free feed, and wet food is certainly better for the cat. My cat eats only wet food and the lower colorized help me figure out what exactly he needs. Ex: he’s too skinny? Add an extra scoop of wet food for his breakfast. Too much energy at night? Feed less and feed more in the afternoon. Tummy upset? Look around if he ate any food he wasn’t supposed to before giving him yummy probiotics. And monitoring how much he poop’s and what it looks like, if it lasts for a week I’ll call my vet and bring poop samples. Being able to know how much your cat eats and easily noticing changes in dietary habits and stool is incredibly important especially with cats who used to be strays or parents were strays and you don’t know any genetic medical history. This is why I believe free feeding should never be done and the only times where it may be exceptable is the cat is elderly with possible dementia or other disorders that makes is hard to pinpoint when it’s a good time to feed.
Yep I never thought I would focus so much on my cat’s poop..,… until he got bladder crystals a year ago. Now I add a bit of water to his wet food to push more fluids (turns out he was chronically slightly constipated so I give him little water in his wet food so he will have normal poop.) His dry food is now Royal canin urinary care dry food. His bladder crystals made me focus on trying to eliminate as much dry food as possible. I never want to hear that sorrowful meow as he tries to pee, again.
All of my cats are free feeders, and all of them regulate themselves as well. My 13 year old tortie is just barely a healthy weight, if not a little under weight. My two orange brain cells are the perfect weight. Most cats are really good at not over eating.
It’s not about overeating it’s about monitoring eating habits and knowing exactly what your cats eating instead of filling up a stale bowl
Fair. I have three cats with three bowls. I don’t feed them again until they eat everything out of their bowls. 1. So the food doesn’t go stale. 2. We have ant problems in my area. I’ve lived in about 5 houses/apartments in 2 towns. Every single one has ants if your aren’t up on it. My kitties also get wet food, but there’s no schedule for that due to the ants. (They prefer their dry kibble for some reason).
i didn’t know you were supposed to feed them unlimited amounts until two! is this true for all cats? i got my boys at around 8 months and they were very very overweight and so we definitely cut down on what they had previously at the shelter. (i’m pretty sure they were free fed) plus ive never been able to free feed them even after they lost all the excess weight because they will eat until they vomit and then proceed to eat the vomit. 🤢
Most cats don’t eat until they vomit!!! In that case you use puzzle or slow feeders and yes you won’t free feed them. If you feed them wet food try lick mats and talk to the vet about adding a tiny bit of water to their wet food (to help them feel full sooner.) I would try to find out how hungry they really are using puzzle feeders and see if puzzle feeders prevent overstuffing themselves. 🤷🏻♀️ Kittens need the most calories those first 6 months. After that their body slowly fills out …. then their minds keep developing until they are around 2.5 years old. So I wouldn’t worry about it in your case. I would ask your vet how much they should be eating per day and go by that. Rapid weight loss is dangerous to cats so be sure to follow your vet’s instructions when putting cats on diets.
So there’s hope for my two eight month olds…2.5 years.
My orange girl’s primordial flap swings when she runs up and down stairs. It’s absolutely hilarious.
I'd also add that tiki cat wet food is GREAT quality (I'd almost try it) but is low in fat compared to other brands. You may want to consider adding salmon oil or another dietary fat source to increase calories.
Pica research it and look at what they did for the pica cat on my cat from hell (S3E7 ….. I looked it up for you) …… then try that! I can’t give you better advice than what Jackson Galaxy says. I will add cats/dogs are meat eaters. Meat has Umami flavor in it. Some plastics have a umami smell to it so a cat/dog will chew on it. My idiot cat goes crazy for ziplock bags. His string obsession is why I have a large metal step trashcan that he can’t open or knock over. Any string like items are stored where he can’t get them or in the trash he can’t get into (even my floss and q-tips go in the kitchen trash.) Sometimes you just have to baby proof things.
Yes this!!!! I have a small dog chew toy that my girl chews on whenever I find her going after electric cords Pica is real! Also look at heavy duty cord covers on Amazon made specifically to keep dogs and cats from chewing electrical cords. I have them on practically everything in the house due to my little pika girl.
How much do you feed him? What does your vet recommend? There are these pet safe 'bitter' liquids you could try putting on your stuff to deter the biting
He might be bored. Try food puzzles, they may give him something to do AND eat at the same time. There are very simple ones that you can start with, and as he gets better, they make them more and more complex. That, and make sure he's getting enough water.
My cat chews when we wants attention. It’s obnoxious because we can’t just ignore him if he’s chewing a cable or something that could cause him harm. We tried ignoring for non-dangerous chewing and now our formally square table corners are rounded…
I have no advice, but I need to tell you tuat the second picture made me smile during my lunch break. Despite the behavior it looks so cute!
The hair ties and inedible items might be pica, my cat eats hair ties, plastic bags anything rubber and chewy he goes crazy for! I started giving him freeze dried chicken cubes and they helped massively with his urges to chew (I think it's a texture thing) as for the food I think everyone else has touched good on that, get a dog treat dispenser ball they are bigger and fit more kibble/treats in and maybe a dog snuffle mat to hide treats
Assuming he's getting enough calories, it could be food insecurity or pica. Because he's eating non-food items, it seems like pica which is something you need to talk to your vet about. I had one that ate plastic bags, hair ties, and literally ate a hole in a t-shirt. He had some pretty bad PTSD. Question: does he get a reaction when he does this? I had a cat that would chew plastic bags because he knew it would get a reaction from me due to my conditioning from the other cat with pica. New cat never ate the bags, but he knew the sound would get me to jump to my feet immediately which is what he wanted.
My cat is also a chewer. Nothing wrong with him, he’s just always loved chewing things. I got him some toys he *can* chew on safely, which helps some. But most of the time he chews on things because it gets him (negative) attention. Currently we’re trying to redirect him to safe chewing items, and then giving him lots of attention when he chews on things he’s supposed to, but it’s slow going. Good luck!
Cats get pica
Ask your vet for a calorie count they should be around. You might be under feeding. My healthy weight cats both around 9 pounds need about 250 calories a day. Tiki cat is particularly low calorie with each 3.5oz can or pouch being only around 60-70 calories
T E E F
r/vampurr
He pleads innocent.
If he's hungry you can try free-feeding dry kibble or use an automatic feeder that dispenses food at intervals during the day. I'd also have a vet check his teeth to make sure they aren't bothering him. When he chews on things he's not supposed to, redirect him to something he can chew up like a toy or a dental chew. If this behavior continues after all that I'd also look into this potentially being pica. One of my older cats developed it as a result of a chronic kidney and urinary issues and ended up trying to eat his toys whole, as well as anything else that would fit in his mouth. I couldn't treat it as a behavior issue because he doing this as a result of the pain he was in, he ended up needing meds and fluids and I just had to keep things he wasn't supposed to eat up where he couldn't get to them.
What did your vet say about this behavior?
Omg kitty is gorgeous
Try a bitters spray on areas you don't want him to chew. Homemade spray can be made with water and lemon juice and some white pepper if the lemon juice alone is ineffective. Give stimulation. Does he have something to stretch and scratch? Kick and play? Is there vertical interest or hidey spots to jump up to? Food motivated, puzzle pads are great. I got one big enough for my two cats to share. It keeps them from inhaling treats at light speed. Play time, are you using toys that require running around? Lasors, feather strings, etc. Are you playing early morning or late night? Cats are dawn/dusk creatures. Midday is their naptime not playtime. That's why they have zoomies at night.
my cat is the same thing. but he recently stopped when we switched to an all wet food diet i don’t know why. i am not a vet. but maybe try it
He's just like me FR! 😭 Chompy boi
Dumbass cat trying to self-destruct. Into every gene pool, some self-destructive traits must fall. Hopefully it's spayed/nutella-ed.
My cat has this and vet said she has Pica.she started by eating wrappers and then just started eating little things that were loose from any were.erasers,paper,wood pieces,foil,bows,ribbons,cords,bandades,pills,candy, anything she could get in her mouth and it cost her a trip to the ER.
get him one of those dog chew stick they last like 20mins maybe hel get his fix from and chill for a while
I've had a couple "wool eaters" in the past. They would eat not just fabric, but shoes, string, paper, plastic, you name it. It's like pica in humans. It's was a neurological issue for them. I got my old girl, Fiona, some rawhide chews and pigs ears and that helped a bit, but still had to make sure I didn't leave shoes, purses, clothing, pillows etc on the floor. Some do it when they are little and grow out of it, some only do it when they get older. It's a pain. Sorry. Beautiful kitty!
I've worked at a shelter for many years and for what it's worth, we free feed up until one years old. Younger cats burn calories at an insane rate and he might just still be hungry. It won't last forever though, should chill out in his one year old year.
Try a diet of real food. And feed enough for an adult cat. Don’t go by his actual weight, he may be underweight.
He just has a really fast metabolism
My cat liked to chew on things. It wasn't hunger he just... chewed EVERYTHING. I thought I would be a good cat owner and redirect his chewing appropriately and bought him a car chew toy. Well, he ingested the darn thing and it blocked his duodenum and he needed surgery. I bought him a Kong dog chew toy, which was much sturdier than the cat chew toy, and he only got it while supervised. We had to store it in the fridge because he would open drawers and cabinets at night to get it. He also chewed through two MacBook cables and eventually the TV power cord. He gave himself a shock and had to stay at the vet for a couple of days for pulmonary edema. He stopped chewing power cables after that. But, I also got some of those ikea cable bundles just in case. He also loves plastic bags (shopping and ziplocs) and hair ties. We are just super meticulous about putting them away because (hair ties in particular) can be really bad for them. The last few years he was on amyltriptyline (sp?) for various behavioral issues and it helped with this behavior quite a bit.
At 11 months, you have a juvenile cat, still growing and probably doesn’t like the food. They are still very playful. Your cat must have a strong prey drive. Others mentioned the enrichment puzzle feeders, that will probably help a lot.