Does your pet know when to stop eating, or will they stuff themselves until they burst?

[John DiFool]

I have a couple of stray cats which the neighbor downstairs originally started feeding, but I (in a weak moment) one day gave them some treats as well. The bobtailed male ("Bob") often begs me for a bite, but not always, but the jet black female is ALWAYS there, always begging me, even right after my neighbor just gave her something. I am sure she would keep eating (she already is chubby) until she exploded Mr. Creosote style if I gave her a chance.

[SnakeBabe]

My pythons would over eat any chance they could

[Candyman74]

Fairly sure my dog would eat until he exploded if given chance.

[shemarstan]

probably has worms

[Sattua]

My cat will stop as soon as she's not hungry. Her "meals" usually consist of 4-6 bites, from what I can tell.

[Fear Itself]

My dog only eats what she wants, and leaves the rest. This is the second husky I've had, and the first one was like that also.

[Dr. Woo]

I have had four beagles in my dog servant career, and every one of them has been a complete glutton and would eat until they overflow. And then have that wafer thin mint.

Lily, the small (22lb) female has been known to pull an entire loaf of bread down from the counter, consume it, and 30 minutes later be begging earnestly for dinner.

[Khadaji]

My girl was chubby when I got her and she will eat as long as there is food available. Although sometimes she'll be picky about the dry food that I give her (specially formulated for her diabetes.)

[Athena]

My pugs both free-feed, and they are both trim & healthy (and that's what the Vet said, not just me!). So yeah, they stop when they should.

[AuntiePam]

Sadie's bowl always has food in it -- she doesn't gorge there. But she's never turned down a table scrap or something we give her by hand. I've often wondered if she has a limit, but I'm afraid to find out.

[Taomist]

Our cats nibble all day on their dry food. They will beg for anything else at any time, BUT when they do get their gooshy food, twice a day, they typically nosh a bit and then go nap, lol. Then they munch more later on. And they're both in the 'healthy and trim' arenas, but they're only 3.5 years old. When they get older that might change, but as long as they continue eating a little at a time I think they'll be fine.

[Springtime for Spacers]

Any chance that little black cat is pregnant?

[Boyo Jim]

I've never heard of a pet exploding.

[pbbth]

Both of my cats would eat until they exploded. Then their disembodied little heads would roll around looking for additional noms.

My dog, on the other hand, could really care less about food. She will sometimes go two or three days without eating just because she really can't be bothered to stop playing long enough to eat. She is a weirdo but it keeps her really trim and healthy so I won't complain.

[drillrod]

My dog is 13 and has always been a responsible self-feeder. We just keep the bowl full.
The vet says she's a good weight.

[Lynn Bodoni]

We freefeed dry cat food, and two of the cats are chubby and two are normal. When we give the gooshyfood, all four will happily eat even if they've just had some dry food, but all four will stop before they explode.

We've had a couple of cats (now deceased) who would eat as much shrimp or fish as my husband was willing to feed them, even to the point of vomiting. I made him quit feeding them quite so much.

[John DiFool]

Originally Posted by Springtime for Spacers

Any chance that little black cat is pregnant?

We spayed her awhile back, tho she does have a bit of mange (also now being medicated).

[johnpost]

glutton dogs will stand there and shit while they gulp food.

[Eliahna]

The border collie and both cats are all responsible self feeders. Food is always available to them and they pick at it as they see fit. The little black cat will beg for food just 'cos, but rarely takes more than a taste.

[notfrommensa]

I no longer have any dogs, but they would self-regulate their food. the Boston Terrier was lean and trim because she kept active. The bulldog never got that fat either, because she was too lazy and lame to get up and eat.

[ZipperJJ]

Now that my dog is older she'll sometimes leave a bit of food in her bowl "for later," depending on how lazy we are being that day. Most of the time she at least cleans it up.

If there is people food around I'm sure she'd never stop eating it. If there's another dog around and it has food she will eat her food, the other dog's food, the people food and set her eyes on eating the other dog all out of one-upmanship.

[CanvasShoes]

I feed all three of my pets (one cat, one dog, one cockatiel) "on demand". That is, I fill their bowls and when they're empty, I fill them again. I'm pretty sure that's how one feeds all birds, at least that's how I've always fed my pet birds and none have ever gotten overweight or eaten themselves sick.

I've never actually had a dog that couldn't be fed on demand. The only time my dog gets scheduled meals is when I have a roomie (most recently my sister in about 2008 or so) that has a pet that must be fed scheduled and portioned meals.

Neither the cat, nor the dog have ever over-eaten. Though the cat will occasionally help herself to a dog food snack, and the dog used to sometimes break into the cupboard where I keep the cat food and help herself to some. Even then, she would just drag the bag out and have a little bit. It's not like she'd mow through a whole bag even if she does get it out. I started putting the bag up above the laundry, even though I don't begrudge her an occasional cat food snack, she would make a bit of a mess sometimes.

[shijinn]

once i rescued a kitten from the drain. the poor thing was so weak and starved i had to hand feed it bottled milk for a while. he would always get so excited during feeding time and hugged the bottle with all four limbs claws out like i would take it away from him before he was done. hence he was a voracious eater who wolved down everything we gave him. i loved the little bugger but we had to be careful not to overfeed him. one day it happened anyway and he ate so much he vomited, though he learnt to be more discerning about food after that.

[williambaskerville]

Our chocolate black princess would stop when she was full, and remained very svelte.

Currently, she's at the end of a pregnancy :- we're expecting kittens momentarily, and she's eating everything in front of her.

[jellyblue]

I always (half) joke that our Golden has Praeder Willi syndrome with a little pica thrown in for good measure. She's actually worse once she's eaten. She just doesn't want to stop - surfs all the counters, trash cans, anything she can get into. And "going for a walk" pretty much just means "looking for things to scarf while I'm pretending to find a place to pee". The world is her buffet.

She ate a 5 lb bag of FLOUR once. Ghost-doggie.

[Derleth]

I'm pretty sure Elwood, our Pembroke Welsh Corgi, would overeat if we let him; mainly, though, I'm certain he'd eat snow until he keeled over.

He has always had a strange relationship with water. Well, not 'strange' so much as 'completely and utterly obsessive', to the point he will drive you nuts if you have to listen to him drink over and over and over and over and over for too long.

(The dog is a roiling mass of medical problems, most of them congenital, but he's in a long-term stable state. I don't know much about most of them, but they're not something anyone here could fix. The interesting thing is, he was way too interested in water even before most of his problems manifested.)

Anyway, snow is, for him, manna from heaven, food off God's own table. It is food and water in the same mouthful; the only way it could be better is if it ran away from him when he barked at it so he could chase it down. Once, when I was out with him, he actually sat on his butt in front of a little drift and plopped his head down into it simply to maximize the amount he could cram into his mouth. It was just like every cartoonish image of a human making a pig of themselves, minus the polka-dotted napkin tied around the neck. He'd eat snow until he died of hypothermia.

[PunditLisa]

I have a beagle. 'Nuff said.

[Vicullum]

We had recently gotten a new kitten in our house, and one day I made a plate of scrambled eggs but was called away on an errand. When I returned, the eggs were gone and nearby was one really bulbous kitten. Seriously, she looked like she swallowed a baseball.

While I can't say she would have kept eating until she exploded, she came awfully darn close.

[Derleth]

Originally Posted by Vicullum

We had recently gotten a new kitten in our house, and one day I made a plate of scrambled eggs but was called away on an errand. When I returned, the eggs were gone and nearby was one really bulbous kitten.

... looking at you as if to say "What? Do you think I did something, you absurd little monkey?"

[flatlined]

I've had several gorgers. They were starving strays when I brought them in and would eat every scrap of food they could find. One of them would eat until he puked, then would eat his puke if I didn't get there in time to stop him. It took years before I could free feed him.

One of my cats who self regulated his kittyfood noshing went nuts over cantalope. He would try to climb my leg to steal some out of my mouth. One day, I thought I would teach him a lesson, so cut half a melon into kitty sized pieces and gave it to him. He ate until his belly was buldging, then turned into a kitty loaf while watching the plate until he was able to eat another bite.

He didn't explode. I'm surprised the litterbox didn't, though.

I'm the one who learned the lesson that day.

[Tom Tildrum]

It's common for my dog to go right after eating anyway, so I think she would set herself up essentially as a continuous-operation poop pump, eating without stopping at one end, and spooling it out at the other. Picture an industrial meat grinder that churns out chocolate soft-serve ice cream.

[Anne Neville]

The Neville kitties are one of each. Katya can free-feed, though her preferred way to eat is with one of us petting her while she does. Yes, she is a very spoiled kitty. Luna will overeat, sometimes to the point of vomiting.

[RealityChuck]

Our cat will eat his fill and walk away with regular cat food, though he does beg for things that he especially likes, like tuna juice or turkey.

Years ago, we had a Beagle. She would eat anything not nailed down. That's evidently a trait of the breed, especially because they were kept in packs, which meant if you didn't gobble everything down, someone would beat you to it.

[PandaBear77]

Originally Posted by pbbth

Both of my cats would eat until they exploded. Then their disembodied little heads would roll around looking for additional noms.

I read this on Friday and I laughed the entire damn weekend!


I'm glad this thread is here; I've been worried about my puppy (this is my first dog). He's a Jackabee (half Jack Russell, half beagle). He always acts like he's just STARVING, inhales his food in less than a minute and I've never seen him reject *any* food (I'm a big pushover and will let him have people food every now and then). He will eat ANYTHING. I've been worried we aren't feeding him enough but he looks normal.

Then I read this:

Originally Posted by Dr. Woo

I have had four beagles in my dog servant career, and every one of them has been a complete glutton and would eat until they overflow. And then have that wafer thin mint.

this:

Originally Posted by PunditLisa

I have a beagle. 'Nuff said.

and this:

Originally Posted by RealityChuck

Years ago, we had a Beagle. She would eat anything not nailed down. That's evidently a trait of the breed, especially because they were kept in packs, which meant if you didn't gobble everything down, someone would beat you to it.

Now I'm not quite as worried.

[Sister Vigilante]

I free feed and my dog generally gets 4-6 cups per day. Some days he'll eat it all, some days he'll leave some. He also never turns down a treat or people food and usually waits until he's absolutely sure we're not going to give him anything else "special" that day and ends up eating in the middle of the night. He is skin and bones; I don't know where he's putting it all. He's 40 lbs.

He also likes to eat the leaves off bushes but I think that's so he can throw up when he has an upset stomach.

[FuriousGeorge]

Two beagles here and at least one of them has been to the vet for his unending appetite.

He ate his regular meal, the females meal, then got in to the garbage for the plate scrapings post dinner. A day later after a night at the doggie hospital and a 500 dollar fart, he came home... and got in to the garbage again. smdh.

[Missy2U]

Baron's dry food bowl is always kept filled - he eats it once a day. People food, though, he'll eat like crazy. Same with his Meaty Bone treats and Beggin Strips. I think I've seen him turn down a Meaty Bone once - he wasn't feeling well. His two legged father, however, DOES in fact eat until it makes him sick. When he tells me I finished the meatloaf for lunch and had a ham sandwich (and there was almost a pound of meatloaf left!!) - and I don't feel so good, all I do is roll my eyes. Go figure - he isn't overweight at all but my dog weighs as much as my husband!

[Malleus, Incus, Stapes!]

Mystery can manage her food responsibly.

Tikva eats everything, then wiggles her paw in the feeder for more.

[purplehorseshoe]

Originally Posted by PandaBear77

I read this on Friday and I laughed the entire damn weekend!


I'm glad this thread is here; I've been worried about my puppy (this is my first dog). He's a Jackabee (half Jack Russell, half beagle). He always acts like he's just STARVING, inhales his food in less than a minute and I've never seen him reject *any* food (I'm a big pushover and will let him have people food every now and then). He will eat ANYTHING. I've been worried we aren't feeding him enough but he looks normal.

Then I read this:



this:



and this:



Now I'm not quite as worried.

Yeah, it's at least partly a breed trait. Mr. Shoe's childhood dog was a beagle, and she put goats and in-sink food disposals to absolute shame. My childhood dog was a mini poodle, and our next-door-neighbor has one now, and both are free-feed: take a nibble, wander off, nibble again a while later, etc.

Both our cats are free-feed, too. I think they would deem it unseemly and undignified to do otherwise.

[Anne Neville]

Originally Posted by Malleus, Incus, Stapes!

Mystery can manage her food responsibly.

Tikva eats everything, then wiggles her paw in the feeder for more.

Who's dominant? I'm wondering if being dominant has anything to do with overeating. Luna is our dominant cat, and she's the one who eats too much.

[Omega Glory]

I own what is apparently the world's only non gluttonous beagle. He was insane for food until he turned one or two, then he became content to eat what he wanted and leave the rest for later. The other dog will eat anything with a passing resemblance to food.

[Intergalactic Gladiator]

Our dog Shamrock free feeds dog food but will eat anything else right away. Out previous dog Scotch was like that too. Oh that poor dog got into some blueberry muffins once and kept eating them until she got sick.

[Dr. Woo]

Originally Posted by FuriousGeorge

Two beagles here and at least one of them has been to the vet for his unending appetite.

He ate his regular meal, the females meal, then got in to the garbage for the plate scrapings post dinner. A day later after a night at the doggie hospital and a 500 dollar fart, he came home... and got in to the garbage again. smdh.

Lily manged to eat seven pounds of dried apples that she swiped from my grandkids (and by "swiped", I mean she ripped through their zipped closed luggage and got it out). She actually ate the seven pounds o' fruit a few times over before I finally located all the places where she was barfing it up and got it all cleaned up.

We have child-proof locks on our pantry and trash can; these easily foil my current three beagles. But Beagle the First could force her snooter in the little space and force the cupboard doors open, then climb the shelves to get the the brownie mix.

[picunurse]

I had a cat who was neutered very young (6 weeks) who would eat until he threw up. He would lie down to eat. I could only control his weight by feeding my other cat in a closed room. Otherwise, he would eat everything in sight. He would eat spider webs on the balcony and I never has a fly or an ant in the apartment.

[River Hippie]

Cat...eats until he's full. Begs when I'm eating but rarely eats any tidbits I may give him. Active and fairly thin.

Dog...Always ready to eat as much as I give her but doesn't beg beyond staring intently from a distance while I'm eating. Weighs 48lbs. might be a little healthier at about 40.

[Palo Verde]

I have 3 cats. They all have access to dry food all the time, and once a day they each get a small can of wet cat food. One of them is enormously obese. He eats his share and tries to steal from the others until I shoo him away. The second loves his food, but just eats his fill and is done. He is a normal cat size. The third picks at her food like a bird and is petite and thin.

All have the same amount given to them, one is 18 lbs, one is 9 lbs, and one is 5 lbs,

[Guinastasia]

I have never seen a cat eat like Maggie does. We have to give her little amounts of food because she'll just wolf it down so fast, and then yak it back up. And what's even more amusing is that she's this little itty-bitty thing. She's extremely tiny and you have to watch that she doesn't lose weight. (And yes, the vet has said she's fine, she just has a fast metabolism) I swear, if she were a car she'd get extremely shitty mileage.

So, we just give her little meals every couple hours or so (canned food). She won't touch dry food at all. Human food, on the other hand, is a different story. She once chewed through a plastic bag to get to donuts. THEN there was the time when she was a kitten, and she jumped up onto the counter where my dad was slicing a ham, grabbed a piece, and ran off with it swinging from her jaw before he could catch her. (We got it away from her, but yeah -- she was fast).

She adores french fries. If you have any snack she'll follow you around the house and sit there, and expect you to give her some. (If you don't watch her, she'll nab a potato chip and puke it back up)

Maggie is...special.

[BigT]

Depends on what kind of food is available. It's why I leave the kibble out but feed my dog who has teeth problems only a little bit at a time. The kibble is food they only tolerate, and so eat when they are hungry, but the soft food they think is amazing, so they'll gobble it up.

I personally don't feed the other dog the soft food at all, as I want him to become used to the kibble so he won't go after the other dog's food, but no one else in the family thinks that's a good idea and always give him a spoonful of the soft. I wonder what you guys think is better.

[SticksAndString]

Our 14 year old cat, Rumpleteazer, has been known to stuff herself until she throws up. Every now and then I'll feed her and she bolt down the entire amount as fast as she can and then she goes and throws up somewhere. She always gives me this look like she's really upset that she threw up, too.

Most times though, she takes her time by pulling ONE piece of kibble out of the bowl with her paw (usually the left front) and eating it.

[dotchan]

Nope. My feline overlords were morbidly obese because their previous owner worked late hours and would leave ridiculous amounts of food out for kittehs. They have also mastered the fine art of looking pathetic and starved even after someone else has given them their meal.

Now they're on a strict diet of two meals a day, though when my little brother feeds them he puts out a bit more than I'd like them to because he has yet to be inoculated against their devilishly good looks.