Severe food anxiety in former stray - anyone have any advice?

Does anyone have any experience with this? I have done some research on the subject and it seems it's more common than one may think in former strays- says it's like a traumatic stress-type disorder, similar to a phobia, due to experiencing starvation in the past. I am curious if anyone has had this issue with their cats, and what methods/medications have worked? I just feel really bad for him. He's constantly searching for food, trying to steal food or break into cabinets, and FREAKS OUT around feeding time, caterwauling, eyes dilated. I just feel really bad for him, because we don't know how long he was without food out there. He is also declawed... which probably added to his trauma. I've read that anxiety medication and antidepressants sometimes work for cats with anxiety... and then there's cat behaviorists, but I don't really know where to start. Any info is greatly appreciated!

 

don't know if posdible in your home but, for us i found freeding to work best for our strays/feral. at first they ate a lot more than they needed but, within the first month they all seemed to realize there will always be food for them to eat and started eating only what they needed. now they are all on a feeding schedule and doing fine on it.

maybe before trying medicating, you could perhaps try "Sergeant's Vetscription Calming Collar for Cats" to help him calm down. there are different calming collars but, this is the one i found worked best and quickly. if you get one, open it over trash can and gently wipe off white powder otherwise you will have a mess on your hands.

 

He’s my diabetic, so unfortunately feeding more than needed won’t work
Thanks, I’ll give the collar a shot. Right now he’s wearing the Sentry calming collar, he’s had it on for about 2-3 weeks, and it didn’t help. We also have the Comfort Zone plug ins upstairs and they seem to help my other cat who’s a scaredy cat, but not him.

 

i free fed tux from day he was diagnosed till not too long ago. being able to eat low carb food whenever didn't affect his numbers by much, just kept them steady in the low blues instead of him going into the greens/under 100 more often.. but, not all cats react the same i suppose so perhaps portion out his daily food allowance so he gets to eat more often, that would probably help him realize he will always have food available. most here feed multiple small meals throughout the day instead of main ones and have no issues regulating their cats.

you can try these, i haven't tried these for cats but, i do use their dog version for my scaredy cat dog who has anxiety issues and they worked wonders, too good really! does seem some cats don't like it but, given your feral is all about wanting food, he should eat it.
https://www.amazon.com/Only-Natural-Pet-Calming-Chewables/dp/B01GVHUCGM

Edit: forgot to add, i am not sure if diabetic friendly though.

 

I free feed my strays and ferals, even if diabetic. If he's unregulated, he will be ravenously hungry. Plus one could argue the stress from panicking about finding food is going to potentially increase his BG anyway, so why not let it be from a food spike (if any) instead. They usually settle down over time and realize that there's a bottomless food bowl. He has enough to adapt to right now and I'd sure rather simply feed him than head for the drug cabinet. Just perhaps pick up food 2 hrs prior to his insulin shots.

(If he continues to act this way once the diabetes is regulated, you might consider having a thyroid panel done to rule out hyperT as what you're describing are classic symptoms of that as well)

 

You can free feed... but if he will eat too quickly or too much and puke consider getting a food maze that will make him take longer and work for it. We put young again in one.

 

Thyroid was already checked, it’s normal.

This is definitely behavioral bc he acts like that regardless of his sugar control or level. I think he has PTSD. It’s very sad.

Not possible to feed as much as he wants bc he will literally eat until he will puke. I am out of the house over 50 hours per week for work so I can’t put down or pick up food during the day, and he broke into multiple automatic feeders which I had to return, so he is too smart for that.

Any other ideas?

 

Oh I also have other pets in the house so I can’t just leave food out because others will overeat as well.

 

I just bought nutra calm for my cat for the car journey as im moving soon. My vet said it is fine for cats with diabetes. I havent tried it yet as my cat got diabetes shortly after buying it but my vet said its completely herbal. It advertises itself as being for fireworks but my vet said it can be used at any time to calm a cat down.
I also have something called a pet remedy spray. My cat loves this and rubs herself against the carpet whenever i spray it.

 

This is the food puzzle I mentioned. Using it would make them slow down.
Of course it would have to be a low carb food like young again zero carb
Trixie 5-in-1 Activity Center https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001O8L2UO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_oUm9AbXR340RV

 

I'm sorry to hear Frosty has this food issue as well. Also sorry to hear you are out of the house 50 hours a week!

Anyhow, our 2 little dogs think they are permanently starving. Believe me, they are not. So we tried different food mazes. I'm attaching a link to the one that worked best. And it is a plate-size, so you can just pop it in the dish washer. We have 4 of them. Two get used, and two get washed. Net effect during dinner:
- 25-30 seconds with NO food maze, and lots of coughing, partial regurgitation, etc (we are talking youtube-level stupid here)
- 90-120 seconds with food maze, and no coughing

Food maze we use:
https://outwardhound.com/catalog/product/view/id/445/s/fun-feeder-mat/category/7/

I now split their dinner into 2 halves, separated by 2 hours. The same amount of food, but they get the feeling they are having 2 regular meals.