u/Plus-Sample-7333

if anyone says, Edinburg-McAllen Veterinary Clinic or Nolana Animal Hospital, don't.

kitty here has had surgery 3 times because of a rectal prolapse. he has tummy issues and he's on a constant, and i mean CONSTANT, hunt for food. its like what he eats is not enough even though it is. i feed him 4x a day, 2x of those are his prescription wet food. he's probably close to 1 yr old. i rescued him off the streets so im not 100% sure.

any cat experts out here who have a trustworthy and knowledgeable vet? knowledgeable about CATS. ​

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Long read but please help. I rescued a cat, now about 10 months old, in January. His name is Kitty. He had a bad rectal prolapse so I wanted to help him, and I did but I've been having a lot of issues with him and at this point I don't know what to do. He will not stop looking for food. He is constantly, constantly looking for food. I'm going to add a lot of context here and if you know anything about cats, you'll understand why. You all need to know the full story and possible reasons for this behavior.

Let's start with daily routine. I work a 9-5. I already have 3 adult cats that he doesn't get along with, so I have to separate them. Kitty stays in the second bedroom all day until I get home from work. When I get home, I greet all of them, including Kitty. Then I feed them. Had to get kitty a puzzle feeder because he inhales his food. After that, I bring Kitty to my bedroom, play with him for about 30 minutes or a little more, then I go play with my other cats. THEN, I put my 3 cats in my bedroom or in Kitty's room (so they can be around his scent), so I can let Kitty out into the apartment for 1-2 hrs before I let my other cats back out and I return Kitty to his room until nighttime so I can do whatever it is I need to do, usually cook dinner, prepare for the next day, and spend a little more time with my adult cats. ​Then I feed them their last meal, I bring Kitty into my bedroom and play with him and we fall asleep together. Morning comes and he's back in his room.

Main issue: Kitty and food. During those 1-2 hours that I have him out in the apartment, all he does is look for food, even when I try to distract him with playtime and catnip. Like, as soon as I let him out, his search begins, even though he just ate an hour ago. I even bought a cat tree that goes all the way to the ceiling, it stays in place with tension. I play with him, make him climb that shit over and over, I run around with the cat toys to make him chase them. Eventually though, he gets bored. ​​And he continues looking for food. He gets on the counter over and over, and I can't ignore him because he will eat anything. He's eaten the string off his cat toys, he's eaten my hairband, and one time I even caught him chewing on my wicker basket and eating some bits. Obviously when I could stop it, I did, but I learned the hard way that I cannot leave anything string around him without supervision. But I'm not perfect, once in a while I leave something on the counter, like one time I fed my cats after work. Their wet food comes in a little plastic bag. I forgot to throw it away, and when it was Kitty's turn to come out, he started eating the bag. Not lick the food that's on it. No. Eat the bag. I think he's just so desperate for the food, he'll eat anything the food touches. He's not overweight, he's actually at a healthy weight for his age (according to vet), 8 lbs and some change. ​

More context about his surgeries: His rectal prolapse was fixed with a purse string​ suture at the end of January. A week later, rectum came out again. Vet performed the same procedure. Got constipation meds, special diet. Couple months maybe passed, and his rectum came out again. This time I went to a different vet, who ​did a colopexy. Essentially permanently attaching his colon to his abdominal wall. Maybe a month passed, and a week ago his rectum came out again. I broke down honestly. I still took him to the vet the next morning, and to my surprise, his rectum went back in on its own. So I guess that was a good thing. ​Hasn't come out since and he's back on the laxative stuff. Oh and he was neutered when he had his colopexy done.

To make things worse, I'm trying to get my cats and him friendly with each other but the gap underneath his door and the floor is so big that they are able to look at each other and even paw at each other with ease, and they have attacked each other this way. I had to find something to put under there so they'd stop. I'm trying man. I did the whole method where you wanna feed the cats at the same time, with the door separating them so they'll create that positive association and slowly increase exposure. I successfully did it when I took in my 3rd cat, but I'm not really seeing any progress with this one. And since Kitty sometimes squeezes his way out of his room when I'm opening the door, there have been times where he just sprints towards my cats and they start fighting bad. It's been about 10 times or so that they've gotten into scuffles or almost scuffles. Some were my fault (I tried exposing them to each other too soon), but sometimes Kitty just escapes me and he books it.

What has the vet said: I have asked the vet how much he should be eating a day, and the vet said about 1 ½ cans of wet food. Which I still feel is too little. So I feed him 1 ¾ cans of wet food divided into morning and night. When I get home from work, I use an old protein powder scoop and fill it up about halfway with dry food (hills senior diet, vet recommended since it helps with digestion) which is what I put into his puzzle feeder. Later, I'll give him about a tablespoon of pumpkin puree, which the vet said I could do to make him feel more full. My guy is still looking for food and will still eat string if he had the opportunity to.

The vet hasn't diagnosed him with anything, yet. Still don't know what to believe in terms of how much should I be feeding him, especially with his condition, which, is undiagnosed so I don't even know what his fucking condition is, except maybe constipation. I tried feeding him more once, like I filled his bowl with dry food in between his wet food meals, but it just didn't feel right to me because of his butt/digestive issues. So I stopped. ​

Honestly I'm just really stressed out about this. I just need some advice - have any of y'all had a cat that is chronically looking for food? What do I do, what should I stop doing, what should I continue to do.

P.S. I have been trying to find Kitty a home. I never meant to keep him, I just wanted to help him. I'm well aware that keeping him in one room all day is contributing to his stress, which is why I do my best to play with him when I get home but it's just not enough. I'm posting on cat groups on Facebook, I've asked friends and family, I've called an animal shelter down here but they asked where I found him, and then told me "Oh sorry, we don't take in animals from your area." I live in the Rio Grande Valley, which has a higher rate of poverty than the national average I believe, so resources are pretty limited and some people treat animals like shit. I don't want to abandon him or leave him in a rich neighborhood because homeboy will eat everything he finds, I just know it. Pretty sure he'll die from it.