To have a 20 year old cat is amazing!  Especially if you've been feeding
them Fancy Feast all his/her life.  Treat the old geezer with respect.
When was the last time you took your cat to the vet for a geriatric check
up?  I am not a vet.  I am speaking here from the experience of being owned
by at least 30 cats in my lifetime.
Many older cats will howl at night, at least all of mine have.  This is
ususally due to confusion from senility, loss of hearing and eyesight.
Another reason is they could be in pain from arthritis.
Many older cats lose their sense of smell and taste, therefore become
pickier eaters.  Food they loved 2 months ago may not smell or taste good
to them anymore.
Geriatric cats tend to develop thyroid conditions which could account for
the loss of weight and endless hunger.
Geriatric cats always will lose muscle mass which also accounts for
thinness.
One of my cats, Chester, is 18.  He's been howling and complainig at me for
a couple of years now.  He has heart disease, high blood pressure,
arthritis and is going deaf.  He is already on baby aspirin every 3 days
for his heart and arthritis.  We tried a stronger pain med to see if it was
pain that was causing him to howl, but found out it wasn't pain.  This
determined that his howling is caused by senility and the deafness.
Sometimes I don't think poor Chester knows where he is.
Anyway, there could be a number of things going on.  Take the poor old gee
to the vet.

----- Original Message -----
From: RichC
Newsgroups: alt.cats
Sent: Sunday, June 12, 2005 11:55 AM
Subject: Hungry Cat

Do most cats when they get older (20 years) become more demanding about
what
they eat?  Ours can hardly make it thorough the night before he start's
screaming for food. He'll eat small portions at a time (1/3 can fancy
feast)
& is getting very picky as to what types he'll eat. He's under weight if
anything & we always keep dry food available but that won't keep him happy
till 6 AM. Is this a typical trait or has he picked up the bad habit on his
own?