Sometimes it's more a case of whiny than needy. When you look at the pet's needs panel with the control pets mod the moment they start complaining, you'll notice that often the hunger bar is yellow instead of red. For social they take their time and come meowing only when the bar is orange, but they do not take any chances with their mealtimes, lol.
At the moment I have three cats and one dog in four different households and I play many-sim households, so caring for my pets is easy. But I shudder at the thought of a single sim multi pet household with those complainers.