Away For A Night & Raw Feeding

[sarah430]

My two kitties eat 75% commercial frozen raw and 25% wet canned. I was also giving them some re-hydrated commercial dehydrated raw but one of my kitties started to have tummy troubles from that so I've stopped that for now.

We'll be away Saturday night next weekend and I'm trying to think of a way to leave them on their own without needing to ask someone to come in and feed them. We'll leave Sat morning and can feed them around 8am and will be back by Sunday late afternoon. Any suggestions? I'll probably end up asking my regular pet sitter but thought I'd ask for ideas in case I'm missing something. I don't want to buy an automatic feeder. If they were still eating dehydrated raw I'd leave some out dry like kibble but can't do that now.

Thanks!

 

[dhammagirl]

So, it'll be a bit over 24 hours?
That could be tricky.
We do this periodically when we go camping: I give my indoor cat a whole guinea pig, a very large meal for him, more than he usually gets for a day, and feed him again when we return, but I try to keep it at around 24 hours between the two meals. (I can't leave food out for him since he'll eat it all....he's a bottomless pit we're working on getting to lose more weight)
The outdoor kitties get left dry a kibble, which is a treat for them since they usually get raw and canned.

If it were me, I'd give the kitties an extra big raw meal right before leaving, and leave out some canned food for them to eat later. I think it's quite safe to leave canned food out for a while, it's just that some kitties will snub it if it's not super fresh.

 

[sarah430]

It would probably be about 30 hours. I think what I'll end up doing is giving them a big raw meal Saturday morning and leave some wet out for later. And then ask a friend to check in Sunday morning. That way I'll have some peace of mind in case our return is delayed.

Thanks!

 

[orange&white]

I do the same thing; just leaving a day's worth of food right before I leave town. I leave them 1/2 thawed, and 1/2 frozen so they can't eat the frozen food for at least a couple of hours. The cats don't have food when I get home the next day early afternoon, but between then and bedtime I give them that day's worth of food. It's worrying to disrupt their schedule, but they get the same calories and food each day as usual. I'm gone two or three times a year for about 30 hours each trip.

 

[sarah430]

That’s a great idea orange&white ! I hadn’t thought of leaving out some frozen. A friend I’d going to check on them Sunday morning but I can still do this for Saturday dinner.

 

[-Mia-]

How long can you safely leave wet food out? If they don't eat it all, when will it go bad? I am so paranoid about this, but my little kitten doesn't eat a lot in one feeding. She eats often, about every two hours, but doesn't eat much each time, so I'm always throwing food out because I get paranoid about the food going bad.

 

[dhammagirl]

How long can you safely leave wet food out? If they don't eat it all, when will it go bad? I am so paranoid about this, but my little kitten doesn't eat a lot in one feeding. She eats often, about every two hours, but doesn't eat much each time, so I'm always throwing food out because I get paranoid about the food going bad.

If it's canned food, I think it's safe to leave it at room temperature for quite a while, certainly 24 hours.
I use Fancy Feast classic pate, and use a little at a time to mix with raw, and just leave it on the countertop with the lid on it, using it throughout the day. I don't worry at all about it going bad; it's been cooked under pressure. If it was out for two days or more and it was hot, I might be concerned.
Kitties digestive system can handle most bacteria. (I'll leave a mix of raw and canned out in kitties dish for a few hours. The cat eventually eats it, and there's been no issues with getting sick or anything.)
It should be fine to give your kitten a little canned food at a time, saving the rest, doling out the can over the course of a day.

 

[-Mia-]

If it's canned food, I think it's safe to leave it at room temperature for quite a while, certainly 24 hours.
I use Fancy Feast classic pate, and use a little at a time to mix with raw, and just leave it on the countertop with the lid on it, using it throughout the day. I don't worry at all about it going bad; it's been cooked under pressure. If it was out for two days or more and it was hot, I might be concerned.
Kitties digestive system can handle most bacteria. (I'll leave a mix of raw and canned out in kitties dish for a few hours. The cat eventually eats it, and there's been no issues with getting sick or anything.)
It should be fine to give your kitten a little canned food at a time, saving the rest, doling out the can over the course of a day.

Thank you so much. This makes me feel much better. It will also save me from wasting so much food! It certainly won't be more than a day.

I also feed her some Primal freeze dried raw nuggets, but I crumble several nuggets ahead of time, and just hydrate a small amount in her bowl at a time, so I don't have a lot of waste there. I think the crumbled nuggets should keep well in a jar as long as I haven't added water yet. I was just concerned about the canned food, so thank you for easing my mind!

 

[Neo_23]

I would have to disagree with the 24 hours rule. I think that's far too long for canned food. Even if it doesn't go bad it will dry up to the point that your cat will not want to eat it. Opinions are mixed on this, manufacturers state that it shouldn't be left out for longer than 30 mins, but I think it can be left out longer than that. In my opinion, up to 8 hours it will probably be fine, but I usually don't let canned food sit out for longer than a few hours. If I'm going to be away for a long day I will leave out frozen canned food for eating later (takes a few hours to defrost). But if I'm going away overnight I try to have someone come in and feed/leave out more frozen canned food.

If the food is refrigerated though, I think you can leave it in the fridge up to 3 days.

 

[-Mia-]

I would have to disagree with the 24 hours rule. I think that's far too long for canned food. Even if it doesn't go bad it will dry up to the point that your cat will not want to eat it. Opinions are mixed on this, manufacturers state that it shouldn't be left out for longer than 30 mins, but I think it can be left out longer than that. In my opinion, up to 8 hours it will probably be fine, but I usually don't let canned food sit out for longer than a few hours. If I'm going to be away for a long day I will leave out frozen canned food for eating later (takes a few hours to defrost). But if I'm going away overnight I try to have someone come in and feed/leave out more frozen canned food.

If the food is refrigerated though, I think you can leave it in the fridge up to 3 days.

I think in my case, it would be about 6 hours. Since she eats about every 2 hours, and eats about a quarter of a can each time. Sometimes she asks for more at each feeding, so the can doesn't even last 4 feedings. When I open another can later in the day, I usually put whatever is leftover in the fridge overnight. It's just during the day that I find it cumbersome to refrigerate the food, when she will be ready to eat again in two hours, and since she doesn't like it cold, it would have to sit out for a bit anyway...

I did read that canned food should not be left out more than 30 minutes, so I was throwing out a lot during the day. I don't leave canned food out overnight -- just a few pieces of kibble, to make sure she doesn't go hungry while we sleep!

PS: She is starting to ask for more food during each feeding, so she's well on her way to eating more. Maybe we'll get to the point where a can won't last more than a couple hours!

 

[Neo_23]

I think in my case, it would be about 6 hours. Since she eats about every 2 hours, and eats about a quarter of a can each time. Sometimes she asks for more at each feeding, so the can doesn't even last 4 feedings. When I open another can later in the day, I usually put whatever is leftover in the fridge overnight. It's just during the day that I find it cumbersome to refrigerate the food, when she will be ready to eat again in two hours, and since she doesn't like it cold, it would have to sit out for a bit anyway...

I did read that canned food should not be left out more than 30 minutes, so I was throwing out a lot during the day. I don't leave canned food out overnight -- just a few pieces of kibble, to make sure she doesn't go hungry while we sleep!

PS: She is starting to ask for more food during each feeding, so she's well on her way to eating more. Maybe we'll get to the point where a can won't last more than a couple hours!

I feel like 6 hours should be okay. I remember there was a thread on this site a while ago where many people said that they leave canned food out all day. Actually, even Dr. Lisa Pierson (feline nutritionist) has said (on the feline diabetes forum) that she leaves canned food out for up to 8 hours a day and thinks it's perfectly fine.

 

[-Mia-]

I feel like 6 hours should be okay. I remember there was a thread on this site a while ago where many people said that they leave canned food out all day. Actually, even Dr. Lisa Pierson (feline nutritionist) has said (on the feline diabetes forum) that she leaves canned food out for up to 8 hours a day and thinks it's perfectly fine.

Thank you. This is very good to know!

 

[orange&white]

You're leaving next Saturday, or tomorrow? If you have a week, you could try a "test run". Try putting some fresh and some frozen out on a day when you're home, and see how fast it goes.

One of my cats would eat 8 ounces of food in 30 minutes, but he's on a diet and only allowed 4 ounces a day. I never have to worry about food getting old, stale, or growing germs. I'm sure when I leave town, even his frozen food is gone by noon, as soon as it defrosts enough.

My other cat grazes, and takes a while to eat a meal. I often feed her breakfast right before work and her bedtime meal of raw food right before I go to bed. Sometimes, she hasn't eaten all her food after 8 hours. She will not eat food that goes stale, so I don't worry about her eating food that's "off" from being left out too long either.

I do have to segregate the cats to different areas of the house when I leave. Otherwise my Hoover cat would eat all the food, and my young picky one would go hungry.

It might give you some peace of mind if you can do a test run and observe whether or not they're eating the food while it's fresh enough.

 

[orange&white]

We did have a member here test a FrostyBowl about 6-8 months ago. They put frozen food in a FrostyBowl and tested it every couple of hours. It was 12 hours before the food warmed up to refrigerator temperature (40F).

 

[Neo_23]

We did have a member here test a FrostyBowl about 6-8 months ago. They put frozen food in a FrostyBowl and tested it every couple of hours. It was 12 hours before the food warmed up to refrigerator temperature (40F).

Thanks for sharing! This is a great idea!

 

[sarah430]

Sorry I've been away from the boards. We're gone this coming weekend. I'm going to try leaving out some frozen for them to eat once it's defrosted. Then I have a friend checking in on them Sunday morning. So if for some reason they don't eat the frozen intended for dinner it's not the end of the world.

For me I personally wouldn't leave canned wet out more than 8-12 hrs. Actually I don't think it would last that long. My kitties graze a bit more on the canned than they do on raw (which gets gobbled right up) but won't eat it after it's dried out - probably 5-6 hrs.

 

[sophie1]

I use a Frosty Bowlz to free feed raw. The food is fine for 24 hours or a bit longer, but that requires changing ice packs twice a day (3x in summer). Raw food actually does better than canned, as that gets kinda gross when it dries out and my cats won't eat it. For 24 hours-ish, I would leave out a day's worth of frozen raw with a fresh ice pack, add some extra cold (chilled) water to the bowl, and get your friend to switch ice packs at least once. It may help to use something that's frozen into one solid block e.g. a RadCat tub, rather than bites or medallions. And turn down the thermostat in the area where the bowl is to help it stay cold. If you're in an apartment with a warm floor, try putting the bowl on a styrofoam disc (available in dried-flower sections of hobby shops).