Food questions...

[myrnafaye]

Hi, cat parents. This may not belong in the Health forum, but I was not sure where to post it. So I have 2 cats who are on KD, a mix of canned mostly with a little dry. I also leave out some dry at night in case they are hungry. I just got a third cat. He will be on a non prescription formula. My two on KD are "grazers"; they eat and return. So I have been leaving their food down throughout the day for them to return to. They are not meal feeders, as I said, they are grazers. The new kitty will initially be fed in a separate room, but once he is out of quarantine (new cat quarantine); I dont know how I will prevent him from eating the KD. Moreover, if he is also a "grazer", IDK how I will keep the other cats from eating HIS food. How do I covert this pack to being meal feeders, or how do I prevent them from eating each others' food? please dont suggest a microchip timer.

 

[arr]

I don’t know if this would work for your cats, but with my grazer, I just went to mealtimes cold turkey. She learned fast that if she didn’t eat at her meal, there wouldn't be any more food until the next mealtime. I feed three meals a day.

 

[myrnafaye]

arr, its something to consider. I just think it will be hard to make that switch. For one of my cats who came from a rescue, grazing is all he has probably ever known - leaving a large bowl of dry food out . I dont do that cause I feed mostly canned, but : what did you do, feed, then give them a half hour or so then picked up the food?

 

[arr]

I feed mostly canned too. I give each cat their portion and two cats always finish and walk away. The grazer may or may not finish or may want more. She is on the thinner side so basically I feed her as much as she wants until she walks away, which is usually 10-15 minutes, and that’s it until next mealtime. I actually started at 4 meals a day and cut back to 3 eventually. If someone is mostly home all day you could try 4 meals. I wish I could let her graze but her brother has a tendency towards weight gain and he will absolutely eat anything left out, so this is how it has to be.

 

[neely]

Many years ago when we had four cats, one of them would not eat the same food as the other three, and he took forever to finish his food. I ended up feeding him separately on one of the counters. I only fed him when I was home so that I could monitor the other three. It took a little more effort but solved the problem and the other three cats learned not to bother him. I understand your dilemma and hope you can figure out an arrangement that works best for your cats and you.

 

[maggie101]

I do have timers for canned which I don't set. They are on a regular schedule 3x a day plus some late at night. I set my alarm ,get up,make sure one of my cats doesn't eat the others food,back to bed. Doesn't bother me since I use the bathroom at night. They shouldn't have trouble no longer grazing especially if you play with them instead. I do have to watch one like a hawk. As soon as I turn away, she snatches food from my other cat and runs away with it. Very sneaky(and rude)

 

[lisahe]

I feed mostly canned too. I give each cat their portion and two cats always finish and walk away. The grazer may or may not finish or may want more. She is on the thinner side so basically I feed her as much as she wants until she walks away, which is usually 10-15 minutes, and that’s it until next mealtime. I actually started at 4 meals a day and cut back to 3 eventually. If someone is mostly home all day you could try 4 meals. I wish I could let her graze but her brother has a tendency towards weight gain and he will absolutely eat anything left out, so this is how it has to be.

This is very close to our situation: we feed many meals a day (six, if you count the night-time snack!) and it works really well for both the thinner cat who'd graze all day if she could and the plumper cat who will scarf-and-barf if given the chance. We started on the many-meals-a-day program because of the plumper cat but it's been just the thing to get the thinner cat eating more consistently, too. We have set mealtimes.

One of the great things about mealtimes is that it's easier to keep the cats separate while they eat. We do that for some meals but not others.