Free Feeding Grazing Shelter Cats- Is This Behavior Common?

[abyeb]

I wasn't quite sure if I should post this in the behavior or nutrition forum- I'm so sorry if I posted in the wrong place and if I caused any inconvenience.

I also apologize for the somewhat confusing title, I'm just very curious about something I've seen among the cats at the local no-kill shelter I'm volunteering at, and if anyone else has seen something like this.

The cats at the shelter are all free-fed. Their bowls are filled to the top every morning, and then the food is replaced in the afternoon. Again, the bowl is filled to the top. Now for the part I find confusing from a feline behavior standpoint: the cats all graze on the food throughout the day. They never finish all the food, and all seem to take exactly what they need because all the cats look like they're in ideal body condition. This all seems different to me because Charlie can't be free-fed. When I tried this strategy when he was a kitten, Charlie literally ate the whole bowl of food in less than five minutes, and then vomited everything up.

I asked one of the senior volunteers if they've ever had any cats who needed scheduled feedings and she replied "no, never, why would you need to schedule a cat's food?"

So, what I'm wondering, is Charlie just a little strange about food? Does anyone else's cats here do the scarf 'n barf routine if free-fed? Since Charlie is my first cat, whatever he does seems *normal* to me, so I just found it hard to believe that in the history of this shelter (well, at least in the memory of the senior volunteer), they've never had a cat who didn't do well on free-feeding. Is it something with the shelter environment that turns cats into grazers? I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts and opinions!

 

[kashmir64]

All my cats have always had free feeding of kibble. The canned food is scheduled. If I fed more than they need, it would go bad fast.
Did you mean free feed of kibble? You never specified.

 

[abyeb]

All my cats have always had free feeding of kibble. The canned food is scheduled. If I fed more than they need, it would go bad fast.
Did you mean free feed of kibble? You never specified.

Yeah, kibble. Sorry I didn't specify, I'd never heard of anyone free feeding wet food, so I was pretty sure this was only done with kibble. Your cats do all right free feeding kibble? I guess my Charlie must be a silly kitty then, lol.

 

[kashmir64]

Every cat I've ever owned has been free fed. I do have a beagle that is like your Charlie, but never a cat.
My cat's have always been grazers and I've never had a problem with any of them.
Sorry, but it seems like Charlie is a little strange. (But he's loved anyway)

 

[abyeb]

Yeah, Charlie has his quirks for sure, but really, doesn't every kitty?

Most importantly, though, he is very loved, and very loving.

 

[jcat]

The cats at our shelter get wet food twice a day and have dry available in their rooms. However, the dry is (supposed to be) measured, because many of the cats will gorge on dry food and gain too much weight. The only place bowls are filled to the brim is the feral enclosure, which currently holds 21 cats, many of which won't come indoors at all.

I can't free feed Mowgli at all. Whether it's due to his being feral born or his IBD (he was suffering from malnutrition when we got him), he can't self-regulate. That's a pretty common problem, going by the large number of overweight cats.

 

[abyeb]

The cats at our shelter get wet food twice a day and have dry available in their rooms. However, the dry is (supposed to be) measured, because many of the cats will gorge on dry food and gain too much weight. The only place bowls are filled to the brim is the feral enclosure, which currently holds 21 cats, many of which won't come indoors at all.

I can't free feed Mowgli at all. Whether it's due to his being feral born or his IBD (he was suffering from malnutrition when we got him), he can't self-regulate. That's a pretty common problem, going by the large number of overweight cats.

Yeah- it sounds like Charlie is a lot like your Mowgli in terms of response to free feeding. It makes me wonder why none of the cats at this shelter are overweight, especially since they don't measure the food.

"Do you use a measuring cup for the food?"
"No, just fill up the bowl all the way!"

 

[jcat]

It makes me wonder whether the dry food being given isn't especially tasty. The cats at our shelter get two different kinds of Royal Canin dry as their standard fare. When we mix in the supermarket brands people donate, most of the cats eat a lot less, and some won't touch it. The same goes for most of the dogs we get.

 

[abyeb]

It makes me wonder whether the dry food being given isn't especially tasty. The cats at our shelter get two different kinds of Royal Canin dry as their standard fare. When we mix in the supermarket brands people donate, most of the cats eat a lot less, and some won't touch it. The same goes for most of the dogs we get.

That's a good point- the shelter gets all their food donated by a local pet supply store. Maybe the store isn't giving them the highest quality stuff. I have no idea what brand the food is, the store just puts the kibble in big plastic buckets (one labeled "cat food", the other labeled "kitten food") and drops it off at the shelter, so no one knows anything about the brand or nutrition content. This arrangement seems kind of strange to me, but the shelter is just glad to be able to get all their food for free.

 

[1CatOverTheLine]

.
I've always fed ad libitum - I suppose both wet and dry, since they always have wet food available as well - and have only encountered one cat who had a difficult time outgrowing the "scarf and barf" syndrome (he was severely malnourished as a kitten). It generally seems to take between two and six weeks for the average stray or feral to realise that, "the food isn't going away," and once they grasp the fact that the food will always be there for them, they cease overeating.

Non-scientifically: in my experience, cats maintain a body weight which is comfortable for them far more easily than do Humans, and (this entirely my opinion) cat caretakers (and some veterinarians) are often obsessive about cats' weight. One sees this same micromanagment behaviour in Humans in trying to force everyone's blood pressure and cholesterol to be precisely the same, when, in fact, there's no true baseline other than each person's individual natural baseline. Humans are strange.

Semi-scientifically: Cats seem far less prone to GLP-1 deficiency than their Human counterparts, and as such, have the ability to simply quit eating when they're full. Additionally, since high-fat cravings are often caused by GLP-1 deficiency, they're also less susceptible to positive dopamine reactions (since to initiate addictive eating behaviour, dopamine "highs" must be both recognisable and reactable).
.

 

[jarn]

I don't know. Last Thursday I adopted Timothy, a new cat to us, from a shelter. He gained .5lb there, which might not seem like a lot (not a lot of exercise; he was free fed) over two months, but he weighs 23.4lbs! I don't think a cat gets that big except by excessive free feeding. There are a lot of overweight cats.

 

[abyeb]

I don't know. Last Thursday I adopted Timothy, a new cat to us, from a shelter. He gained .5lb there, which might not seem like a lot (not a lot of exercise; he was free fed) over two months, but he weighs 23.4lbs! I don't think a cat gets that big except by excessive free feeding. There are a lot of overweight cats.

Yeah- that's what I would have suspected too, which is why I was surprised that there weren't any overweight cats at this shelter. I think jcat made a good point, though, maybe the food the cats are getting doesn't taste all that great.

 

[bluebirdy]

I free feed my cats and I have one that only grabs a bite when she's totally hungry, and another that really enjoys their food. By free feed I mean I give a large spoonful of wet food twice a day, and fill a bowl with kibble for them to graze on during the day. I don't fill up their bowls if they're empty until it's their eating time again, but sometimes there is still food left when it's time to feed again.

 

[danteshuman]

I free feed my guys dry food. They both weigh 12.5 pounds. If Dante can see the bottom of his food bowl he freaks out and attacks my other cat Salem. Now I live with one other indoor/outdoor cat who used to be feral/semi-tame. He has his own special food. The times when he couldn't eat freely when he was hungry he has over eaten and stuffed himself so badly he threw up in his food bowl! I turn a blind eye if he occasionally eats out of my guys food. I have noticed on my guys new food Taste of the Wild that they eat 1/3-1/2 of what they did when I used to feed them Purina. Dante is starting to look kinda chunky I am thinking of putting him on a diet.

 

[danteshuman]

On my cat from hell they had an obese cat and he went on a raw food diet/exercise program and lost weight.