Freefeeding vs Food Restriction

The Goodbye Bird

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I've never personally seen an intact obese cat and this leads me to the conclusion that it's probably not necessary to food restrict intact cats at all unless they are especially sedentary. I dearly hope this is correct.

I'm going to start breeding Oriental Shorthairs and frankly I'm uncomfortable food restricting any cat, at all. I'm picky about what I give my cats, but not how much. Admittedly I have had a few fat cats but these have all been spayed before they met me. When my cats get fat I exercise them and play with them rather than food restrict so they at least don't turn into huge cat balloons. I've never gotten one to run on a wheel but my breed of choice supposedly likes wheels so I may get one again even after swearing off them forever (the last one scared the heck out of my cat and had to be trashed because I couldn't give it away and the seller wouldn't take it back). I find the exercise works and I've just never food-restricted, though whatever is necessary to keep my breeding cats perfectly healthy, I will do.

I'm just really hoping food restricting is unnecessary for intact cats.

My spouse got a dog recently and it makes me super uncomfortable when it asks for more food but has already had its allotment. I've always avoided animals I would have to food restrict for this reason. It's only through recent research that I found out that some experts think it is necessary to food restrict cats. I always thought that cats were supposed to freefeed because they can starve or at least cause themselves starvation damage exceptionally quickly.
 

lavishsqualor

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As fate would have it, I'm typing this with one eye on my neutered male gray tabby, Atticus, who is just waiting for me to look the other way so he can shove Thirteen out of the way and eat her food. (We're trying out Darwin's Raw and it's an enormous hit with all three.)

Atticus would eat until he threw up if I let him. Even as a kitten he was piggy. I do believe that some cats are born with a nutritional intelligence while others are, well, just piggy. But you're right: neutering plays a big part in that. Not that I would ever encourage someone to keep their cat intact for that purpose.
 

maggie101

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For my cat maggie,free feeding would probably be ok cause she knows when to stop. Free feeding Coco would not be a good idea because she eats a lot,doesnt know when to stop, so restricted for her. So all my cats are fed restricted diets because of that. 8 am,4 pm,9 pma
 

DreamerRose

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Yes, cats are all different. I could free-feed Mingo with no problem. But Lily is another story. She was abandoned and nearly starved, and as a result, will eat anything in sight and won't stop. She was overweight when I got her, and she's down now to 9 lbs. I restrict her food (and separate her from Mingo at mealtime so she doesn't eat his too) and want to keep her at that weight.
 

DreamerRose

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Yes, cats are all different. I could free-feed Mingo with no problem. But Lily is another story. She was abandoned and nearly starved, and as a result, will eat anything in sight and won't stop. She was overweight when I got her, and she's down now to 9 lbs. I restrict her food (and separate her from Mingo at mealtime so she doesn't eat his too) and want to keep her at that weight.
 

maggie101

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Yes, cats are all different. I could free-feed Mingo with no problem. But Lily is another story. She was abandoned and nearly starved, and as a result, will eat anything in sight and won't stop. She was overweight when I got her, and she's down now to 9 lbs. I restrict her food (and separate her from Mingo at mealtime so she doesn't eat his too) and want to keep her at that weight.
Coco was also abandoned. Today she stole some blueberries from me and she loves bread and pizza so I have to I'm immediately put things away
 

Willowy

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I have met fat intact female cats, if not allowed to get pregnant---pregnancy and nursing burn a lot of calories. Not toms though; testosterone burns a ton of calories just existing. Plus I think they tend to go off feed during mating season.

I free-feed mine on canned food. None are fat, except when I fall back on dry food; there are a couple who just balloon with even a little kibble. If a former stray seems inclined to gorge themselves, I let them, and they get over it in about a week ;). I don't know what I'd do if I ended up with one who never stopped gorging himself. I definitely think cats are less likely to overeat canned/homecooked/raw food.

But yeah, I definitely have to lock up the bread! I was having cheese and summer sausage on Ritz crackers and Hazel came begging, I offered her a bit of cheese and sausage, but nooo, she wanted the crackers! Cats are weird.
 

Talien

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I've never personally seen an intact obese cat and this leads me to the conclusion that it's probably not necessary to food restrict intact cats at all unless they are especially sedentary. I dearly hope this is correct.

I'm going to start breeding Oriental Shorthairs and frankly I'm uncomfortable food restricting any cat, at all. I'm picky about what I give my cats, but not how much. Admittedly I have had a few fat cats but these have all been spayed before they met me. When my cats get fat I exercise them and play with them rather than food restrict so they at least don't turn into huge cat balloons. I've never gotten one to run on a wheel but my breed of choice supposedly likes wheels so I may get one again even after swearing off them forever (the last one scared the heck out of my cat and had to be trashed because I couldn't give it away and the seller wouldn't take it back). I find the exercise works and I've just never food-restricted, though whatever is necessary to keep my breeding cats perfectly healthy, I will do.

I'm just really hoping food restricting is unnecessary for intact cats.

My spouse got a dog recently and it makes me super uncomfortable when it asks for more food but has already had its allotment. I've always avoided animals I would have to food restrict for this reason. It's only through recent research that I found out that some experts think it is necessary to food restrict cats. I always thought that cats were supposed to freefeed because they can starve or at least cause themselves starvation damage exceptionally quickly.
One thing some people forget about or just miss altogether is that if you free feed with multiple Cats you won't know if one of them is not eating unless you closely observe them throughout the day. Having set mealtimes establishes a routine, which is good for Cats, and it's a very easy way to tell if a Cat is not eating well or not eating at all.
 
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The Goodbye Bird

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One thing some people forget about or just miss altogether is that if you free feed with multiple Cats you won't know if one of them is not eating unless you closely observe them throughout the day. Having set mealtimes establishes a routine, which is good for Cats, and it's a very easy way to tell if a Cat is not eating well or not eating at all.
I find I can do this and keep a full food dish because they so prefer the fresh over the ever-so-slightly-stale that's been out for four hours. I do have set times I feed them but I don't like to let the dish run empty.

Admittedly if I had a whole bunch of them and I didn't see one eating, I might just conclude that one wasn't as picky as the others and was eating the slightly-stale. However, at that point, I would weigh it as well as observe it closely for other signs of distress. Though if that particular one is legitimately unpicky, AND it suddenly stops eating, I'm afraid you've got me there.

I still wouldn't have to let the food dish run empty for too long to get a picture; just long enough to know they should all reasonably want a bite.
 
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The Goodbye Bird

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Coco was also abandoned. Today she stole some blueberries from me and she loves bread and pizza so I have to I'm immediately put things away
I had to buy a breadbox after Lily got into a bag of jalapeno bagels and ate one. :mad2:
Where do you people get these eaty kitties? I've had one, my whole life. All the others have been hyperselective to the point of me tearing my hair out. Sniff-sniff, lick slightly, saunter away disdainfully. "Nuuuuuu I don't waaaaant it I can only eat my own food."
 

Willowy

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One thing some people forget about or just miss altogether is that if you free feed with multiple Cats you won't know if one of them is not eating unless you closely observe them throughout the day. Having set mealtimes establishes a routine, which is good for Cats, and it's a very easy way to tell if a Cat is not eating well or not eating at all.
True to some extent. But mine all show up when fresh food is put down, and I do a cat count then and make sure everyone is at least showing interest in their food. If, say, someone had a gravity feeder that was always full, yeah, I can see how it might be missed.
 

lutece

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I've definitely known some whole cats that would get fat if allowed to free feed, including both males and females, and including during pregnancy and nursing. One of my current female cats has this type of weight problem. It's difficult to deal with, because you need to make sure that a pregnant or nursing cat has unlimited access to food.

On the other hand, I've also known cats that could not maintain a normal weight as whole cats and were always too thin, and had to be spayed / neutered for their health.

As far as Oriental Shorthairs and the other slinky breeds are concerned, you will have to talk to people who work with those breeds... but I've heard many slinky breeders at shows say that their cats want to eat all the time, and would get fat if they were free fed.
 

lutece

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I free-feed mine on canned food. None are fat, except when I fall back on dry food; there are a couple who just balloon with even a little kibble. If a former stray seems inclined to gorge themselves, I let them, and they get over it in about a week ;). I don't know what I'd do if I ended up with one who never stopped gorging himself. I definitely think cats are less likely to overeat canned/homecooked/raw food.
I agree, cutting out dry food works well for many cats. I've had a few that still managed to stay fat on canned food alone, though.
 

goingpostal

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I prefer to know if my animals are eating, how much and when. Often it's your first clue that something is off and if any emergency medical intervention is needed, knowing those things can be critical. It sounds like you are more against food restriction because it makes you feel bad, which seems rather odd if you are considering getting into breeding, large parts of that are far more uncomfortable and dangerous for a cat than managing their diet.
 
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The Goodbye Bird

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I've definitely known some whole cats that would get fat if allowed to free feed, including both males and females, and including during pregnancy and nursing. One of my current female cats has this type of weight problem. It's difficult to deal with, because you need to make sure that a pregnant or nursing cat has unlimited access to food.
Yeah I agree. I am going to draw the line at food-restricting a pregnant queen. If she weighs a metric tonne so be it. Those fetuses need nutrition.

It sounds like you are more against food restriction because it makes you feel bad, which seems rather odd if you are considering getting into breeding, large parts of that are far more uncomfortable and dangerous for a cat than managing their diet.
Food-restricting just gets to me disproportionately for some reason. I have a persistent sort of nightmare about waking up to all my animals having starved even though nothing close to that has ever happened. In fact I've always been the animal guru from the time I was a kid. If it was some exotic-looking reptile or weird frog somebody found in the Everglades, I could get it eating when no one else could. My little pack of friends used to hang out at the reptile shop and gab about what we found instead of buying anything because we didn't have any money. Sometimes he'd trade us food for what we found. I wasn't always the best at finding but I was definitely the best at caring for.

If I need to get over it I'll get over it. I've already had to, to some degree with the dog. It's just very, very difficult for me but I would climb to the moon to do this so whatever I gotta do, I gotta do.

It's not just because it makes me feel bad though. I honestly don't think my measuring cups and the latest research on exactly how much of what Fluffy ought to have can equal to millions of years of evolution, and I kind of think Fluffy knows best.
 
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