How can I leave wet cat food overnight?

beatiful_cat

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Hello,

Is there a way to leave wet cat food overnight only? At least three or 4 wet food cans? I have not been feeding my cat dry food as it was recommended not to.

I feel it is less stressful than boarding for just overnight including the driving back and forth to the boarding place.

Thank you for your suggestions.
 

Margot Lane

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I’ve been happily using my cat mate automated feeder, which comes with a plastic component you can freeze and put under the cat food. Set timer, and hey presto! Cat goes leaping for it at any hour, should change his name to Pavlov. My feeder only provides two places for food, however. My fear is farther than 1 day and you risk having the food spoil, plus you’d need extra cate mates. Do you not have a sitter/neighbor? That would be the best.
 

mizzely

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When I'm going to be gone all night I usually will freeze a bowl of canned food the night before, and set out the frozen bowl before I leave. It will thaw out and be ready to eat a few hours after I leave :)
 
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beatiful_cat

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I’ve been happily using my cat mate automated feeder, which comes with a plastic component you can freeze and put under the cat food. Set timer, and hey presto! Cat goes leaping for it at any hour, should change his name to Pavlov. My feeder only provides two places for food, however. My fear is farther than 1 day and you risk having the food spoil, plus you’d need extra cate mates. Do you not have a sitter/neighbor? That would be the best.
No, I don't have a sitter or a neighbor. I never trusted having anyone or a professional sitter come to my home. It would be nice though, but I don't know anyone I trust. This is just overnight though. What feeder do you use that you like?
 
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beatiful_cat

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When I'm going to be gone all night I usually will freeze a bowl of canned food the night before, and set out the frozen bowl before I leave. It will thaw out and be ready to eat a few hours after I leave :)
Good idea! I also just thought maybe have one bowl frozen but also with ice underneath for much later in the day 🤔. I will have to see how to do this.
 

LTS3

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Use a programmable timed feeder such as these:


Canned food is a cooked product so it can be left out all day. You can freeze the food into portion sizes and put the frozen chunk into the feeder to slowly defrost. Since it takes a bit of time for anything frozen to defrost, the first meal or two in the feeder should be straight from the can so the cat isn't trying to eat or play with a frozen chunk of food.
 

Babypinkweeb

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Unless the bowl is dirty or it's hot/humid where you live, it should be ok to leave wet food out overnight. It may dry out and deter pickier cats though. I feed in a plain stainless steel bowl before i go to bed and my cat eats most of his night meal by midnight.
 
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beatiful_cat

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Use a programmable timed feeder such as these:

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Canned food is a cooked product so it can be left out all day. You can freeze the food into portion sizes and put the frozen chunk into the feeder to slowly defrost. Since it takes a bit of time for anything frozen to defrost, the first meal or two in the feeder should be straight from the can so the cat isn't trying to eat or play with a frozen chunk of food.
Thank you for the list of time feeder and the tips. I wish I knew about this before.
 

Mer.kitten

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I don't think one night is anything to worry about. I've done it several times. Opened 3 or 4 cans of wet food, put each on a paper plate (i also left a bowl of dry bc mine eats dry too), at around 11 am - came home in the evening the next day. Food was mostly eaten, kitty was fine. I agree it's less stressful than boarding - that's the exact same reason I did it. Personally I wouldn't do it with seafood based foods though, just chicken or turkey.
 
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beatiful_cat

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I don't think one night is anything to worry about. I've done it several times. Opened 3 or 4 cans of wet food, put each on a paper plate (i also left a bowl of dry bc mine eats dry too), at around 11 am - came home in the evening the next day. Food was mostly eaten, kitty was fine. I agree it's less stressful than boarding - that's the exact same reason I did it. Personally I wouldn't do it with seafood based foods though, just chicken or turkey.
Thank you for your feedback! :)
 
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