How often do you feed your ferals?

[bastfriend]

I have circumstances that make leaving the food out for about three hours a day my best option, but I worry that might leave the cats really hungry the rest of the time.   So I thought I'd start a new thread!    To find out do you guys think my current plan will work out and just generally how all of you time your feedings, pros, cons, etc .   

 

[bszaronos]

I have a plastic storage container that I cut out one side so the cats can get in. Inside I have a bowl of dry cat food and a heated bowl for wet cat food. I bought the heated bowl at petsmart for $20.

Durring the winter I feed them wet food twice a day. Once in the mourning and once at night. I make sure the dry food is always over full.

I do have racoons and possums that come and eat as well. They do not eat all of the food and don't make a mess. I figure they have to eat as well. I even put in some cookies from time to time for them.

 

[ritz]

When I lived at the location of the cat colony (condominimum), I fed wet food morning and evening, and left out dry  food.  I think this is the ideal, but by no means necessary.

Six months ago I moved 25 miles away.  A friend feeds the colony dry food twice a week and I feed wet and dry food Saturday, Sunday, and days I have off from work.  I feed Friskies pate or the kind with sauce, and Friskies dry food.  Dry food has more calories than wet and in this cold weather they need all the calories than can get.   Friskies isn't the greatest food, but the cats prefer the lower quality food than, for example, Evo or even Fancy Feast.  Only one cat will eagerly eat raw food (I fed my resident cat raw--ferals get Ritz' rejects, including chicken skin).  I believe one of the members of this forum feeds her feral cats raw, and the cost is less than feeding high quality wet food.

But they do have their standards; they hated the local grocery store's brand. 

Because of a less reliable food source, around two or three of the cats have disappeared, hopefully for greener pastures; eight cats are regular, although not all show up at the same time.

There are a lot of dumpsters, and the cats 'dumpster dive' for food; they did this even when I was feeding regularly.

Their weights are okay, especially considering it's winter.

 

[whaler]

i am really lucky that my colony is located right out my back door at work so it is not a problem to feed them a snack just about whenever they want.

my scheduled meals are provided to them at 7 am (when i get to work), 4ish and again between 7 and 9 pm. i try to keep this schedule even on my day off (sunday) so that they hopefully don't venture too far.

 

[Willowy]

Eh, mine are neighborhood cats so I just keep an autofeeder full all the time, in a cat box on the side of my garage. when it's above freezing I put a can out every evening. If I see one of them hanging around I'll put a can out, too, even if it's below freezing. But mine don't have a set feeding time so they usually just wander in for a snack whenever they feel like it.

 

[jtbo]

First thing after waking up at the morning is to give them one can of wet food and to fill their bowl of dry food, which holds about 3 cans topped with dry food.

Then at the evening again I need to fill dry food as it has all gone during the day, usually there is tiny bit left in bowl at evening and morning, wet food they eat in few hours, they like to come back and eat several times of it.

Of course mine are indoors so they don't eat that much, but it is financially near my limits still.

 

[bastfriend]

Those are some lucky ferals kitties!  I had no idea there was such a thing as a heated pet bowl.  It sounds like most of you have control over the area you feed them - I sure wish I did.   Do you guys think once a day for three hours is enough time for them to get enough nutrition or are they going to go hungry?   I read about the big cats, lions and tigers, going days between kills so seems like a cat could handle once a day if they had to?

 

[jtbo]

Those are some lucky ferals kitties!  I had no idea there was such a thing as a heated pet bowl.  It sounds like most of you have control over the area you feed them - I sure wish I did.   Do you guys think once a day for three hours is enough time for them to get enough nutrition or are they going to go hungry?   I read about the big cats, lions and tigers, going days between kills so seems like a cat could handle once a day if they had to?

My understanding is that best would be if cat could eat several times a day, with single feeding 3 hours a day probably means they need to find other sources for food and if they are used to feeding more often and they have freedom to travel around, then they might start to search for other food source.

At least that is my imagination's creation that they might find out change to be drying out food supply and might start to fear that it will dry out completely, but I don't really know how it is, just what I imagine.

I did made heated water bowl from metal water bowl, some insulation material from hardware store and 25W light bulb which I put under the bowl so it did heat up space under the bowl and kept water from freezing. At -30C water did disappear very quickly though.
Some care are needed to be taken so that water can't get into electric parts of course.

Here Chicken coops are often heated by light bulbs during the winter time. I think they call light bulbs soon heat spheres here as EU is banning slowly all light bulbs, but perfectly good heat sources will still be available here, don't know how things are at your place.

 

[ritz]

Keep in mind that even if fed on a regular basis, cats will hunt prey; they are opportunist eaters.  Squirrels and some birds don't hibernate, so they are readily available food sources.

There were many problems in the condo complex where I lived (including a prostitution ring in the next building), but mice weren't one of them!

 

[bastfriend]

JTbo, that's really creative with the light bulb for heat - hard to imagine a day when  you can't buy an incandescent light bulb.   That sounds like a sweet set up you have for your cats dealing with extreme temperatures.   I was lucky that it didn't get below freezing too much and things are warming here.

Ritz, I meant to comment earlier - that must be tough to have moved 25 miles away from your cats though I bet you are glad to get away from the prostitution ring!  You are a very dedicated cat person.   They present us with so many difficult choices - I'm hoping to find a good situation for these guys before I have to move but I don't know what will happen.    I won't go into detail on the board but another event has happened which has turned the screws on me even more in making it hard to put food out there.  

 

[jtbo]

JTbo, that's really creative with the light bulb for heat - hard to imagine a day when  you can't buy an incandescent light bulb.   That sounds like a sweet set up you have for your cats dealing with extreme temperatures.   I was lucky that it didn't get below freezing too much and things are warming here.

It is only bit over hour to Russia, it is not yet illegal to import light bulbs for own use and in Russia there are not so much restrictions, also prices are bit lower. I did not believe that I would see this kind of day either, but here it is slowly coming when we look to Russia and see land of greater freedom :-O
Reason why bulbs are being slowly banned is that EU wants to stop climate from warming or at least that is what we are told.

I did use electric blanket for cat box also, but those did not last too long, painted low wattage bulb set so that it does not touch anything and cat can't touch or cover it was better. for cat box heating too, just something relatively inexpensive compared to special heaters, lack of funds makes one creative I guess and as I'm seriously lacking funds, I try to become a mobile game developer, I should be successful as with this low funding I must have really lot of creativity, just when I find where that creativity is hiding

 

[Willowy]

Yeah, there are many different kinds of heated bowls. . .I have a gallon-sized heated bowl for their water, nothing special, $20 at Walmart. One broke a few years ago so I took it apart---it has a heating wire looped back and forth under the bowl, wrapped in foil insulation. I don't have a heated bowl for their canned food; that's a good idea. I think I bought a small heated bowl for my grandma a few years back, but now all her cats come inside so I bet she doesn't need it anymore. I'm going to look around her house. Good suggestion!

 

[feralvr]

In the winter months, I feed twice daily. Morning and then again about two hours before dark. I would toss any remaining food into the woods behind my house once dark. I also have a heated water bowl for the winter. I use one for water and one for the canned food. I mix canned with some dry kibble as well in the mornings only. They usually eat everything up right away, especially in the winter when they come to rely on your for daily food. You can buy the heated water bowls at Walmart for about ten bucks! In the summer, I only feed in the morning and only put out canned food IF I see a kitty waiting, which I usually do. Otherwise, in the summer, it is dry food only in the mornings. Most feral cats supplement their diet in the summer by hunting.

 

[meowmmy_aprile]

My home based colony also get fed 2xs a day. Sometimes 3 if I notice them hanging around mid day I will put out a couple of bowls of dry food.

In the morning around 7-8 am I feed them wet food and top off the dry food containers. In the evenings I do the same wet food, top off dry food.

With the colony I travel for they get wet food in the morning and I fill the dry containers and another person goes by in the afternoon and feeds them some dry on their way home from work. Hopefully soon this colony will be brought here to me and inter grated with my current colony as they are in a unhealthy city environment that isn't safe. 

 

[annarrue]

Goodness you all put me to shame!!!  In the summer I feed and water once a day, about six in the morning.  In the winter I feed once a day and water twice a day. There is always some pellets left over.  Some days more than others.  I put out 8 pounds of dry cat food once a day.  I use big feeding dishes.   The ferals I care for eat the more inexpensive cat food, like Kit and Kaboodle or Meow Mix.  I tried the more expensive brands but they would barely eat it and I could not afford to waste it!!!  For cats that don't have a home they are strange-they want colored pellets.  They will not eat "brown" pellets unless they are mixed with the colored pellets.  About three times a week I add three cans of tuna in oil to the eight pounds of pellets and mix it all together.  I also use the same tuna to bait the traps with, just plain though, not mixed with the pellets.

Anna

 

[bugmankeith]

Mine get food out all day, although leftovers at night attract raccoons and possums sometimes whatever drops on the ground. I change the food and water daily and they get dry food and canned food. They love blue wilderness

 

[ritz]

It was very tough for me to leave the ferals behind, more difficult than I thought it would be.

But I still get to see them every weekend.  Though Sandy is still MIA.

 

[meowmmy_aprile]

I forgot to mention I tend to feed more in the winter months. I am a firm believer in a little extra fat to keep warm. In the spring and summer I taper the amounts a bit as there is more options around for them to catch themselves.

 

[jtbo]

I forgot to mention I tend to feed more in the winter months. I am a firm believer in a little extra fat to keep warm. In the spring and summer I taper the amounts a bit as there is more options around for them to catch themselves.

I think that when mine were outdoors, they ate easily double compared to warmer time, difference was not completely because of hunting was easier during the summer, but it is related to their incredible bodies.

During the cold they covert more food to heat, also they grow more fur when cold, they adapt much more than what humans are able to adapt, I consider their 'machinery' being far superior of that what humans have.

 

[bugmankeith]

Mine get food out all day, although leftovers at night attract raccoons and possums sometimes whatever drops on the ground. I change the food and water daily and they get dry food and canned food. They love blue wilderness

Forgot to add, one cat is 25 pounds so the extra food is needed so the others get