If you free feed...

[minka]

Originally Posted by SweetPea24

It seems that free feeding works for a lot of cats. I think what I am finding very interesting is that all who responded feed some wet food too. At the hospital where I work, I would guess that around 80-90% of the cats that come in are free fed dry ONLY. And most of the time it's not measured. And of these 80-90%, all are overweight to obese.
Obviously, it is working for all your cats so I am wondering what our clients are doing...maybe feeding some wet would benefit them? Well, it would overall but I wonder if they added some canned, would these cats be less overweight?

Not to preemptively judge anyone here... But I've come to realize that about 75%+ of owners don't even realize that their cats are overweight. Let alone obese. So just because people may say it's working, doesn't mean it actually is. And the proof is in the cats you see at your work.
Adding canned to free-fed dry is actually one of the reason's why when some new members join they say 'Oh, I don't want to feed wet, I heard it makes cats fat.' You have to attack it at both ends to start weight loss. More wet, less/no dry.

 

[3catsn1dog]

I free fed dry because all four like to eat at different times and Im an indulgent parent. All the cats and the dog are nibblers they dont like to sit down and eat an entire meal at once. I have one big dish of cat food that I fill every morning and I just fill the dogs dish when its empty which is about every three days. None of my cats are obese but Herc could probably stand to lose a pound or two hes so darn short that he looks really chubby even though if he was a normal sized cat he would look normal. LOL As long as none of them get as big as Fatman was I wont change the way they eat but if they start getting huge then it will be diet time for everyone.

 

[parsleysage]

For what it's worth, I don't plan to free feed (if you can call what I do free feeding - I think that's pretty misleading as it conjures images of a completely full bowl 24/7) past kittenhood, and if I could afford to go all wet/raw now, I would. I agree with Minka that too few know what an overweight cat looks like - and they think healthy cats are too skinny. Somewhere there is a chart for judging weight health by body profile and I think that's a good way to tell.

I hate to generalize, but in my experience with friends & family who own cats and free feed, every single one is overweight and many are obese.

And the owners either refuse to acknowledge it or - in one case, acknowledge it but think there's nothing they can do about it.

 

[Draco]

Originally Posted by parsleysage

I hate to generalize, but in my experience with friends & family who own cats and free feed, every single one is overweight and many are obese.

And the owners either refuse to acknowledge it or - in one case, acknowledge it but think there's nothing they can do about it.

I know what you mean. Cats can get overweight with free-feeding of dry food. I don't keep the food in 24/7. I fill it once a day, and by the time the day's half over, the bowl's empty. I am so paranoid about my cats being overweight, I even had a vet's opinion and they said Monet's fine. He even dropped a few lbs since I got Picasso too

Oh, they get 1 can wet food each a day, half in the morning, half at night.

 

[parsleysage]

Originally Posted by Draco

I know what you mean. Cats can get overweight with free-feeding of dry food. I don't keep the food in 24/7. I fill it once a day, and by the time the day's half over, the bowl's empty. I am so paranoid about my cats being overweight, I even had a vet's opinion and they said Monet's fine. He even dropped a few lbs since I got Picasso too

Oh, they get 1 can wet food each a day, half in the morning, half at night.

SweetPea, to help you with organizing your thoughts about your work at the hospital, I think we should make a distinction between free-feeding, which in my eyes is "the bowl is never empty, Fluffy can go to the bowl at any given point during a 24-hour period and there is food to eat," and what it seems like most of us do - maybe we could call it "free-grazing"?? lol! A diet that includes wet food at least once per day, in which a measured (or eyeballed) amount of dry food is put in the bowl at a given time, and is not refilled until the next scheduled time.

It seems to me that that's what many or even most of us on the thread do, which is likely why we don't have obese cats the way you see at the hospital.

 

[sweetpea24]

Originally Posted by parsleysage

SweetPea, to help you with organizing your thoughts about your work at the hospital, I think we should make a distinction between free-feeding, which in my eyes is "the bowl is never empty, Fluffy can go to the bowl at any given point during a 24-hour period and there is food to eat," and what it seems like most of us do - maybe we could call it "free-grazing"?? lol! A diet that includes wet food at least once per day, in which a measured (or eyeballed) amount of dry food is put in the bowl at a given time, and is not refilled until the next scheduled time.

It seems to me that that's what many or even most of us on the thread do, which is likely why we don't have obese cats the way you see at the hospital.

Very good point parleysage. Same with Minka and Auntie Crazy. So I would guess that.the 80-90% of cats at my clinic are free-fed, as you defined it. I wanted to ask the question because I would venture to assume that being on a cat forum and regular participants, we are more informed about our cats. Mind you, I don't know if any of our clients are on any forum so maybe that's too much of an assumption. True, many of these clients aren't aware that their cats are overweight. I myself, wasn't aware my cat was getting overweight, not huge by any means. He's long but he was just slightly overweight. I meal feed but I was feedibg him wet and dry at the time. I increased his wet and boom, his lean body is back. Mind you, he' quite active.

But the cats I am seeing are huge, not just slightly overweight by half a pound. Some of them can barely move! So I have to wonder how much food are they really getting?

Thanks for your responses. Interesting feedback. I hope no one felt like I was judging them. Just the clients at my work! As well, I am trying to figure out a way that we can approach new clients in terms of starting their cats on a good path to health

 

[minka]

Originally Posted by SweetPea24

But the cats I am seeing are huge, not just slightly overweight by half a pound. Some of them can barely move! So I have to wonder how much food are they really getting?

My step-grandma puts out two PILES of dry food and at least one wet food and that's out 24/7. Her poor kitty is turning into a balloon. :[

Oh and the other half feed 'weight management' foods. :/

 

[cyndersmom]

Hi guys quick question for ya. We all know cynder by now as lord knows I have posted enough on him

but if not here's the run down: 15 weeks today and mainly eats a small amount of wet and mainly a dry diet. i know mainly dry is not good but I will worry about that in the future. So when should i stop free feeding him the dry and only put the required measurement of food down. he is obviously still a kitten and he needs his nutrition,but he is also quite the grazer when it comes to the dry and seems to run back to the bowl for a few nibbles and thats it. Right now i put 1/3 in his bowl in the morning and check when I get home from work and usually put another 1/3 in there,but sometimes I end up refilling it for a 3rd time cuz he has eaten all of it.

 

[parsleysage]

Originally Posted by cyndersmom

So when should i stop free feeding him the dry and only put the required measurement of food down. he is obviously still a kitten and he needs his nutrition,but he is also quite the grazer when it comes to the dry and seems to run back to the bowl for a few nibbles and thats it.

I'd say between 10 months and a year, which is generally considered the end of kittenhood as a stage of development. (I somehow have a feeling that personality-wise, Garfunkel will be a kitten forever.)

The only reason I keep food available (put down dry food for later at the same time I feed wet) is because my three are kittens, so I definitely understand about Cynder. I want them to be able to eat when they are hungry because their stomachs are smaller and they also seem to poop like 3x as much as adult cats! (Sheesh!) I could be gone upwards of 12-14 hours if I'm working both jobs or if I have to do something in the evenings - too long, in my opinion, for a kitten to go without food available. But I'm very inexperienced with raising kittens so I could be exaggerating the issue.

If you have the funds - I don't, or I would do this - you could get an automatic feeder that times meals.

I'm going to stop feeding dry except (possibly) as a snack/mini-meal when everyone is about a year old. Joni is the youngest so when she's a year, that will put the boys at about a year and 2 months, but with three kittens close in age, nobody does anything that everyone else doesn't do - so I couldn't keep feeding Joni dry without feeding the boys too. I'll just wing it when the time comes - I'm hoping that my finances will have improved because I would love to try a raw diet before they get too old & picky.

If not, I'll just cut the dry down to the snack size.

Sorry for rambling... I'm bad at being concise

 

[tabbygeorge]

I free feed dry biscuits (RC Growth) for my 15 week old kitten and measure out his wet. When he is an adult I'm hoping to continue this practice - he seems to be good at eating only when hungry at the moment so hopefully he carries this out into his adulthood.

I like being able to free feed as there isn't set meal times in case I'm out for the day, etc.

 

[just mike]

Originally Posted by SweetPea24

(I am assuming that you free feed dry) do you put the food in the bowl and fill it up when it gets empty or do you measure a certain amount and put it down for your cats to graze(and not refill the bowl when it is empty until the next day)?

And if I may ask, why did you choose to free feed as opposed to meal feed? Convenience? Your cats like to graze? Other reasons?

I'm just curious...not to judge or anything.

I free feed dry kibble but feed their wet twice daily. I monitor their intake but leave it down until it's gone. I measure a daily ration for my 4 meezers. Most of the time it is all eaten by the end of the day so I can clean the bowl

My cats are grazers. A normal cat will graze between 7 and 20 times a day. I'd say mine graze on the high side. I wouldn't mind doing a scheduled feeding of their dry but the free feeding seems to work well for them and they seem to like being able to wander over graze now and then.

 

[just mike]

Originally Posted by SweetPea24

Thank you all for your replies. Very interesting. So your cats don't eat it all at one sitting?

Speaking only for my cats; No they don't eat it all in one sitting. They nosh off and all all day and night.

 

[just mike]

Originally Posted by Minka

Not to preemptively judge anyone here... But I've come to realize that about 75%+ of owners don't even realize that their cats are overweight. Let alone obese. So just because people may say it's working, doesn't mean it actually is.

Can you tell me where you obtained the 75%+ statistic? I'd like to see the numbers on that study.

I free feed dry and feed wet 2x daily. I monitor their intake and have had absolutely no weight issues with any of my cats. Which is why I'm curious as to where you got your numbers from, and what scientific journal you got them from. Kibble is calorie dense but if fed correctly and if the cat drinks plenty of water, a dry diet is fine.

 

[cookietown]

My Trixie is 7 months old and has always been on a 'free feeding' diet, I fill her bowl around mid morning (or before work) and then again on an evening to keep her happy overnight. She only gets dry food at the moment as my job made a routine impossible but as i introduce the new kitten to the family i plan on adding wet food as an evening meal with dry to graze on during the day (obviously much less than she gets at the moment as she rarely empties her bowl anyway) I have been thinking of adding wet food for a while as I know Trixie isn't fussy and will eat anything she is given. When I was younger we had a cat Friskie that only ate dry food which was free fed, filled on a morning, and she never had any issues until she got too old and lazy and began to gain weight.

 

[stormy]

I free feed because my kitties are grazers with the dry food. I give them wet food once a day, except my 2 older girls who get wet food twice a day to keep their weight up.

 

[bluerexbear]

My indoor cats free feed on Wellness Dry Indoor formula. It is out in 3 different dishes throughout my house and the cats eat when they want to.

My outdoor cats have constant access to their dry food as well, in my garage. They eat regular Authority Brand.

Blue, who is 14 and has no teeth left, gets a meal of wet food in the morning and at night. What he doesn't eat goes to the other cats (outdoor cats get the morning leftovers, indoor cats get the evening leftovers).

This works well for us. My outdoor cats hunt and eat their prey whenever they like as well. My indoor cats are healthy with shiny coats and not obese (though Rex is, uh, big boned...but he is not fat according to the vet. He is just a bigger cat), so I assume the food situation is working for them as well.

 

[minka]

Originally Posted by NutroMike

Can you tell me where you obtained the 75%+ statistic? I'd like to see the numbers on that study.

I free feed dry and feed wet 2x daily. I monitor their intake and have had absolutely no weight issues with any of my cats. Which is why I'm curious as to where you got your numbers from, and what scientific journal you got them from. Kibble is calorie dense but if fed correctly and if the cat drinks plenty of water, a dry diet is fine.

I never said anything about a study...
From my experience, the cats that I've seen in my lifetime, (belonging to family, friends, neighbors, TCS members, patients at veterinary clinics) 75+% of them were overweight or obese.

The national statistic is over 50% http://www.petmd.com/cat/nutrition/e...overweight_cat but I don't know how accurate that is because if the survey asked owners, most would underestimate how big their cat should be, and if they asked vets, it would also be biased because so many people never take their cats to the vet.

 

[bluerexbear]

Maybe the key is not as much in free feeding as it is in WHAT is being free fed. Surely it is better to free feed dry Blue Buffalo or Wellness than it is to free feed, say, Meow Mix...??

The way I judge whether my cats are overweight is at their yearly check-ups. The vet is very good about telling me whether or not one is leaning over the line a little. Generally, what we increase is playtime and exercise. The food we feed is already grain free and they already have wet food in their diet. I have noticed that having some active playtime each day has helped all of my cats stay more in their target weight zones. My heaviest cat is Rex at 11lbs 6oz and my lightest (adult) is Momma Kitty at just over 8.5 pounds (Blue is 9lbs 3 oz and Chloe is 10lbs 8 oz).

 

[minka]

Originally Posted by BlueRexBear

The way I judge whether my cats are overweight is at their yearly check-ups. The vet is very good about telling me whether or not one is leaning over the line a little.

^This this this this this!

 

[just mike]

Originally Posted by Minka

I never said anything about a study...
From my experience, the cats that I've seen in my lifetime, (belonging to family, friends, neighbors, TCS members, patients at veterinary clinics) 75+% of them were overweight or obese.

The national statistic is over 50% http://www.petmd.com/cat/nutrition/e...overweight_cat but I don't know how accurate that is because if the survey asked owners, most would underestimate how big their cat should be, and if they asked vets, it would also be biased because so many people never take their cats to the vet.

From the info I've read the figure is more like 25%. Around 54 million cats are obese in the US. I don't think there is ANY accurate number but your 75% caught my eye because it seems really, really high statistically. But as you pointed out, it is your opinion based upon your experience. For whatever reason I thought you were citing numbers you have read. You are right that most owners do not realize or would not classify their animals (both cats and dogs) as obese, BUT, they do realize obesity in animals is cause for concern. Kind of odd isn't it?