Leaving wet food out for long periods of time.

mschauer

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From Dr. Lisa A. Pierson's web site (http://www.catinfo.org/#My_cats_are_now_eating):

An added note about leaving canned food out: Keep in mind that a cat's gastrointestinal tract is much different from ours. I routinely leave canned food out for up to 12 hours at a time for my foster cats and kittens. I have been doing this for many years and hundreds of cats and kittens have passed through my foster room without experiencing any problems from this practice. If the weather is extra warm, I will try to visit my foster room a bit more often but if my schedule does not permit it, then I still do not worry about leaving the canned food out.
This is much longer than the manufacturers recommend leaving their food out. What does everyone think about this? Getting my monsters to eat more wet would be much simpler if I felt comfortable leaving it out longer.
 

raggiekitty

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I have read a number of people say that they just put some out and go to work....kitties are fine.... I think if it were to have set out too long, the cats would probably just ignore it.
I am not feeding wet right now as Zoe got to turning up her nose at every kind I offered and wanted just the dry...but when I was feeding it, I did get to where I left it out a little longer instead of picking it up as soon as she was done (I read the article you posted and others that left it out) and quit worrying over it so much and she was fine with whatever she ate. When she was done, she was done.
Later I would pick it up so she would be ready for her next feeding or if it looked too dried out....
It will be interesting to see the responses you get. You're right it would be easier to feed more of it that way. I think animals have pretty good instincts (better than ours by a long shot) and seem to know when to not eat somethings....
 

sharky

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It is okay to leave it out but for those with comprimised immune systems ... cats or humans it could be dangerous as bacteria levels double every 20-30 minutes
 

yosemite

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I put the food down and leave for work. They sometimes eat it all and other times they'll leave a few crumblies in the dish. When I get home at night I empty any crumblies in the garbage (trash for you US folks
), then give them their supper in a clean dish which I leave down until morning.

Our kitties are healthy and don't seem to have any ill effects from this practice. I do believe they eat most of it in the first hour or so anyway so it's really a moot point IMO.
 
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mschauer

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Originally Posted by Yosemite

I put the food down and leave for work. They sometimes eat it all and other times they'll leave a few crumblies in the dish. When I get home at night I empty any crumblies in the garbage (trash for you US folks
), then give them their supper in a clean dish which I leave down until morning.

Our kitties are healthy and don't seem to have any ill effects from this practice. I do believe they eat most of it in the first hour or so anyway so it's really a moot point IMO.
That's how I feed my 2 Siamese that lived to be 18 and 22 years with never an illness between them until geriatric organ failure. But I've since learned that Siamese are an especially robust and long lived breed so I've wondered how much stock I should put into my experience with them. I also used to think that cats rarely got sick because of my experience with them.


My current gang won't polish their's off within an hour but I'm pretty sure it would be gone in 3 - 4 hours unless they just aren't going to eat it at all.

BTW - We yanks say "garbage" also.
"Crumblies" on the other hand...
 

emmylou

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My family always left the wet food out, and I do as well, and the cats seem quite happy. I've seen them go back to it five or six hours later and finish, and it's not an issue. So I'd say that doctor knows what she's talking about.

Cats have good instincts... if food is bad, they won't eat it. And their systems are designed with a hair-trigger vomit impulse, as we all know... if there's even a hint that something disagrees with them, they throw it up.

If it's a case of an extremely hot environment, then you might want to toss the food after a few hours.
 

kaete

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We've left it out for quite awhile, with all of the cats I've had in my lifetime, and none of them have ever had an issue.
 
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mschauer

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Originally Posted by emmylou

Cats have good instincts... if food is bad, they won't eat it. And their systems are designed with a hair-trigger vomit impulse, as we all know... if there's even a hint that something disagrees with them, they throw it up.
I think that is a bit of a misconception that people have about cats. Cats can get salmonella poisoning from eating rotten food.

If it's a case of an extremely hot environment, then you might want to toss the food after a few hours.
I live in Houston but during hot weather I don't ever turn the A/C off. I just set the thermostat
higher while I am at work.
 

sharky

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The other .. just a fleeting thought ... Is you are MAKING it FRESH ... you know the age and quality of ingrediants thus it is fresher and contains less bacteria to start with
 
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mschauer

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Of interest:

Salmonellosis isn't seen very often in cats & it is believed they have a natural immunity to the bacteria. Risk factors which can make a cat more susceptible to salmonellosis include cats in high stress situations & environments, cats who's natural resistance has been compromised due to another infection, general poor health status, hospitalised animals & kittens. Kittens are more likely to be clinically affected than adult cats. [1] Symptoms of salmonellosis appear after 2 - 4 days of exposure...
from : http://www.cat-world.com.au/SalmonellosisInCats.htm
 

jellybella

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I don't have a problem leaving it out a few hours. Usually with my two it's gone way before then anyway...in the summer I don't like to leave it out more than two hours.
 

gingersmom

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I feed wet after 8 p.m. and leave it out. It is usually all gone by the time I get up in the morning.

Because I know that stray cats eat out of the garbage, and I know that their bodies are NOT the same as human bodies, I've never worried about leaving the wet out.

I will, however, not wet down their dry food and leave it out - I think that's just gross.
 

mews2much

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I live it out for Coco but not for a real long time. In Summer it gets very hot here. We have Fans on and teh A/C when it gets real hot in here. I believe you about Siamese. My Coco is hald and almost 16. My Brothers Siamese mix was 15.
 

snosrap5

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Originally Posted by Yosemite

I put the food down and leave for work. They sometimes eat it all and other times they'll leave a few crumblies in the dish. When I get home at night I empty any crumblies in the garbage (trash for you US folks
), then give them their supper in a clean dish which I leave down until morning.

Our kitties are healthy and don't seem to have any ill effects from this practice. I do believe they eat most of it in the first hour or so anyway so it's really a moot point IMO.
That's how I do it with 11 cats.
 

whuckleberry

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I leave it out, both in the AM and PM. Wally eats most (sometimes all) of it right away, but will nibble on remaining pieces later on. We've been doing this almost a year, so far so good.
 
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mschauer

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I'm going to seriously consider taking a more relaxed attitude about this. I thought I was pushing the envelope by leaving wet out for 2 hrs. If it's OK for them to eat after it has been down for much longer, I'm going to try a cold turkey switch to all wet. Toby has apparently decided that he's OK with refusing the wet food in the PM because he knows he'll get dry in the AM. I know there are wets he likes, he just likes the dry better. If I stop giving him dry all together, maybe I can get him eating enough wet that he will come to accept it better.
 

smokiethecat

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Why DO cats tend to like dry better? You would think the wet would
taste better....
 
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mschauer

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Originally Posted by smokiethecat

Why DO cats tend to like dry better? You would think the wet would
taste better....
Yeah, I've wondered about that also. Some cats do refuse to eat dry but it seems more common for them to refuse wet.
 

misty8723

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I've occasionally left bowls down for a while when I'm feeling lazy or forget, and it's my experience that they won't eat it after it sits there. I don't blame them. From the way it looks when I do pick it up, I wouldn't want to eat it either.

Usually I pick it up right after they finish and refrigerate what's left for the next meal.
 

littleraven7726

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I put out their food and leave it when I go to school. they eat what they want and I pitch the rest when I get home. I did that when I worked too. They do ok.

With my cats one likes wet better and the other likes dry better. So I leave both out. Some days they just don't like the flavor of wet I put out so they always have something tasty to eat.
I think the dry and wet preferences are personal preferences, just like some people like italian and some like chinese food.
 
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