Radcat ; How Long To Sit Out?

[mikameek]

Hey guys! Mika has been absolutely LOVING her raw food (we're only 3 meals in but she finished dinner and is going ham on lunch right now). I was wondering how long it's okay to let the food sit out? Mika is a VERY slow eater. She takes her time, licking up small chunks and chewing them for a while before going to the next one. She also stops often to look around and make sure no one is coming to take her food. I really want to let her take her time to eat and finish everything but I don't know when its too long for the raw meat to be out.

How long would you guys leave it out? Thanks!

 

[Azazel]

I don't like letting raw food sit out for very long, but I'm lucky that my cats are piggies who eat their meals in the entirety. If you find that a lot of food is being left out you might give smaller portions more frequently.

 

[orange&white]

I overfed the kitten I raised last year, giving her a lot more food per meal than she would eat at one time. I left food down for about 20 minutes. There would usually be 3-4 bites of food left...which got offered to the dog.

I'd think it's probably safe longer than that...up to an hour? If you pick uneaten food after 15-20 minutes though, you could put it back in a covered container in the fridge and offer it to her later. I'd probably toss leftovers over an hour.

 

[mikameek]

I don't like letting raw food sit out for very long, but I'm lucky that my cats are piggies who eat their meals in the entirety. If you find that a lot of food is being left out you might give smaller portions more frequently.

I would do this but realistically when school starts I wont be able to be around regularly to give her the smaller meals. Also, there will be other cats that I have a feeling will want to eat her food too which I worry about causing her eating time to take longer too. I'll see if I can make the more frequent small meals work though!

I overfed the kitten I raised last year, giving her a lot more food per meal than she would eat at one time. I left food down for about 20 minutes. There would usually be 3-4 bites of food left...which got offered to the dog.

I'd think it's probably safe longer than that...up to an hour? If you pick uneaten food after 15-20 minutes though, you could put it back in a covered container in the fridge and offer it to her later. I'd probably toss leftovers over an hour.

This is really helpful! Thank you! I didn't know it could be restored in that time period. That will definitely make me feel better if she doesn't eat everything in one go.

 

[orange&white]

You just don't want to let the temp get up for too long, since bacteria start multiplying quickly at room temp.

Once my kitten was a year, I stopped feeding her all she could eat and started feeding her set calories per day for weight maintenance. Now her 3 meals a day disappear completely in 5 minutes or less.

 

[Frankophile Feline Fan]

I agree with up to 20 minutes, not 1 hour. I’ve worked with food & food safety. You can’t mess around with raw meat. Does it take your cat more than 20 minutes to eat? That would be unusual imo.

A cat’s digestive system is better equipped to handle pathogens, but humans are not. Also, cats often turn down anything that is not fresh.

 

[Tobermory]

Iris is not only a slow eater, but she also regurgitates her food if I give her her full two-ounce meal. Oh joy. So I feed her in the bathroom with the door closed to keep the two feline vacuum cleaners from pushing her away and hoovering up her food, and I feed her only half of her meal.

While she’s eating (and meditating and eating and meditating...) I wash the bowls from the other cats, clean litter boxes, and do other morning chores. When I go in to take my shower 20 minutes later, I give her the other ounce of her morning meal. (Oddly, she regurgitates her food only in the morning.)

I used to try to rotate her proteins, but if it was anything other than chicken, she wouldn’t finish it...and even then, I had to put toppers all over it. I wouldn’t leave it out for more than 20 minutes before I put it back in the fridge to try later. I tried to find a definitive answer as to how long you can safely leave raw food out, but I saw different opinions so I finally opted for 20 minutes because it seemed safe enough and was in my comfort zone. Also, I didn’t want to leave Iris closed up in the bathroom for longer than that. First, she complained bitterly, second, the other two would assault the door trying to get in, and three, it was inconvenient for us to have to slither past three very determined cats.

 

[Gizmobius]

Gizmo usually vacuums up his meal in about 30 seconds but sometimes he gets distracted by an open window and would much prefer to look outside than spend anymore than 15 seconds on half of his food. So he'll walk away and I'll let it sit for about 20 or so minutes before I pick it up and put it back into the container, which is about the time he comes back out to finish it and looks at me as if I've done him a great disservice.

Honestly, I wouldn't leave it down for anymore than an hour and considering I put warm water into it to "heat it up" for him, probably less than that for me personally.

 

[Azazel]

I would do this but realistically when school starts I wont be able to be around regularly to give her the smaller meals. Also, there will be other cats that I have a feeling will want to eat her food too which I worry about causing her eating time to take longer too. I'll see if I can make the more frequent small meals work though!


This is really helpful! Thank you! I didn't know it could be restored in that time period. That will definitely make me feel better if she doesn't eat everything in one go.

I freeze portions and put them in a timed feeder with an icepack when I leave the house. Takes about 2 hours to defrost. I use the Catmate C20.

 

[saleri]

You just don't want to let the temp get up for too long, since bacteria start multiplying quickly at room temp.

Once my kitten was a year, I stopped feeding her all she could eat and started feeding her set calories per day for weight maintenance. Now her 3 meals a day disappear completely in 5 minutes or less.

I leave it out until it's gone. Which isn't ideal, but my two cats never go for the food anymore sadly.

 

[Frankophile Feline Fan]

Are you feeding raw? I wouldn’t say that’s safe.

Sometimes Colette doesn’t want to eat. It goes right back into the fridge!

 

[saleri]

Are you feeding raw? I wouldn’t say that’s safe.

Sometimes Colette doesn’t want to eat. It goes right back into the fridge!

You talking to me?

 

[mikameek]

I agree with up to 20 minutes, not 1 hour. I’ve worked with food & food safety. You can’t mess around with raw meat. Does it take your cat more than 20 minutes to eat? That would be unusual imo.

A cat’s digestive system is better equipped to handle pathogens, but humans are not. Also, cats often turn down anything that is not fresh.

Sometimes she does. She'll leave the food bowl sometimes to do other things (get pets, check out the room, sometimes get on the bed) but normally if I redirect her back to the food she'll eat. The longest she took to eat (I should say finish her bowl) was 45 minutes. She kept getting distracted by loud sounds, my roommates talking, other cats and other stuff. This wasn't with raw food though.

 

[Azazel]

I will say that sometimes big cats in the wild will leave dead prey for hours and then go back to eat it. But.. they are eating a fresh kill, which may make a difference in terms of bacterial load.