Realization.... (“s” If In The Uk )

[patti511]

As some of you know... I’ve been having a serious aggression issuke with my (5) cats. I’ve had multiple cats my entire life and have never ever had a problem. Presently, I have 3 cats bullying my petite female (after having lived together for 2 years). I wonder what is different now from the past. Today I had an “AHA” moment. In the past, I had left dry food out all the time. There was never stress about the food supply. I know it is not recommended. But my cats were never overweight or hostile to one another. I now feed meals to my five cats. I feed them a nice morning meal and then I am gone all day. When I get home, they get dinner, and then a snack before bed time. My Bengal is over-weight and I have 3 cats attacking another, who is separated right now. It’s not a pleasant environment. There’s tension.
So I’m going to change things up, against some peoples’ better judgement. I am going to leave out low-fat high quality dry kibble all the time. I will give them a little wet food at night. They have fountains, so I know they get enough water. I’m going to see how this goes. It can’t get much worse .

 

[abyeb]

I hope this works out for you and your cats! I think it could help decrease tension in your household, because if the cats have unlimited resources, they won't feel that they have to compete for said resources. Lots of people do free feed kibble (and then give wet food as meals). As far as free feeding vs. meals vs. a combination, there really isn't a one-size-fits-all answer. Meal feeding might work better for some cats (like my Charlie, who is a scarf 'n barf type), and other cats may prefer free feeding and do well with that. If any of your cats do start to have weight problems, you could try microchip cat feeders, which would allow you to have more regulation of each cat's food intake.

These articles have some great information about multi-cat households:

Feeding Cats In A Multi-cat Household: A Quick Guide

The Multi-cat Household

 

[Azazel]

Hope it works out for you, but just note that a 10 pound cat needs about a cup of water a day and that almost all dry foods are more carbs and fat than protein and are therefore quite bad for maintaining healthy weight. Cats do better processing fat than carbs. It may be a behavioral issue as you say, but there are also nutritional facts to consider. I don’t know what wet foods you have been feeding but some are also healthier than others, and exercise is also necessary for all cats, not just a good diet.

 

[lisahe]

Feeding multiple cats can be very difficult and changing the routine can be difficult, too. We found that switching to meals, with the cats separated, led to less tension over time but of course every household's cats are different.

I wonder about a modified, hybrid sort of option: feeding a wet food meal in the morning, leaving out some sort of dry food during the day to alleviate the aggression, and then feeding more wet food in the evening. I have the impression that a lot of Cat Site members feed their cats like that and find that it works out well. Though I don't know about issues with multiple cats.

This point from Azazel is a good one, particularly if the Bengal is a little overweight.

Cats do better processing fat than carbs.

I'd be more concerned with keeping the carbs low than the fat.

Good luck! Dealing with cat aggression is no fun. I, too, had lots of realizations (and realisations, too!) when one of our cats was constantly trying to bully her sister to get her leftovers. It can be so hard when they eat at different paces!

 

[Azazel]

Often there is tension between cats when one of the cats isn’t confident in their territory. This behavioral issue isn’t usually caused by free feeding but it can affect eating behavior (e.g., cats might start to bully each other for their food). Building the confidence of all of your cats is the way to go in my opinion. Cats that can eat peacefully next to each other are cats that get along and are all confident.

 

[Willowy]

Yeah, I had some aggression issues when I tried to do meal feeding :/. I leave canned food out all day now. I haven't had any trouble doing that.

I agree that low-fat is not the way to go with cats. Every time I've tried a low-fat kibble my cats ate more and gained weight. Cats are meant to eat fat; it's really carbs that make them fat. If you need to feed kibble, a low-carb kibble would be best.

 

[lisahe]

To continue on behavioral issues, sometimes it's nearly impossible to change those, particularly with rescue cats, as we have. No offense, A Azazel , but with our cats -- sisters who came to us skinny, desperately underfed, and from a household with too many cats -- the thought of the slower eater and the faster eater eating peacefully in the same room feels utopian!

The cats have been with us for nearly five years and feeding them separately has been the most successful way to keep them both eating well and (in our case) to lessen aggressive/pushy behavior from the cat who seems to have residual food anxiety. Separate feeding works well for us and it's here to stay (these cats don't listen to reason!) but I can totally appreciate that patti511 and W Willowy have cats that are very different from ours and need other arrangements.