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How often do you feed your cat (lighthearted)

(57 Posts)
Sallywally1 Thu 12-Nov-20 13:17:22

I am now semi retired and have noticed now I am at home more my other half feeds the cat in the middle of the day, as well as morning and evening.

I think hard food in the morning and a pouch of soft food in the evening is more than enough. I realise our cat is quite capable of demanding cat food with menaces (and the vet said he was a tiny bit overweight), but feel that three times a day is too much!

maddyone Thu 12-Nov-20 19:32:08

Oh I’ve loved reading about your cats. We lost our last one last year, he was a very vociferous Bengal, full of character and mischief. Before him we had other rescue cats, all with their own personalities. We decided not to get another cat at the moment because we have been travelling quite a lot, and we felt it was unfair on the cats, although he got very personal service from our neighbours who looked after him when we weren’t here. I think they spoilt him more than we did. Anyway, along came Covid, so now we’ve got no cat, and not much travelling.

Puzzler61 Thu 12-Nov-20 19:30:58

They could grace any month of the year on a Whiskas calendar Trendynanny ?

phoenix Thu 12-Nov-20 19:14:07

Jane10, not grumpy at all, just dignified!

Trendynanny little beauties! Proper silver tabbies.

Lyndylou Thu 12-Nov-20 19:01:38

Our cat is fed a pouch in the morning and another in the evening if she asks for it. She also has dried food available all the time and she gets a little chicken each evening because the dog is fed purely on cooked chicken. (There's some Children In Need on TV and I initially wrote cooked children. Think she would find them a little tough!)

We have to feed her on a table in the dining room out of the way, otherwise the dog would wolf it all down. But woe betide her if she goes near the dog's bowl, though I think she just tries it to wind him up sometimes.

Deedaa Thu 12-Nov-20 18:41:56

My two are fed little and often. the older one had a very bad early life and is obsessed with food. He's what Jackson Galaxy calls a Scarf n' Barf, in other words he will stuff himself until he throws up and then starts again. Small meals often is the safest way to deal with him.

GardenerGran Thu 12-Nov-20 18:35:40

I’ve just found our puss with her head in a bowl of apple crumble and custard that my granddaughter wouldn’t eat for some reason! It was the custard she was after. Luckily there is at lot more left. She is definitely a greedy guts, she’s been diagnosed with over active thyroid and is on very expensive medication that is supposed to make her less hungry as well as better over all but she still sits by her food bowl a lot looking pleadingly at me. She has two and a half tins of gourmet cat food a day plus biscuits as and when.

TrendyNannie6 Thu 12-Nov-20 18:35:08

My other one

TrendyNannie6 Thu 12-Nov-20 18:27:50

Three times a day my pussycats

Puzzler61 Thu 12-Nov-20 18:19:53

I’ve trodden in a bowl of cat food on more than one occasion Sallywally !

Sallywally1 Thu 12-Nov-20 18:15:00

It looks like my OH is with the majority here and most cats have dry food left all day. I will just have to get used to it all over the floor I suppose!

Barmeyoldbat Thu 12-Nov-20 18:13:20

Our cat, Nala, is a rescued cat, a great big long haired ginger girl. When she first came to us she couldn't get enough food and was always eating but has now settled into a routine of 2 or 3 pouches and some dry food plus her treat of cat milk. She is 4 years old and very active, her main activity being manning Check jPoint Charlie as we call the gap in the fence where she watches for other cats..

Jane10 Thu 12-Nov-20 17:53:10

Phoenix he is a whopper but is so soft and cuddly. He has a grumpy face but is really very affectionate.
He's tough to accommodate on my lap though but I don't like to hurt his feelings.

phoenix Thu 12-Nov-20 17:20:47

Jane10 that is a big boy!

Willow500 There is no way that I would get out of bed three times a night! shock

Jane10 Thu 12-Nov-20 17:11:32

We just keep Baz's bowl topped up with Royal Canin biscuity things plus his water bowl. He just seems to nibble as and when he wants. I give him some Dreamies at bedtime but that's it. He is the heaviest cat on our vet's list at 12kgs+ but there's no fat on him. The vet always congratulates us on keeping him fit but we don't actually do anything! He's just not a greedy lad (Baz I mean, not the vet!)

Willow500 Thu 12-Nov-20 16:22:50

One of mine hardly eats anything during the day but is ravenous at night and I leave him 3 bowls of food/biscuits out (not full bowls!) which he grazes on as he comes and goes.

The other however is a glutton but can only eat a small amount or she brings the whole lot back up. She's on a special diet so has the smaller size sachets split up over the day a spoonful at a time and a spoon of the biscuit variety of it soaked in a little water (she only has 4 teeth left). She's put quite a bit of weight on since she started on it but it has cleared up her bowel problems. As she sleeps with me I have to get up 3 times during the night to feed her (she's very vocal and impossible to ignore!). She also gets fed on demand during the day as she gets on the desk and sits on the keyboard or mouse and attacks my hand until I give in. I know - rod and back but it's a way of life now and I am her slave grin

quizqueen Thu 12-Nov-20 16:22:29

I give my cat about a third of a pouch every time she comes in and asks, so she has about 2 a day. Dried food is there all the time for my daughter's cat, who is living here at the moment, but mine's not really interested in them.

She also has a special treat every time I go out to stop her trying to follow me (or the car!) -some chicken, prawns or tuna. She also sits by the tin of Dreamies next to my bed at bedtime. She is spoilt, but not overweight, and very active outside, She rewards me with dead or alive mice.

EllanVannin Thu 12-Nov-20 16:09:10

Too much ! Every time I go in the kitchen the cats think it's food time. They have dried food always piled high but sit and wait for pouches all the time and I give in and perhaps give them half each throughout the day. I'm a slave to them I'm afraid. None of them are overweight though.

My 3 have a full pouch first thing and another at tea-time and the old stray tom gets 2 pouches with biccies on the side, then another 2 at night. A box of 40 goes nowhere but I can't see them go hungry----the same as myself grin

Puzzler61 Thu 12-Nov-20 15:53:47

We had a wooden sign that said “The cat and her waiting staff live here”. It really feels like that sometimes.
And I believe you are the very best ‘waitress’ Tara has ever had Charleygirl ?

Charleygirl5 Thu 12-Nov-20 15:44:00

Tara used to be so easy to feed, dry prescription food permanently available but recently she has been diagnosed with Hyperthyroidism so she now has wet food am and pm because I have to add her liquid medicine to it.
Although 16 she is out all day and I usually leave her food overnight as that is when most is eaten. Because of her illness, she is very thin so if she will eat it she is given it.

She does like to sniff and walk away expecting maid service to change the food which does not happen.

TwiceAsNice Thu 12-Nov-20 15:35:31

My cat has a pouch when I get up in the morning and one at teatime. She has dried food available all the time and I give her bits of the wet stick type treats sometimes. She also loves a tiny bit of cheese as a treat but that’s only now and again not every day. She’s an appropriate weight and not fat. She never eats a whole bowl at once and grazes little bit through the day. She is VERY vocal when she wants attention!

Puzzler61 Thu 12-Nov-20 15:30:55

My cat is 12 yrs old and sleeps a lot. Her feeding is in a sort of pattern in so much as when I get up she has a meal of wet cat food or cooked chicken.
When she is most active in the evenings I put a bowl of dried prescription food down for her. (About 7 pm).She will nibble bits of it and then always finishes it off during the night.
Her problem is sometimes she is underweight according to the vet.
Paddyanne your young cats have a fun life outdoors ?

Hellogirl1 Thu 12-Nov-20 15:25:21

Mia has always refused dry food, and now, with her dental problems, she can`t eat anything hard, which also now deprives her of her treats, which she loved. She1s the only one of all the cats I`ve had over the years that demands 3 meals a day. She also likes Sheba cat soup, but I try to avoid buying it, as I think it`s a fiddle, all that money for a drop of liquid and a few tiny bits of meat!

paddyanne Thu 12-Nov-20 14:51:41

mine have 3 pouches a day and dry food out all the time.They are very active usually seenhanging from trees or running across garage roofs ..oh and chasing squirrels .so I think they need the calories ,they have grain free dry food and are quite lean cats ,just 2 years old last month

MaizieD Thu 12-Nov-20 14:45:29

Senior cat gets breakfast, tea and a small supper at bedtime if he's in (he sometimes chooses to stop out at night) Recently acquired kitten gets the same and eats just as much as Senior; but then she's about 5x more energetic and is growing fast!

They mostly have tinned cat food (pouches always seem so expensive) with a wee bit of dried around mid day if they get very demanding. Senior cat is solid but not overweight.

seacliff Thu 12-Nov-20 14:43:44

Mine, all 6, like food on demand. They eat a mouthful or two, then off they go again. They treat my place like a hotel!!

We now take away the wet food after mid morning, and feed again in evening. There is dry food or they go and catch their own fast food.

We have foster cats in the run. To make their life more interesting, I put a few biscuits in a old loo roll. Bend over the ends, and see how long it takes them to rip the cardboard to shreds and eat their prize.