Holiday Feeding

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Kathleen and Fred

Kathleen and Fred

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Hi everyone!

I have to be away from home from 6pm Friday until 1pm Saturday. The person I had asked to feed my three kitties can't make it now. I usually feed at 7am; (snack at 4pm for my Sugar Cat); 7pm and 10pm - to get everyone through the night without waking me!

I can handle the 7pm feeding (a little early) and testing/shot for Fred if needed. But what do you recommend for the night feeding and the morning feeding. Can I just leave a large amount of wet food out? What about freezing some and letting it thaw during the night for morning?

Since I'm usually so home bound, this has never happened since I've been feeding wet food -- kibble was easy....deadly but easy!

Just a little help would be appreciated.

Kathleen & Fred.
 
if running out and getting a timed feeder isn't an option on such short notice, i'd freeze some and put it out right before you leave. it takes several hours for it to defrost and you can always turn your thermostat down in the house a few degrees to help it take a little longer (kitties don't need it to be 75 in the house :-D )

fwiw, i do frozen food every day during the week and outside of a couple of my cats being freaks who will lick one or two frozen cubes into defrost, it lasts from 7 am until about lunchtime at my house
 
Thanks, Cindy and Mousie! Then that's what I'll do -- freeze food and leave it out. And, by the way, my cats and I live at 65-67 degrees. They have fur coats and I have FLEECE!! Works great!

Thanks again,

Kathleen & Fred
 
Freezing it sounds like a creative idea!If you want it to take longer to defrost,you could take the wet food out of the cans and freeze in a larger container-maybe like an empty butter tub.it would then make a larger block that would take longer to unthaw You may have to add some water and mash it down.your cats might even like the challenge of a big frozen catfood popsicle! :-)
 
One year for christmas I decided to give my cats some smelts.I was going to unthaw them and fry them in butter.They never even got to the dethaw stage.One of my cats ripped open the plastic and was eating the fish frozen.I finally just dumped them in a roster pan and let them go at it that way!

However, the idea of freezing wet food may be a solution for people who have to work long hours. If you leave out extra wet food it is usually smelly by the time you get home.This is esp. a problem since I live in Florida.I am going to try freezing two or three cans and see if this really works!
 
i've been freezing food since Mousie was diagnosed back in 2006. i leave the house at 7 am during the week and don't get home for at least 12, sometimes 15-16 hours. i just mix some in a bowl with a little water, slightly soupy like, then put it in ice cube trays, cover, freeze and then when i leave i put 2 cubes in every food bowl in the house :-) (mind you, since i put roughly 30 cubes out every morning, i freeze all weekend long, making my stockpile for the week)
 
I'm beginning to be glad that this problem came up!! I just may try freezing for those days when I don't get home until late (like you, Cindy). On those days, I'm always stressed and feel guilty. AND, everyone is waiting for me by the front door, making me feel worse. So, this just might be the solution to more than just a holiday event.

Do certain types of canned food -- or flavors -- freeze better than others? And, do you have to add water to make it freeze or is there enough moisture to take care of that.....getting technical here, but I'm on a roll, now!

Kathleen & Fred
 
There have been some other recent post about dry vs. Wet food. Some people feel they can't go to all wet food because they are gone long hours and leave out dry as a backup.You have come up with a prefect solution to it! The longer people need the food to last,the larger they should make the catfood freeze! I think someone else also does this would a raw food diet...they put out the frozen raw food patties if they were gone all day.
 
they all freeze the same i would say. as far as adding water, i just started doing that because i wanted to get extra water in the kitties. I had a CRF cat when i started doing this and i just kept with it. i suppose you wouldn't necessarily have to add the water though.
 
If your cats don't gobble up and eat too much all at once -- it is ok to leave canned food out for many hours.

We leave canned food out for up to 24 hours in Michigan - air-conditioned in the summer - so no worries about flies or spoilage.
 
Well, I have all your good info and now it's the "zero hour"!! We'll start freezing today and begin the experiment tomorrow evening. I promise to report back on the success of the project.

Thanks so much for all the good advice!!

Enjoy your holidays,

Kathleen & Fred
 
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