They think they are hungry

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MaxsMom

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Good Morning!
So a week ago I made the transition to wet food for all of my cats (1 diabetic) and things have been going really well...except...they are driving me crazy between feedings...they think they are hungry (they aren't, they are just used to being able to eat all day every day) so I'm wondering is there anything I can do to make this easier for them until they settle in the fact that food is coming only twice a day or do I just have to wait them out, and watch my step, since their answer seems to be circling in my legs when I walk and following me wherever I go lol?!?
Thanks!!
 
You can feed smaller, more frequent meals (good for the diabetic). One way is to use automatic feeders. You can set them to go off at times during the day. Many people also freeze the food and leave it out for them to snack on as it thaws. I use a silicone cupcake pan. Each cup is the perfect size for a Fancy Feast can. Once frozen, I pop them out and store them in plastic bags until needed.
 
My girls are grazers and were always used to the kibble being left out. Now I just leave the wet food out and they continue to graze. Of course they beg for treats (all the time!).
 
you know you can leave a can or two of wet out for them all day...just stir in some water and make it gravy like so it won't get dried out. the diabetic especially needs to eat more than twice a day.
 
MaxsMom said:
Good Morning!
So a week ago I made the transition to wet food for all of my cats (1 diabetic) and things have been going really well...except...they are driving me crazy between feedings...they think they are hungry (they aren't, they are just used to being able to eat all day every day) so I'm wondering is there anything I can do to make this easier for them until they settle in the fact that food is coming only twice a day or do I just have to wait them out, and watch my step, since their answer seems to be circling in my legs when I walk and following me wherever I go lol?!?
Thanks!!
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m

Mine went from free feeding of dry to canned 3 times a day. He sure knows when those times are.
They won't starve - and after a while they will get used to it. As to circling and hanging around the kitchen, all it takes is a pretend swat with a rolled up newspaper and he runs. If he just see me reach for the paper, that's all it takes.
 
I would like to learn more about this leaving food out thing. I wouldn't have any problem at all freezing the wet or whatever, my problem would be Callie Mae CAN'T leave food in her bowl. I've tried! With the dry, she could just graze all day, but now with the wet, she WILL eat however much is put out. She will not walk away until it is gone! I have even tried putting water in the bowl. She drinks all the water first, then eats all the food. I'm not sure how I could remedy this for when I have to go to work all day.
Any suggestions? She acts like she's starving all day too! Every time I move, she runs to the kitchen!
I've wondered if I'm feeding her enough. She gets 1 1/2 cans of Friskies a day (The 5.5oz can). She is losing weight! Her body is starting to look like a cat instead of a football. Am I starving her? :?
 
Maxwell is a 16lb large built cat and he eats that a day, and he is doing great on it and maintaining weight, so Callie Mae should be fine as well, She just thinks she's strarving, don't we all when we are on a diet? lol.

What I do when I have to be away during feeding time is that I mix up the catfood with the water, freeze it in silicone muffin tins, and then when needed I pop them out, frost them with a little fresh catfood, and we are good to go. That way they can eat a little now and then some later as it thaws. And there isn't a single one of mine that know the meaning of the word "Leftover".... :roll:

Mommy, What's a Leftover?

Mel, Maxwell, & The Fur Gang
 
tom also was always a hoover and ate ALL of what was put down. being home more often during my illness allowed me to break up his meals and serve smaller portions thru out the day.
now sometimes i'm home alot, sometimes i am not. sometimes tom eats a portion of his plate, sometimes not. when i get home it is always a clean plate.
funny that sometimes he eats a portion and walks away, comes back in 10 minutes as if he just can't resist...and finishes it up.

i still think 2 feedings a day is not enough. how about breffis, dinner, and a snack (meal) at bed time?
 
I cut her food in the can like a 4 piece "pie" and she gets 6 "slices" a day. Do you think they should all be equal portions or should I make one of her meals like 3 slices and the other 2 meals she would get 1 slice and 2 slices.
Does that even make sense? :lol:
 
Initially I was doing about six "tastes" a day. Now I split a 5.5 oz can @ 5am when kitties first get me moving, another @7:30am when leaving the house. When I get home we do the same @5pm and again around 9pm. If they are acting hungry I'll add in a small ff split at one or two of the feedings. My kitties go from now 10lb Maisey (yeah, 2 pound gain in 2 months) and 14-16 lb Vinney (the BIG BOY)
 
totallybeachin said:
I would like to learn more about this leaving food out thing. I wouldn't have any problem at all freezing the wet or whatever, my problem would be Callie Mae CAN'T leave food in her bowl. I've tried! With the dry, she could just graze all day, but now with the wet, she WILL eat however much is put out. She will not walk away until it is gone! I have even tried putting water in the bowl. She drinks all the water first, then eats all the food. I'm not sure how I could remedy this for when I have to go to work all day.
Any suggestions? She acts like she's starving all day too! Every time I move, she runs to the kitchen!
I've wondered if I'm feeding her enough. She gets 1 1/2 cans of Friskies a day (The 5.5oz can). She is losing weight! Her body is starting to look like a cat instead of a football. Am I starving her? :?
Click to expand...

Joey gets 1.5 cans of Friskies a day too. He loves to eat, but I feed him in 3 segments - 8, 2 and 8. He sleeps thru the night ok. If I have to miss the 2 pm feeding, then I put out a frozen hockey puck just before I leave. Believe me, the cat won't starve to death. Even with this plan, he is losing weight very slowly. He still has the fooball look cuz of very long, thick, fine hair.
 
totallybeachin said:
I would like to learn more about this leaving food out thing. I wouldn't have any problem at all freezing the wet or whatever, my problem would be Callie Mae CAN'T leave food in her bowl. I've tried! With the dry, she could just graze all day, but now with the wet, she WILL eat however much is put out. She will not walk away until it is gone! I have even tried putting water in the bowl. She drinks all the water first, then eats all the food. I'm not sure how I could remedy this for when I have to go to work all day.
Any suggestions? She acts like she's starving all day too! Every time I move, she runs to the kitchen!
I've wondered if I'm feeding her enough. She gets 1 1/2 cans of Friskies a day (The 5.5oz can). She is losing weight! Her body is starting to look like a cat instead of a football. Am I starving her? :?
Click to expand...

I couldn't leave frozen food out because Bandit would gnaw at the frozen food until he ate it all. I got an auto-feeder for each cat, and put the frozen cat food in that. People have different preferences but I like this one a lot because Bandit couldn't break into it: http://www.amazon.com/Petself-Elect...2?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1307386809&sr=8-2
 
When Saatz was first DX'ed, my vet made it sound like 2 feedings a day were what we needed to do to help with getting his diabetes under control. And, like many people on the board, Saatz and Ausche had been free fed dry food all their lives up to that point (10 years). So, I tried the feeding just at shot time schedule for 6 weeks, I really tried to make it work, but Saatz thought he was starving to death all day and night long. He was a holy terror and was slowly driving Ausche, the DH, and I mad.

Now, like so many others here, we free feed the wet food by adding water to it. I do 1 part wet to 1/2 part water, and I make up enough in the bowl to last for 12 hours and just leave it out. It works perfect, Saatz is a grazer so he gets his 20 three bite meals a day, and Ausche eats 4-5 small meals per 12 hour supply. At first when we started the free feeding they both ate a lot more then that, but when they realized that food would always be available they slowed down and only eat half as much as they did when we first started. So maybe after your kitty realizes that food will always be there she will learn to graze off it again like she did with the dry. Saatz has gained back 3 pounds from when he was DX'ed, which he needed to do. And Ausche has lost 3 and 1/2 pounds since March and no longer looks like a black furry bowling ball with kitty extensions, he still has more to lose but looks more like a cat every day.

But, most importantly by free feeding we have retained the sanity of our entire family, and that is a wonderful thing.
 
totallybeachin said:
I would like to learn more about this leaving food out thing. I wouldn't have any problem at all freezing the wet or whatever, my problem would be Callie Mae CAN'T leave food in her bowl. I've tried! With the dry, she could just graze all day, but now with the wet, she WILL eat however much is put out. She will not walk away until it is gone!

I am still having this problem, even moving to feeding 3 times a day...i try and leave the food out but they won't leave the bowls (in some cases even licking them empty bowls, literally sitting at the bowl licking it even though it has been empty for 10 minutes!!)

Guess I'll try and make it "gravy" and see what happens, but are there any suggestions if that doesn't work? These cats are driving me crazy lol! I can't walk around the house without them following me!
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