Wet food question.

[Deborah&Saatz-Su]

Hi Everyone,

I just have a quick question. I know that there are people on this board who free feed wet food to their cats, and I was wondering how long is it safe to leave it set out before changing it? Are there "official" guidelines or rules anyone follows?

I was feeding meals before, but decided to try free feeding the wet food, as that is how food has been offered to them their entire lives on dry food up until a few months ago. The feeding on a meal schedule was working OK for Ausche, but Saatz is a terror if he even gets a little bit hungry. And with my husband working shifting hours and having to get up very early sometimes, I just cannot have Saatz waking him up anymore because he feels he needs a few bites in his little tummy.

I feed the Friskies Pate style wet foods, and I do add hot water to the food when I prepare it so they get extra water and a warm meal, least for the first 30 minuets or so anyway.

Thanks so much!

Debbi and Saatz

 

[LynnLee + Mousie]

i live in southern california and i put frozen food cubes out in the morning right before leaving the house and if there's any still there when i get home in the evening, then it gets tossed. and same thing right before i go to bed. put food out, and then in the morning, clean up the leftovers. honestly though, if there's any left, it's usually the crumbs and what's truly funny is they are often on the wall above the food bowls. don't ask me. i just figure someone is so gung ho about eating they're flinging it everywhere :lol:

 

[Deborah&Saatz-Su]

Haha, mine are messy eaters too! I am thinking about getting them a place mat to try and make cleaning their area a little easier.

I am for sure going to try the freeze method, it seems like a really popular one. I have been cleaning their bowl and giving them new food twice a day as well, morning and night, since I started free feeding a few days ago. But, the food is just straight from the can (well, with water added of course ;-) ) and I have been worrying about it going bad.

Thanks for the advice!

Debbi and Saatz

 

[MauiGuppy]

Cindy, I literally laughed out loud when you talked about food on the walls. I thought Junior was the only cat that did that! Sometimes I wonder if he's eating or if he just had a one-cat food fight.

Deborah, Junior had been free fed dry his whole life and just changed to 100% wet 1-1/2 weeks ago. Before I thought he hated wet but it turns out he just hated Evo. Now I don't even free feed anymore because he finishes everything in one sitting. There's nothing left. That is, except for the food on the walls.

If you want more details, my spreadsheet shows what he eats, how much, and when.

 

[bradie96]

wow ok i thought my cats were messy eaters with food all over the walls but i guess im not the only one! :lol:

i actually have a place mat AND a paper towel and they still get it everywhere!!


if food is left all all day if there is any left i will normally toss it and start fresh, if there is a lot i will water it down a bit and they normally finish that up and then i refill

 

[Deborah&Saatz-Su]

Hi MauiGuppy, I see that Junior gets many small meals through out the day and evening too. That would work well with both my cats, but the problem comes at night. Saatz wants to continue that kind of eating schedule all night too.

When he was diagnosed in mid-March I switched to wet food and to a meal schedule right away. Switching to the wet food was easy, convincing Saatz that he doesn't need nine three bite meals overnight has been impossible. The last month and a half we have been putting up with him waking us up to tell us he is hungry several times a night, hoping that if we stick with it long enough he will get used to it... He hasn't. At all. And it doesn't matter that we have cat proofed the room so that there is absolutely nothing he can push off of anything, no books or papers laying around that he can paw through to make noise, and no water glasses he can wet a paw in to flick at us. He still wakes us up, but without his go to methods he has started employing the well aimed jump to the bladder method (his typical last resort move, but he rarely got that far before we cat proofed the room). And then once we have violently been wakened, he'll greet us with his welcoming half-meow, look me straight in the eyes, and then come rub my forehead and lick my face letting me know that he is only minutes from a horrible starvation death if he doesn't get a few bites of the Friskies right away.

So, I do need to have food out for him pretty much all the time, otherwise I risk serious injury to the bladder. ;-) The freeze method seems safer then what I have been doing. If anyone else is doing anything different please let me know, I am always open to trying different things!

Thanks!

Debbi

 

[julie & punkin (ga)]

love the comments about the food on the walls! my cats do that too - i always wondered how in the world they got it on the wall! when i watch them i never see the food fly around in the air, but it must. :lol: :lol:

i have a foolproof method, but i'm mean! ;-) my husband is the nicest man in the world, but he HATES having the cats in our room, so they get shut in another part of the house at night. i trim their claws so they don't wreck the door, and i figure my marriage is more important than the door anyway.

but if you have to feed at night i have heard a lot of people recommend the timed feeders. i guess they have lids that pop up and expose the food, and you can put a cold blue ice type of something underneath so that the food stays cold. i haven't used them but it seems like a lot of people do use them.

 

[squeem3]

but if you have to feed at night i have heard a lot of people recommend the timed feeders. i guess they have lids that pop up and expose the food, and you can put a cold blue ice type of something underneath so that the food stays cold. i haven't used them but it seems like a lot of people do use them.

The ones that have the lid that flip aren't aren't very cat-proof. The Petsafe 2 compartment one is well known for being flimsy - many cats can easily pry the lids open. My cat was able to push the entire feeder around and flip it over upside down in an attempt to get to the food :roll: Feeders that have a fixed lid with a feeding opening over a rotating bowl are more cat-proof. The PetSafe 5 compartment feeder is popular here on FDMB.

I have placemaes under both my feeders but my cats still make a mess :roll: They like to take food out of the feeder and eat directly on the placemat... and even off the placemate :shock: There's always dried crumbs of food on the floor around the feeders. The placemats are easily washable. I have those pet ones that absorb like 10x it's weight in water and a regular dinner placemat on top (found those on sale post-Valentine's Day. Cats don't care about the red and white heart design).

 

[Lisa dvm]

I also live in warm southern CA and always left canned food out 24/7 for my foster cats and kittens. I would visit the foster room every ~12 hours and had no problems leaving it that long...or even longer if the weather was cool.

 

[Deborah&Saatz-Su]

i have a foolproof method, but i'm mean! ;-) my husband is the nicest man in the world, but he HATES having the cats in our room, so they get shut in another part of the house at night. i trim their claws so they don't wreck the door, and i figure my marriage is more important than the door anyway.

I used to do that, I wish I could, not that I don't love having my baby share my pillow at night, but it was easier when he was shut out. For the time being though my Hubby and I are staying in my Dad's basement until we get back on our feet. My Dad has a slight allergy to cats, but he likes them, so he lets us keep them here with us. He is a great Dad! But anyway, until we get our own place again they have to stay in the basement.

My cat was able to push the entire feeder around and flip it over upside down in an attempt to get to the food :roll:

That sounds like my Saatz, lol.

The placemats are easily washable. I have those pet ones that absorb like 10x it's weight in water and a regular dinner placemat on top (found those on sale post-Valentine's Day. Cats don't care about the red and white heart design).

Perhaps there are leftover Easter ones, bunnies and chicks would be cute.

I also live in warm southern CA and always left canned food out 24/7 for my foster cats and kittens. I would visit the foster room every ~12 hours and had no problems leaving it that long...or even longer if the weather was cool.

Here in a basement in Minnesota it is quite cool pretty much all the time. I feel a lot less worried now, thank you all for letting me know what you all do, that helps a lot in my decision making process!!

 

[squeem3]

The placemats are easily washable. I have those pet ones that absorb like 10x it's weight in water and a regular dinner placemat on top (found those on sale post-Valentine's Day. Cats don't care about the red and white heart design).

Perhaps there are leftover Easter ones, bunnies and chicks would be cute.

I actually bought Easter placemats today :lol: They were in a clearance bin at Kohls. There was even a Valentine's Day one but the price wasn't further marked down, not that it really needed to I think. I think there might be Fourth of July ones in the clearance bin in a few months... :lol:

 

[Deborah&Saatz-Su]

The placemats are easily washable. I have those pet ones that absorb like 10x it's weight in water and a regular dinner placemat on top (found those on sale post-Valentine's Day. Cats don't care about the red and white heart design).

Perhaps there are leftover Easter ones, bunnies and chicks would be cute.

I actually bought Easter placemats today :lol: They were in a clearance bin at Kohls. There was even a Valentine's Day one but the price wasn't further marked down, not that it really needed to I think. I think there might be Fourth of July ones in the clearance bin in a few months... :lol:

Ya know, thinking about it, I may just have to wait until November to buy clearance placemats....Ausche is a black kitty, and Saatz is pale orange, what they really need are Halloween placemats I think! :razz:

 

[Just-As-Appy]

I got the 2 compartment, pop-up lid feeder from Petsmart. Tony promptly flipped it upside down and then waited for it to open. Didn't. I have now screwed it to a piece of plywood that is big enough that he stands on it and paws at the feeder (also talks to it!), but it now doesn't flip. He is a big and determined cat, and has not ever broken into it. I feed him 1/3 can at shot time and then divide the other 2/3 of the can and water in the 2 compartments and time for +4 and +8. It has really helped to even out his food spikes.

 

[MauiGuppy]

Hi!

Just saw your response from Friday at 5:42 and I don't know what to tell ya. The timed feeders sound like a good idea but I wonder if there's something that's causing your cat to be hungry all the time.

I'm still a newbie and don't really know what to tell you but what I can say is this: when I think back to the signs I missed, extreme hunger was one of them. I even remember 3 months before Junior was diagnosed, I was asking him (yes I talk to my cat), "What is wrong with you? I just fed you! Why are you so hungry all the time?!?" It took us awhile to notice he was also losing weight. The month before we diagnosed his diabetes was when we discovered he has hyperthyroidism. Extreme hunger was a symptom. And the difference between our cats is that mine would sleep mostly through the night and wake up around 4am. He'd do the same thing -- knock anything round over to wake us up. Face creams, cups, candles...anything round. Then he would jump up and nibble my nose with his nasty breath. Talk about a bad wake up call.

One other thing -- when I was feeding him dry food, I noticed he got hungry more frequently when he was on diet food than regular dry. Probably because of all the carbs.

Good luck!

 

[squeem3]

Ya know, thinking about it, I may just have to wait until November to buy clearance placemats....Ausche is a black kitty, and Saatz is pale orange, what they really need are Halloween placemats I think! :razz:

:lol:

Hi!

Just saw your response from Friday at 5:42 and I don't know what to tell ya. The timed feeders sound like a good idea but I wonder if there's something that's causing your cat to be hungry all the time.

All unregulated diabetic cats are always hungry. Their bodies can't use use nutrients the right way even though tons of food is eaten and their brain keeps sending "I'm hungry!" signals. Many people feed small frequent meals to help with the hunger. Once the blood glucose levels are closer to a more normal range, the excessive hunger will go away. Some cats just like to eat so you have to determine if your cat is really hungry, just wants a treat, is bored and finds food a way to occupy time, or wants attention.

 

[Deborah&Saatz-Su]

Hi!

Just saw your response from Friday at 5:42 and I don't know what to tell ya. The timed feeders sound like a good idea but I wonder if there's something that's causing your cat to be hungry all the time.

Hiya, in that post the hungry behavior I described is really normal for him, it's what he has done his whole pre-diabetic life. I once saw him visit the food dish more then a dozen times in an evening, never taking more then a few bites. He is just a grazer, I was hoping the fixed meal schedule was something he would adapt to, but per my previous post he was having none of that. The free feeding has been going well though, he doesn't eat any more then he did on the meal plan, just eats it slowly over the day. His BG numbers are super good, only once in the last 2 weeks going over 200, and that was when my husband accidentally gave him old high carb treats.

So, it's not high BG driving his need to have food out all the time, it's just him. I do thank all the other free feeders out there for your advice too, it has been truly helpful!

Thanks!!