Should I leave my cat's food dish full all the time or....?

Question

should I just fill it once a day?

BTW, my cat is 8 months old...

Answer 1

I'd give the kitten a cup or so a day. That's enough. If you leave it filled, the kitten might grow into a fat cat.

Answer 2

If he's still young he'll probably be active enough not to over-eat. Middle-aged cats are the most likely to get fat in my experience! By that time, you may want to cut back on the food some. I now have an elderly cat who's getting quite thin so I keep food out at all times again & feed him whenever he likes, but several years ago he was on a diet to lose weight and I only fed him morning and night.

And of course, if you feed him dry food, you could fill it up once a day (even if you give him enough so he'll have something to eat all day long), if you feed him canned food I'd feed him in smaller servings 'cause that tends to dry out.

Answer 3

If your cat has been spayed or neutered it is time to think seriously about your feeding procedures as when cats leave their active kitten stage and settle into adulthood they can gain a lot of excess weight if overfed.

Leaving food out all the time is not good for a cat's health. The digestive system is constantly in the "go" mode and blood that needs to be going to important body organs is constantly going into the stomach for digestion.

So you should portion out food to two meals per day - AM and PM, approximately ten to twelve hours apart. You need to go to www.littlebigcat.com and read Dr. Jean Hovfe's article titled "Why Cats Need Canned Food". Especially if your cat is male a diet of only dry food can lead to urinary problems which can be life threatening and very expensive to treat.

Iams, Science Diet, Purina are not quality cat foods as they all use by-product meat in their food. You want to find foods that have a high quality meat source to feed your cat. At Dr. Hovfe's site there is another article titled "Selecting a Good Commercial Pet Food" which will give you guidelines in finding the best food for your cat.

Answer 4

I leave a full dish out for my cats all the time, then they eat when they want.
If the cat starts to get fat then cut the cat down to only 2 feeding a day.

Answer 5

We give our cat free choice on dry food (Science Diet Indoor). Fresh water every day, of course. He also gets a packet of Whiskahs pouch food in the a.m. and again in the p.m. He enjoys the variety. If he gets a bit too chubby then we give him more of the Indoor Science Diet til he loses a pound or two. Sometimes we give him a mixture of Indoor & the Regular. If they always eat regular or kitten food they will get way too many calories and get fat (if you are also feeding wet food). Our cat, oddly enough, doesn't like any human foods - not even turkey! Note: our vet recommends Science Diet instead of Iams. She said she can tell the cats have a better, shiny coat with the Science Diet and so can we, so it probably has better oils in it.

Answer 6

Depends on what kind of food it is. If it is dry food then I would keep it full 24/7 If it is canned food then I would feed him 2 times a day morning and night. Or you can have a bowl of dry food out all the time and give him a treat of canned food sometimes. Cats usually don't over eat.

Answer 7

LOL. it's too funny listening to the people who feed their cats "the best". Iams and all other pet food companies have one thing in common, they are feeding the left over animal products of human food.

As far as how much to feed your kitten, the serving size is usually on the bag based on the age and weight of your cat. If your bag doesn't have that, I recommend upgrading to a higher grade product.

Answer 8

l leave dry food (a small amount)...then, when i come home...i give some canned food...(small amount)...then, dry food...

I am going to give you some advise you didnt ask for so forgive me...if you are offended...

you must give your cat the best of cat food...iams, science diet...some other natural brands that stop and shop and Shaws carry are very good..

and, i will tell you why..........its because it is better for your cat (less vet bills)...and, believe it or not, you save on kitty litter, because most commerial cheap brands of cat food are just fillers, and, cerals, and make your cat constantly s h i t...so, the better brand, is better all around..with less s h i t .... lol

Answer 9

I leave it full of dry food and feed her canned food once a day. Cats don't tend to overeat

Answer 10

If he is not overeating I wouldn't worry about it.