Hack my cat's feeding schedule
November 14, 2023 3:09 AM Subscribe
I am trying to hack my cat's feeding schedule - I am trying to feed her better food and also curb her snarf-n-barf tendencies.
My fluffy overlord has been in my life for approx. 3 weeks. She is a dream cat in all aspects except in relation to eating.
She is a 5 y/o retired breeding Siberian cat, now spayed. Her breeder has been my source of information relating to her - but to be honest has been slow to reply and not always helpful.
Her breeder told me she only ate dry food, and the first week she was with me I had her free feeding dry. This was going well and she was very chilled out about eating, grazing throughout the day. I would fill her bowl as and when I saw it was nearing empty. I didn't really do it on a schedule.
Week 2, she abruptly started vomiting overnight. It is just regurgitated cat food. Not actual vomit. No hairballs either. I did some research and realised that she was probably gorging on her food, so I invested in a cat feeder that would release 2 meals of 50% of her daily food allowance, 12 hours apart. She was doing great on this. She'd eat when the machine released her food, but not finish the whole thing, and return to it over the course of the day to graze. She was very calm and in very good spirits. Never meowed for food. Again to be clear, this was exclusively dry.
I understand that dry food isn't good for cats so I decided to try to transition her gradually to wet food. Following internet advice I added a little wet (25%) to her dry food (75%). This created a monster. She went bonkers the second she smelled the food, ate the whole meal in 1 minute, and spent the next 12 hours hassling me for food. Instead of being her usual chilled out, cuddly self, she now spends hours prowling the apartment for food, alternately meowing at me or just staring at me fixedly. At dinnertime, the machine releases her food on time (again, 75% dry mixed with 25% wet) and she finishes the whole thing in a minute. In the mornings, she is starving. She has started barfing again overnight. Not surprising given how fast she eats.
So it seems to me that she is happier and calmer with dry food released through a timed feeder but I know dry food isn't very good for cats! She's driving me mad since I introduced the wet and she also seems stressed out and constantly starving. Should I revert her to her dry food only schedule, or persevere with continuing the transition to wet? I've read so much about how bad for cats dry food is, but she just seems to do better on it.
She is an indoor cat, and I think she's a bit overweight. It's hard to tell because of all the fluff, but I can't feel her ribs when I stroke her sides.
We're due to go to the vet for some vaccinations in a couple of weeks so I'll ask then too.
Her breeder didn't have any advice to share. She suggested switching the cat onto wet food at mealtimes and dry food to graze in between, except that the cat doesn't really graze anymore.
My fluffy overlord has been in my life for approx. 3 weeks. She is a dream cat in all aspects except in relation to eating.
She is a 5 y/o retired breeding Siberian cat, now spayed. Her breeder has been my source of information relating to her - but to be honest has been slow to reply and not always helpful.
Her breeder told me she only ate dry food, and the first week she was with me I had her free feeding dry. This was going well and she was very chilled out about eating, grazing throughout the day. I would fill her bowl as and when I saw it was nearing empty. I didn't really do it on a schedule.
Week 2, she abruptly started vomiting overnight. It is just regurgitated cat food. Not actual vomit. No hairballs either. I did some research and realised that she was probably gorging on her food, so I invested in a cat feeder that would release 2 meals of 50% of her daily food allowance, 12 hours apart. She was doing great on this. She'd eat when the machine released her food, but not finish the whole thing, and return to it over the course of the day to graze. She was very calm and in very good spirits. Never meowed for food. Again to be clear, this was exclusively dry.
I understand that dry food isn't good for cats so I decided to try to transition her gradually to wet food. Following internet advice I added a little wet (25%) to her dry food (75%). This created a monster. She went bonkers the second she smelled the food, ate the whole meal in 1 minute, and spent the next 12 hours hassling me for food. Instead of being her usual chilled out, cuddly self, she now spends hours prowling the apartment for food, alternately meowing at me or just staring at me fixedly. At dinnertime, the machine releases her food on time (again, 75% dry mixed with 25% wet) and she finishes the whole thing in a minute. In the mornings, she is starving. She has started barfing again overnight. Not surprising given how fast she eats.
So it seems to me that she is happier and calmer with dry food released through a timed feeder but I know dry food isn't very good for cats! She's driving me mad since I introduced the wet and she also seems stressed out and constantly starving. Should I revert her to her dry food only schedule, or persevere with continuing the transition to wet? I've read so much about how bad for cats dry food is, but she just seems to do better on it.
She is an indoor cat, and I think she's a bit overweight. It's hard to tell because of all the fluff, but I can't feel her ribs when I stroke her sides.
We're due to go to the vet for some vaccinations in a couple of weeks so I'll ask then too.
Her breeder didn't have any advice to share. She suggested switching the cat onto wet food at mealtimes and dry food to graze in between, except that the cat doesn't really graze anymore.
She's almost certainly not starving, she's REALLY EXCITED. You may have a naturally very food-motivated cat on your hands just fyi.
If you want to be certain she's getting enough food, just calculate how many calories she should get (here's a calculator).
I agree that wet food is better, and think you're doing great! Consistency will help long-term, and she'll learn that she gets her meals on a schedule even though you aren't a dry food machine. (Personally I'd just end dry food entirely now & use it as treats or special -occasion meals.)
Definitely smush the wet food on the plate, so it's in a thin layer & she can't gulp down mouthfuls. They make silicone slow-eating aides like this (random Amazon link) if just flattening the food doesn't slow her down enough.
One thought: you might try having a wand toy around the house to grab and do 5 minutes of playtime when she's screaming at you.
posted by Baethan at 4:36 AM on November 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
If you want to be certain she's getting enough food, just calculate how many calories she should get (here's a calculator).
I agree that wet food is better, and think you're doing great! Consistency will help long-term, and she'll learn that she gets her meals on a schedule even though you aren't a dry food machine. (Personally I'd just end dry food entirely now & use it as treats or special -occasion meals.)
Definitely smush the wet food on the plate, so it's in a thin layer & she can't gulp down mouthfuls. They make silicone slow-eating aides like this (random Amazon link) if just flattening the food doesn't slow her down enough.
One thought: you might try having a wand toy around the house to grab and do 5 minutes of playtime when she's screaming at you.
posted by Baethan at 4:36 AM on November 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
At the risk of stating the obvious, the purpose of mixing the wet food with the dry is to acclimatise the cat to the wet food so it won't turn its nose up at it. It doesn't sound like getting her to eat the wet food is a problem here.
It's true that an all-dry diet isn't great for cats, but cats on all-wet are more likely to have tooth issues because they're not chewing and crunching anything. A bit of both types is good. Of course that assumes you've got a good high-protein dry food - bad dry food is really bad.
In your shoes I'd revert to dry-food only in the auto-feeder and serve wet food by hand at set times. Hopefully this'll lead to less bolting of the auto-fed meals. Although you can probably expect her to start bothering you ~ an hour before meal times. That's normal cat behaviour.
You're certainly not alone. I've got a cat that's very food-motivated and we do something like the above for him. Once (when he was recovering from a dicky tummy) we tried putting boiled chicken in the auto-feeder and he near broke the thing trying to get at it.
posted by Lorc at 5:00 AM on November 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
It's true that an all-dry diet isn't great for cats, but cats on all-wet are more likely to have tooth issues because they're not chewing and crunching anything. A bit of both types is good. Of course that assumes you've got a good high-protein dry food - bad dry food is really bad.
In your shoes I'd revert to dry-food only in the auto-feeder and serve wet food by hand at set times. Hopefully this'll lead to less bolting of the auto-fed meals. Although you can probably expect her to start bothering you ~ an hour before meal times. That's normal cat behaviour.
You're certainly not alone. I've got a cat that's very food-motivated and we do something like the above for him. Once (when he was recovering from a dicky tummy) we tried putting boiled chicken in the auto-feeder and he near broke the thing trying to get at it.
posted by Lorc at 5:00 AM on November 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
The one thing that has helped my barfer the most is these mice-shaped 'indoor hunting cat feeders.' I feed small amounts of wet food during the day and then leave a few of these out overnight. They enforce slower eating for the barfer and they also stop my pushy meower from waking me up in the morning.
posted by cocoagirl at 5:02 AM on November 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by cocoagirl at 5:02 AM on November 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Tufts Veterinary School Clinical Nutrition Service says "While you may read or hear cat owners or even veterinarians say that cats are healthier when they eat only canned food, outside of cats with kidney disease or urinary tract disease, there is no good evidence that the type of diet makes a difference in overall health."
In your situation I would simply feed a good quality dry food and make sure she has nice attractive drinking water available, maybe one of those running fountain things. My cats like to drink from a highball glass on the end table next to my usual spot on the couch, which makes it very visible to me and easy to remember to refill it with nice fresh water a couple of times a day.
posted by Rhedyn at 5:42 AM on November 14, 2023 [4 favorites]
In your situation I would simply feed a good quality dry food and make sure she has nice attractive drinking water available, maybe one of those running fountain things. My cats like to drink from a highball glass on the end table next to my usual spot on the couch, which makes it very visible to me and easy to remember to refill it with nice fresh water a couple of times a day.
posted by Rhedyn at 5:42 AM on November 14, 2023 [4 favorites]
The barfing might not be from eating too much food in general--especially if you have a timed feeder--but from eating too fast and then drinking water. She may be eating what feels like a tummy-filling amount for her, then drinking water which expands the dry kibble beyond what comfortably fits in her stomach.
If this is the case, there are a few things you can try.
1. Try moving the water to the opposite side of the house from the food, so that she's not getting a one-two punch.
2. Buy a product designed to make them eat slower, like the one linked by cocoagirl.
3. Come up with your own free solution to make her eat slower. We've had success with putting a toy or tennis ball in the food bowl, so that she has to strategically eat around it.
posted by tofu_crouton at 5:43 AM on November 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
If this is the case, there are a few things you can try.
1. Try moving the water to the opposite side of the house from the food, so that she's not getting a one-two punch.
2. Buy a product designed to make them eat slower, like the one linked by cocoagirl.
3. Come up with your own free solution to make her eat slower. We've had success with putting a toy or tennis ball in the food bowl, so that she has to strategically eat around it.
posted by tofu_crouton at 5:43 AM on November 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
Best answer: First off, my usual statement, cats are trickle feeders. Most cat owners don't know this. They ideally should have multiple (as in 10 or more) small meals throughout the day. Small meals many times. This is based on how they digest and process food, and how they would be eating in the wild, Cats who do not have the opportunity to eat this way are prone to chronic illness. What that means in practice is that they should be free feeding and have food available always, or most of the time. Most cats will self-regulate to maintain their weight and only eat what they need.
Some cats cannot free feed because they have some kind of food scarcity mentality, that could be from actually scarcity, and that leads them to overeat. Other cats need to adjust from their perceived food scarcity by being underfed by only having food available too little times during the day and may gorge until they figure out that food is reliably available when they need to eat.
Anyhow. Dry vs. wet. High quality food is what counts, no matter whether it is wet or dry. Although I do think proportionally having more wet is better for any number of reasons, but save that for later. This is the most important thing. You have only had this cat a few weeks. Now is absolutely NOT the time to making changes in their feeding, schedule wise, or type of food. Cats take an incredibly long time to adjust to major (or even small) changes. A move into a new household is a big fucking deal for a cat. Give her six months (yes, really), before you start changing up their food. If the feeder is working out okay, and they are still able to graze with the leftovers, and they seem happy, keep it that way. But I am guessing the sudden vomiting was from stress of the move and once she is more relaxed, things will improve.
posted by nanook at 5:48 AM on November 14, 2023 [5 favorites]
Some cats cannot free feed because they have some kind of food scarcity mentality, that could be from actually scarcity, and that leads them to overeat. Other cats need to adjust from their perceived food scarcity by being underfed by only having food available too little times during the day and may gorge until they figure out that food is reliably available when they need to eat.
Anyhow. Dry vs. wet. High quality food is what counts, no matter whether it is wet or dry. Although I do think proportionally having more wet is better for any number of reasons, but save that for later. This is the most important thing. You have only had this cat a few weeks. Now is absolutely NOT the time to making changes in their feeding, schedule wise, or type of food. Cats take an incredibly long time to adjust to major (or even small) changes. A move into a new household is a big fucking deal for a cat. Give her six months (yes, really), before you start changing up their food. If the feeder is working out okay, and they are still able to graze with the leftovers, and they seem happy, keep it that way. But I am guessing the sudden vomiting was from stress of the move and once she is more relaxed, things will improve.
posted by nanook at 5:48 AM on November 14, 2023 [5 favorites]
Cats will act hungry with a full belly. They will beg for whatever you are eating 3 minutes after finishing their own food. They are covetous gremlins.
I have had cats routinely live to over 15 on exclusively dry food diets, just making sure they have plenty of water.
We feed ours dry only and they get clean bills of health from the vet. We have two cats and they eat together from a timed feeder that goes off four times a day. It is a small amount each time that adds up to the amount that I used to feed each cat once per day.
I have a friend with two cats that have diabetes. She feeds them wet and dry food. She put them on a diet when they got diagnosed and they started acting like jerks. So weight is important to monitor, yes, but I think you will have plenty of warning before she has a weight problem.
posted by soelo at 6:52 AM on November 14, 2023
I have had cats routinely live to over 15 on exclusively dry food diets, just making sure they have plenty of water.
We feed ours dry only and they get clean bills of health from the vet. We have two cats and they eat together from a timed feeder that goes off four times a day. It is a small amount each time that adds up to the amount that I used to feed each cat once per day.
I have a friend with two cats that have diabetes. She feeds them wet and dry food. She put them on a diet when they got diagnosed and they started acting like jerks. So weight is important to monitor, yes, but I think you will have plenty of warning before she has a weight problem.
posted by soelo at 6:52 AM on November 14, 2023
Our cat was also adopted as an adult, and was dry-only with tendencies toward binge-and-purge when we adopted him.
A slow feeder (hedgehog style, where he has to pull out kibble with his paw) was good at limiting puking, but if Mugen was over hungry or otherwise worried about food scarcity, he would overeat and puke. But generally he doesn’t overeat and can be trusted to free-feed responsibly (not eat just because he’s bored).
I wanted to spoil him since he’s getting into his senior years, is my first cat, and is now an only pet after a lifetime of roommates (that he didn’t get along with). His baseline safe feeding schedule is a half can of wet food at breakfast, and a half can of wet at dinner (in a separate plate, with his dry food always in the hedgehog slow feeder).
Right now (meaning both this month and today as I write this) he gets his breakfast from an automatic feeder that I load with wet food and ice packs at bedtime. This is to curb yowling while I am getting my last bits of sleep. When I get up, I’ll scoop the last bits of wet out of the corners onto his plate so he can snack on them at his leisure.
At dinner time, Mugen gets one scoop (half of his half-can meal) right at 6pm, and then gets “seconds” 15-30 minutes later, depending on how much he’s asking/who is standing up/when we remember.
Because there’s almost always dry food available, he’s never starving-starving, and if he is completely out of dry food, it’s probably a mealtime, so he gets two spaced-out portions of wet food, then will return to a trickle of dry food (but won’t be anxious about it).
The firsts/seconds pattern of meals probably isn’t strictly necessary with our cat, and he used the timed-wet feeder without issue when we’re out of town and don’t want a cat sitter to have to do that twice a day. But when we’re home we like to do the ritual.
posted by itesser at 6:59 AM on November 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
A slow feeder (hedgehog style, where he has to pull out kibble with his paw) was good at limiting puking, but if Mugen was over hungry or otherwise worried about food scarcity, he would overeat and puke. But generally he doesn’t overeat and can be trusted to free-feed responsibly (not eat just because he’s bored).
I wanted to spoil him since he’s getting into his senior years, is my first cat, and is now an only pet after a lifetime of roommates (that he didn’t get along with). His baseline safe feeding schedule is a half can of wet food at breakfast, and a half can of wet at dinner (in a separate plate, with his dry food always in the hedgehog slow feeder).
Right now (meaning both this month and today as I write this) he gets his breakfast from an automatic feeder that I load with wet food and ice packs at bedtime. This is to curb yowling while I am getting my last bits of sleep. When I get up, I’ll scoop the last bits of wet out of the corners onto his plate so he can snack on them at his leisure.
At dinner time, Mugen gets one scoop (half of his half-can meal) right at 6pm, and then gets “seconds” 15-30 minutes later, depending on how much he’s asking/who is standing up/when we remember.
Because there’s almost always dry food available, he’s never starving-starving, and if he is completely out of dry food, it’s probably a mealtime, so he gets two spaced-out portions of wet food, then will return to a trickle of dry food (but won’t be anxious about it).
The firsts/seconds pattern of meals probably isn’t strictly necessary with our cat, and he used the timed-wet feeder without issue when we’re out of town and don’t want a cat sitter to have to do that twice a day. But when we’re home we like to do the ritual.
posted by itesser at 6:59 AM on November 14, 2023 [2 favorites]
We have a puker. We have managed to control it by spreading her wet food on a large plate as if icing a cake. Sometimes we throw a few dry pieces on top for "speed bumps" to slow her down. We feed her 2-3 times per day. This method works 90% of the time with our kitty.
posted by Ochre,Hugh at 9:16 AM on November 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Ochre,Hugh at 9:16 AM on November 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
My cats have always been wet-food only, but i recently started giving my scarf-and-barfer an "appetizer" of dry food. He gets maybe an 8th of a cup of kibble about 15 minutes before the canned food, not enough to make him throw up if he scarfs it but enough that his belly is a little full when the wet food course is served. I don't love giving him the dry food but i figure the small amount he gets is better than the constant cycle of throwing up and feeling starved.
posted by tinymojo at 9:47 AM on November 14, 2023
posted by tinymojo at 9:47 AM on November 14, 2023
You might go back to dry-only for now. Save the wet food for when she's older and has less of an appetite. Maybe make it up to her with fresh water and more brushing or laser pointer time (unless that creates a different kind of monster...)
posted by credulous at 11:32 AM on November 14, 2023
posted by credulous at 11:32 AM on November 14, 2023
Important advice here: wait until the cat has behaved the way you want for five minutes, sitting quietly, say, and then feed her. Don't feed her in response to obnoxious begging behavior, ever. (It's okay if she gets excited after you've already started getting the food out.) Whenever she does something annoying, restart your mental timer for five more minutes, before doing what she wants.
If you feed the cat when she's being annoying, she will become much more annoying. If you feed her when she's silently sitting there being cute, that's what she'll do when she wants to be fed.
This works well. Our cats are well-behaved about asking to be fed. A couple of middle-aged cats who came to live with us, ages six and eight, picked up on it within a couple of weeks.
posted by metonym at 2:42 PM on November 14, 2023
If you feed the cat when she's being annoying, she will become much more annoying. If you feed her when she's silently sitting there being cute, that's what she'll do when she wants to be fed.
This works well. Our cats are well-behaved about asking to be fed. A couple of middle-aged cats who came to live with us, ages six and eight, picked up on it within a couple of weeks.
posted by metonym at 2:42 PM on November 14, 2023
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About the begging, make sure to rouse her for meals: teach her that she will be fed, even (especially!) if she's calm. My dogs know, for example, that any rustling in the kitchen or fridge means nothing much to them. They won't get food, so they don't need to be on alert. They don't even follow me in there unless I call their names while in the kitchen. This has the important side effect of me knowing that if they do approach me for food, they are really hungry!
Don't give in to incessant badgering, but do acknowledge and honour a calm and friendly "Meow, how about dinner?"
For weight, consider putting the food up on a high surface. But I'd trust the vet's assessment more than your own unless you're very experienced.
posted by toucan at 3:54 AM on November 14, 2023 [1 favorite]