Leaving canned food out overnight

I am trying to get my old girls to eat more wet food. Because I cherish sleep at night, hard food is left down at all times. Would it be safe to leave a good amount of wet food out overnight and let them graze on that? I read that cats in the wild don't eat all of their prey at once, saving some for later.

Thx

gooned said:

I am trying to get my old girls to eat more wet food. Because I cherish sleep at night, hard food is left down at all times. Would it be safe to leave a good amount of wet food out overnight and let them graze on that? I read that cats in the wild don't eat all of their prey at once, saving some for later.

Thx

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I have done it with no ill effect for a long time! My cat (most of the time) will not eat his wet food all in one sitting (I feed him twice a day) and when I give him his evening meal (8pm) he usually leaves it and finishes it the next morning. Never had an issue with it

gooned said:

I am trying to get my old girls to eat more wet food. Because I cherish sleep at night, hard food is left down at all times. Would it be safe to leave a good amount of wet food out overnight and let them graze on that? I read that cats in the wild don't eat all of their prey at once, saving some for later.

Thx

Click to expand...

I noticed in my cats they dont eat wet if i leave the dry out all the time so what i do is when i wake up i pick up there dry bowls wait 2 hours feed there wet and put out there dry again and 2 hours before there night food i pick it up again and feed there wet and after the last cat eats his/her wet i put the dry back down tell morning i have no problems with this way

and i think the staying good part depends on the wet cat food brand and i herd after 3 hours it ain't to good for cats but who knows

I've been leaving canned food out for free-feeding for over 10 years. Never had a problem, and sometimes it sits out for 12 hrs. I'll come home from work and someone will be nibbling on the crusty bits. If you want it to stay fresher than that, you can freeze portions in an ice-cube tray and plop a couple in a dish for the kitties to eat once it thaws.

I've also done it for years with both house cats and barn cats, with no problems. Oddly, my biggest problem is with the barn cats during winter - if they don't eat it all within a few hours, they drag frozen lumps of food around for me to step on, then swear at; they don't have a real bowl, just a lid from a pail so dragging frozen lumps is pretty easy..

gooned said:

I am trying to get my old girls to eat more wet food. Because I cherish sleep at night, hard food is left down at all times. Would it be safe to leave a good amount of wet food out overnight and let them graze on that? I read that cats in the wild don't eat all of their prey at once, saving some for later.

Thx

Click to expand...

i've heard wet food can be left out for 12 hours. I wouldnt know for sure as my cat stuffs her face or if not hungry leaves it for 1-2 hours. lol i heard you can add a tiny bit of water to make sure it stays wet.

I think I have seen advice on this site that said to leave out wet food for no longer than an hour. I leave wet food out until it's finished, which is usually 2 - 3 hours, and there has never been a problem. My cats will eat 90% of it right away then come back later for a midnight/noon snack.

I would usually leave wet food out for a few hours or at least when they finish the food. I've never had any problem, though I'm not sure about leaving it out overnight. I think if the food got bad, a cat wouldn't bother to eat it.

When I fed wet food (I now feed commercial raw) I left wet food out overnight. Mostly because I didn't think it would spoil, and that is always what my mom did when she fed her cats (has been owning kitties for over 30 years) with no problems. I would think it would be ok, but personally it's up to you, now I tend to err on the side of caution and just only leave it out for an hour or so when my kitties get their wet food treat.

gooned said:

I am trying to get my old girls to eat more wet food. Because I cherish sleep at night, hard food is left down at all times. Would it be safe to leave a good amount of wet food out overnight and let them graze on that? I read that cats in the wild don't eat all of their prey at once, saving some for later.

Thx

Click to expand...

I doubt there will be any issues doing that overnight.  I'd pull up the kibble though because they might want to snack on it instead of eat the wet.  Wet left out over long periods of time will develop bacteria but I doubt you'll have any issues doing it overnight.  Provided you clean the bowls well between feedings.

When I left wet food out for an extended period of time (12 or more hours) I would put a freeze pack in a dish and then put the dish of wet food on top of that. Doing that seemed to prevent the top of the wet food from getting dried out.