I only have one cat, she's almost 11 months old. Her whole life up to now she's been free feeding. I give her wet food twice a day, and leave dry food out all day. She's never been a big eater - she eats her full, and leaves what she doesn't want. She's not one of those cats who will eat anything you put in front of them.
I don't love free feeding because I don't like leaving wet food out all day, but it's hard to avoid that. I wake up at 6:10 and I have to be out the door by 6:30 to get to work. I give her breakfast and go. I know she eats slowly and sometimes there's still wet food left out when I get home from work, around 5pm. I leave her the dry food because when the wet food is a bit gross, she'll stop eating it and eat the dry food instead. Also even though I know wet food is generally healthier, I've been under the impression from vets that a small amount of dry food is good for their teeth.
Anyway, there are now two reasons that means she needs to stop free feeding and start eating her full at fixed meal times, in the morning and in the evening.
Firstly, the weather is getting hotter and I keep getting ants. I don't know where they come from and no matter how tidy and clean I keep the kitchen, they still come for her food, and she won't touch it with ants on. Cleaning them up is a pain, it's a waste of food, and I don't think it's super healthy for my cat to be in an environment where Raid has been used recently, no matter how thoroughly I clean.
Secondly, the most important reason - we live alone now, but this summer we're moving countries and back to my parents' house for a while. They have two boys, about 12 years old, who are complete pigs. We give them food in the morning and at night and they eat it all immediately. We even have to watch them eat because one will always steal the food of the other. If we left food out all day, they would eat themselves into oblivion.
So when Lucia lives with her British uncles this summer, she needs to have become accustomed to scheduled feedings, eating her full in the morning and at night and not leaving food, otherwise she's going to be hungry and they're going to be fat as hell. Obviously they'll be kept separate for a long time, but eventually I'd like to have them living together normally.
Any tips on how I can train her to eat at fixed meal times? I saw another post about dividing her food into 4-5 feedings, but that's really hard as I work all day.
I don't love free feeding because I don't like leaving wet food out all day, but it's hard to avoid that. I wake up at 6:10 and I have to be out the door by 6:30 to get to work. I give her breakfast and go. I know she eats slowly and sometimes there's still wet food left out when I get home from work, around 5pm. I leave her the dry food because when the wet food is a bit gross, she'll stop eating it and eat the dry food instead. Also even though I know wet food is generally healthier, I've been under the impression from vets that a small amount of dry food is good for their teeth.
Anyway, there are now two reasons that means she needs to stop free feeding and start eating her full at fixed meal times, in the morning and in the evening.
Firstly, the weather is getting hotter and I keep getting ants. I don't know where they come from and no matter how tidy and clean I keep the kitchen, they still come for her food, and she won't touch it with ants on. Cleaning them up is a pain, it's a waste of food, and I don't think it's super healthy for my cat to be in an environment where Raid has been used recently, no matter how thoroughly I clean.
Secondly, the most important reason - we live alone now, but this summer we're moving countries and back to my parents' house for a while. They have two boys, about 12 years old, who are complete pigs. We give them food in the morning and at night and they eat it all immediately. We even have to watch them eat because one will always steal the food of the other. If we left food out all day, they would eat themselves into oblivion.
So when Lucia lives with her British uncles this summer, she needs to have become accustomed to scheduled feedings, eating her full in the morning and at night and not leaving food, otherwise she's going to be hungry and they're going to be fat as hell. Obviously they'll be kept separate for a long time, but eventually I'd like to have them living together normally.
Any tips on how I can train her to eat at fixed meal times? I saw another post about dividing her food into 4-5 feedings, but that's really hard as I work all day.
