Feeding

How do you feed your cat(s)? Do you feed them like twice a day or have food available at all times? Do you feed them whenever they are hungry?

Just curious.

Cat

and refill when it's out. My catz don't over eat, so I can do that. I'm just feeding moist food as a "introduction period treat" on a daily basis, but I usually never give them moist. It will end soon!

I leave out a bowl of dry food all day long. They seem to nibble on it whenever they want. It works out nicely. I also give them treats during the day whenever we are playing or if they are just being sweet!

The cats eat 3 times a day, they have food down for a half an hour at a time. It encourages them not to wander off the property and it helps to maintain their weight. I also hide treats around the house for them to *find* and make sure they have water 24 hrs a day. I only feed dry unless I need to get them to take medication or they are sick.

I have dry food out 24/7 and he get a treat of wet
in the AM and PM. Feeding on a schedule is impossible for me since I a out of the house most weekdays for 12 hrs.

AZ "grazes" on her dry food all day--it's all she'll eat!

She also gets a few treats before bedtime.

The dry food is down all the time, but I only fill the bowl everymorning. Once its empty, its empty. They are the perfect weight, not too skinny and not too chunky. It works well for me, and they don't gorge.

I always have fresh water down, and once a week or so they get to split a can of wet food.

I feed the cats twice a day (sometimes three if they *really* want to eat NOW ), because they eat different things and I don't want the younger one to eat the older one's food. The older one's still on kibble since she refuses everything else, but the younger one is on raw which I personally think is much better. Water is of course always available.

How do you keep them apart to eat. This is my situation also. I have one older cat 10yr, Cloey, who is also just been diagnosed with diabetes and really needs an easier digestive food (of course my vet recommended some R/D brand that you can only purchase thru her) and my young one, Gracie, is almost 9mths. Right now they are eating the same food (mainly for convienence) but I have noticed that since Gracie has been eating Cloey's food that her poops really smell again and are alittle loose. I can't afford the expensive digestive food (from the vet) for Cloey so I got Purina SpecialCare (its in a blue bag). I'm wondering if I need to get Gracie something else. When you say you feed your little one kibbles, what are you refering to...kitten food?

thanks,
Cat

Keeping them apart can be a bit tricky at times, since the younger one wants the "junk food" the older one eats. I feed the younger one on my kitchen table (can't be on the floor since my dogs would eat the cat's food!), and the older one eats either on top of the book shelf or on the kitchen counter with me close by to lift the younger one away from the older one's food dish if needed. The older one can jump to the book shelf but the younger one can't, so if I can't supervise, the older one eats there.

My younger kitty (now 11 months) doesn't eat any commercial cat foods, except as treats every now and again. She eats a raw food diet, which means raw meaty bones, raw muscle meat, raw organ meat, a bit of raw veggies and so on. She's eaten this since she was 4,5 months when I got her. The older one eats mostly Nutro kibble, the best available in my town (no BHT, BHA or ethoxiquin), since she refuses to touch raw meat in any shape or form.

what is BHT and the other 2 things you mentioned? I have to feed both of mine on the counter also cause my doggie loves to gobble up their left overs.

Cat

Well, here is an explanation from the page http://www.api4animals.org/doc.asp?ID=79 "What's really in pet food?". There is argument about these preservatives, some say they may cause cancer and be otherwise bad for our pets' health if eaten constantly throughout their lives, others say they're perfectly safe. It appears no reliable studies have been done so far. I personally think that if there's some doubt, I'll avoid buying cat food with these preservatives if I possibly can. Oh yeah, and usually pet food manufacturers don't have to mention they've used these particular preservatives, in my country they can just say "EU approved antioxidants". Anyhow, below is a snip from the article, read more if you're interested on the url I put above.

"Synthetic preservatives include butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), propyl gallate, propylene glycol (also used as a less-toxic version of automotive antifreeze), and ethoxyquin. For these antioxidants, there is little information documenting their toxicity, safety, interactions, or chronic use in pet foods that may be eaten every day for the life of the animal.

Potentially cancer-causing agents such as BHA, BHT, and ethoxyquin are permitted at relatively low levels. The use of these chemicals in pet foods has not been thoroughly studied, and long term build-up of these agents may ultimately be harmful. Due to questionable data in the original study on its safety, ethoxyquin's manufacturer, Monsanto, was required to perform a new, more rigorous study. This was completed in 1996. Even though Monsanto found no significant toxicity associated with its own product, in July 1997, the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine requested that manufacturers voluntarily reduce the maximum level for ethoxyquin by half, to 75 parts per million. While some pet food critics and veterinarians believe that ethoxyquin is a major cause of disease, skin problems, and infertility in dogs, others claim it is the safest, strongest, most stable preservative available for pet food. Ethoxyquin is approved for use in human food for preserving spices, such as cayenne and chili powder, at a level of 100 ppm -- but it would be very difficult to consume as much chili powder every day as a dog would eat dry food. Ethoxyquin has never been tested for safety in cats."