Feeding elderly cats on demand

[bahger]

I’ve been coming here from when our two sibling Ocicats were kittens; it has now been seventeen years and I am grateful for this community.

The cats are now very senior and doing well for their age. They have always been indoor only. These days they eat less heartily, like old people, and they prefer to graze rather than devour a bowlful of food like it’s about to vanish. We feed them four times a day. They are both a good weight for their age. We have reconciled ourselves to throwing away a certain amount of the food we put out for them because I would say that they now consume the equivalent of three feedings per day on average, not four. Do you think we should simply eliminate the late afternoon feed (the one they’d most often rather sleep through) and simply give them three meals instead of four, supplementing if and when they come asking for more?

With thanks in anticipation, as always.

 

[Neanderthal]

We have a 20 year old, a 12-14? year old, and a 7 year old inside. Some time ago I started just leaving food out for them to come graze as needed. It seems to have worked out well for them, nobody's fat and nobody's starving.
The oldest cat, River, chows down as needed. Punkin aka Pretty Girl, the middle one, is a cat of extremes. She'll eat a lot and then sleep a lot. Rinse and repeat.

Inky, the youngest, was one of three kids birthed to a stray cat (Pots) who showed up one spring day in 2017 and started napping in our back yard, eats PRN. She still has a good deal of feral in her, I think. She'll eat and then tear through the house a few times.
The remaining outsiders, four survivors now, get two meals a day. Breakfast and dinner.

Leaving food out for indoor grazing has worked for us.

 

[bahger]

Many thanks for this helpful response. It was silly of me not to mention that one of our two cats, our old lady, is on a renal diet so I have to supervise their mealtimes or he will steal all her food and she will eat his. This rather limits our ability to leave them to graze.

 

[Neanderthal]

You're quite welcome, sorry it's not helpful for your situation. I guess putting signs up by their plates, e.g. Renal and YumYum, probably wouldn't help any?

 

[IzzysfureverMom]

Maybe divide into smaller portions if possible, if they are not eating what is out. I know it is hard when they have a special diet, without putting one in lockdown to eat. Sometimes that is the thing you can do is fed them in separate areas. You could try three times a day as you mentioned see if they finish it up. If that were to work you would not have the hassle of moving everyone around or your girl eating food she shouldn't.I fed my old girl 4- 6 times a day depending on if she is finishing or not.Yeah for the cat nursing home!

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Both my boys are 15+ and I serve them 4 meals a day. One of them never cleans his bowl, and the other seldom does, no matter what food I feed. It's depressing, but I do it because they need to eat and if I don't, then I find little stomach acid throw-ups around the house.

If you aren't having issues with vomiting, I guess you could try going to three meals and see what happens. If they get hungry, believe me, they will let you know

 

[bahger]

This is all very good advice as usual, thank you. Our pair of seniors operate very much like mrsgreenjeens’. There’s occasional vomiting but nothing like as bad as it was when they’d inhale their food faster than they could digest it so up it would come. Ocis are notoriously enthusiastic eaters but mine are at the point now that they almost prefer a warm lap to being fed. They do eat pretty well for their age, though, despite being grazers now.

 

[bahger]

Pherber, our old lady, would rather sleep at 11:00 than come down for her second meal of the day. I will let her sleep but if she hasn’t eaten by around 12:00, I carry her down and plop her in front of her bowl…and then she eats. Some of this attitude towards food among older cats seems linked to their biological routines.