Hi all, I’m kind of confused on this. My cat eats very slowly all day long. She’d go to her food bowl constantly throughout the day for a couple of bites and then back to whatever she does. I think we spoil her by making her food available at all times, my wife doesn’t think so. She throws up here and there and I’m thinking because she eats too much. So, my question to you all is, how often do you feed your cat? Do you fill its bowl all day like me? Do you have specific times of the day where you give them a certain amount each time and nothing in between? I’m leaning towards doing the latter. Give her, let’s say, half a cup in the morning and let her munch on it as much as she wants and the other half in the evening and nothing in between. She freaks out when her bowl is empty and starts crying and acting like she’s about to die of starvation. Give her food, then she takes one bite and leaves. Bro, wtf. Lol. So any advice would be greatly appreciated.

  • Billegh@lemmy.world
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    22 hours ago

    All times. Our cats graze well and don’t have weight issues.

    Our dogs, however, twice a day for Señores Chonk and Chonk También.

  • Michal@programming.dev
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    1 day ago

    Twice a day wet food, but he also has bowl of kibble available throughout the day to snack on. My friend recommended it when we got the first cat, and it has worked for us.

    Sometimes he’ll eat all the wet food, sometimes he’ll leave it for later, and sometimes there will be leftovers until evening / morning that he will refuse to eat. We’re not consistent with portion sizes though, so maybe sometimes we give him too much.

    He does like the kibble though and he’s happy eating it even of there’s wet food available.

  • heleos@lemm.ee
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    19 hours ago

    3oz of wet food every 12 hours, two of the cats get unlimited dry, one can’t be trusted so we put some in every once in a while, maybe twice a day

  • Thorned_Rose@sh.itjust.works
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    1 day ago

    Our cats have always been fed raw and they get fed twice a day. One of our cats, the vet said he was “the most beautiful specimen I ever seen”. He’s just a basic tabby (rescue) but does indeed have the most glorious fur. Our failed foster’s pervious owner fed her an expensive fancy diet but kibble and we thought she had coarse fur. After months with us on raw, she also has gloriously soft fur and what we thought was psychological urination issues also cleared up.

  • Sunsofold@lemmings.world
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    21 hours ago

    RTFM.
    Look on the food bag. It will have a guide for how much to feed a cat of various sizes. Feed the appropriate amount. No more, no less.

  • TwoBeeSan@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Feed them twice. Once in the morning around 8 then again at 8 when I get home from work.

    1 cat is an absolute fiend for food and will eat his sisters (not related)

    Have to separate them until she is finished then he gets her leftovers. He’ll yell on the other end of the door

    If I left food he’d make himself sick, think due to being feral for a while. Other cat could give a fuck lol

    No vomiting here with my cats. Will parrot how it seems to be unique to the cat.

    • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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      2 days ago

      We got bowls that only open for the cat with the right chip. That way little miss slow eater can take her time.

  • .Donuts@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    Some cats have better control than others. I can’t give mine food for the entire day as one will just gobble everything up until she pukes.

    So they get fed three times a day. Basically their daily food intake distributed in equal portions throughout the day.

    She throws up here and there

    How often is here and there? It might be an underlying health issue if this happens a lot.

    • penquin@lemm.eeOP
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      3 days ago

      Probably once a week? Every 10 days? I checked it and there was no worms because I was worried about that. It was watery, though. She seems very much fine to me. Still plays and does her thing. Also, she’s a 9 year old cat. That can be a factor, too.
      Edit: she’s also one of those that shed a ton of hair. Her shedding is just insane.

      • .Donuts@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        A few times a month is not out of the ordinary. As long as she has access to fresh water she might just be a bit dramatic!

        If you suspect anything, getting her checked out at the vet is still recommended. Cats are experts at hiding illnesses, so it’s hard to gauge how they are feeling.

        Aside from that, I don’t think you need to change anything if nothing is out of the ordinary. Some cats are drama queens, just the way it is.

        • penquin@lemm.eeOP
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          3 days ago

          This comment genuinely made me laugh 😂. “dramatic” and “drama queens” sounds exactly like my cat. She starts making weird loud noises when my son pets her or plays with her, just to tell him she’s annoyed with him. And when I walk by, she basically looks at me and does those noises, like “dad, he’s annoying me. Get him away from me”. Lol

  • csm10495@sh.itjust.works
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    2 days ago

    My cat is good and eats only what she needs. She always has a bowl full of her regular food. We’ve been like this for almost 10 years now.

    It all kind of depends on the cat and how they handle the buffet always being open.

  • SineIraEtStudio@midwest.social
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    3 days ago

    I’ve always kept a bowl of watsr and dry food filled and then given them wet food once a day.

    Never had any issues with them throwing up. Hopefully, someone else can provide insight into that.

    • penquin@lemm.eeOP
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      3 days ago

      Thank you. My wife has been giving her tuna twice a day and I stopped it because the money adds up if we are giving her a whole can a day. I get her organic dry food from Costco that is chicken and sweet potatoes, so I don’t see a point of spending more money on tuna. Not sure if that’s the cause of throwing up, or because she just eats too much. It’s fucking disgusting, btw. 😂

      • chknbwl@lemmy.world
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        3 days ago

        What kind of tuna are you feeding them? If it’s the human-consumption-type (i.e. StarKist) then the sodium content is way too high.

        • penquin@lemm.eeOP
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          3 days ago

          Oh fuck me upside down then. That’s what my wife has been feeding her, our tuna. Good thing I stopped it then 🤦🏽‍♂️. I really appreciate you mentioning this. I’ll make sure to let my wife know.

      • SineIraEtStudio@midwest.social
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        3 days ago

        A can a day seems a bit much to me. We did half a can a day for 15lb cat (not fat, just big).

        You can probably eliminate the wet food entirely if you pour extra “juice” from your meals onto the dry food.

        • penquin@lemm.eeOP
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          3 days ago

          Man, it’s crazy how people put so much care and thoughts into caring for an animal here in the states. Back in my country, our animals ate whatever leftover we had from our human meals, and that’s it. It’s still funny to me how I have to drive to a store and buy certain foods for a cat like she’s another human we have in the house. LOL

  • SecureTaco@lemmy.asc6.org
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    2 days ago

    We have two cats from the same litter. We use an automated cat feeder that pours enough for each of them (same bowl) 4 times a day. They’re pretty good about portioning and making sure they’re able to eat together. They hardly ever throw up (1-2 times a year). They don’t act hungry, but they do rush from anywhere in the house when they hear the food dispensing. Each cat weighs 13 lbs.

  • BertramDitore@lemm.ee
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    3 days ago

    It might differ depending on the cat’s personality, but I feed my cat a full serving once a day in the morning, and that’s it. He nibbles on it throughout the day whenever he wants, and by the next morning the bowl is empty. No whining or begging, thankfully, since he does a surprisingly good job of pacing himself.

    He’s pretty old now, so we’ve got a good routine going, but I know some cats just won’t accept this and need their meals to be separate and eaten in one sitting.

    • penquin@lemm.eeOP
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      3 days ago

      Thank you. By full serving, what do you mean? Do you have a measurement or just a random cup you have at home that you use?

      • BertramDitore@lemm.ee
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        3 days ago

        It took a few years to fine-tune the exact amount, sometimes he’d finish the bowl too early and whine the next morning, sometimes there’d be too much leftover and he’d whine because he wanted a fresh bowl. I finally landed on the exact amount where he always has enough when he wants it, but there’s never any extra. It’s second nature by now so I don’t remember the exact amount, but it’s somewhere just over half a cup of dry food.

  • ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    3 days ago

    my cat rules so I just have a huge gravity feeder with dry food available to her constantly and I give her one wet food a day. I refill the gravity feeder once every two weeks or so, whenever it’s empty

    She’s been 14.7 pounds for 10 years straight.

    My sisters cat is greeeeeedy and has to be restricted or she will eat constantly and end up massively overweight. She was like 5-6 lbs overweight when she got her. Not sure of the specific schedule she uses

    So I guess it depends?

  • cheese_greater@lemmy.world
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    3 days ago

    Twice a day, 12 hours apart. No free feeding (they always end up engorging themselves and throwing up when i make the mistake of leaving it out)

    Water is always available and they alert me when it needs to be refilled

    • teletext@reddthat.com
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      3 days ago

      In nature cats eat up to 15 small meals a day. Once a cat has learned that it can’t follow its nature because it has to fear that there won’t be food when it’s hungry, it is broken. It will engorge itself like there’s no tomorrow.

  • wise_pancake@lemmy.ca
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    3 days ago

    We had one cat and she was fine to free feed like that, occasional puke but that was mostly hairballs or if she ate something like plastic (she loves eating tape, you cannot leave tape out or she will eat it)

    Then we a kitten and the older one started eating the kittens food. The kitten got bigger and started stealing her food… then they started wolfing down food so quickly they’d puke to try and steal from each other.

    So we ended up with 2 machines across the house on the same schedule, and feed them three times a day. They will free feed if separated.