In this article, we talk about free feeding cats. Free feeding means leaving food out for your cats 24/7. It also means doling out treats 24/7 as well. This article provides information about what you should know when feeding cats.
I want to break this down into two places. The first thing is physical, and the other one is psychologically / behaviorally. Free feeding undermines the work that we try to do.
The ideal cat feeding schedule
Physically, we’re playing into better health with these guys by not free-feeding them. They are built to eat small meals through the course of a day. I’d say every five to six hours is optimum. You push it a little bit, that’s fine.
Not home to feed your cats throughout the day? Consider an automatic pet feeder.
Free feeding isn’t in your cat’s DNA
Cats are not grazers by nature. Cats are not built to just eat whenever. They are built to do what?: hunt, catch, kill, and eat. Food is available to them after they do a certain activity. If it’s always there 24/7, it messes with the raw cat brain.
You’re experiencing behavior problems in your house? one of the first places I’ll tell you to look is food. Think about it if your cat has litter box issues, peeing or pooping outside the box. If you control when they eat, you have a fighting chance to figure out when they’re going to go to the litter box and then helping them get to the litter box.
You got to remember folks, cats are not programmed like dogs. Cats do not give a rip about pleasing us. So, if a cat doesn’t care about pleasing us, we have to start addressing something they do want in order to get what we want. Yes, living with cats is embracing compromise.
There are so many things that you can accomplish, but only if you’re feeding cats meals you can achieve incredible things.
Tip:
Feed small meals throughout the day instead of free-feeding cats.
What do you think about free feeding cats? And what do you feed your cats?
