Benefits of feeding cats just 'once' a day.

[Spez]

I read a cat article that said that cats should only be fed once a day. In the chaos of this house, that has not happened. I was thinking of switching them to once a day feeding. What are your opinions on that, and do you choose to feed in the morning or at bedtime? (There is no way to feed these cats seperately, so I will have to trust that they will take what they need and be healthy.)

[Mona]

Well, I feed a serving of canned food to my 5 year old female in the morning, and then I give her a portion of dry which she grazes on during the day and in the evening.

My kitten at 3 months now has her canned in the am, then I give her another serving of canned, and some dry for grazing since we work.

However, I have caught them eating each others food and isolate them at feeding time. Other times they are good and eat their own food.

Mona, Honeybun and Little Chloe

[davet]

ayou can also feed all day, ie leave the food, dried, out all day and let them snack as needed...we do that with our old cat...she gets canned stuff in the morning and then the rest of the day just nibbles..must be doing somthing right cause she is allmost 20 yrs old..

[Traci]

Can you tell us where you read that article, and if on the net, can you provide a weblink please, I'd really be interested in seeing who wrote it and with what credentials/proof they have for advocating such a thing

Most cats are fed twice a day or free-fed, providing they don't have health conditions that require other feeding schedules.

[Spez]

I read it out of a book I got from the library called "Training Your Cat" by Ray Berwick. He said "A healthy adult cat can get by well on one good feeding a day." (He did go on to say that if the cat acts hungry or is meowing at his dish, a second feeding at least 8 hours later is in order.)

Was this bad advice then? I did a search on the web just now, and many of the sites say to feed cats once or twice daily. So, would feeding just once a day cause more harm than good?

[Traci]

Well, I won't comment much except that he was an animal trainer, worked for various actors for Universal Studios. Whether he had any feline health background training, I don't know.

I don't recommend once a day feeding only. One must take into several considerations: age, weight, general health condition, activity level, individual physiology, metabolism, type of food/diet, etc. While technically, a cat can probably survive on one meal a day (as long as it's complete and balanced), most dometicated cats do better on a twice-a-day schedule or depending again, on the above mentioned factors. Those with weight issues, health conditions, lowered activity level, etc should demand more attention to their health and indvidual dietary requirements.

[Tina B and crew]

I agree with Traci...I don't think once a day is enough. I know many sites recommend fasting your cat...that is ludicrous!! My cats get fed a minimum of twice a day and sometimes three times (the same amount just divided into threes instead of twos). I personally don't recommend free-feeding as it can cause weight problems, but it seems cruel to me to make a cat go 24 hours without eating.

[Mona]

He may have been speaking of large cats that he trained perhaps. Our pets (kitties) need to eat more than once per day, infact most graze all day and sometimes into the night, mine do.

I would not recommend this type of feeding.

Mona, Honeybun and Chloe

[Sara]

I feed 3 times a day, they seem calmer this way. I can't free feed because I have a couple of chubbies. They would get really fat if I did that. I also have a hint, give the AM feeding at a late time so you don't get woke up by hungry kitties on the weekend. I feed at noon, 6pm and lastly at midnight. I feed a measured amount. They seem to like schedules.

[Guest]

Here is my advice from a lifetime with cats. NEVER feed them in the morning. Cats rule the roost and will start waking you up earlier. Then what do you do? You feed/reward them for it! My cats have always had little internal alarm clocks. If our morning alarm clock does not wake us, the cats will throw a fit, making sure we stay on schedule. Unfortunately, on Saturdays, they will insist we still get up early like our weekday schedule is supposed to.

We feed fresh dry food around our dinner time, because our dinner food kicks their noses and appetites in gear. Then they have the dry food out all day to "graze" on. This has worked wonderfully for us.

I don't know if this is still current info or not, but years ago our vet told us to not give our cats wet food. They said that humans have the wrong opinion that cats need variety in their tastes of foods, like we do. He said that it actually upsets their stomachs. He said put them on one flavor and type of dry food that is nutritious and keep it there. He said that wet foods are for kittens and elderly cats. The wet food builds up placque on their teeth, causing problems, and was totally unnecessary.

My male siamese lived to be 17 on dry food only. We tried to give him wet food when he was "elderly" but he wouldn't touch it. He wanted his dry food. I still follow that vet's formula with my other cats.

Linda