# Leaving dry food over night.



## Xaromir (Mar 8, 2013)

Real quick question: Should i put the dry food out of my kitties reach at night? Currently they have unlimited access to the dry stuff, but we try to feed them wet food twice a day.


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## Pursestan (Dec 31, 2012)

I doubt that it would hurt, especially if they are kittens.

My kittens are on a 80% wet, 20% dry diet (Wellness Core). They eat almost exclusively wet during the day, but I leave dry out overnight so that they have access to food. It works for us. It seems like when they are about to have a growth spurt the dry food is gone in the morning. Other times, it's still there. It definitely makes me more comfortable knowing that they have access to food at night while they are still growing so rapidly.


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## Xaromir (Mar 8, 2013)

Well, my little one is 3/4 of a year, and she's almost 4. I'll leave it out for the nights for now, unless someone got any other thoughts on it.


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

Imo, no. Free feeding dry is just asking for an obese kitty.


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## Pursestan (Dec 31, 2012)

Xaromir said:


> *Well, my little one is 3/4 of a year, and she's almost 4*. I'll leave it out for the nights for now, unless someone got any other thoughts on it.


I'm confused by this statement. Is she a kitten or is she almost 4 years old? If she's an adult, I agree with MowMow to not free feed. If she's a young kitten, then she should have access to food, IMO.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

I'm not a fan of free feeding no matter what the age of a cat. It make it too easy for them to gain weight and also to reject wet food as they come kibble addicts. A meal before bed is fine, but control the amount. If it's a kitten give the amount (s)he will eat in 15 minutes.


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

The girl (Birman) is 4 years old and the little guy is 9 months old.

I agree with not leaving dry food out for them.


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## jusjim (Jun 30, 2009)

MowMow said:


> Imo, no. Free feeding dry is just asking for an obese kitty.


Depends. I deliberately leave dry food out for Missy. She's lighter now, I think, than when I brought her home. If she gets hungry in the night and I don't get up, she has something to nibble on.

She's fun though. She'll put her nose in the dry food bowl in the morning, but she's eating very little. I think she's showing me she's hungry.


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## jusjim (Jun 30, 2009)

If you leave food out, does it disappear? I leave dry food out for Missy and there's always plenty left in the mornings.

If the food you leave out always disappears, then perhaps those who say, "No!" are right for your cats. I think keeping cats on a strict diet may lead to them topping up on as much as possible when it's there. This business of whitling a cats weight down until you can feel its ribs may not be the ideal weight for some cats. 

Try a bit of experimenting and be your own judge.


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## Mrmess49201 (Feb 28, 2013)

I have two kittens both about 6 months old. I leave dry food out for them all the time and give them wet food twice a day once in the morning before work and then after work at night. They seems to only eat what they need as there is always dry food left in the morning when I get up. They each get a quarter wet food at each feeding and will eat that in about 15 mins. Is this something that I should continue with since they don't seem to be over eating? 


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## LCSP (Dec 31, 2012)

My 9 month old now eats about 7 ounces a day, a mix of raw and canned. This is down from 8 ounces a couple weeks ago. She's a perfect weight for her at 9 pounds. She's now fed 2 1/2 meals a day, the half being a small snack before bed. I cannot envision any need to have food out for her overnight. She's gotten used to this schedule and doesn't ask for food in the middle of the night.


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## Carmel (Nov 23, 2010)

Blaze and Blacky have both always been free fed. Blaze were never obese, though looking back understanding what I do now he was a little overweight. Nothing major; he's 17 now and bordering on a little more skinny than anything. Blacky on the other hand has always been very petite. They've both always preferred wet food.

It really depends on the cat. However to avoid overweight cats (even a few pounds over on a cat is significant), free feeding isn't a good idea. You can't keep track of who has eaten what. Scheduled feeding times are best.


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## snowy (Aug 23, 2012)

ET is at 12.5lb now, eating 3/4 of a 5.5oz canned in the day. I am still undecided if I should continue to leave kibbles out overnight. I had been leaving out approx 1tbs every night all along and had been trying not to on some nights. It seemed, on days without the kibbles, he will start meowing loudly at around 3am, though not all the time. Hubby didn't want him to disturb the neighbours in the middle of the night and asked that I leave out kibbles for him - its just approx 1tbs, maybe it won't cause too much harm.


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## Xaromir (Mar 8, 2013)

jusjim said:


> If you leave food out, does it disappear?


There is always some left, one good sized bowl lasted 2 days, only refilled today, but after the nights a good portion was always gone. Issue i'm having: She's only eating dry at the moment, i gave her different wet foods but she wouldn't have any of them.

And yes, he is 3/2 of a year, and the girl is 4, two kitties, not one.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

snowy said:


> ET is at 12.5lb now, eating 3/4 of a 5.5oz canned in the day. I am still undecided if I should continue to leave kibbles out overnight. I had been leaving out approx 1tbs every night all along and had been trying not to on some nights. It seemed, on days without the kibbles, he will start meowing loudly at around 3am, though not all the time. Hubby didn't want him to disturb the neighbours in the middle of the night and asked that I leave out kibbles for him - its just approx 1tbs, maybe it won't cause too much harm.


3/4 of a 5.5 oz can is not enough food for a 12.5 lb cat, unless you're trying to get him to lose weight. So he needs something more...whether a little kibble or more wet. 



Xaromir said:


> She's only eating dry at the moment, i gave her different wet foods but she wouldn't have any of them.


Because there is a never ending bowl of dry food available. She has no incentive to eat wet food...it's something she may not recognize as food, her belly is full or she can walk away and go eat dry anytime she wants. 

Also, you should really know exactly how much food each cat is eating per day...not just fill up the "good sized" bowl when it's empty. An appetite change is usually the first indication of illness in a cat...you will have no idea when that happens if you continue with the bottomless bowl of kibble. In addition, dry food becomes stale and less palatable the longer it's left out, 2 days is a long time. It also accumulates bacteria in the fats on the surface of the kibble. 

If you must feed kibble determine the amount each cat needs per day, split it into 2 or 3 portions and feed the appropriate amount at each meal.


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## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

We have 4 cats that would do fine with free feeding, except they tend to puke if I leave food out so from a yuck standpoint I don't do it. We have one cat that already weighs 22 and would probably weigh about 50 pounds if I left the food out all the time so we don't do it. Mostly it is because of the puking but have to admit that it is tempting because that way they won't wake us up at 0530 every morning!!


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## LCSP (Dec 31, 2012)

One of my cats would start batting at the mini-blinds at 5:30 in the AM, hoping for breakfast. He acquired great skill at swinging them just right so they could be heard over the whole house. I dutifully got up and fed him. A few years ago my husband and I wondered what would happen if I didn't get up. I burrowed under the covers while the racket kept going until I got up at 6:30. It took about a month for the noise to stop. I noticed he was waiting quietly next to the bed. Once I put my glasses on, he knows I'm getting up and he starts to meow. It was a tough month, but success is sweet.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

LCSP said:


> A few years ago my husband and I wondered what would happen if I didn't get up. I burrowed under the covers while the racket kept going until I got up at 6:30. It took about a month for the noise to stop. I noticed he was waiting quietly next to the bed.


It also helps if you wait an hour or so after you get up to feed. A cat will wake up 30-60 minutes before meal time (the amount of time it would typically take if they needed to hunt for their food). So the 5:30 wake up call you were getting is about right. If you had continued feeding at 5:30, eventually he would have been getting you up at 4:30. 

I get up, shower & get dressed before feeding. They are usually sound asleep when I get up and don't stir until I put on the lights and get active.


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## snowy (Aug 23, 2012)

doodlebug said:


> 3/4 of a 5.5 oz can is not enough food for a 12.5 lb cat, unless you're trying to get him to lose weight. So he needs something more...whether a little kibble or more wet.


Am I glad to hear that. I am always worried about feeding too much, as vet has specifically told me not to let him go over 13lb (6kg), though 3/4 canned is all that ET wants to eat. No point feeding more wet, cos there will be leftovers, but at least I feel better giving kibbles overnight which he usually finishes.

ET weighed nearly 14Lb at 50%/50% dry/wet. At 3/4 canned and 1-2tbs kibbles, his weight always go up and down between 12.5Lb to 13Lb. Before boarding, he was 12.5Lb, after coming back from boarding, he weighed 12Lb, but within 6days, he went back to 12.5Lb. I was hoping to keep him at 12Lb, but looks like he gonna stay between 12.5Lb-13Lb.


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## mumof7kitties (Jan 27, 2013)

My kittens always have access to dry food overnight. They're fed three times a day with wet or raw depending on the day. Not a single one is obese or even overweight. They get plenty of exercise in running and chasing each other up & down the stairs. If you start noticing an increase of weight then evaluate but as long as they're still eating their wet food I don't see a problem with it. 


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## 3gatos (Nov 28, 2012)

I definitely wouldn't allow my cats access to dry food at all times. My kitten started getting meals at 12 weeks (got him at 10 weeks). He would get dry in the morning, 1/2 can of wet for his second meal and some dry in the evening as well. Now that he's over a year, we do dry in the morning and wet at night, like everyone else. He has always been a good eater and isn't overweight.


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## jamie.lynne (Feb 2, 2012)

Within the past few months, our 1-year-old Whiskey has taken to scratching at our bedroom door when she thinks we should wake up & feed her. It's gotten earlier & earlier, and is now to the point where she starts scratching as early as 3am. (We want to let her sleep in our room with us, but she gets up in the middle of the night and knocks things off the dresser to try to wake us up.)

We feed her approx 1/2 of a 13.5oz EVO can a day, but she still acts famished pretty much constantly. I'm glad I saw this thread pop up because I was considering giving her a bit of grain-free dry at night before we go to bed, to keep her from waking up so early.

I know the ideal solution would be for us just to wait this out, like LCSP did, and if it were just me, that's what I'd do. Unfortunately, my husband is a full-time graduate student in addition to working 25-30 hours a week at a grocery store deli, so his sleep is very valuable to his (and my!) well being.

At the moment, I'm not proud to say that our short-term solution has been to put Whiskey in her carrier if she scratches at the door too early. (She likes being in her carrier & rarely complains.)

So... what are your opinions on feeding a bit of dry food before bed?


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## howsefrau32 (Mar 6, 2013)

My kitten sleeps in a bedroom where he can't get out, otherwise he would get into everything and wake us at all hours. It is routine for him now, he doesn't object to being put up for the night. I had a kibble addict, Beep, who was up to 14 pounds....and she is a small cat, she was huge. I switched her to canned food completely and she went down to 9 pounds, this was over a year, and she looks great. But when she was free feeder on kibble, she was huge. And my older male had urinary issues, which is why we switched them both to wet food. My opinion, rather than give him kibble just to shut him up and keep him happy, is to put him up in a room at night, even a bathroom. As long as he has a comfy place to snuggle up, and some water and a litter box, he'll be fine in there for the night. Beep slept in the bathroom for the first few years because she woke me up at all hours crying for food. My 9 month old kitten Stephano, he gets fed canned food 3 times a day. Breakfast, dinner and a bedtime meal that is slightly smaller than the first two meals he gets. He does get a bit more than my two adult cats get, since he is growing. The older cats only get 1/3 of a can of food (tuna can size) and 1/3 at dinner time, and they are both still a little chubby and they are satisfied with that amount. I mix a little warm water in their food. I do feed them a higher quality food, they eat Wellness and Instinct, and I feel that when they eat a good food, they are satisfied longer. I was feeding them Newman's Own Organic for a while, which seemed to be ok stuff, but it was too full of fillers and they were hungry all the time. Inside cats really don't need that much food, especially if you feed them good stuff that isn't full of junk. You'd be surprised at how little they need. Taffy is 14 pounds, he is part maine ****, and eats just the 2/3 of a can a day, and he is a HUGE! Trust me, he isn't missing a thing! I actually do give the two grown up kitties a spoonful of food at bedtime when Stephano gets his evening meal, jsut so they don't feel left out, so they do get that extra heaping teaspoon full of food before bed. The bedtime snack is a great thing for my sanity.


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## misschloe (Mar 20, 2013)

My girl is two, and I leave a small bowl of dry out for her all the time. 
She gets her wet food twice a day, and the dry is out all day/night for her. 
Sometimes I can tell she's been nibbling at the dry, other times (like the past few days) she doesn't touch it. 

I've always free fed dry to my cats and have never had an issue with them being overweight.


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## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

I used to leave some out all night but I would find they would puke it up more often, so now I put it up. I (and they) like the routine of breakfast. I think they get a kick of getting me up to feed them. If you are a late sleeper then you might not appreciate this aspect of the bonding routine.


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