# how many hours a day can a cat go without food?



## Risami (Nov 18, 2007)

I'm curious how many hours? I'm going for a managerial job may have to work 6 days a week 8-9 hours a day. I'll be worried since i set feeding times. i'm afraid they will develop liver disease if they get use to not eating a certian amount.


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## 3gatos (Nov 28, 2012)

I work 10 hours a day 5-7 days a week and then workout 2 hours everyday. That's 12 hours at least. not counting drive time to and from work. My cats are fine. they need to eat at least once a day. That's not to say they aren't annoying when I get home LOL
Oh, and I don't free feed.


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## CJinCA (Dec 5, 2011)

I'll agree with previous posters, but if you ask my cats, they'd say they'll starve to death after a couple hours with no food;-)

We feed once in the morning, and again in the evening. If we're home during the day (and we have the luxury of working from home quite a bit now), kitties get a little afternoon snack. We've had to cut back from the 3 meals a day they used to get as they were gaining too much weight.


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## CatMonkeys (Sep 27, 2012)

I'm gone 10 hours a day, sometimes a little more (work + commute, sometimes go out right after work) and my cats are fine. They get fed at 7 am, around 7 pm, and again around 11 pm (I like to give them a snack before bed so they aren't running around like crazy). I also don't free-feed. I think liver problems can start to develop if the cat doesn't eat for a day or two, but 10-12 hours is perfectly fine for a cat to go without food.


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## laurief (Jun 22, 2008)

Twice a day feeding is fine for healthy, adult cats. If, however, you are raising kittens or are caring for elderly animals, you'll need to find a way to feed them three or more times daily to meet their nutritional needs.

If your cats start vomiting bile (white or yellow liquid) between meals, you'll know that they need to be fed more frequently.

Laurie


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## Arkona (May 7, 2012)

If cats couldn't go that long without eating, most people would not have cats, because people work! Full-time jobs are at least 8 hours a day, plus commuting time. 

My commute isn't terribly long and I rarely have to work overtime, so I leave the house at around 8:30am, and I am back between 5:30 and 6pm. 

My cat is fine and isn't even terribly hungry when I get home. I usually feed her right before leaving, then again right after coming back, and one third time between 10pm and midnight. 

That works just fine for all of us. The schedule isn't even all that strict. On weekends she is fine with sleeping in with us and getting fed between 9am and 11am instead of 7-8am. If I have to be out in the afternoon and come back at night on a weekend, she's fine if I feed her at 8pm instead of 5:30pm. Or if I'm out until dawn, it's okay to give her night time meal at 1am or 2am instead of 11pm as long as she was fed sometime in the evening.

So really, as long as she's fed three times a day and she's eaten her normal amounts it doesn't really matter exactly how the feeding times were spaced... within reason. I'm not going to do one feeding and then do the next one just an hour later, nor am I going to space them at 20 hours apart. 

Although I know some cats like to keep a strict schedule, so your experience may differ.


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