How Often Should You Feed Your Cat?

How often should you feed your cat? You eat when you're hungry, but how often should you feed your cat? You have a decision to make about feeding your cat. You can feed them when they meow and bother you, you can schedule meal times, or you can always leave food out.

Always leaving food out is known as free feeding. You simply fill up your cat's food dish and allow them to eat when they want, and the amount they want. Some cats might eat it all at once, others will eat a small amount every so often. If you like to give your cat canned food then leaving it out can cause it to get spoiled. Free feeding should only be done with dry food. This is a good way to feed multiple cats, they each get turns to eat when they want. This is also helpful if you tend to have unpredictable work hours and don't want to leave your cats home alone and hungry. When you practice free feeding make sure you keep an eye on your cat's weight. This feeding method sometimes lead to obesity.

Scheduling meals times can be simple, feed your cat breakfast before you go to work and dinner when you get home. Those times may sometimes vary a little bit. You can also be very scheduled and feed your cat at 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. every day. You can also think about the portions you give. You can give your cat food at the schedule time and take the food away after 20 minutes which means the cat will usually full up on food or you can feed it at the scheduled time but leave the food there for your cat to eat at their own pace. With this method you can simply discard leftover breakfast when you feed your cat dinner and then remove its food dish before bedtime.

The information provided on this site is for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for advice from your veterinarian or other health care professional. You should not use the information on this site for diagnosis or treatment of any health problem or for prescription of any medication or other treatment.