First time cat owner - feeding questions

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

We adopted two one year old females on Saturday, our first cats. So far as recommended by the rescue, we have been giving wet food (half a sachet each) in the evening, taking it away after an hour or two if uneaten and leaving down dry food and water the rest of the time.

Questions: should they have 24 hr access to dry food or should we limit that as well? Wanted them to be able to eat when they want as they adjust to us, but not sure it's a good idea long term.

Also, what are good and bad brands? We are using Purina Dry for neutered cats and Felix pouches at the moment.

Oh, and a litter question. We are using the wood pellet type, so far scooping poo into nappy sack and binning, wondering what to do with the rest. Bin? Compost bin? What do other people do? Thank you.

[Snowgirl1]

Aww, welcome to your new owners (and, yes, I do mean owners).

Are you only giving one meal a day? We give two meals of wet food a day (quarter of a tin each), plus a little dry food late evening. We used to leave dry food down all day but have one greedy cat who was getting fat.

Good brands are any brands you can get your cat to eat, in my experience - they can be quite fussy buggers.

We chuck the rest of the litter into a bin bag and into the bin. Personally I wouldn't put in the compost in case it ended up on vegetables - ugh.

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

I'm putting out dry food in the morning, they are eating some and some is staying in the dish all day. Also putting a bit out overnight, but not sure about that? The intention is that they will be kept in at night. They were only fed on dry food at the rescue, but they suggested a wet food evening meal, so we've been doing that. Quantities are a bit of a guessing game at the moment.

[ZebraOwl]

Have a look on Zooplus for good quality wet & dry foods. Almo, Applaws, Bozita, Cosma - the ones under the subheading "More quality wet cat food from pet specialists" on this page. My two get wet food for breakfast & then a dry-food meal in the evening with the aim being to ensure they get the benefits of both types of food while keeping the costs more manageable than feeding only wet. The same subheading on this list of dry foods is a good place to look at possible dryfood options.

I know some people do leave dry food down all day but also that there's quite a lot of advice against it - harder to monitor food intake; food left out all day can potentially get manky if it gets damp; cats are not always as good at regulating their own food intake as people generally assume; cats aren't really evolved to be grazing animals; cats may start to eat from boredom; you may find yourself attracting Strange Cats (or even worse, foxes) if there's food out all the time...

[recall]

I have an old girl who we acquired when she was 8. She always looked flea bitten, her coat was thin and dull and had dandruff. I changed her to Royal Canin and within 3 days she looked great, her coat was all glossy.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

All of the obese cats I see have access to dry food all day. It is far, far too easy to over feed doing this.
My cats get half the daily ration each for their weight of Arden Grange in the morning and a pouch each in the evening. I measure Thursday dry food every single day. It is far easier to prevent obesity in cats than it is to fix it.

[Fluffycloudland77]

You can bag and bin cat mess, smart price nappy bags do the job as well as branded nappy bags. You can't compost it to the bacteria present iirc.

A child's spade from a bucket and spade works as well as a scoop and is more durable.

Feedings a hard one, I've recently cut our cats food down to biscuits and half a tin a day and he doesn't seem to mind. That or he's scoffing next doors food.

[sleepingdragon]

I keep food down all the time for my cats it means they don't beg for food, and don't associate anything (like me getting up in the morming) with being fed, and I don't need to be so worried about getting home on time to feed them. both cats are on the skinny side of normal, if they were getting overweight I would have to rethink this. I also don't give them any wet food, as it makes their poos really smelly (and they can't miss what they have never had). Enjoy your cats!

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

Thanks for all your replies. I am a bit concerned about attracting other cats/vemin if I leave food down all the time as the bowls will be in the kitchen longer term (are upstairs for now for settling in time) and we usually have the back door wide open all day long unless it is bitterly cold or pouring with rain.

I was reading a thread in the doghouse about how one brand of dog food was filled with additives and general crap, was wondering if there are any equivalent bad one for cats, will have a look at those suggested as good ones.

I also want to avoid feeding them scraps from our food, because I don't want them begging at the table or scavenging for it, or inadvertently giving them unsuitable stuff (I read that onions are poisonous to them) but am going to have my work cut out with DH on that one, he thinks it's a nice thing to do.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

You have been reading about Bakers tat, Go-cat is the cat equivalent.

[GemmaTeller]

We have two cats, they have half a pouch each for breakfast, then boy cat goes out and fat old cat (18) goes back to sleep.
Boy cat has a handful of dry food used as a treat every time he pops back in.
They have another half a pouch each at tea time.
I don't leave food out as a) boy cat eats everything in sight and b) the dogs would eat it.
Cats are really fussy eaters, mine have decided on Felix and Whiskas pouches (plus fresh chicken, ham, cheese and cream).

[CMOTDibbler]

My cats get a pouch each morning and evening, and have access to dry food all the time. They are all slim, and one in particular gets distressed if she can't get food when she wants (she was a stray and has various issues).

[ZebraOwl]

Eek, yes, you don't want word getting out amongst local cats/foxes that there's a 24h buffet available chez WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes!

A lot of commercial catfood has something crazy like only 4% meat in it (& that "meat" is pretty much any part of the animal) - am sure a large part of the reason my kittens grew into "perfect" cats, surpassing the vet's wildest hopes, is their diet. Their wet food spans various brands to give them a range of tastes & textures & take advantage when there are special offers on & buying it in bulk means that it works out being very reasonable in terms of cost.

[whattherainknows]

We feed ours primarily dry food (it's a high quality one that has everything they need). We set 2 bowls out and top up once a day (we have 2 1-year old cats). They get wet food as a treat, 1 pouch each (Whiskers if that helps with what pouch size) or 1/4 can each. Our female normally can't eat all that so her brother finishes it off, but he's more active than her anyway.

People have been saying other cats will come in if you leave food down all day. No, they won't if you put it in a sensible place, ie not near the cat flap/window (we have no cat flap). Ours are fed upstairs, so other cats can't smell it so have no reason to come exploring our house.

[WhoKnowsWhereTheBonnetsGo]

Yes, we had been thinking the corner next to the back door would be handy but as it is open nearly all the time that's not such a good idea, but that's the only bit of kitchen floor space where the bowls won't be underfoot. Might have to use another room.