Cat food in summer

[sportinguista]

Just wondering how everyone manages the warmer months without the issue of flies being attracted, the meat going off etc.

The cat's appetite seems to have diminished somewhat. She is fairly active but does like to sunbathe quite a bit.

I am giving her a small portion but as she needs it at the moment. Don't want her to think I'm starving her but she isn't actively asking for food.

She still wants her Dreamies though!

Is there variation in hunger according to season or is just my cat? She is not yet a year old.

[SecretSpy]

Is she a six dinner Sid? I've never had a cat that didn't act like it was permanently starving to death

[coffeeisnectar]

Mine eat a bit less in the summer too. I also put a bit of water in with the wet food so it doesn't dry out as quickly when it's really hot.

No help on the flies except girl cat 2 is a demon fly catcher. I can hire her out for a bag of dreamies.

[IAmAPaleontologist]

If your cat is a grazer and leaves food I need the bowl then perhaps consider feeding dry in the morning which can stay out OK and then wet in the evening when it is cooler.

[PinkSparklyPussyCat]

IAm, that's what we are doing for Harry and he seems very happy with it, in fact the wet isn't in the bowl long enough to dry off!

[cozietoesie]

At this time of year, if she's an outside-going cat, she may be hunting some of her food. Have you noticed any feathers lying around for example?

I always give smallish amounts anyway to ensure as much freshness as I can. But we don't usually have a problem with heatwaves here.

[RubbishMantra]

My boys eat less in summer. MCat gets a tad "rounded" in the colder months.

What really makes me boak is when I've chased away a bluebottle, to find a string of eggs in their wet food. How dare they do that to my babies?! It's difficult to keep the buggers out when I have the windows open. The town I live in is surrounded by fields.

I've invested in one of those zappy tennis racket thingies. Woe betide any fly that touches my boy's food!

[RubbishMantra]

• oh, and Little Monsieur's appetite decreased when he got to about a year.

[OneMagnumisneverenough]

We do wet in the evening only - she understands the word Pouch! :o

I've never thought of adding water to the wet food - it's the gravy she loves and this time of year it's hard to get her drink as she is fussy and only likes drinking from manky puddles. So I might try that.

Dead sparrow in the hall this morning too :( I'd have thought she was bit too plump for hunting.

[cozietoesie]

It's Baby Bird Season unfortunately. (Or at any rate, Young Inexperienced Bird season.)

[OneMagnumisneverenough]

We have loads of house sparrows living in the bit under the roof tiles before the gutter. They like to come and sit under the front porch and on the bushes next to the house. They are probably a little tamer than they should be. Cat usually has an audience of about 20 every time she goes for a parade about. We have a large crow that seems to enjoy parading about the garden fence with two magpies in tow. She was eyeing up the crow and it was giving her a squawk at.

There seems to be loads of successful nest fulls, I think they are having a few breedings each year.

[sportinguista]

She does like chasing flies, they are the ultimate interactive cat toy in her opinion. She hasn't managed to catch any birds as she doesn't go far. I might just stick with little and often or do early morning or evening feeds. She doesn't go far in the garden, she's too scared of other cats even her own mum!

Maybe her appetite is just naturally levelling off then. I just didn't want cat food with flies in it as that would be gross.

[cozietoesie]

I remember Oneago catching a big bluebottle, swallowing it whole and then sitting watching me with a faintly puzzled expression on his face while his throat buzzed. He didn't go for too many after that.

[Equiem89]

My cat gets a pouch of wet food in the evening. It's gone in less than a minute. I don't think she breathes while she's eating!

[OneMagnumisneverenough]

Lucy (the cat) licks all the gravy off first then returns at various intervals to dispose of the rest except for one square of meat which she leaves in the bowl to go hard - every fecking night, just the one square!

The best ever cat food one we had was when I went into the utility room only to see a mouse sitting in the cat's bowl eating one it's crunchies...cat was at my heels and the two of us are looking at the mouse thinking "what the feck" and the mouse is looking back at us thinking "whoops!" Little fecker ran off into the shoe pile and I eventually captured it in one of DS's Crocs. No idea why the cat was surprised, she is the one that brings them in and then either gets bored or loses them.

[Equiem89]

I saw this on Instagram earlier and it really does sum up my cat

[sportinguista]

She seems to be super hungry this morning now, so no idea what she's about!

An ex who had a cat once ate a spider and it was quite funny because she had the legs poking out of her mouth still waving. She had a rather nonchalant look on her face because she used to eat anything that moved!

[cozietoesie]

She's likely been hunting then - if the temperature hasn't changed enough - but caught nothing yesterday.

[RubbishMantra]

Magpies can be horrible bastards. My parents have a very bird friendly garden, and they've often seen Magpies pull the baby birds out one by one and break their necks. Not even eating them.

[OneMagnumisneverenough]

DH has rescued a couple of smaller birds from crows and magpies, one was fine and flew off. The other he had to finish off himself :(, he hates doing it but thought it was better than leaving it to be ripped apart between two magpies.

[sportinguista]

Not sure she can have caught much, she's not particulary good at hunting on the whole yet and is scared of pretty much everything - her nickname is scaredy cat. She has troughed a fair amount down today so it looks like she just had a not hungry day. I will be watching carefully to make sure the food doesn't spoil on hotter days though.

A friends cat used to catch worms which it would leave in the hall. They would then seek refuge under the doormat and dry out. It was gross when she discovered it!

[OneMagnumisneverenough]

Mine doesn't eat what she catches - unless she is catching more than she gifts us.

I think if it was hot she just wasn't hungry - maybe filled up on water?

[cozietoesie]

Did your friend let her cat out at night? Worms usually come out on the surface of earth beds late on so are easy catches at that time.

[sportinguista]

Yes it was more than 1 cat so they most likely caught them then. They were unusual gifts!

My cat does bring me cat toys as gifts which she will deposit with a little chirrup to say "look what I have brought you, isn't it nice?"

I look forward to the first gift of a live mouse etc, from experience those are fun to catch!

[DigestiveBiscuit]

We have two rescue ex-feral kittens. Every meal, it's like they have never seen food before, and are never going to see it again - they gulp their food down so fast I doubt it even touches their mouth (3 wet pouches a day). They literally lick their plates clean, until they look like new! Given the chance they will eat anything - as I eat a cheese and grape sandwich, they try to steal the food out my hand, as it goes into my mouth. As we eat cereal, they try to climb in the bowl after the milk. Anything dropped on the floor (like blueberries)....they climb into the dishwasher to lick our plates and the door....tea, coffee, hot chocolate, fruit yoghurts....Generally, they have to go in the kitchen while we eat, as it's the only room with a knob (they can open all the other doors, which have handles from both sides), or we would get nothing otherwise!

Summer food is not going to be an issue! We just hope that it sinks in one day, there is an unlimited supply of food here and they no longer have to scavenge....Having said that, if we plan to go out across their mealtime, I leave them dry food and water - although they have always started on it before we are out the front door!

[cozietoesie]

Poor wee sticks.

Have you tried them on food toys at all? (As much to slow them down as anything else.)