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The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

How do you switch from on-demand feeding to set mealtimes

6 replies

jessjessjess · 15/06/2013 10:55

We adopted a rescue kitten last year and fed him wet food on-demand as advised by our vet. He has biscuits available all the time (which he does eat).

He's now ten months old. We feed him in the morning and evening as that's when he's hungry, and have to give him little bits at a time (about a third of a pouch of Felix) as otherwise he often leaves it, then won't eat it, or he gets over-excited, eats too much too fast and makes himself sick, which has only happened in the last few months so I'm not sure if it's anything to do with maybe not getting enough food before he was rescued or if that's irrelevant speculation.

So effectively he's got two long-drawn-out mealtimes where we feed him until he's had enough, up to a certain limit. Which is fine, but are we going to be doing this forever? I can't see how to get from here to just feeding him twice a day. He needs to learn better self-regulation and I'm not sure how to make that happen. Any advice greatly appreciated.

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NatashaBee · 15/06/2013 11:02

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jessjessjess · 15/06/2013 11:10

Bit of both - he'll pester for a bit, give up, repeat. We've kept him on the same food he was on when we got him. Vet said it was okay so long as it's kitten food. Not sure whether to switch to some kind of complete dry thing like Science Plan instead. We got a bag of that free and tried a bit and it seemed to be like kitten crack...

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cozietoesie · 15/06/2013 11:32

I'm wondering why you're aiming to feed him twice a day? Is that what fits in best with the household? I only say because I've found that more frequent meals which are slightly smaller often suit younger cats better. (And he's really a kitten.)

jessjessjess · 15/06/2013 11:56

Not specifically aiming to feed him twice a day - he just gets hungry around those times.

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cozietoesie · 15/06/2013 12:34

That's like you would feel coming up to supper time - your body gets into gear and says 'Food'.

You didn't say whether he's still a housecat given his age - I'm guessing he is - but myself, I'd try to make a few more meals out of his daily portion, to make things interesting.

Whatever you decide is going to be the routine, though, I'd just do it and stick to the routine - especially as he has biscuits down. You may have a rough 24-36 hours with pestering but once he gets the message that you're setting the mealtimes and that's that it should tail off. (Unless you're cooking something particularly wonderful to him like roast chicken but that's allowable, eh? At those times, I'd just miss his previous meal/give him a real small portion, say, and allow him the chicken or whatever as a substitute.)

Best of luck.

Smile
jessjessjess · 15/06/2013 14:40

He's not quite a housecat - he goes out during the day but only really hangs out in the garden and doesn't venture too far.

Thanks for your posts!

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