Meal times - is this a normal reaction?

[Sunshine49]

Hi everyone, so sorry for the large number of posts recently. I've got two new cats and am a bit of a novice, so any reassurance you can give me would be very much appreciated!

The cats are about one year old and I'm currently feeding them a pouch each of wet food (for breakfast) plus half a breast of chicken each (for dinner) every day, along with some dried treats during the day. I checked with the shelter who said that sounds about the right amount.

However, I've noticed that when it gets to around 6pm, the cats get quite excitable and start wandering round, chirruping and even venturing to the kitchen door to see what's going on. This is amazing to see as being ex-strays, when they arrived they were extremely timid (and still are most of the time!)

Would you say this is a normal reaction because they (presumably) know they will soon be fed? I'm genuinely worried that I'm not feeding them enough, which is why they're so lively around dinner time!

Of course it's a Normal reaction to nearly dinner time. My cats tummies work like clockwork, if I forgot to feed them they'd tell me about it

When you say dried treats do you mean dried food down for them all day or dreamies? I’m a novice too but I’m not sure if a plain chicken breast a day has the right additives they need? I wish mine would get excited for dinner time I think I must be over feeding because they nag me and I put it out the sniff it and go back to bed!

They have got you well trained already by the sounds of it!!

Our cat gets her dinner at 6.30 - basically when we start preparing for ours - and she starts campaigning about 6pm, even if she still has breakfast leftover. (And she has permanent access to dry food which she dips in and out of.) I am embarrassed if we have guests, because the poor, starving, neglected soul is very, very vocal about announcing she fancies an early dinner.

(Just in case anyone thinks I am being serious, this cat is currently lying on my lap, purring, having spent the last 20 minutes chasing a ribbon, and is definitely not neglected or starving.)

Mine are the same. They have a small amount of wet at breakfast, which is never all eaten, and dry down all day. But come supper time they suddenly appear from no-where and start wandering around in front of me looking hopeful, and Girlcat has taken to rearing up and patting my knee with a paw if she thinks I am late with the food. There's always a few scraps of supper left in the mornings as well, and the dry is always topped up, so they aren't hungry!

Thanks for the reassurance everyone - I knew I could count on this place!

EachandEveryone - I'm not putting dried food down all day, just giving them some dreamies every now and then. Should I have dried food down all day do you think? The reason for the chicken is that when we collected the cats, the shelter said they'd had runny tummies recently, which they thought was due to stress. They said feeding them boiled chicken will help settle their stomachs, and it seems to have worked! I'm hoping to wean them off that quite soon though and make it more of an occasional treat!

Can i just say if yu want to stick to chicken Sainburys posh range does sahets for £3.50 a box i give mine half each once a day. Its plain but has the taurine they need in it. Tescos do the same thing as well. Only try one box though as they might go off it. People have different opinions about dry. It needs to be a good quality one. I measure mine and put it down in the morning. Mainly because i work 12 hour shifts. If they do have dry they will need bowls and bowls of water putting down.

Did i see any photos?

Some cats are grazers. I leave dried food down all day for mine. I'd hate to think of them being hungry. They have water in several locations and they have 2 pouches of food each a day.

Thanks EachandEveryone - I will check out those sachets! Interesting about the taurine. Perhaps I should take them off the boiled chicken sooner rather than later, as I want to make sure they're getting all the right nutrients. I will try and post a photo of the little scamps soon!

Want2beme - yes, I'm worried my two are hungry during the day. I fed them a pouch each of wet food this morning and they wolfed it down! But I'm also worried that if I left dry food down all day they'd scoff the lot and start to gain too much weight. They do seem to adore their food!

My old boy lived to 17 and I still have his sister whose 18 and to their minds the only reason I ever went in the kitchen was to feed them.

However, I do wonder if you're feeding them enough, both of mine were big boned cats but that's easily half of what either of them eat. It might be worth offering some more, either leaving some dry down in the day if you're not around or adding an extra meal time, ie an hour or so before you go to bed. If they do start to put on weight, you can cut back a little. I wouldn't cut back on their wet food in favour of dry though, as many cats on a dry diet don't get enough liquid.

Hmm, thanks ifonly4. They are relatively small cats, but I definitely don't want to be underfeeding them! I will try adding an extra mealtime for them.

By the way, how many Dreamies is too many? I'm giving them about 20 a day at the moment as treats!

Shh, don't say you give 20 a day or my cats will be moving in with you!

Also do your cats start getting excitable if you're eating and they're not? I'm eating my lunch now and they're chirruping and tiptoeing up to me!

I have two kittens that are one in march.they have a pouch each at breakfast.share one at lunch and pouch each for dinner.access to kibble and get treats wonders am I overfeeding
They will soon alert me to mealtimes if I "forget to check the exact time"(fed at 530,12,6pm.on the dot or there's no let up)

and they're chirruping and tiptoeing up to me!

how cute!!! Mine hooked a tandoori chicken breast off my plate the other day- so yours sound terribly well behaved!