Did your cat notice the time change recently, when we set our clocks back an hour? I read a lot of funny online comments—and a few somewhat grumpy complaints—about cats who did not adjust easily to their revised dinnertimes. I also noticed some pleased responses from more well-rested households where felines were not on set feeding schedules. Those free-fed cats had not complained one bit because the time change hadn’t affected them at all!
I asked cat owners if they free-feed or feed at fixed times, and how that works for them.
Virginia Lucas Set times. With my previous cat I tried free-feed and his weight quickly blew up. It probably is a cat-by-cat decision, but I just feed ours at the same time as the dogs, two times a day.
Victoria Day I did both; they split a small can of wet food for breakfast and dinner and then had dry food to eat whenever. Neither of them had weight issues and were inside cats.
Blaine Matthew Free-feed. Baby doesn’t like having a set feeding time, and the automated feeder makes it easy for me to determine how much food she gets when it dispenses.
Kim Plucker Set time because I have to prepare his food. And by set, I mean sometime in the evening . . . not a specific hour.
Annie Zeck Set times. It goes in regularly and comes out regularly!
Kristen Nauditt A little of both. I give Khan one scoop of dry food in the morning that is for the whole day. But I also give him wet food in the morning before I leave and right before bed. [Khan is an indoor cat.]
Christine Hale Vertucci We feed our [indoor] cat twice daily, but the food is out until she finishes it or it’s time for the next meal. She’s 22 years old and her appetite fluctuates, but she usually finishes her AM meal before we feed the PM meal.
Tiffany Niedrle Mealtime, for the same reason I do mealtimes for the dogs. I can monitor their eating habits better, and there’s not always garbage in their teeth. Plus, feeding cats nothing but kibble isn’t good for them and you can’t really free-feed raw or canned very well. My two current cats are indoor only, but this was true when they were outdoor, too. If they weren’t home in time, they just didn’t get that meal.
Photo by Nan Arthur
Shoshannah Forbes Set times. Makes it easier once you have a cat with prescription food which needs separation from the rest (indoor multi-cat household).
Donna Hitchcock Roecks Free-feed, because cats are notorious for nibbling; they usually don’t eat enough in one feeding. However, I know that a few cats don’t stop eating and need portioned mealtimes.
Jeanne Brennan I had always free-fed cats until I had two with specific problems—two beautiful Snowshoes, possibly brother and sister, where the male was a fatty at 23 pounds, and the sister was a good weight but had food allergies.
In this situation, I did still free-feed the female with her (very expensive) food made from rabbit, but it was in a bowl at the top of a six-foot cat tree. Her fat brother was not able to climb higher than the first shelf, one foot off the ground, so her food was safe. He got his dry kibble weight-control food once in the morning and once at night, in another room, with a teaspoon of wet diet food mid-day (or no one was allowed to relax).
It took about two years to get him to a decent weight. The most obvious sign was when he was able to get to the top of the cat tree to eat his sister’s food. That’s when I had to start her on the twice-a-day feedings.
Rebecca Cook Both. [They are indoor cats.] They have dry food all day and my adult cat gets wet food at dinner. The kitten gets wet food morning and evening for now (while he needs all the calories for growing). I don’t have a regular schedule with all my projects, so the free-feeding is necessary. I’ve always done that and it’s never been a problem. It also reduces food territorial behavior.
Rebekah Piedad I used to be a free-feeder because that’s what I grew up doing and never thought to question it. One of my current kitties, however, is quite the foodie, so she gets a set amount in the mornings that is replenished only the next day. This seems to work for her.
Katie Cronin I used to do free-feed until my one cat had to go on a special diet. Now it’s set times so the other cats won’t get into it!
Julie Thomas I have two indoor cats and free-feed . . . never had weight issues. I also had a sweet Persian rescue for 18 years, free-fed with no issues. I was lucky.
Karen Rodham Schlosberg It’s not what I prefer; it’s what the cat can handle. My cat Ruby can do free-feeding. One of my previous cats could not do that. (All of my cats have been indoor cats and will be indoor cats.)
Lisa Lenke Sousa Beauty has set times for her meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. She is not happy when lunch and dinner are late, though, and she likes to eat at the same times we do.
Celia Haddon Mealtimes. Morning. Then afternoon (5 or 6 p.m.), then last thing at night to get them to come in before closing the cat flap. They are fed in separate rooms to reduce the stress of eating close to each other. [I] once tried ad-lib feeding with Tilly and she ate four days’ food in one go. I haven’t dared do it again! They eat dry bread, chips, cold cooked potatoes—anything they can steal. The dry food I give them is measured out.
Megan Cuilla Jasper gets a measured amount once a day. We feed her at bedtime and leave her bowl down so we’re never taking food away from her. (Indoor, one year old.)
Lisa Elliott Jankanish My mostly indoor cat (she sits on the porch and has walked around the house) gets her dry food (she hates wet) twice a day at vaguely set times. She finishes her serving at her leisure.
Colin Green When I had one cat who self-regulated well, I free-fed. When I got a second cat that was a stray and had a very strong food instinct, I had to switch to three scheduled feedings a day because she was eating all day until the bowl was empty and gaining lots of weight, while the first cat started losing weight.
Marian Hennings Mostly free-feed, but there are certain times when the cats want wet food—like at 4 a.m. PST!
Peggy Modjeski I free-feed my cat. He grazes on dry food. When he was a kitten, I fed wet food three times a day with access to water and dry food. Now that he’s older, he seems to like to eat when the mood strikes him. He also helps himself to dog food when I feed my dogs. They don’t mind sharing. I keep the cat food up and away from my dogs.
Dick Hill Free-feed, plus wet food in small doses, no schedule. They’re indoor/outdoor at will and get plenty of exercise.
Rhea Giffin Free-feeding for our previous generation of cats worked well for everyone. Health reasons dictated the need to change to two times a day (12 hours apart), which was a huge adjustment at first for the cats that didn’t have the health issues—and for us—but it has worked out. It can be a problem with scheduling sometimes and not good for the cats with the health issues to go beyond that time by more than an hour.
Cindy Lewis-Bruckart Free-feed, indoor/outdoor cats. No weight problems, no health problems, live to ripe old ages. Unless filling the bowl when the alarm is sounded counts for a “schedule.”
Sandy Martin Free-feed. I’ve always done it that way and it seems to work. Once they know the food is there all the time, they don’t overeat. Although if they can see the bottom of the dish—no matter how much food is still in it—they freak and won’t let me go long before refilling it. Sometimes I simply move the food to cover the empty spot and they’re fine. (I have a doggie door so they can come in and out.)
Tami Archilla Free-feed. My cats don’t gorge themselves. They eat when they are hungry. If I didn’t have free-feed, they would meow me to death when they were hungry. They always let me know when the big feeder of food or water is empty so I don’t even have to pay attention to what’s going on over there.
Amy Suggars Free-feed, sort of . . . although recently I have reduced the amount of food. I used to just keep a full bowl of dry available, but my cat is fat! So now I give her a smaller amount and will give her more when the bowl is empty. She tends to be on a twice-a-day schedule now because I remember to check her bowl after I feed my dogs.
Ron Ford Can for breakfast, dry food out all day.
Tom Quinn Desmond Morris wrote that a cat’s digestive system is designed for irregular feedings—for feast or famine. It’s good for cats to get hungry now and then, followed by a big feast they can gorge themselves on. They thrive on the stimulation of irregularity.
Not that I feed my cats that way. I just keep their bowls full of dry cat food and let them graze. However, I do give them canned food every few days, which they eagerly gulp down. I try to surprise them by keeping that on an unscheduled basis. I learned a long time ago not to let them gorge themselves on dry cat food. They’re too hungry to wash it down, so they gag on the dry food and vomit. It doesn’t happen as often with canned cat food, because it has enough water.
Debbie Eckert No problem free-feeding indoor cats dry food, because they usually self-regulate. Only time I wouldn’t is if the kitty is overweight, diabetic, or one cat in a multi-cat household is on a special diet.
Michel Berner My cat gets wet food one time a day and dry food placed in Doc & Phoebe’s Indoor Hunting Cat Feeders that are hidden around the house for him to snack on.
Marie Hammerling Flex and set times, but we are a bit flexible. They throw up if they eat all the time. However, they tend to nag you from early afternoon on until they’re fed at four. We feed twice a day soft food and they have all-day access to hard food.
Alison Taub Free-feed dry food, which is always available. Feed canned food or meat at dinner time, or when he comes up to me and starts screaming his head off.
Amy Shojai Free-feed in puzzle toys he must find. Supplemented with canned.
Anna Abney Meals, but not on a set schedule because it creates too much drama if I get home late or something. My cats are also fed in crates. I feed raw.
Summer Storm Kingery DVM I’m still a fan of meals for cats mostly because I can’t get owners to do wet food. Meals or free-feed using puzzle feeders. Meals = more likely to use canned food, which is better for the cat. Puzzle feeders = enrichment, which is better for the pet. My preference is a combo of the two—1/3 calories in wet food AM, 1/3 calories in wet food PM, and 1/3 calories dry-food puzzle feeder.
Ruth L. Heller DVM Again, depends on the cat, but as a rule, unless weight is an issue, food can be left down. However, cats will be mentally stimulated by mealtimes with the food put into a food puzzle and placed in different places around the house, if possible, as that stimulates hunting behavior, so if there is any concern about boredom or weight, that is a much better idea. There are certain health issues—like diabetes, where eating must be timed with insulin—when mealtimes are a must.
Every cat is an individual, and multiple cats have multiple needs. You may not be sure what method of feeding will work best for your cat. Ask your veterinarian! When you ask, provide as much information as you can, including when your cat eats (or chooses to eat if currently free-fed) and how much your cat eats (measure what you offer, measure what is eaten in a certain amount of time). Bring a label or print out the ingredients for every food you feed. (Don’t forget to mention what “people food” or cat treats your cat might eat.) Include details on your cat’s pottying habits.
Remember that a cat’s needs can change as the cat matures and ages. Adding cats to the household can also change the needs of the current resident cats; the same is true when cat members of the household leave or die. Other pets in the household can affect how the cat or cats are fed, too. Those of us with dogs as well as cats know that many dogs will happily eat cat food any chance they get, so keeping cat food away from dogs becomes part of our plan.
No feeding schedule will stay fixed for a cat’s life. Regular examinations at your veterinarian’s will include weight checks—so very important—which should be accompanied by your veterinarian’s assessment of whether or not that weight is right for that cat. When your veterinarian suggests weight gain or weight loss is indicated, ask how best you can implement a new feeding plan for your cat.
