Meal Schedule

1896 Views 8 Replies 5 Participants Last post by cinderflower, May 25, 2012

Julz

Discussion Starter · May 23, 2012

Hey everyone,
I was hoping you could give me some advice. I want very badly to start feeding my boys raw and in addition to being completely overwhelmed by all the research necessary, I am a little concerned as to how to figure out the logistics of their meal schedule. I already ran into a problem recently in which working fifteen hour days for a week pushed back their meals to the point that Alex was getting an upset tummy. This seems to have resolved itself by leaving more dry food after they eat their canned in the morning when I know it's going to be a long day so they're not so hungry when dinner gets delayed. It's not an ideal situation but it works right now. Do you feed your cats more than twice a day? If so, how do you accomplish that if you are arriving home late? I know a lot of people have helpers at home -- family, significant others, roommates, etc.--but I live alone with no one nearby to petsit. Also, my boyfriend lives out of town and when I visit him, I do leave them to their own devices from Friday night to Sunday night by leaving dry food out. Again, not ideal but it works for now. And they're good about only eating until their full. Do you go away for weekends? When you do, do you have to hire a sitter even if your only away for a night or two? I would have to hire a pet sitting service and that's really not in my budget at the moment.
If anyone could share any tips, tricks, anecdotes, advice, etc as to how you keep your furfaces on a meal schedule--most especially a raw diet-- with an erratic work schedule, it would be MUCH appreciated.

Thanks in advance!
Julz

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Mhelmandollar

· #2 · May 23, 2012

I work graveyard. I feed my Savannah raw food. I feed him twice a day. Once when I get home in the morning and once when I get up. He's 8 months old now and it has been working great so far.

I can't help you on the vacations or out of town for the weekend. Haven't done it since I got Him. I am courious about it tho

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dweamgoil

· #3 · May 23, 2012

We feed frankenprey in the morning and a ground raw mix at night. When we go away, we have a friend or someone (most times a pet sitter) come and feed the cats 1x/day. For the second meal, they can eat canned and that will last longer if left out. Last year, we got lucky, we had the cat sitter, and then a friend also stopped by at night and fed them the canned.

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Julz

Discussion Starter · #4 · May 24, 2012

Thanks for the responses. I'm glad to hear that two meals is acceptable. My biggest problem is that on their current schedule, if I have to be at work extra long, I don't have time to get home and feed them their dinner and they end up going 12 - 14 hours without food which I know is not good. And actually can give my catpig Alexander an upset tummy because he'll eat too fast when he's hungry. That's why I overfeed the dry in the morning sometimes just in case. I don't know how to accomplish this with canned food or raw. Dweamgoil, how long do you feel comfortable leaving wet food out? I get nervous about it going bad before they eat it.

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dweamgoil

· #5 · May 25, 2012

Julz said:
Dweamgoil, how long do you feel comfortable leaving wet food out? I get nervous about it going bad before they eat it.

I don't even think comfortable comes into the equation when leaving food out. My suspicion is that as soon as the food is put down, they eat it, but a couple of hours in cooler weather, I would say if I had to take a guess.

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catinthemirror

· #6 · May 25, 2012

The way I look at it... cats can handle the bacteria load in raw meat. When they hunt for themselves, they can and do kill something, eat half, and come back to eat the rest hours later. They have a much better sense of smell than we do, and would probably know long before we do if something smells off. So I would feel just fine leaving canned out while I was gone during the day, but of course do what you feel comfortable with.

If you're really concerned you could freeze the canned food. Take out it before you leave and it would probably defrost in a few hours. The same could probably be done with raw food too.

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dweamgoil

· #7 · May 25, 2012

catinthemirror said:
If you're really concerned you could freeze the canned food. Take out it before you leave and it would probably defrost in a few hours. The same could probably be done with raw food too.

Hmmm...I think you may be onto something there. My cats problem is they will eat as much as you give them so if you put it out for later, they will eat it now, but if it's frozen, they can't until it defrosts...hmm :idea:

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Mhelmandollar

· #8 · May 25, 2012

dweamgoil said:
Hmmm...I think you may be onto something there. My cats problem is they will eat as much as you give them so if you put it out for later, they will eat it now, but if it's frozen, they can't until it defrosts...hmm :idea:

The problem I see with this is that my Savannah would use it like a hockey puck and slide the frozen food across the wood floors.

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cinderflower

· #9 · May 25, 2012

F/3 said:
The problem I see with this is that my Savannah would use it like a hockey puck and slide the frozen food across the wood floors.

LOL and it would end up under the stove and a couple of weeks later you'd walking around, "LORD where is that stink coming from????"

i'd read where you can do this, but i can't say i've done it myself. sounds worth a try though, fwtw.

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