Uneaten food

[Mark]

Nope - no uneaten food here either. Someone will always eat it.

But hedgehogs? Wow - you folks are sooooooooooo lucky!  I do put out a bowl of dry food for the outdoor kitties. Last year it became the main restaurant for a raccoon. Cute fellow, but not someone I want around. I'll take your hedgehogs any day!

Still, there is more to this than meets the eye. My cats (at least) definitely change from season to season. Eat like horses in the fall and winter and now don't much seem to care. Even those who don't go out (because the others are supplementing their diet with an astonishing range of wild feed!) have backed off. And, interestingly enough, mostly from the wet food. Go figure.

But I must admit........... mostly the reason I don't have the problem likely is because I have a bunch of cars. What one doesn't like, someone else will. But I remember a time..........

What my Muff taught me (and others have since reinforced) is that one does not engage in a contest of wills with a cat. Because you'll lose. Muff (she was the original matriarch. At the time I had just 3. Can hardly remember such a time!) would.... o.k., let's set the scene. 1 room apartment. 3 cats. Muff, Duty and Hannibal. Linoleum floors except for 2 fuzzy rugs my Mum gave me - cut in the shape of cats.  Well, if I left the food out (and I did. I could not afford to toss food!) Muff would eventually eat it. She ate it, walked the maybe 3 meters to the rug, and instantly threw it up. She was training me, don't ya know.............

I learned.

Give them what they want and to the extent that they want it. It changes over seasons and time. But do not give in (the contest of wills goes on!). My Mum almost lost Blue Boy because she catered to his whims and fed him only chicken livers. Even my most beloved Winston - it is absolutely necessary that he eats. And he refuses utterly to eat with the others or even eat the food I give them (even when he gets it first and apart from them all.). He ADORES Boston Blue Fish so I cook it for him - but only 1x a week. I will and do cater to my cats, but only just so far .........

(and, yes, he does see his way clear to eating other things the rest if the week. Only the best and nothing any of the others ever get (of course) but.......)

Anyway, hope you and yours are finding a way through this. Failing which - hedgehogs.  Man, you folks are sooooooooooooooooo lucky!

They are really common here and also foxes but we don't get much else in the way of wildlife - Any day now, I am expecting to see a batch of hoglets in the garden as they were mating a few weeks ago. What a noise! 

[Desley (booktigger)]

CatJane, you might want to read some articles about Hepatic Lipidosis, which happens when cats dont eat for a certian period of time (normally a week or two, but can occur in as little as 3 days) and the survival rate is 70%, there are people on here who have lost cats to this disease, and one on CC just last week. It is unique to cats, as unlike humans and dogs, they can't process the fat reserves the body sends when we dont eat (so more common in overweight cats), and this develops (its other name is Fatty Liver Disease for that reason), teh problem is the fat reserves mean the cat thinks it is full, so continues not to eat and requires aggressive force feedig to recover, and can take months. I never let my cats go for more than 24 hours without eating for this reason.

Caledonia, I rarely feed that much food to my cats, they normally just get a pouch a day unless they eat their half pouch and ask for more, which they do with certain foods. 

[Millys Mum]

It seems that cats prefer to scoff biscuits!!

[Dark Moon]

while this is all true and all........

A cat WILL starve itself to death. This is nothing anyone has to worry about because it only happens when they are very, very ill.  Problem is that they can be very ill and not show it.

I have brought several back from the brink, shall we say, because I saw and understood.

There is a time for intervention, and mostly we see such times when such are not not needed. Mostly what they need is a 'tincture of time'.  But there does come a time when intervention is required.

Being fussy is not one of those times. You do not have a problem, so far as I can see it.

But I do NOT want people to think that a cat will not starve itself. It will.

[Catjane]

The truth of it is, unless a cat is ill they will not starve themselves!  However, they are very good at manipulation and can hold out for ages before they give in and eat what they're given!  It's a fine balancing act.  I'm afraid my approach is, if I've seen them eat it (whatever) once, then I know they can eat it.  They get what they're given and if they don't eat it they go without.  I try to mostly give them flavours/brands they prefer, of course, but I'm not going to do somersaults trying to pander to their every whim!  They get pouches as a treat at weekends, and they have little treats every so often, especially when they are 'good'.  They're all healthy and active, and neither under- nor overweight.

[Team Svartalfheims]

I put down a 156g tin of food yesterday afternoon for 2 adults and a rapidly growing 3 month old kitten and 1/4 of it was still there at bedtime! Thereagain they do eat 4-5kg of dry a week so they aren't exactly starving 

[Dark Moon]

Nope - no uneaten food here either. Someone will always eat it.

But hedgehogs? Wow - you folks are sooooooooooo lucky!  I do put out a bowl of dry food for the outdoor kitties. Last year it became the main restaurant for a raccoon. Cute fellow, but not someone I want around. I'll take your hedgehogs any day!

Still, there is more to this than meets the eye. My cats (at least) definitely change from season to season. Eat like horses in the fall and winter and now don't much seem to care. Even those who don't go out (because the others are supplementing their diet with an astonishing range of wild feed!) have backed off. And, interestingly enough, mostly from the wet food. Go figure.

But I must admit........... mostly the reason I don't have the problem likely is because I have a bunch of cars. What one doesn't like, someone else will. But I remember a time..........

What my Muff taught me (and others have since reinforced) is that one does not engage in a contest of wills with a cat. Because you'll lose. Muff (she was the original matriarch. At the time I had just 3. Can hardly remember such a time!) would.... o.k., let's set the scene. 1 room apartment. 3 cats. Muff, Duty and Hannibal. Linoleum floors except for 2 fuzzy rugs my Mum gave me - cut in the shape of cats.  Well, if I left the food out (and I did. I could not afford to toss food!) Muff would eventually eat it. She ate it, walked the maybe 3 meters to the rug, and instantly threw it up. She was training me, don't ya know.............

I learned.

Give them what they want and to the extent that they want it. It changes over seasons and time. But do not give in (the contest of wills goes on!). My Mum almost lost Blue Boy because she catered to his whims and fed him only chicken livers. Even my most beloved Winston - it is absolutely necessary that he eats. And he refuses utterly to eat with the others or even eat the food I give them (even when he gets it first and apart from them all.). He ADORES Boston Blue Fish so I cook it for him - but only 1x a week. I will and do cater to my cats, but only just so far .........

(and, yes, he does see his way clear to eating other things the rest if the week. Only the best and nothing any of the others ever get (of course) but.......)

Anyway, hope you and yours are finding a way through this. Failing which - hedgehogs.  Man, you folks are sooooooooooooooooo lucky!

[Tiggy's Mum]

No problems with uneaten food here, the boys get the equivalent of a pouch each in the morning (I use Bozita so it's in cartons), biscuits to munch on 24/7 and the equivalent of a pouch each again at dinnertime. 

[caledonia]

It's very interesting reading this actually as it appears people are not feeding as much as I thought they were lol!!

There was a thread a couple of weeks ago and most people were feeding their cats 3-4 puches a day and I thought oh my poor mites only get a pouch each plus dry - I should give them more - so gave them a pouch and a half each (as the box also says 4 pouches a day!) however it would appear a pouch or so a day is the norm - yippeeee!! I was not a bad meowmy afterall!!

[Catjane]

My lot eat much less during the warmer months, and hardly touch any of their breakfast, which meant I was throwing out a lot of food every day.  Now, all I do in the morning is top up their dry, which is always out anyway.  This means that they are well and truly ready for their wet food in the evening, and usually munch most, if not all of it!  And this system has the added bonus that they are very keen to come in in the evenings!

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Warner weather and mine dont eat as much wet food but they always prefer dry and just graze all the time.

They only get hald a pouch each twice a day and reckon I am throwing over half of that away at the moment grrrrrrrrrrr.

My cats are definately not starvin tho! and Misa has just turned up for his tweeties....whiskers topping but bet he hasnt touched the wet food put down about 10 mins ago..........sigh

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

No uneaten food here.  My greedy pigs are licking their bowls clean as usual.  If food is being left a lot, I would put less down and leave it out in the hope that it will all get eaten before too long.

[caledonia]

Yep I find that my two also take hours to eat their food. They get dry in the morning and wet at night and Oscar hardly touches it when it is first down but grazes on it all night and by morning it is all gone - so they don't follow the 30 mins rule either lol!!

[Desley (booktigger)]

I put slightly less down, but dont move it before i go to work, food is put down twice a day, and they either eat it, or wait for hte next lot, although there are always biscuits down. Teh only one that gets a bit of pandering is Rosie, and that is only to mix water with her food to encourage her to finish it (taken biscuits back off her, as she doesn't seem to be drinking enough). mine missed the rule that cats dont like food thats been down longer than 30 mins, Pebbles would have nearly starved if I followed that, she ate in the middle of the night for ages when she first came

[Gwen]

I have no problem with this kind of thing attall here either,they all eat a pouch each meal time or I share a can between them,rammy has been known to have 2 pouches of a nightime and devours it all in one sitting.  They do have dry food down too but saving flies going on it I just put that  when they ask for something and its not mealtime but at the moment they are quite contented on their 3 wet meals a day

[em1209]

How much are you giving EM?

This morning it was only half a pouch each and they didn't eat it all. Their biscuits were all gone when I got home today though, so I'm not worried that they're not eating, I just don't like it going to waste.

Thanks everyone for your comments though. Maybe I'll try giving them less and if they scoff it, they can have a bit more!

Emma x

[Kate]

Well were giving her 3-4 pouches a day but now she does not eat it:-(

[Millys Mum]

How much are you giving EM?

Ours is like Gillians place, never any left over food, i give 4 small meals a day and thats it, no grazing for my herd.

[Kirst]

Beavis grazes over-night - he has his pouch when we go to bed (he doesnt like an audience) and its all gone by the morning , and he has dried food down all day.


Great idea about using nappy sacks for uneaten food tho - and remnants that get left stink my bin out so I shall be doing that in future , thanks!

Uneaten food really not an issue for the kittens!

[Den]

so does the dog, which is not good when he is on a diet ...

Luckily I don't have that problem, she wouldn't dare touch it. I can leave his food next to the water bowl - she will go have a drink and not even sniff his food 

[Gillian Harvey]

Uneaten food? - doesnt really happen here LOL! its all gone in about 3 minutes flat, but think thats probably down to numbers - always a cat ready to finish of another's food! 

[blackcat]

so does the dog, which is not good when he is on a diet ...

[Den]

It's annoying isn't it. You don't want it to stay out too long and waste it but you know fully well they will eat it - just in their time. Trouble is the flies love it too 

[tigerbaby]

Jameson will eat it even if it's been out for most of the day. I always make sure it's not left out for too long, but like Memphis, Jameson often has better things to do, or other places to eat at!!

[Den]

Memphis is annoying, he has better things to do than eat. His food last ages. I dish it up he will have a few mouthfuls then go do other things for a couple of hours and come back every so often for a mouthful. I give him half a pouch per meal and he eats all but a few pieces without fail but it can take a couple of hours 

I'm thinking now it's getting warmer and flies are around  I will give him 3 meals and make it a 1/3rd of a pouch per meal (he has a bit of dry in the am and pm). Although knowing him he will make his breakfast last until lunch and his lunch last until dinner and his dinner last until brekkie 

[Kate]

Yes ET is supposed be gaining wieght, it's a difficult to know what to do. She is not a big fan of dry either...
Vet has suggested feeding her gravy as a top-up.

[Lily]

I have the same problem, Lily is only little and eats a very small amount (I suspect she's getting nibbles elsewhere, but that's a different story).  I give her 1/3 pouch twice a day and 30g of biscuits, she never eats all her wet but eats all her biscuits usually.  I'm thinking of just giving her wet once a day (1/3 pouch) and leaving more biscuits out as the food does pong when I put it in the bin.

[Kate]

ET isn't eating much at the minute either - just licks the juice off and has a few bites!
Nightmare as have to keep re-filling her wet food. She'll be back to the vets if she keeps this up.

[candyshandy]

I've reduced their wet food to half a pouch - but any leftovers are put in a nappy sack and in the bin - just pongs otherwise!

[em1209]

I have read that after about 30 mins wet food smell off to a cat so they wont touch it.

That's why I don't like leaving it out, but I just feel awful throwing it away when there are so many hungry puddies out there, wish I could pack it up in a doggy bag!

I do tell my 2 that they are spoilt rotten and to think about all the cats that are starving, they tend to look at me as if I'm stupid 

We don't have any hedgehogs around and like you say Tan, I'd end up with all the neighbourhood piggies round for an extra tea!!

[ccmacey]

Never thought of putting it out for the hedgehogs, and I have a hedgehog too, Henry he is called. I thought he was ill in my garden when I put food out for him but he didnt move, I think the  Lyla was bothering him. Went back 5 mins later and he was walking off after eating the food.

But with the cats food on a hot day I give them less so they eat it. I usually put 5 pouches out for 5 cats but with the weather Im scared of files going on it, so I put 3 puches and biscuits out and it usually gets eaten stright away.

[Tan]

I get quite alot of it as i have made my boys just too fussy    My fault i know as when they turn thier nose up at wet food i try them with another so now they will only eat certain flavours and types.  Used to think... fussy lads but all of mine have been the same going back years and after reading Vicky Halls cat behaviour books i now know it was my fault all along. Oooops! 

I have read that after about 30 mins wet food smell off to a cat so they wont touch it. I feed them twice a day with wet and they have hills or James W down whenever they want them. Marl isnt a big dry food eater so does eat more wet than Garf. Garf loves his dry food and only nibbles at the wet and will only have tuna flavoured Whiskers in Jelly 

I have recently thrown the uneaten food but used to put it out the front for the heggies too until it brought every cat in the neigbourhood around everynight. 

[sheryl]

I pop it in the fridge and then in the evening put it our for the hedgehogs, it saves wasting it and the hedgehogs never waste it.

[em1209]

Hi,

I was wondering what you all do with uneaten wet food? I don't know if it's because it's warmer (hmmm, she says looking out the window at big grey clouds!) or what, but Fergus and Polly don't seem to be eating as much at the moment. This morning I put down their breakfast and they took a few mouthfuls and that was it. When I leave for work I leave some biccies out for them, but feel awful at having to throw away their uneaten wet food.

Thanks
Emma