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Mark Irvine
February 17th 04, 10:49 PM
Hi,

I have an interesting query. My girlfriend has two cats and has to be away
from her lovely cats for a period from time to time. The problem that we
have is that one cat is a greedy so and so and also the more dominant cat.
We use pet feeders, the problem being that all pet feeders seem to be
designed for one cat. This means that no matter how carefully we set them
one opens before the other and Nina (the more dominant one) ends up eating
the better part of two meals while Misti (the quieter one) ends up going
hungry. So the question is does anyone know of a cat feeder that can open
both doors at the same time reliably. The other option of course is to bolt
the two flaps of the existing double feeder together so that they have to
open at the same time!!

Thanks in advance for your suggestions,

Mark

There are 10 types of people in the world, those that understand binary and
those that don't!

Victor Martinez
February 18th 04, 01:09 AM
Is there a reason why your gf doesn't free-feed her cats? Our cats get
wet food twice a day and have kibble available all the time. Most cats,
unlike dogs, will not over eat.

--
Victor Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
Send your spam here:
Email me here:

Victor Martinez
February 18th 04, 01:09 AM
Is there a reason why your gf doesn't free-feed her cats? Our cats get
wet food twice a day and have kibble available all the time. Most cats,
unlike dogs, will not over eat.

--
Victor Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
Send your spam here:
Email me here:

~*Connie*~
February 18th 04, 02:55 AM
"Victor Martinez" > wrote in message
...
> Is there a reason why your gf doesn't free-feed her cats? Our cats get
> wet food twice a day and have kibble available all the time. Most cats,
> unlike dogs, will not over eat.
>

actually cats over eat all the time. A cat in good health that isn't bored,
will only eat until he or she is full.. however, lots of cats will eat out
of boredom.. or if they have health issues, they can want to eat more than
they should. If your cats are in good health and aren't overweight, then
feel free to leave dry out all day..

~*Connie*~
February 18th 04, 02:55 AM
"Victor Martinez" > wrote in message
...
> Is there a reason why your gf doesn't free-feed her cats? Our cats get
> wet food twice a day and have kibble available all the time. Most cats,
> unlike dogs, will not over eat.
>

actually cats over eat all the time. A cat in good health that isn't bored,
will only eat until he or she is full.. however, lots of cats will eat out
of boredom.. or if they have health issues, they can want to eat more than
they should. If your cats are in good health and aren't overweight, then
feel free to leave dry out all day..

Mark Irvine
February 19th 04, 01:40 AM
"~*Connie*~" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Victor Martinez" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Is there a reason why your gf doesn't free-feed her cats? Our cats get
> > wet food twice a day and have kibble available all the time. Most cats,
> > unlike dogs, will not over eat.
> >
>
> actually cats over eat all the time. A cat in good health that isn't
bored,
> will only eat until he or she is full.. however, lots of cats will eat out
> of boredom.. or if they have health issues, they can want to eat more than
> they should. If your cats are in good health and aren't overweight, then
> feel free to leave dry out all day..
>
Thanks for all your responses!

My experience of cats before Nina was the same. She came from the RSPCA and
initially would not leave my gf alone, to the point that it was difficult to
go *anywhere* without Nina following. She also will eat herself silly.
Even when they have just been fed she will want food, and does get a little
"plump" from time to time hence the feeder question. We do wonder if she
has been starved at some point? Feeding is not normally a problem as they
are fed wet food morning and evening and allowed to roam outside during the
day. The issue is if we are away for the weekend. If we put dry down I
think that Nina would have eaten the whole lot in the first few hours......
Any probably been sick!!

Mark

Mark Irvine
February 19th 04, 01:40 AM
"~*Connie*~" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Victor Martinez" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Is there a reason why your gf doesn't free-feed her cats? Our cats get
> > wet food twice a day and have kibble available all the time. Most cats,
> > unlike dogs, will not over eat.
> >
>
> actually cats over eat all the time. A cat in good health that isn't
bored,
> will only eat until he or she is full.. however, lots of cats will eat out
> of boredom.. or if they have health issues, they can want to eat more than
> they should. If your cats are in good health and aren't overweight, then
> feel free to leave dry out all day..
>
Thanks for all your responses!

My experience of cats before Nina was the same. She came from the RSPCA and
initially would not leave my gf alone, to the point that it was difficult to
go *anywhere* without Nina following. She also will eat herself silly.
Even when they have just been fed she will want food, and does get a little
"plump" from time to time hence the feeder question. We do wonder if she
has been starved at some point? Feeding is not normally a problem as they
are fed wet food morning and evening and allowed to roam outside during the
day. The issue is if we are away for the weekend. If we put dry down I
think that Nina would have eaten the whole lot in the first few hours......
Any probably been sick!!

Mark

KC Wong
February 19th 04, 02:57 AM
> Feeding is not normally a problem as they
> are fed wet food morning and evening and allowed to roam outside during
the
> day. The issue is if we are away for the weekend. If we put dry down I
> think that Nina would have eaten the whole lot in the first few
hours......
> Any probably been sick!!

I google searched for term "Pet Feeder" (with the quotes), and found quite a
lot of "Automatic" pet feeders... you can program it to open at fixed time,
fixed amount. Some of them can automatically feed your pets over 3 days.

Try to get one of those?

KC Wong
February 19th 04, 02:57 AM
> Feeding is not normally a problem as they
> are fed wet food morning and evening and allowed to roam outside during
the
> day. The issue is if we are away for the weekend. If we put dry down I
> think that Nina would have eaten the whole lot in the first few
hours......
> Any probably been sick!!

I google searched for term "Pet Feeder" (with the quotes), and found quite a
lot of "Automatic" pet feeders... you can program it to open at fixed time,
fixed amount. Some of them can automatically feed your pets over 3 days.

Try to get one of those?

Cheryl
February 19th 04, 03:40 AM
KC Wong wrote in on 18
Feb 2004:

> I google searched for term "Pet Feeder" (with the quotes), and found
> quite a lot of "Automatic" pet feeders... you can program it to open
> at fixed time, fixed amount. Some of them can automatically feed your
> pets over 3 days.
>
> Try to get one of those?

I've been thinking about getting one of those for my Shadow who I prefer to
eat canned food because you can put an icer thingie under it to keep food
fresh.

--
Cheryl

Trapped like rats. In a chia-pet.
MIB II

Cheryl
February 19th 04, 03:40 AM
KC Wong wrote in on 18
Feb 2004:

> I google searched for term "Pet Feeder" (with the quotes), and found
> quite a lot of "Automatic" pet feeders... you can program it to open
> at fixed time, fixed amount. Some of them can automatically feed your
> pets over 3 days.
>
> Try to get one of those?

I've been thinking about getting one of those for my Shadow who I prefer to
eat canned food because you can put an icer thingie under it to keep food
fresh.

--
Cheryl

Trapped like rats. In a chia-pet.
MIB II

KC Wong
February 19th 04, 07:20 AM
> > I google searched for term "Pet Feeder" (with the quotes), and found
> > quite a lot of "Automatic" pet feeders... you can program it to open
> > at fixed time, fixed amount. Some of them can automatically feed your
> > pets over 3 days.
> >
> I've been thinking about getting one of those for my Shadow who I prefer
to
> eat canned food because you can put an icer thingie under it to keep food
> fresh.

I googled again... many of those automatic pet feeder have those "reusable
icy insert thingies" you can use to keep the food fresh.

Though some of them claims it can serve food for 96 hours.... I wonder if
the "icy insert thingies" can last that long? Btw the pet will be
scared/bored to death if the master is away for so long...


KC

KC Wong
February 19th 04, 07:20 AM
> > I google searched for term "Pet Feeder" (with the quotes), and found
> > quite a lot of "Automatic" pet feeders... you can program it to open
> > at fixed time, fixed amount. Some of them can automatically feed your
> > pets over 3 days.
> >
> I've been thinking about getting one of those for my Shadow who I prefer
to
> eat canned food because you can put an icer thingie under it to keep food
> fresh.

I googled again... many of those automatic pet feeder have those "reusable
icy insert thingies" you can use to keep the food fresh.

Though some of them claims it can serve food for 96 hours.... I wonder if
the "icy insert thingies" can last that long? Btw the pet will be
scared/bored to death if the master is away for so long...


KC

~*Connie*~
February 19th 04, 01:03 PM
The issue is if we are away for the weekend. If we put dry down I
> think that Nina would have eaten the whole lot in the first few
hours......
> Any probably been sick!!
>
> Mark
>

Do you have a friend who could come over once a day and feed, clean and
check up on your kitties?

~*Connie*~
February 19th 04, 01:03 PM
The issue is if we are away for the weekend. If we put dry down I
> think that Nina would have eaten the whole lot in the first few
hours......
> Any probably been sick!!
>
> Mark
>

Do you have a friend who could come over once a day and feed, clean and
check up on your kitties?

Victor Martinez
February 19th 04, 03:07 PM
~*Connie*~ wrote:
> actually cats over eat all the time. A cat in good health that isn't bored,
> will only eat until he or she is full.. however, lots of cats will eat out

I've only had 8 cats that we've free-feed. None of them are/were
overweight and some are very, very lean. I guess it depends on the cat,
just like people. However, in general, my understanding was that most
cats will not overeat.

--
Victor Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
Send your spam here:
Email me here:

Victor Martinez
February 19th 04, 03:07 PM
~*Connie*~ wrote:
> actually cats over eat all the time. A cat in good health that isn't bored,
> will only eat until he or she is full.. however, lots of cats will eat out

I've only had 8 cats that we've free-feed. None of them are/were
overweight and some are very, very lean. I guess it depends on the cat,
just like people. However, in general, my understanding was that most
cats will not overeat.

--
Victor Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
Send your spam here:
Email me here:

Sunflower
February 19th 04, 11:32 PM
"Mark Irvine" > wrote in message
...
> Hi,
>
> I have an interesting query. My girlfriend has two cats and has to be
away
> from her lovely cats for a period from time to time. The problem that we
> have is that one cat is a greedy so and so and also the more dominant cat.
> We use pet feeders, the problem being that all pet feeders seem to be
> designed for one cat. This means that no matter how carefully we set them
> one opens before the other and Nina (the more dominant one) ends up eating
> the better part of two meals while Misti (the quieter one) ends up going
> hungry. So the question is does anyone know of a cat feeder that can open
> both doors at the same time reliably. The other option of course is to
bolt
> the two flaps of the existing double feeder together so that they have to
> open at the same time!!
>
> Thanks in advance for your suggestions,
>
Hire a professional pet sitter to come and play with them and scoop their
litter boxes and feed them. It costs very little, usually around $15 per
trip, and especially in your situation, it'd be worth it.
>

Sunflower
February 19th 04, 11:32 PM
"Mark Irvine" > wrote in message
...
> Hi,
>
> I have an interesting query. My girlfriend has two cats and has to be
away
> from her lovely cats for a period from time to time. The problem that we
> have is that one cat is a greedy so and so and also the more dominant cat.
> We use pet feeders, the problem being that all pet feeders seem to be
> designed for one cat. This means that no matter how carefully we set them
> one opens before the other and Nina (the more dominant one) ends up eating
> the better part of two meals while Misti (the quieter one) ends up going
> hungry. So the question is does anyone know of a cat feeder that can open
> both doors at the same time reliably. The other option of course is to
bolt
> the two flaps of the existing double feeder together so that they have to
> open at the same time!!
>
> Thanks in advance for your suggestions,
>
Hire a professional pet sitter to come and play with them and scoop their
litter boxes and feed them. It costs very little, usually around $15 per
trip, and especially in your situation, it'd be worth it.
>

Cheryl
February 19th 04, 11:45 PM
KC Wong wrote in on 19
Feb 2004:

> Though some of them claims it can serve food for 96 hours.... I wonder if
> the "icy insert thingies" can last that long? Btw the pet will be
> scared/bored to death if the master is away for so long...

I wonder, too. I would never leave mine alone that long. I was thinking
about trying one so I could give my cat smaller meals more frequently (he
has digestive problems). He's also overweight so canned food is better for
him rather than all the carbs and fillers in dry food. A timer-released
food dish with a built-in cooler could make feeding canned food just as
"convenient" as feeding dry food.

--
Cheryl

Trapped like rats. In a chia-pet.
MIB II

Cheryl
February 19th 04, 11:45 PM
KC Wong wrote in on 19
Feb 2004:

> Though some of them claims it can serve food for 96 hours.... I wonder if
> the "icy insert thingies" can last that long? Btw the pet will be
> scared/bored to death if the master is away for so long...

I wonder, too. I would never leave mine alone that long. I was thinking
about trying one so I could give my cat smaller meals more frequently (he
has digestive problems). He's also overweight so canned food is better for
him rather than all the carbs and fillers in dry food. A timer-released
food dish with a built-in cooler could make feeding canned food just as
"convenient" as feeding dry food.

--
Cheryl

Trapped like rats. In a chia-pet.
MIB II