wet food

When I feed my cat wet food, how long should I leave it out for her?
Normally she eats about 1/3 when I put it down, then 1/3 about 1/2 hour later,
then she nibbles at it occasionally for the next few hours...

I heard that bacteria build up in the food and it's very bad for the cats....
Just need a general guide line.

And, what are the rules for dry food?

thanks!

"catkb080106" u31370@uwe wrote in message news:6d1e0cdcc8f6f@uwe...
When I feed my cat wet food, how long should I leave it out for her?
Normally she eats about 1/3 when I put it down, then 1/3 about 1/2 hour
later,
then she nibbles at it occasionally for the next few hours...

I heard that bacteria build up in the food and it's very bad for the
cats....
Just need a general guide line.

I use the same rule as I would use for human food. I leave it out for two
hours, max. If you see the cat is not finishing the food in one sitting but
goes back to it later, you may want to leave smaller amounts out several
times a day for short periods of time.

And, what are the rules for dry food?

I personally just keep my cats' bowls filled all the time. Dry food can
spoil (or maybe it just loses taste) over an extended period of time (weeks?
months?), so what I do is I gauge how much my cats will eat. I have five
cats. One of them *had* diabetes. He is now cured. He no longer requires
Lantus insulin, but he still requires Purina OM (overweight management
prescription food), which I buy at the vet. Three of my other cats eat the
same thing. One cat eats separately from the others, so I feed her Iams,
which she prefers. I go through an 18-pound bag (which is the largest size)
of OM every four to six weeks, maybe? But for the one cat who eats the Iams,
I buy a small bag because she doesn't go through it quickly. Even though it
costs more money, I would rather buy her fresh food more frequently. When
you open a new bag of dry cat food, you can always smell how fresh it is. If
I have a bag of dry cat food sitting around for more than a couple of
months, I throw it away.

I don't know if the above is right or wrong, but that's what I do.
Best regards,
---Cindy S.

Hi,

Thanks for the advice- yes, I will just leave it out two hours max. One
thought about dry food would be storing it in the freezer...taking out a few
cups to thaw out for feeding as required.

cindys wrote:
When I feed my cat wet food, how long should I leave it out for her?
Normally she eats about 1/3 when I put it down, then 1/3 about 1/2 hour
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
cats....
Just need a general guide line.

I use the same rule as I would use for human food. I leave it out for two
hours, max. If you see the cat is not finishing the food in one sitting but
goes back to it later, you may want to leave smaller amounts out several
times a day for short periods of time.

And, what are the rules for dry food?

I personally just keep my cats' bowls filled all the time. Dry food can
spoil (or maybe it just loses taste) over an extended period of time (weeks?
months?), so what I do is I gauge how much my cats will eat. I have five
cats. One of them *had* diabetes. He is now cured. He no longer requires
Lantus insulin, but he still requires Purina OM (overweight management
prescription food), which I buy at the vet. Three of my other cats eat the
same thing. One cat eats separately from the others, so I feed her Iams,
which she prefers. I go through an 18-pound bag (which is the largest size)
of OM every four to six weeks, maybe? But for the one cat who eats the Iams,
I buy a small bag because she doesn't go through it quickly. Even though it
costs more money, I would rather buy her fresh food more frequently. When
you open a new bag of dry cat food, you can always smell how fresh it is. If
I have a bag of dry cat food sitting around for more than a couple of
months, I throw it away.

I don't know if the above is right or wrong, but that's what I do.
Best regards,
---Cindy S.

On Jan 31, 12:35 pm, "catkb080106" u31370@uwe wrote:
When I feed my cat wet food, how long should I leave it out for her?
Normally she eats about 1/3 when I put it down, then 1/3 about 1/2 hour later,
then she nibbles at it occasionally for the next few hours...

I heard that bacteria build up in the food and it's very bad for the cats....
Just need a general guide line.

And, what are the rules for dry food?

I would leave the wet food out for about 20 minutes, then put it away
until the next feeding. Ideally, when feeding wet food, it's best to
feed twice per day, about 12 hours apart. They will quickly get used
to this schedule and eat all the food in one sitting.

can't help with dry; don't feed it.