food all the time?

I have two food dispensers for my cats, each with enough food to last for
4-5 days. I was recently told that leaving cats to eat all they want was not
helpful. I was advised to go back to feeding them small portions daily. My
cats have indeed put on weight since I switched to the feeders but it
doesn't seem to be a significant amount.

Thanks fot your help,
David M

On Mar 20, 8:47 am, "David Mooney" wrote:
I have two food dispensers for my cats, each with enough food to last for
4-5 days. I was recently told that leaving cats to eat all they want was not
helpful. I was advised to go back to feeding them small portions daily. My
cats have indeed put on weight since I switched to the feeders but it
doesn't seem to be a significant amount.

Thanks fot your help,
David M

Many cats do well with free feeding, but they don't all. Your cats
have already put on some weight--and it doesn't take much to be a
significant weight gain for a cat. Also, with free feeding and putting
enough in the feeders to last 4-5 days, it'l take a lot longer for you
to notice if one of them is off her feed--and it'll be much harder,
when you do notice, to figure out which one.

Unless there's some strong reason not to (and yes, I can think of
several possible reasons why not), I'd recommend going back to two
small feedings daily.

Lis

On Mar 20, 7:47 am, "David Mooney" wrote:
I have two food dispensers for my cats, each with enough food to last for
4-5 days. I was recently told that leaving cats to eat all they want was not
helpful. I was advised to go back to feeding them small portions daily. My
cats have indeed put on weight since I switched to the feeders but it
doesn't seem to be a significant amount.

Thanks fot your help,
David M

It doesn't take much for a cat to gain a significant amount of weight.
If your cat is 8 lbs and gains 1 lb, that's a 12.5% weight gain. If
you were a human at 150 lbs, that would be a gain of 18.75 lb! Believe
me, I know from experience that they could have gained a lot of weight
before you even noticed it.

I agree that two smaller feedings daily is a much better alternative.
(Even better still is to get them off dry food, but that's another
topic. . .)