It’s possible you’ll already bear in mind that I share my residence with a couple of cats. 5 to be actual. Every one with their very own personalities, eccentricities, and quirks. Additionally they have differing ranges of greed, however, except squidgy Cyril, all of them preserve fairly physique situation for indoor cats, and there’s by no means any combating over meals.
One concern about holding indoor cats is ensuring they’re entertained, enriched, and appropriately fed. It’s not all the time simple to train a cat, so one of many methods I attempt to make feeding time just a little extra attention-grabbing, and on the identical time scale back the probabilities of Cyril consuming everybody’s share, is by scatter feeding.
What Is Scatter Feeding?
Properly, it’s precisely what it feels like. Relating to feeding my cats their dry meals, I don’t use bowls. As an alternative, I measure the quantity of meals required for all 5 cats, and scatter this throughout the ground, on chairs, or on their scratching platforms. Not solely does this encourage them to discover and seek for their meals, it additionally turns feeding time from a five-minute frenzy right into a leisurely half-hour feast.
Scatter feeding provides everybody an opportunity to eat their fill, it additionally vastly reduces the quantity of regurgitation I used to see after they would eat their meals rapidly. And, if there are ever any leftovers, Ned the Chihuahua is all the time blissful to assist out.
What About Moist Meals?
So clearly scatter feeding moist meals is a bit trickier, particularly when carpets are concerned! It makes me consider a carpet ad from many eons in the past in Australia. But it surely doesn’t imply you possibly can’t adapt the identical precept.
My cats primarily eat dry meals – I exploit Royal Canin Gastrointestinal Hairball – excellent for Clutch’s delicate tummy, and Zelda’s lengthy coat. It additionally retains their litter field deposits small with minimal odor, which is right when their toilet doubles as my workplace! For a little bit of a deal with, they often get some Gastrointestinal wet food, and my various to scattering is to unfold this meals over a big baking tray.
No, I’m not simply making an attempt to get out of washing cat dishes – that simply occurs to be a pleasant little bonus!
Why Scatter Feed?
This technique is especially helpful when you have got a number of cats, much more so when you’ve got grasping cats. Regurgitation is a extremely frequent grievance in cats, and nearly all of the time it’s the results of consuming too quick. When cats really feel like they’re competing for meals, they’re extra prone to eat rapidly, making them extra prone to convey that meals straight again up.
Though domestication could have softened their instincts, our cats are nonetheless the descendants of a few of the most adept hunters on the planet, so having their meals served twice each day in a bowl can get a bit tedious. By spreading their meals throughout a wider space, we’re partaking their looking instincts, in addition to bodily stopping them from consuming too rapidly.
It Can Additionally Assist Stop Weight problems
Some of the frequent issues I see with my sufferers is cats which have meals left down all day turning into obese. I name this “the cheesecake within the fridge” phenomenon**.
Let’s say I’ve a slice of cheesecake. Okay, it could be an enormous slice of cheesecake, however that’s my serving; no extra cheesecake for me. However I do know there’s extra cheesecake within the fridge. So I’ve one other small slice a few hours later. And one other earlier than dinner. Then there’s dessert…you see the place I’m going with this. If there wasn’t any extra cheesecake within the fridge, then I wouldn’t eat any extra, which is sweet – I actually don’t want it!
The identical applies to cats with bowls filled with meals. We needs to be measuring out the suitable quantity for every meal, and something that’s left after 20 minutes needs to be taken up – don’t fear, your cat will quickly study to eat their fill at mealtimes! But when we fill their bowl and depart it down, they may graze all through the day and eat much more than they need to.
Once I scatter feed, I follow a measured quantity, nevertheless it takes the cats for much longer to search out and eat all of the meals, that means that they really feel fuller for longer. And for probably the most half, they don’t come asking for extra meals till it’s time for his or her subsequent meal.
**Do another Catsters on the market consider this after they hear the phrase phenomenon?
Are There Different Methods To Hold Mealtimes Fascinating?
Completely. There are a whole slew of food puzzles for cats (and canines) that present a more difficult approach to ship their kibble, partaking their mind and lengthening feeding time. Again within the days that it was simply me and Clutch, I used a number of various kinds of puzzles to keep him occupied while I was at work.
The problem with utilizing these in a multi-cat family is that I discovered that some cats have been extra motivated than others to work for his or her meals, whereas others have been both not so , or couldn’t work them out!
So when you’re searching for methods to maintain your cats occupied whilst you’re out, cease the grasping cats from hogging the meals bowls, and decelerate those that wish to inhale their meals, you possibly can all the time strive scatter feeding – simply watch out to not scatter it beneath low furnishings, and I don’t advocate throwing moist cat meals round the home!
