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How to feed 7 hungry felines less stressfully
We are in our late 60’s and have some medical issues which makes feeding our 7 cats a lot of work. Is there anything you suggest to make it less stressful? We don’t free feed and feed them wet food twice daily with 2 of them on Hills RX. They get dry food once a day but that is easy. It’s the getting all 7 bowls ready and chasing them around the house to eat and then washing the bowls immediately after feeding. Any suggestions would be so welcoming..
Thanks, Janet and the gang
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6 Replies
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Hi Janet! I have 5 kitties. When it’s time to eat, I call them and they can hear the plates clanging. They come running to eat. If someone doesn’t, I assume they aren’t hungry. That way it’s all happening in one place and I’m not having to go find them. They learn so quickly and with their awesome sense of smell, I bet your babies would catch on fast! =^..^=
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Thanks Marie.. Our kitties have no problem surrounding us when they know it’s time to eat as they hear the clanging of the bowls and just know it’s time. The problem is getting them to eat it without walking away and we’re carrying their bowl around the house following them. They seem to want the kibble only but we won’t just feed them that. It’s just hard with multiples. We have 2 that eat in separate rooms since they’re both on different RX foods. I’m thinking the main issue is that we let them train us. LOL
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Hi Janet,
There’s one option that certainly helps, though it can be cost prohibitive sometimes. The SureFeed microchip cat feeder can provide access only to particular cats. So for example, your cats on their prescription diets can each have their own feeder that reads only their microchips, and access is denied to other cats in the home. If you have a cat that is more of a grazer and you want to prevent anyone else from accessing that cat’s food so they can access it when they wish, this is also another good use of a feeder like this. It can also help with weight loss plans by preventing the overweight cat from accessing another cat’s food. It takes up to about 2 weeks to train a cat to use the feeder and it has training modes to get them used to it. The accordion style door slides shut in a safe way that makes it near impossible for another cat to sneak in behind and gain access. Depending on your needs, and your cats’ eating patterns, this may help make some aspects of feeding your cats a little more automated for you. The main downside is that depending on the model, they can cost $130-$200. But they are a good investment and work well. https://www.surepetcare.com/en-us/pet-feeder
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Would this work for canned food?
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Taking care of that many cats with different foods to eat would be a lot of work – especially if some of them need prescription diets. One thing that helped in our multi-cat household was creating very consistent “feeding stations” and gently training them to stay put for meals, even if it was just to sit with them.
It also seemed to reduce wandering if shallow dishes or mats were used in the same spot each time. When cleaning up, it is nice to have an extra set of bowls so you are not stuck washing immediately. It takes time, but routine really does make a difference with multiples.
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Thanks for you input. We do have to stand and watch the cats eat or one will sneak over to the others bowl. The 2 on RX diets eat in separate rooms. We only have 7 of the steel bowls and we do wash them after each meal and then use again at their 2nd feeding. It was never much work for us but now I have bad arthritis in my spine which makes it tough. But I will work on your suggestions…
Janet
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