Now, this isn’t a tough and quick rule, and also you completely don’t must do it. You undoubtedly don’t have to in case your cat is especially good at regulating his or her meals consumption, and doesn’t acquire an excessive amount of weight. And also you may need hassle doing this if in case you have a number of cats that you simply feed.
That being stated, if it’s in any respect doable, I might personally advocate measuring how a lot your cat eats per day. That may take the type of measuring it out for the day, taking from the identical day by day quantity for every feeding, or measuring it out every time you feed your cat.
I personally have a little bit of a hybrid system for feeding my cats. I do two issues – feed them meals (kibble) blended with water twice a day, and I even have an automated feeder toy (the Petsafe Merely Feed, I like this factor, reviewed it right here) go off at set occasions all through the day.
The feeder – whereas clearly measured – makes it unimaginable for me to know the way a lot precisely every cat is consuming all through the day from it. However the meals I give every cat at night time is measured out, and I measure it out every time I feed them, as that’s probably the most handy factor to do in my case.
I’ve to present every cat a unique quantity of meals firstly and finish of the day as a result of my cats don’t eat equally from the feeder. The truth is, proper now, I don’t assume one is consuming from the feeder toy in any respect (I would like to vary the meals in it to 1 he prefers to see if that may repair the issue – as he used to eat from it tremendous typically!).
However I might advocate making an attempt to measure your cat’s meals consumption for a couple of totally different causes, all associated to their well being and wellbeing in fact.
Causes Why It’s Good to Measure Your Cat’s Meals Every Day
1. To keep away from weight acquire
My cats will usually acquire weight in the event that they’re free fed or given as a lot meals as they need. To keep away from a catastrophic quantity of weight acquire (if in case you have cats like mine, certainly you’ll already know!) you’ve obtained to measure out your cat’s meals every day to verify they’re not overeating.
That being stated there are many different causes to measure out meals even when your cats don’t notably eat to the purpose the place they’re tremendous duper chubby. One in every of which is..
2. To forestall cats from binge consuming after which vomiting.
I really feel like a few of the cats who’ve been in my life do issues factor the place they binge eat a lot greater than their abdomen can deal with, then vomit when, moments later, they notice they’ve hit their bodily restrict and it was simply far more than they might deal with.
Measuring out meals helps with this. Slowing down a cat consuming – like with a sluggish feeder cat bowl, or utilizing toys like considered one of my favourites – the Catit Design Senses Meals Maze (reviewed right here), is a very great way to assist forestall any such ate-too-quickly vomiting.
However one other manner is to make it possible for the quantity your cat is consuming in a single go shouldn’t be an excessive amount of for his or her abdomen. So timed automated cat feeders will help with that, and so can measuring out meals usually in order that you understand your cat’s limits and solely give what she or he can deal with in her tummy at one time.
3. So you possibly can discover when a cat shouldn’t be consuming sufficient.
One of many issues you could not notice if you happen to’re free feeding your cat or giving a cat as a lot as she or he desires to eat are occasions when his or her urge for food is low, and so they’re really not consuming sufficient.
This generally is a symptom of a bunch of various medical points, however if you happen to don’t discover since you’ve by no means measured your cat’s meals, this may be an early symptom of a medical challenge that you simply occur to overlook.
Having meals left over on the finish of the day isn’t any massive deal if a cat’s consuming as a lot as she or he ought to and there was simply an excessive amount of meals that occurred to be delved out that day. But when your cat leaves meals that ought to have been eaten since you measure out how a lot your cat needs to be consuming for a day and she or he hasn’t completed it, it’s straightforward to inform there’s an issue and begin troubleshooting with the knowledge you might have.
I completely don’t assume that measuring out meals is important in any manner and that in lots of instances, it’s not a vital factor to do.
That being stated, the explanations I can consider are undoubtedly vital sufficient that I personally do attempt to measure out the meals I give to my cats every day.
If you wish to make life simpler on your self when measuring, make certain to maintain a measuring cup as a substitute of a miscellaneous scooper to get the cat meals out while you’re “plating” it. Or you possibly can refill a devoted jar as soon as a day with the correct quantity of meals then give that out all through the day.
It is a good system to make use of, and one I spoke about in my article about how one can feed your cat greater than as soon as (even limitless snacks!) every day with out overfeeding by chance.
However whether or not or not you measure is in fact solely as much as you!
Your Ideas on Measuring Cat Meals?
Do you personally measure out meals to your cats every day? For every feeding? Do you assume it is a good concept to do?
Like to know your ideas within the feedback part down under!