How often should you feed your cat? 5 meals a day would be ideal

2023. 02. 14.

Has it ever happened to you that your cat woke you up early in the morning saying that it wanted to eat? Well, in this case, it is probably not driven by gluttony or boredom, but by the fact that he is really hungry, since his body requires 5 meals a day. So it might be worth getting used to this system.

Animal behavior psychologist Zazie Todd stated in the Upgrade podcast series that cats by nature need to eat five times a day, not twice. Despite the fact that most owners prefer two meals a day. He justifies his assumption by saying that due to their hunting nature, cats would spend the whole day hunting and foraging, so it is more than likely that their daily meals would not be limited to two meals in any way.

Give him little often

If we start from the fact that the cat catches ten mice a day, it is like getting ten smaller portions of food. Therefore, it is better to give the kitten smaller portions during the day, but more often. This is much closer to your natural feeding mechanism. If your pet is unfamiliar with the concept of self-restraint, and it eats the entire contents of its plate, a feeder with a timer can be an excellent solution.

Give a food for cat before go sleep

It might be worth leaving the last feeding before bedtime, because him that way won't wake up early to eat again. The best solution is to drag out dinner as long as possible and leave it for the minutes before falling asleep. It is also recommended that you tire him out with a game, so he might not wake up at the crack of dawn. If he does, and you feed him anyway, it's like rewarding him for waking up. That is why it is worth waiting a little with the first meal of the day, and if he gets up, do not reward this behavior in any way.

It is worth introducing five meals a day

According to veterinarian Dr. Andrea Bodó, stray cats and wild cats really feed on smaller rodents and birds. In contrast to their ancestors, the big cats, which bring down larger prey and eat more of it once a day. So eating several times a day really seems like a reasonable alternative. But in general, this requires an automatic feeding bowl, since the owner is not at home all day to be able to meet the requirement of five times a day's food consumption. So, if it can be solved, it is worth switching to this system.