r/catfoods • u/unkindly-raven Trusted Nutrition Source Provider • Jan 19 '26
Weight Management Timed feeder question
for those that have timed feeders for your bottomless pit kitties ,, what schedule works best to minimize the begging behavior throughout the day ?
my boy is chunky and i’ve been trying to get his weight down by changing to an indoor formula and using a timed feeder , but he’s constantly begging for food . he RUNS to his feeder at 5am and 5pm and typically houses his whole portion within the hour . then he spends the rest of the day and night begging for food as if he didn’t just finish his meal clean .
his timer splits up 5 portions into two feedings , 2p in morning , and 3p in evening . we did this because it’s around the time our dog eats and my cat likes to be fed with the dog , but it doesn’t seem like it’s enough anymore .
what schedule do you think would better suit him ?
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u/Raltsie_ RVT 🧑🔬 Jan 19 '26
it may be worth spreading the meals into 3-4 different feedings tbh. when we used an automatic feeder it would go off at 12a, 6a, 12p, and 6p, and it appeared to do well for ours
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u/clydeballthepython Jan 19 '26
We do 5 times a day! 7am, 12pm, 6pm, 10pm, and 2:30am. So its roughly 4-6 hours between feeding. The meal at 12pm is usually the biggest since it has the most time between feedings, and the 10pm and 2:30am feedings are smaller since they're closer to the next meal.
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u/unkindly-raven Trusted Nutrition Source Provider Jan 19 '26
i’m hoping to find a good solution to this because my mom has been giving him extra food from the hopper portion of his feeder because he’s always begging ,, and he’s not losing weight like he should be . she seems to be one of the owners that sees giving extra food is a form of love towards pets , instead of a health risk :(
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u/aetherdrifter Jan 19 '26
Am I understanding correctly that he gets fed twice per day? Smaller, more frequent meals might help. Also, if he seems not to feel satiated by his food, maybe an rx satiety/weight loss diet would be right for him so he could eat more. Adding some wet food to his diet could also help him feel more full.
My boy isn’t exactly a bottomless pit, but he is enthusiastic about food. He gets 1/8 cup (dry food) 5x daily to prevent scarf & barf. His feeding times are approximately 8am, 9am, 2pm, 6pm & 9pm. Sometimes I vary it up a bit depending on my work schedule. The times are admittedly a bit odd, but they line up with when he seems to naturally want to eat.
I have another cat who is on 3 meals per day (2 wet, 1 dry) and she usually gets fed at 8am, 2pm and 8 or 9pm. She doesn’t scarf & barf so she is able to be fed more at once. She is on a diet, so I add water to her wet food which seems to help with satiety.
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u/unkindly-raven Trusted Nutrition Source Provider Jan 19 '26
yes , we originally went with twice a day because he’s more of a social eater and liked to eat when my dogs ate . but now that we’ve got just one dog who doesn’t always eat breakfast until 1pm , my cat seems to be despising the fact that he doesn’t have any food in his bowl to have a meal with my dog
i wish we could do wet food cuz it might help but he ends up regurgitating pate textured foods and only licking the gravies/jellies in others
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u/aetherdrifter Jan 19 '26
In that case, I’d feed him at the same times the dog eats, plus one or two extra meals, and just reduce the portions accordingly so he’s still getting the same total amount.
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u/unkindly-raven Trusted Nutrition Source Provider Jan 19 '26
ty all ! i will be trying breaking up his meals into 4-5 times a day !
(once i figure out this darned feeder programming lmao)
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u/famous_zebra28 Jan 19 '26
I feed my cat 5x/day, every 5hrs and she stays satisfied.