Cat Chat Feline Forum

I live with two family members who insist on leaving wet cat food out that has been already opened and stored in the refrigerator out on the table for up to 3-4 hours before feeding it to the outside cats here. There is no evidence that says this is needed to "keep the chill off" the food before feeding as their excuse is. I would only leave it out for up to 20 minutes in that case. There is more chance of bacteria getting on the food the longer it's left out. How do I convince two extremely stubborn people to not leave this wet food out so long, it is unecessary and makes no sense. They do this every day. I'm afraid the cats will get sick...

the cats won't get sick, especially if they're outside cats
but 20 minutes is more than enough in my experience, but if they insist on leaving it for 3 hours for whatever reason and it causes such strong disagreements in the family just let it be, who cares it's not that big a deal imo

Milla won't even eat wet food that's been out for long because it dries up, so unless it's covered and together with the rest of the food where it's moist she won't eat it.
Casper eats anything and so Kala is somewhere in between

I live in Northern Ireland - not exactly tropical, but if we leave cat food out for more than a few minutes (in the summer) flies lay their eggs in it - YUK.

My friends in Spain gave their cat half an hour to eat her food, anything left was thrown away. The remainder was put in the fridge and took only a few minutes to come to room temp.

Ours only eat 'fresh' food. They wouldn't touch food left open for hours.

same here - mine and my garden stray happily eat wet food taken straight out of the fridge - in fact as being colder mutes the flavour somewhat, they are more likely to eat something they aren't that keen on that's been chilled a bit

I never leave wet food exposed to the air, and the pollution and insects in it, for more than five minutes outdoors

Most of mine don't seem to mind food out of the fridge, but one hates it and I tend to add a few drops of warm water or even put it in the microwave for 10 seconds before giving it to him.

I confess, though, that having several older cats that prefer to eat little and often, and also a couple of four-legged dustbins that will guzzle any leftovers, I do sometimes pick up uneaten food and then put it back down a couple of hours later, but I always keep it in a cupboard to keep any insects off it.

I'm obviously a very bad cat mom..... They have dry food down 24/7. In addition I feed mine wet food in the morning and at night. If there is still wet food in the bowls when I leave for work then the bowls stay down until I get home and same with the evening feed - if there is still food in them then I leave them down overnight. All mine (well except Abbie that is ) are grazers; they'll pick and go and come back etc.... it's worked for me all these years.

When I'm home over the weekend / days off then yes I do lift them a lot earlier, esp as I have doors open and there will be flies - but not when I'm at work

I’m similar here, I have one resident cat and some ferals I care for. I am in a lot of the time so I feed them as and when wet food, as most are grazers and they usually have food out 24/7 even if it’s dry. Most of the wet is eaten as one of the ferals is in the garden all the time and the other few come when I call them. If they leave any the birds finish it off! then I clean the dishes. My resident cat usually eats all, or half a pouch and half a few hours later. So it’s rarely left - if it is I put in the garage where it’s cool and give it the ferals next time they come for food. If they don’t want it I throw it away. They’ve all been fine feeding this way.

If wet food is left outside overnight you'll likely have a dish of slugs and slug slime to collect in the morning

meriad wrote:I'm obviously a very bad cat mom..... They have dry food down 24/7. In addition I feed mine wet food in the morning and at night. If there is still wet food in the bowls when I leave for work then the bowls stay down until I get home and same with the evening feed - if there is still food in them then I leave them down overnight. All mine (well except Abbie that is ) are grazers; they'll pick and go and come back etc.... it's worked for me all these years.

When I'm home over the weekend / days off then yes I do lift them a lot earlier, esp as I have doors open and there will be flies - but not when I'm at work

I do the same with wet food, Lucy doesn't always eat all her breakfast, and when you put her tea down, she'll often finish the breakfast before starting on tea, so I've stopped moving her leftovers now. She's on a diet, so doesn't get dry food down all the time, that's her supper. In the summer I do check the wet food more often

I used to do the same, Ria, it's just that I had to start picking up any leftovers when Daz went on his diet.

I dread the day I ever have to do that - As it is I do have to watch how much Ava and Henry's eat as they tend to be on the chunkier side but the others are perfect weight and possibly even underweight