One problem that we cat parents can run into is our cats eating too fast. You might not think this is that much of a problem if you’ve never experienced it, but for many of us, our cats eat too fast and then vomit right after they’re done eating. If they’re free fed, they might just go back and eat again, but if they’re not, then they’ll be hungry until their next mealtime. Plus, frequent vomiting is not healthy. How do you get your cat to slow down her eating?
We have a problem with one of our cats eating too fast
When we free-fed our cats, Aria had a bad, bad habit of gorging until she threw up, and then she’d go right back to gorging. We had to pull her away from the food bowl sometimes to get her to stop gorging and let the food she had in her stomach settle down a little.
She was less able to do that when we put them on a feeding schedule, but even on a raw food diet, she still manages to do it. Cleaning up slightly used raw cat food is not the most pleasant experience in the world, plus, this isn’t good for her. We’ve often wondered what we can do to slow down her eating.
If you have cats eating too fast, there are ways to stop it
Fortunately, Cat Channel has some advice for how to do this:
- Feed your cats smaller meals more frequently, or consider getting a slow feeder. Feeding small meals has two effects. The first is obvious: She can’t eat too fast now. The second is weight control. If you feed her on a schedule, you can better control her calorie intake and thus, her weight. Slow feeders can help to accomplish this, too.
- Spread your cat’s food over a larger area, like a tray, instead of a bowl. This makes it so she has to slow down as she moves around the tray to get the food.
- You can also soak dry food in water to make it expand, because that’s what happens in your cat’s stomach. If the food has already expanded, then not only will she eat less of it and be less likely to vomit right afterward, but it won’t be able to further expand in her stomach.
- One other thing you can do is buy a feeder ball and make her play to get her food. This slows down her eating a lot, and also gives her exercise.
Here’s how we stopped Aria from eating too fast
We split Aria’s food into two bowls, so she has to look for the second portion of her meal. This gives her a chance to start digesting the first half, and makes her feel fuller so she eats the second half a little slower. So far, she hasn’t vomited up an entire meal because she ate too quickly again.
If you’ve got cats eating too fast, try these things to get them to slow down. Cats eating too fast isn’t healthy for them, and you yourself have got to be sick of cleaning up after them for it.
