It’s natural for pet parents like you to worry endlessly about your furry pets especially when you leave them at home alone to go to work or to travel. You can prepare both wet and dry cat food, hire a cat sitter, request your neighbor to look after your pets, or you can purchase an automatic food dispenser to keep your pets well-fed while you’re not at home. Let’s take a detailed look at these options.
Ways to feed your cat wet food while away
You can go to work or an out-of-town trip without worrying that your pet will die of starvation. Here are some of the ways how to feed your cat wet food while away:
1. Prepare dry and wet food
This is the simplest way to feed your cat especially if you’ll only be away for a couple of hours such as going to work or running errands. Prepare not only wet food but also dry food for your pets. Cats usually consume wet food first and then snack on dry food afterward. Your furry friends love wet food because it’s flavorful and it sticks on their teeth and gums making its flavor last longer. Also, they savor wet food because of the water content and considering that they don’t drink as much water.
Similarly, dry food is also favorable because cats love it and it lasts longer. By preparing both dry and wet food, your pet cat will have sufficient food during the entire time that you’ll be away. Don’t forget to place a water bowl near your pet’s food bowl so she can drink water if she chokes or gags while consuming dry food.
2. Use an automatic food dispenser
Thanks to modern technology, there are countless automatic cat food dispensers in the market nowadays. Automatic cat food dispensers allow your cats to still be well-fed even if you’re not at home. It comes in various designs, colors, and functions that make your life easier as a pet parent. However, do take special note that this option will only work best if you’re leaving your cat for a couple of hours to at least a day. Some of its features include the following:
- can be programmed for different meal sizes and time intervals
- it records the number of meals dispensed or the timing of the meals
- some brands feature voice recordings to call your cat during mealtime
- it’s adjustable so it can accommodate different food and kibble sizes
- some brands have adjustable intervals between feeding time
Let’s take a look at its pros and cons and see if this is the best choice for your pets:
Pros
- it provides well-proportioned meals which are essential to help manage the weight of your cat and for its health conditions like diabetes
- it ensures that your pets will have food and have predictable mealtimes even if you’re not at home to feed your pets
- it has reservoirs and built-in containers meant to store extra food while keeping it away from pests
- it’s made of sturdy structure and some come in hefty sizes to make sure that food will not tip over and won’t get wasted
Cons
- most brands lack sensors and will continue to dispense food even though there’s still uneaten and leftover food
- the dispensing action of some brands are noisy which can disrupt or bother sensitive pets
- most brands have no way to monitor if all the pets are eating or if some of the pets are eating the share of other cats
- some brands only work well with dry food and certain sizes of kibbles
- some dispensers are too complicated to clean while others require for complete disassembly for a thorough cleaning
- some feeders don’t function if batteries are low or if there’s a power interruption resulting in missed meals
Thankfully, there are now several newer brands that feature innovative functions like microchip identification and digital timers. Here are some of the recommended automatic cat feeders in the market today:
- Catspad Food and Water Dispenser
Features:
- it can hold 1.7 kilos of food and 8 liters of water
- it has a timer so you can set the amount and frequency of food that goes out
- the water dispenser may either run continually or may activate if it detects your cat’s presence near it.
- it uses weight and pressure sensors to alert you if the supplies or content is running low
What we love about this product: Aside from its cool features, it’s a dual dispenser so you don’t have to provide a separate water bowl!
- SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder
Features:
- it has microchip identification through RFID (radio frequency identification) tags that identify your cat when it approaches the dispenser; this is a good option if you have multiple cats with different food allocations.
- it supports both wet and dry food and it’s capable of sealing the extra food to protect it from pests and flies.
- its batteries have six-month battery life and 4 x C cell batteries are required for this brand; it also features a low battery indicator to alert you if the batteries are running low.
- it has a remarkable built-in memory that can store up to 32 food instructions for 32 cats!
- it supports both wet and dry food and it’s capable of sealing the extra food to protect it from pests and flies.
- its batteries have six-month battery life and 4 x C cell batteries are required for this brand; it also features a low battery indicator to alert you if the batteries are running low.
- it has a remarkable built-in memory that can store up to 32 food instructions for 32 cats!
What we love about this product: The microchip identification definitely! This means each pet cat has its own allocated meals and won’t be able to steal their buddy’s food!
- Cat Mate C500 Automatic Pet Feeder with Digital Timer
Features:
- it has five food compartments and has two ice packs that keep the food fresh
- it can schedule feeding for up to five times each day.
- it has a ten-second voice recording of your own voice which can be programmed and played at specific times of the day.
What we love about this product: The ice pack feature helps in preserving the freshness of the food even as it only lasts for up to 48 hours. Plus, there’s a voice recording so your cat can still hear your voice even though you’re miles away!
3. Hire a professional cat sitter
Given that you’ve purchased an ultra-modern food dispenser for your furry babes, still, nothing can replace the human association. Hiring a professional cat sitter is a smart option especially if you’ll be going away for a few days either for work or leisure purposes. However, there are also certain limitations why this may not sit well with some pet parents. Let’s check out the pros and cons of hiring a professional cat sitter:
Pros
- Your pet gets one-on-one attention and care from a person.
- Your pet doesn’t need to be brought to unfamiliar places like a facility that looks after pets.
- Your pet can still enjoy human interaction and company even though you’re not around.
- A cat sitter can also perform housesitting chores like watering the plants, turning the lights off and on, and bringing in the mail.
Cons
- It’s an expensive option especially if you’re considering hiring a cat sitter from a professional pet sitting company.
- You could expose your home to theft if you’ll hire someone you don’t really know or if it’s from some unreliable source.
Here’s a checklist to guide you so you’ll be confident that you’re hiring the right person to look after your cat:
- Check out the person’s training and experience as a cat sitter.
- Get to know how long she’s been doing her cat sitting job.
- Ask the person if he/she has any prior experiences in handling a medical emergency.
- Check if the person is really a cat person and someone who has a special spot in their heart for cats.
- If you’re hiring someone through a pet sitting company, check out the business license and other legalities.
- Observe the cat sitter upon meeting your cat for the first time and see if the person has candid interest for your pet and on how he/she reacts to your pet upon the first meeting.
4. Request your neighbor to look after your pets
If you’re lucky to have a friendly and closely-knit neighborhood wherein everyone knows everyone then you may request a trusted neighbor to look after your furry pets. What’s great with this set-up is there’s a great chance your cat already knows or is familiar to your neighbor. However, this may not be a good option especially if you’re living in a highly urbanized area where most people rarely know their neighbors anymore.