I have two cats. The eldest, Sam, is an almost-six-year-old grazer that I've had since she was two weeks old (she and her sister were abandoned). She's always had biscuits available and just helps herself through the day.
Jasper is a 4yo that I adopted from a shelter about six weeks ago now, and he had the "eat before it's gone!" mentality common of shelter animals.
Well, I wanted to be able to keep leaving food out for Sam, so I tackled it.
For the first two weeks I put just a little in the bowl, refilling it multiple times a day (up to 15 times a day).
Then I tapered it down; more in the bowl, less often. I've kept tapering it down until two days ago when I filled it full in the morning and left it.
Jasper came running, of course, but he had a couple of mouthfuls and then wandered off. He did the same thing a few times through the day, and this morning there was still some food when I topped it up.
Success! He has learned that food is always available and he doesn't have to scarf it down to make sure he doesn't go hungry!!!
This has had knock-on effects. The diarrhoea that he's been battling has reduced over the weeks, and is now gone altogether. I suspect this is because his intake is steady now.
But it's so satisfying to teach a cat that he's got nothing to worry about 🐱
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/ck863a/battle_of_the_guts/
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