How long should I leave out dry food?

[wmarcello]

With our two kittens, how long should I leave out dry food? I usually give them a cup of dry food each day to split, but sometimes they don't eat it all completely. Can I leave that food out until they finish it, or should I just dump the little that remains and refill the dish on a daily basis?

[cpietra16]

I leave it out all day...actually my 5 cats are nibblers so I have to leave it out. They go back and forth.

[wmarcello]

Originally Posted by cpietra16

I leave it out all day...actually my 5 cats are nibblers so I have to leave it out. They go back and forth.

Do you ever leave it out longer than a day? I don't really want to put new food on top of old food, so my choices are either leave it out until they finish it (maybe a day, maybe a day and a half, maybe longer), or dump it out and give them a fresh batch each day.

Obviously I'll eventually be able to better gauge how much they will eat in a day, but I find each day is a little different, especially if they're eating some wet food as well.

[RolandsMom]

i leave mine out all day and all night. sometimes i just put less in he seems to finish it sooner. (go figure. hehe) then i can put new stuff in.

[rainbow]

I feed my cats wet (canned) food in the morning and at supper and I leave dry food out 24/7. I can pretty much gauge how much dry food they'll eat. I put dry in the bowl in the morning and if there's any left when I feed at night then I put that on top of the new stuff.

[cpietra16]

The dry food is in a self feed container...as they eat it refills itself...they also get wet food ( 1 teaspoon each 2x a day). They are nibblers and that is what you need to find out first. I use to have a cat that could not be trusted with food that was left out. She would eat it all in one sitting...so the questiom is are they nibllers?

[rainbow]

My cats eat all their wet food in one sitting. With dry they are nibblers but I measure out their food and that's all they get until their next feeding.