If you have 3 cats...

[GoldenAfternoon]

. . .do you feed them on 3 seperate dishes? Right now I have 2 cats- a mama and her baby. They have 2 bowls of dry food (1 for adults and 1 for kittens.) When I feed them canned food, I put it in 1 dish that they both eat from. Now I've found myself unexpectedly taking in another cat, and I'm not sure if 3 of them will eat from 1 dish. How do you feed your cats? I want to do what's best for them, so I thought I would ask the Disboards cat experts Thanks

 

[DisneyAddict_M]

We had all 3 eat from a single dish.

 

[LisaNJ25]

one dish

 

[horseshowmom]

I have lots of cats (about a dozen actually - all spayed or neutered). Three of them are in the house, and the others live outside (we are in a rural area with a very large barn).

All of my cats eat dry food. The indoor cats share a bowl, and the outdoor cats share a bowl (a large bowl ). It works fine.

When I had kittens (several years ago), I did make sure they got their kitten chow though.


ETA: Mine don't all eat at the same time. The food is left out, so they can eat whenever they want to.

 

[poohandwendy]

We have 7 cats, they have a gravity feeder for the dry food so they just come and go throughout the day eating from there. I also feed them canned/pouch food once per day. They all have a small dish, mainly because some of the females are more timid and would be pushed away and not get any food. Also, some eat more quickly than others, so having their own dish allows them to eat at their own pace.

 

[Fitswimmer]

I have 3 cats, 3 dishes. I split the food btw the dishes and they each have their own to stick their face in.

 

[amid chaos]

I think since the other two have their own dish you would be wise not to change to a single dish at this point. You might be encouraging jealousy,,,,3 cats, 3 dishes.

 

[Chuck S]

One dish, but all 3 of our kitties are from the same litter, and grew up together.

 

[safetymom]

3 cats, 3 dishes. They all have different eating habits so the 3 dishes work well for us.

 

[Steffi]

3 cats, 3 dishes. If they all shared a dish, two of them would starve and Puff, the oldest & fattest, would have to roll from place to place as a result of eating for 3!

 

[Dakota_Lynn]

Three cats; Oreo, Crookshanks, and Dobby. They all have their own dish.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

I have 2 sets of sibling pairs and they get wet cat food once a day. They each get their own bowl of wet food (each sibling pair shares a double bowl). For dry food it's one bowl for them all to share.

 

[aynt79]

We have 3 cats with one food dish. They each came into our lives at different points (we have an 18 yr old, a 5 yr old and a 4 yr old), and they have no problems sharing. They all usually eat at different times anyways. For the wet food I just spread it out on the plate so they all can eat from it at the same time if they want.

Are the two cats you already have good at eating from thier own dishes (the adult vs kitten food)? The new cat will probably eat from whatever dish he thinks tastes better. When we got our 2nd cat, we had to switch her to adult food a lot quicker than I had wanted. The adult cat we already had only wanted to eat the kitten food, not his own, and it really didn't agree with him. He was constantly running to the litter box .

 

[DMRick]

3 cats, 3 dishes. If they all shared a dish, two of them would starve and Puff, the oldest & fattest, would have to roll from place to place as a result of eating for 3!

LOL..I believe that! With our fosters, it's all about who can growl the loudest (and they usually weigh about a pound) that gets the dish first. I usually have a couple down to alleviate the noise. When I give them a treat of wet food (if they are too young, it's usually stage one baby food, which puts the wieght on them) it has to be separate dishes otherwise they just gobble it down, trying to get more than the other...and of course if one of the other's tries to step into their siblings dish, the growling gets louder.

 

[korbbec]

3 cats, 3 dishes- hand thrown by me with their names carved in the sides. My 3 boys, all rescues, came at different times and the original alpha kitty still has some jealousy issues so I try to minimize them.

In your case I would def add a food bowl. The original 2 cats will be irritated enough at having someone new to share their space with. If they see new kitty going in their food and blocking them out.... watch out.

FYI: Not sure how educated you are on introducing new cats. The new cat should be kept seperate for a few days so everyone can get used to everyone elses scent before they meet. It will make things 1000x easier. Good luck. Thanks from all us cat lovers for taking in the new guy.

 

[Conservative Hippie]

My mom has three cats--Phoebe, Moebe, and Chloe. Phoebe eats special kitty weight loss food, so she has her own bowl. Moebe and Chloe share a bowl.

 

[jspahn]

We have 3 cats with one food dish. They each came into our lives at different points (we have an 18 yr old, a 5 yr old and a 4 yr old), and they have no problems sharing. They all usually eat at different times anyways. For the wet food I just spread it out on the plate so they all can eat from it at the same time if they want.

I do the same. I have 3 kitties - 2 I got at the same time, the 3rd one about 2 years later. I leave dry food down all day in the gravity feeder, but in the morning they share half a can on wet food, and in the evening they get the second half. I mush it around to the edges of the plate so they can all eat at once if they want.

 

[pppiglet]

3 cats, 3 bowls...I put a different flavor in each bowl, they all like different stuff (canned only). They all want to eat at the same time so everyone's happy. Then 1/2 way thru they'll switch bowls. Buffet!

 

[chyam]

We have 7 cats, they have a gravity feeder for the dry food so they just come and go throughout the day eating from there. I also feed them canned/pouch food once per day. They all have a small dish, mainly because some of the females are more timid and would be pushed away and not get any food. Also, some eat more quickly than others, so having their own dish allows them to eat at their own pace.

Same here.......... I also have 7 cats, you can get one of those dry feeders that will hold alot and they can eat as they choose. I feed 2 cans of wet in the morning and 2 at night, split between the 7 and they each have their own bowl, some perfer it over the dry and vice versa, when they are done the ones that like the wet seem to clean up the others.

 

[Lanshark]

I have three cats and I slop them in the same trough