Solve Common Pet Feeding Problems

Pets are great companions and bring so much joy to our lives; however when it comes to feeding them, things are not always so easy. A myriad of problems can soon turn pet ownership into real work! Does your cat wake you up at 3 am every morning demanding a snack? Or do you have a pet that will eat and eat until they vomit?… yuck!!!

Of course keeping your pet to a healthy weight is no easy task, even figuring out the proper allowance can be quite puzzling. If you have multiple pets it gets even trickier, separating allowances and food types is a never ending circus. Though automatic feeders can help with dispensing food portions, once the food is in the bowl, who knows which pet will eat it.

For pets needing different food types, or if one of them is on a prescription diet, it is even more challenging. For those with cats and dogs in the same house, you know all too well the difficulty in keeping your dog out of the cat’s food.

Well fear not! Here are some practical solutions that actually work!

(Hover mouse over or touch for solutions).

How to Solve 12 Common Pet Feeding Problems

Stop my pet from WAKING me for food during the night.

Many pet owners get frustrated having their sleep interrupted by a hungry pet. One way to avoid this is to feed them a part of their allowance before bedtime. However with dogs this can cause them the urge to void and wake you up. Allowing them outside, to do their business after a late meal can help.

Cats are trickier because they are often grazers and may not wait until morning before begging for food. An automatic pet feeder helps in these circumstances if you schedule one meal during the night. Many feeders such as Petmate Le Bistro and Catmate allow up to 3 meals to be programmed per day for one pet.

Wireless Whiskers has even more control allowing up to 24 small portions spread throughout the day and even permits an adjustable/optional 8 hour lock out period during the night if desired.

Prevent my AGGRESSIVE pet getting all the food.

Many owners struggle when one pet is dominant at meal times. Some pets are aggressively persistent, while others are just plain bullies! Though putting them in separate rooms at mealtimes can have some benefit, it soon becomes very tiresome.

There are feeders that use ID tags to control feeder doors, which open in response to a specific tag. Wonderbowl and Surefeed control a small food bowl and are suitable for single pets. However additional bowls are required for each pet, which can become very expensive. In addition they hold only one day of food.

Wireless Whiskers can set separate allowances for up to 8 pets using the same feeder and can provide up to one month’s supply of food. If a dominant pet pushes another out of the food bowl, the feeder instantly detects it and deducts against the allowance of the aggressive pet, if this pet has no available allowance or is permanently locked out the feeder doors shut preventing them from pigging everyone’s allowance.

SEPARATE allowances for MULTIPLE pets.

Having more than one cat or dog is a joy, but if you need to feed a different amount of food to each pet things get tricky fast. Using separate food bowls with their name offers little protection! Similarly most automatic feeders, though they control how much is dispensed, once the food is in the bowl, who knows which pet will eat it.

You can try guarding the bowls during mealtimes or feeding them in different rooms, however this soon becomes tedious! There are a few feeders that use ID tags to control the feeder doors which open in response to a specific tag.

Wonderbowl and Surefeed control a small food bowl and are suitable for single pets. However additional bowls are required for each pet which can become very expensive. In addition they hold only one day of food.

Wireless Whiskers can set separate allowances for up to 8 pets using the same feeder and can provide up to one month’s supply of food. Wireless Whiskers is the only automatic feeder available that is designed for multiple pets.

Feed DIFFERENT food to different pets.

Owners with multiple pets know separating food can be a major headache, especially if one or more of your pets eat a different food type. This is common for cats and dogs but also in the case of younger and older animals, requiring different formulations or for prescription diets.

There are a few feeders that use ID tags to control the feeder doors, which open in response to a specific tag. Wonderbowl and Surefeed control a small food bowl and are suitable for single pets. However additional bowls are required for each pet which can become very expensive. In addition they hold only one day of food.

Wireless Whiskers can set separate allowances for up to 8 pets using the same feeder. You can also independently set up multiple feeders for different food types and allow or lock out pets as you desire. This provides complete control over how much pets eat and how it is spread throughout the day, freeing up owners and allowing them to get their life back!

Put SPECIFIC pet(s) on a weight loss DIET.

Separating food for multiple pets is a major challenge. Some vets recommend feeding in different rooms, but this soon becomes tedious and if one pet grazes, while another gulps. The gulper inevitably moves on to another bowl, often bullying other pet(s) in the process.

In this chaotic environment putting a specific pet on a diet is nearly impossible without help of technology. Standard automatic feeders are of limited use because though you can program the amount they dispense, if you have more than one pet who knows which pet will eat it or what fraction.

There are some feeders that use ID tags to control access with motorized doors that open/close in response to specific tags. Wonderbowl and Surefeed control access to a small (1 day) food bowl and suitable for single pets. However additional bowls are required for each pet, which can become very expensive. Also these simple bowls do not spread the food throughout the day and the allowance must be manually scooped into the bowl each day.

Wireless Whiskers can set separate allowances for up to 8 pets, allowing each pet to be put on a personalized weight control diet. In addition 5 Portion Control programs allow you to spread food throughout the day. The feeder can even automatically measure and set the allowance for each pet based on their measured feeding behavior.

Putting a pet on a diet is as simple as detecting its tag and changing their allowance up/down in easy 10% increments using the Adjust AutoDiet feature.

HOW MUCH should I feed each pet?

Pet food suppliers base their recommended allowances on the weight of your pet. Though it is a reasonable starting point, it’s a bit like saying you should eat the same as your friend. You know the one who eats like a horse without putting on a pound!

As for humans it is more complicated, factors you need to consider are: age, activity, metabolism, heredity and general health. None of these are accounted for on the food label and even your vet can only offer a nominally improved guess.

So how do you figure out how much to feed your pet? Well it’s all relative! You start from a reasonable baseline (it could be as recommend on the food label or even just a wild guess). Weigh your pet at the beginning and again after about a month has passed, and then based on the CHANGE in weight you can adjust their allowance up or down according depending on the final weight goal.

Of course during this time you observe to ensure your first estimate is not way off, your pet will definitely let you know! Repeat this procedure until your pet reached their perfect weight. Note for cats and small dogs weight should not decrease by more than one pound per month for safety.

Alternatively you can use a Wireless Whiskers feeder which measures how much each individual pet actually eats over a 3 day period. It then calculates separate allowances based on each pet’s demonstrated feeding behavior, not a one size fits all table.

Thereafter, periodically weigh your pet and simply adjust the allowance up or down in easy 10% increments using the Adjust AutoDiet feature until your pet reaches their perfect weight. This takes all the hard work and calculations out of the process.

Take me out of the ENDLESS feeding cycle.

A pet begging for food is cute at first, but soon becomes annoying - they are masters of manipulation. Unless you are firm, owners can often become slaves to their pets. Pets learn quickly that with a little weaving, they have you under their spell.

Using an automatic pet feeder takes you out of the food cycle and will change your relationship with your pets. No longer will you be seen as the source of food and the endless pestering will cease. Petmate Le Bistro and Catmate allow up to 3 meals to be programmed per day for one pet.

Wireless Whiskers feeder allows you to feed separate allowances for up to 8 different pets. In addition 5 Portion Control programs spread food throughout the day in up to 24 small portions and will even lock out specific pets. The large food hopper can hold up to one month’s food, taking you completely out of the feeding cycle and eliminates hungry pets waking you in the middle of the night.

Keep the DOG out of the CAT food.

Dogs love food and will eat almost anything, including your kittie’s kibble. You can try to police the bowls during feeding or feed in separate rooms, but that is not really a long term solution. There are some products that create a “safe” area to feed your cat such as MeowSpace, however they are bulky and relatively expensive.

There are a few feeders that use ID tags to control feeder doors, which open in response to a specific tag. Wonderbowl and Surefeed control a small food bowl and are suitable for single pets. However additional bowls are required for each pet which can become very expensive. They also hold only one day of food.

Wireless Whiskers can set separate allowances for up to 8 pets using the same feeder. The doors protect the food and will open only for a pet with an allowed tag. In addition you can set up separate feeders one for cat food and one for dog food and limit access to the appropriate pet.