Wet food for cats when you travel often

If you're away regularly and relying on a sitter, the feeding routine needs to be genuinely foolproof — not just for the sitter's sake, but so your cat gets consistent, good-quality meals whether you're home or not. Wet food is honestly the better choice for most cats: it keeps them hydrated, it's more satisfying, and it's closer to what they'd naturally eat. The practical catch is portion control and freshness, which is where setup really matters. To point you toward the right product — how old is your cat, do they have any health issues I should know about, and what does the current feeding routine look like?

That 'top up when it looks low' approach is pretty common but it does mean she's probably overeating on some days and getting stale food on others. The good news is a 4-year-old healthy cat is easy to transition to wet food, and the routine can actually become simpler than what you have now. Can I ask — does your sitter seem comfortable with a bit of a process, like opening a tray and putting it down twice a day? Or are we aiming for something even more hands-off than that?

That's exactly the right instinct. The product I'd go with for your situation is Sheba Perfect Portions. They come as twin-pack trays — you peel back one half for a meal, the other half stays sealed and fresh until the next feeding. No leftovers to wrap, no portion guessing, nothing sitting open in the fridge. Each half is a single serving, so the instruction to the sitter is literally: one half in the morning, one half in the evening. It's genuinely hard to get wrong. The recipes are decent quality — real meat, no grain fillers — and cats tend to take to them well. For a healthy 4-year-old, the Classic Collection multipack gives you variety so she doesn't get bored.

For a healthy adult cat on good-quality wet food, that's enough nutritionally — you don't need to add dry food alongside it, though some owners do offer a small amount of dry as a snack or for dental reasons. Fresh water is the main thing: make sure the sitter knows to keep the bowl topped up, because even though wet food provides a lot of moisture, cats still need access to water. If you want to keep things really simple, leave out a measured scoop of dry food as an optional extra and tell the sitter not to worry if she doesn't touch it. But Sheba Perfect Portions as the main meal twice a day is a solid, complete routine.

That's exactly the right way to do it — transition her at home first so there are no surprises for either of you when you're away. Mix a little in with her dry food for the first few days and gradually shift over, and she should take to it without any fuss. One box of the 48-count multipack should last you a good few weeks and give you a proper sense of what she likes best.