Should my cat follow daylight savings?

Question

I feed my cat twice a day: once in the morning and once in the evening. He is of the type that is always willing to eat, so I try and maintain a strict feeding schedule by feeding him exactly at 7am and then again at 6:30pm. As a result, he will usually be very vocal around these times.

As it gets darker in the fall, I've noticed that he thinks it is time to eat much earlier than usual. Since he can't tell time, I don't think he really cares about daylight savings time. Since the sunset presumably forces him to think that it is later than it really is, should I change his eating schedule when the clocks change? Does the sunrise/sunset have any effect on when I should feed my cat?

Answer 1

According to various pet behaviourists, dogs' Circadian rhythms are generally set around the amount of daylight rather than time, as they lack the ability to differentiate between say, 6 PM and 7 PM the way humans do. This is mitigated some by the artificial light cycles (you turning lights on and off, etc) in your home.

Your pet might notice the change and will likely take a bit to adjust, but generally they do adjust to the differences (in daylight, timing, etc.) which come with Daylight Savings time.

If you like, you can choose to slowly adjust the pet's schedule, but generally the pet should be okay with the time change. Like humans, pets will need time to adjust, but they generally figure it out.