What to Do If You've Been Feeding the Wrong Amount of Food

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Realizing partway through a sit that you've been feeding a pet the wrong amount is more common than people admit, and it's rarely as serious as it feels in the moment. Here's what actually happened when it happened to us, what we did about it, and how to prevent it from happening again.

If you are interested in getting into house sitting, our book Travel More for Less puts the whole process in one place: clear, step by step guidance from your first questions to your first confirmed sit, and the reviews that open the door to the next one.

What Actually Happened in Kefalonia

We were feeding the dog on our Kefalonia sit a set amount every day, and he seemed genuinely happy about it, always pleased at mealtime, never seeming distressed. But we noticed the food supply was disappearing faster than we'd expected, which made us go back and re-read the written instructions left behind. Something didn't quite add up.

Rather than guess or just keep going the way we had been, we messaged the homeowner directly to confirm. She told us the correct amount, and it turned out we'd been feeding more than intended. Nothing bad had happened to the dog by that point, no vomiting, no real weight gain we could see, just a slightly happier dog getting a bit extra at each meal. Once corrected, that was the end of it. We still received a five-star review at the end of the sit.

Why We Asked, and Why That Mattered

Honestly, part of what pushed us to double-check was noticing how quickly the food was going, which made us worry the homeowner might think we weren't paying attention or following instructions properly. That worry turned out to be unfounded. She wasn't bothered at all, she was glad we'd actually flagged it rather than continuing on autopilot without noticing something was off.

That's the real lesson here: getting feeding right is arguably the single most important part of the job, more than almost anything else on a sit. It doesn't take much effort to eliminate the guesswork entirely. If you're meeting the homeowner in person for a handover, ask them to physically show you the feeding routine, the scoop they use, where the food is kept, exactly how much goes in the bowl. Watching it done once removes almost all ambiguity. A proper written welcome guide backs that up further, and something as simple as a photo of the correct portion in the bowl can resolve more confusion than paragraphs of written instructions ever could.

What to Actually Do If You Realize You've Got It Wrong

Message the homeowner directly and confirm, don't guess, and don't quietly keep going the way you have been out of embarrassment. In our case, once we knew the correct amount, we simply adjusted going forward. There's rarely a dramatic fix required, correcting the portion size from that point on is usually all that's needed.

Here's a message template worth using if you ever find yourself in this exact situation, it takes the awkwardness out of asking and frames it as responsible rather than careless:

That kind of message does two things at once: it gets you the correct information, and it demonstrates you take the responsibility seriously enough to ask rather than assume.

What Overfeeding or Underfeeding Can Actually Do

Neither overfeeding nor underfeeding for a short stretch is usually a genuine emergency, but it's worth knowing the real risks so you can judge how seriously to treat it and how quickly to act.

If a pet has any disclosed medical condition tied to feeding, this becomes a genuinely more urgent situation, and it's worth confirming feeding details with extra care before a sit like that even begins. Our guide to what to do if a pet won't eat covers the reverse problem, appetite loss rather than a feeding amount mistake, and it's worth reading alongside this one if a pet's eating behaviour changes at all during a sit.

When Overeating Becomes a Genuine Emergency

This is different from the ordinary "fed a bit too much" scenario covered above, and it's worth knowing the distinction clearly. A dog eating a genuinely large, unplanned amount of food, breaking into a food bag, getting into something they shouldn't, is a different situation entirely from a slightly-off daily portion.

I have a real story here worth sharing. A dog I looked after in Iceland, as a puppy, once got into and ate an entire bag of flour. He couldn't move properly and was breathing heavily, and it was genuinely frightening, we watched him through the night, and at points it seemed uncertain whether he'd be okay. He pulled through completely, grew into a wonderful dog, though he kept a famously large appetite for the rest of his life.

That kind of event carries a real, specific risk in dogs: bloat, also known as gastric dilatation-volvulus, or GDV. This happens when the stomach fills with gas, food, or fluid and, in serious cases, twists on itself, cutting off blood flow. It's one of the most rapidly life-threatening emergencies in dogs, and it can progress from mild discomfort to critical within one to two hours. It genuinely cannot resolve on its own, and there is no home treatment, only immediate veterinary care changes the outcome.

Immediate steps if a dog has eaten a large, unplanned amount of food:

Contact the homeowner right away. They may know their dog's specific history and whether this has happened before.

Keep the dog completely calm and restrict exercise. No running, jumping, or vigorous play. Vigorous movement on a very full stomach is a genuine risk factor for triggering bloat.

Don't let the dog gulp large amounts of water in one go, even though fresh water should stay available.

Expect more frequent bathroom breaks over the following day or two as the excess works through their system.

Watch closely and treat any of the following as a reason to seek emergency veterinary care immediately, not wait and see:

A hard, visibly swollen, or distended abdomen. Repeated attempts to vomit without anything coming up, sometimes just foam. Extreme restlessness or pacing, an inability to settle or get comfortable. Heavy panting or drooling, or clear pain when touched. Pale or grey gums, real weakness, or collapse.

If you see any of that, don't wait for it to pass. This is exactly the kind of situation where minutes genuinely matter.

Prevention: Keeping Food Genuinely Out of Reach

Most of this isn't about feeding amounts at all, it's about preventing a pet from accessing food they were never meant to get to in the first place. We're currently looking after a cat who will genuinely go for anything left within reach, any dish that isn't cleaned, any food left sitting out. Cleaning up properly and promptly isn't optional with a pet like that, it's the actual prevention.

A small gap in a bin lid, or a sachet or wrapper not fully cleaned before disposal, is often all it takes. We've covered a real example of this ourselves, a cat that got into a bin and chewed through an absorbent meat sachet, in our guide to what happened when a pet ate something dangerous. The lesson from both that situation and the flour incident in Iceland is the same: a determined, food-motivated pet will find the one gap you didn't think to check, so it's worth being genuinely thorough rather than assuming "good enough" is actually good enough.

A Note for Homeowners: Be Lenient About This

If a sitter messages you to confirm feeding amounts partway through a sit, our honest advice is not to read that as a failure on their part. It usually means the opposite, they've noticed something felt off and cared enough to check rather than continue guessing.

Miscommunication happens more easily than people expect, especially across language differences. Caro and I navigate this constantly between us, I speak English and Polish, she speaks English and German, and even communicating in genuinely strong shared English, small misunderstandings still happen occasionally. An experienced sitter who's cared for many different pets across many different homes might also, without meaning to, blend details from a previous sit with the current one. None of this is carelessness, it's simply the reality of doing this regularly across different homes.

We'd draw a clear line here though. A sitter asking to confirm and correcting course once told is completely different from a sitter deciding, on their own judgement, to override your stated feeding instructions because they think they know better. The first is responsible. The second is a genuine issue worth addressing directly, and potentially reflecting in a review if it happens against your explicit wishes. Our guide on what house sitters can and cannot change during a sit covers this same distinction more broadly, following your instructions versus substituting their own judgement without asking.

Conclusion

Realizing you've fed a pet the wrong amount is a genuinely common, low-stakes mistake, provided you catch it, confirm the correct amount directly with the homeowner, and adjust going forward. The real safeguard is upfront clarity, confirming portions in person during the handover, backed up by a written welcome guide, so there's nothing left to guess at in the first place.

Caro and I have completed 20 house sits across 12 countries, driven 19,000km in Australia and 24,000km in our 1998 VW T4, and saved over $26,500 in accommodation costs over three years of house sitting. If this has happened to you, we'd genuinely like to hear how it went, DM us @housesittersguide, we answer everyone.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What should I do if I realize I've been feeding a pet the wrong amount?

  Message the homeowner directly to confirm the correct amount rather than guessing or continuing as you were. Once confirmed, simply adjust the portion going forward. In most cases, a short period of incorrect feeding causes no lasting harm.

• Is overfeeding or underfeeding a pet for a few days dangerous?

  Usually not seriously, for a healthy pet with no underlying medical condition. Mild digestive upset or increased hunger is the most common effect. Pets with a disclosed medical condition tied to feeding, or cats specifically with prolonged underfeeding, warrant quicker attention and contacting the homeowner or a vet.

• How can I avoid feeding mistakes on a house sit?

  Ask the homeowner to physically show you the feeding routine during the handover, the scoop, the exact portion, where the food is kept. A written welcome guide with specific amounts, ideally with a photo of the correct portion, removes almost all ambiguity.

• Should homeowners be upset if a sitter asks to confirm feeding amounts mid-sit?

  No, and it's worth reading it as the opposite of a failure. A sitter checking in shows they've noticed something and are taking responsibility, rather than continuing to guess. This is genuinely different from a sitter deciding on their own to override stated instructions.

• Will a feeding mistake affect my review as a sitter?

  Not if you catch it, communicate honestly, and correct it. Most homeowners are understanding about genuine miscommunication. It becomes a more legitimate concern only if a sitter deliberately ignores stated instructions rather than following them or asking to confirm.

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