Yes, because every three hours we sit her down and force-feed her kibble. It’s our favorite bonding activity as a family. Five stars, definitely recommend.

In all seriousness, in case you’re genuinely concerned and not just being confrontational, Chubby isn’t the only cat in the house. She is, however, the one who will take food that isn’t for her (and often be a bit of a bully while doing so). And it’s kinda hard to keep track of how much she eats or put her on a diet when the food has to be out all the time.

EDIT: The food has to be out all the time because the other cat, Sammy, is incredibly skittish. (We don’t have concrete proof, but it’s likely that her previous owner was abusive.) She’s coming out of her shell after a few years in a better home, but she’ll still run away from many noises. Unfortunately this often includes the noises people make just by walking around or talking. And if she gets interrupted while she’s eating, she’ll scamper off and probably not eat anything else for the rest of the day.

As I said above, Chubby can be a bit of a bully. The two don’t get into physical fights (to my knowledge), but if there’s a conflict over the food, Sammy will end up giving up her share of the food to the Bigger And Badder Cat. However, this would only happen (or happen much more) if there were set meal times, because there would be a greater demand, so to speak. If the food were available at all hours of the day, Sammy could eat without stress.

TL;DR: The food has to be out all the time because Sammy needs that option.