Well, good news of a sort. I put the food bowl (replaced one of the water dishes) on the counter and put about a cup a day in it, though I've never found it empty, though lots of bits left over. I've seen them all eat from it, so they know where it is. There's still a bit of a mess, but it actually seems to be less. And it's easy to clean up, being at counter height. And I really don't think anyone is starving, because they'd let me know. Still get their wet food in the morning. There will probably be a bonus to this because the two males have been getting fat and it will be interesting to see if they slim down a bit.