Feeding Your Cat

[columbine]

Smudge is overweight, and the vet suggested that I give him only a specific amount of food a day. He gets two 1/8 cup servings of kibble and two 1/4 can servings of wet (with his medicines mixed in) a day. He's lost a little, if not much, weight, and this way I can make sure he actually eats the canned stuff and gets his vitamins & meds (and the extra water I mix in), because otherwise he'd just gobble kibble all day long.

Love, Columbine

[Freedom]

Got a few pudgy wudgies here as well.

In the wild, cats eat twice a day, dawn and dusk. My cats never read the books which explain this.

So I put food down 3 times a day. Food is all gone in about 1/2 an hour. With 10, I have no way to know who eats how much. But they all gather round at mealtimes, come out of hiding, napping etc. and wait at the closet for me to get some out and fill the dishes.

[Pinot's Mom]

Pinot is the first kitty (of only three we've owned) who is on a strict diet. She could never be "free poured" as our RB kitty Jamara was for 18 years. We realized this early on.

Pinot has 1/4 cup dry Science Diet with a spoonful of canned S/D with water at essentially dawn and dusk. This is not HER preferred diet, but she would eat everything in sight given the chance.

[cassiesmom]

My fur-nephew Milo is not free-fed because he's a bit of a pudge. He eats Science Diet, 1/4 cup in the morning and 1/4 cup at suppertime. In the summer and during school breaks, that half cup gets divided into 3 portions and he gets one at lunch time in addition to morning and suppertime.

[katladyd]

I have one kitty that is a bit on the pudgy side (ok, he's kinda fat) and the vet said not to free feed him. I have another cat who is sooo hard to keep weight on and the same vet said to free feed him. I live in an apartment and there is no way to restrict one and free feed the other. So, I free feed a grain free dry and limig their wet to morning and night. My skinny cat is putting on weight and my plumper may have lost a little bit of weight on this diet. What I have noticed is that they are both way more active than they used to be and that is good.

[Taz_Zoee]

When I had Taz and he was at his "healthiest" I had to feed him only twice a day, not free feed. But as the end came near and he was losing so much weight I left food out for him and began feeding him wet food (I HATED wet food, it made me gag to serve it). I did anything to get him to gain weight, quite the opposite of his early years.

With Paizly I can free feed her and she doesn't over eat. Now, little Jaxter is a PIG! He has his kitten food in his room but he will eat all of Paizly's adult food. However, he has stopped doing this as much lately (thank goodness). Oh, and since I began Taz on the wet food, I still give Paizly and Jax 1/8 of a can of wet each morning (only on work days though).

When I had to feed Taz only twice a day I'd give him only the "allowed" amount in the morning and then again at night. Eventually he would still have some left in the bowl at the night feeding. On weekends he'd meow his head off like I was starving him to death, but I wouldn't give in. Ok, I did sometimes with a treat. But not a lot!!

[Kalei]

I have started them today for the first day on their Science Diet. This morning I gave them 1/2 cup each...which once I put it in the bowl and Kalypso didn't eat it all...I realized this was still probably too much food. I might try putting down a 1/3 cup..only because Kalypso eats and walks away, but Ninja is a growing kitty and he eats alot and gets hungry because he is so active.

I hope to see an improvement in Kalypso's bm's so I don't have to take her to the vet..we will see if Science Diet lives up to it's expectations and cost lol.

Thanks very much for all your replies. This has been so helpful. I questioned putting this thread up, but I am glad I did because you all have helped me out alot. I can't believe I have been free feeding all my life and now see how many of you do not free feed. And when it all comes down to it..it seems whatever you do depends on your cat :P

[kaycountrygal]

1.3.10 Last month due to constipation problems I switched Luke from dry food to canned Wellness & canned w/d. I have never just left food out for him because my little dog would eat it (she loves cat food). I tried feeding him twice a day but he meowed, begged, followed me, & acted like he was really hungry so we're at 3x a day. Also I mix Laxatone in it. Because the canned food is so expensive, I might try gradually adding dry food... we'll see. Kay in NC