How many times a day do your feed your cat?

We just started our older cat on canned food. She seemed to have a hard time digesting the dry food. Truly, she appears much happier and more active! I think it is the best decision, we ever made.

Now I am wondering, how many times a day should we feed her the food from the can?

Do you portion the can out? Or do you feed your cat the whole can?

Right now, we divide the can into rations. We scoop the remainder inside a plastic bag and store in the refrigerator. Do you think this is a good idea, or not?

 

Be careful, my Bob started to gain weight so fast when we started with canned food... so you need to plan out a good schedule. How often and how much you used to feed your cat with the dry food?

 

Well, that was our problem!

Herman was gaining too much weight on her dry food, plus the complication of not digesting it easily.

I know that we fed her far too often. Whenever she woke up from a nap, she would ask for food and she got a nice sized handful.

The good news is Herman is losing weight now, not gaining. I just want to make sure we are feeding her enough.

So, she gets one can a day portioned out through out the course of the day.

How much do you feed, your Bob? How often?

 

That sounds good!!! Well, my Bob is kinda old, so he doesn't eat as much as he used to eat when he was a kitten, so I feed him as many times as I feed myself: 3 times a day, lol. I use half-half: wet - dry food. For breakfast he gets 1/4 can wet food, for lunch he gets the same plus a handful of dry food (I've small hands, btw). For dinner he gets a handful of dry food, sometimes he eats it all sometimes he doesn't.

 

I did not give Twinkle a lot of wet food and I am not sure why. Maybe it had something to do with something I read online. I just don't remember but when I fed him wet food I could tell he loved it more. In a way it was like a treat that I had to keep the dogs far from as they loved it just as much or more. When I used to leave him in my room as a kitten I would do the free feeding thing as I would be gone for very long hours and I did not want him to go hungry.

As he grew, I fed him maybe three or so things a day. Sometimes I would just sit and watch him eat. It made me smile warmly to watch him eat. Watching him eat was my little treat.

 

I only feed my cat dry food. We have tried to give him wet food from the can, but he only drinks the water, so there's no point! But we tend to rationalize his dry food by giving him one scoop for the entire day. He's typically good with it, though he's the type of cat that if there's no food in one section (like the middle is empty but the food is around the edges of the bowl) then it's considered "empty", so we have to come by and shake the bowl every now and then to rid of his "illusion". But other than that, just one scoop a day.

 

Oh haha. That sounds like our Eddie. She gets the dry food. Not only does she make a mess and not eat off the floor, she eats from the middle her bowl, too. So, we need to give it a shake, too. lol At the same time, we need to put her food up higher. Herman likes to get into Eddie's food. She would actually eat Eddie's first before hers, when she ate dry food. Yep, Herman is older can not jump to the higher spots where Eddie hangs out.

I know what you mean about the juice. Herman licks that up first, but she loves her wet food. We worried about her gaining even more weight from the wet food, but she has lost weight and is so much happier and healthier. So, in her case wet food is a winner! I would like to get the food from the vet, though. Think this would be even better for her health and well-being, but quite expensive.

 

@Herman&Eddie LOL, when we had five cats, we used to do something like that. There's always the "pig" in the bumch, and we would basically feed that one first and then quickly get to the rest. Sometimes, if the little piggy stole food from the other cats, we would put him in the other room to ensure a peaceful feeding process between all cats.

I have never seen a cat lose weight from wet food before! I find that to be astonishing, and perhaps that's enlightening to see that wet food isn't necessarily a weight-gain substance, but perhaps a diet in itself, too! How many times a day do you feed Herman wet food? Just once a day for dinner or do you portion a can throughout the day? Do you also water-down the wet food?

 

Tinkerbell doesn't like wet food, like other cats she will just take the liquid and leave the food there. I'm not sure if she likes the crunch or what, but she likes dry food. She's pretty active, but doesn't eat much so I leave her bowl out for the whole day. She doesn't have feeding times or anything, because she just kind of grazes throughout the day. She's very lean, though, so I'm not worried about her weight at all. In fact, I only see her go over to the bowl once in awhile during the day . She just isn't a big eater.

 

Maybe because of the content of fat and sodium? Those foods have a higth content of those two, that is why they are said not to be healthy at all Nowadays I give my Bob wet food as a treat only, I was giving him wet food more often, but he started gaining weight.

 

One of the things that impressed me about Twinkle and I don't know if all cats are like that, but he did not seem a greedy cat. I don't know if that makes sense. Unlike the dogs, he would eat to his fill and then leave it alone. I loved that he never went overboard.

 

Some cats are very greedy, while others are not greedy, but I must admit that I have seen more greedy than non greedy cats when it went down to food Specially if they were feral cats in the past. My Bob is super greedy, lol, he eats everything you give him, every last bit

 

Oh, we portion it out. I tried to feed her a whole can in the morning to see if she could contain herself. it was a big no go. She tired to eat the whole can and promptly got sick to her stomach. Nor, do we do not wet it down.

I hear you about the amazing fact that she is loosing weight and her fur has her nice shine back! At the same time, she is being extra naughty, right now. She is finding ways to get at Eddie's dry food, too! - Interesting, Eddie has no interest in the wet food - She is just so naughty and clever. She could not jump up to get the food, but she could bat it with her paw to knock the bowl down!

Oh, wow! You had five cats, at once. Now, that must have been quite the adventure! I would, if I could, but I seriously doubt either cat would welcome a new friend into the house. I saw a sign that said FREE KITTENS down one of the country roads the other day. Oh, how I wanted to stop. My daughter was like, why did you even announce the sign? You know we can not get one. haha We would have stopped and fell in love, for sure!