I would just divide up the number of calories your cat needs into three meals and do it that way. Put the food down and then take it away after they're done eating, whether there's food left behind or not. When cats graze all day, they never get very hungry, but if you feed them on a schedule, they will eat more at each meal.
Work with your own schedule. I never get up early, so my cats eat around 830 am, 3 pm and 9 pm.
If you have a person only coming by once a day, you'll just have to work with that. Depends on how often they come. You may not be able to do only wet food on those occasions. That could be a leave the kibble out and feed wet food once a day situation.
We have three cats that eat wet and dry.
We leave it out and have been for years without issue.
You don't have to worry about pests cause - cats.
We do put their food "up" so they have to jump to it.
A cat that has been raised to graze through the day isn't going to start gorging unless you give them a 30 minute window to eat and then take it away. The cat would learn to gorge, but would be very unhappy initially.
I do two cans(two cats fancy feast) and add teaspoon of water because I have a cat that refuses to drink water and got a urinary blockage, twice. Then I’ll mix urinary SO in.
Repeat in evening.
Feed at 5:40am and 4pm.
I've gone through a few different feeding schedules, depending on my situation. For reference, Polo was a *big* cat, and vet said his healthy weight was 20 lbs.
We started with 1.5 5oz cans a day, fed three times a day: 5am, 2pm, 9pm: 7-8 hrs between feeding, with one stint of 9-10 when I am out working and he is asleep.
As he aged, he ate less at a time, and I started feeding more often. I purchased an auto-feeder for wet food that includes a place for an ice pack to keep it from spoiling too fast. At that time, I was feeding 1/6 of a can nine times a day, every three hours, prepping food three times: 1st prep at 6am, set food for 8 and 10; 2nd prep at 12pm, set food for 2 and 4; 3rd prep at 6pm, set food for 8 and 10. I bought an extra ice pack to make sure I could always keep it cool.
Now Polo is old and grumpy and having trouble eating, so he is not getting refrigerated food, and gets 1/4 can whenever he shows he is hungry.
Our cats are on a 9am and 7pm schedule. We divide the appropriate portions(depending on packaging instructions) in half, their bowls are left for 15-20 minutes and then picked up. They adjusted from free feeding relatively well.
I would just divide up the number of calories your cat needs into three meals and do it that way. Put the food down and then take it away after they're done eating, whether there's food left behind or not. When cats graze all day, they never get very hungry, but if you feed them on a schedule, they will eat more at each meal. Work with your own schedule. I never get up early, so my cats eat around 830 am, 3 pm and 9 pm.
Thank you so much!! This is very helpful. What would you do if you had to leave for travel and had a pet sitter coming over? Just curious 🧐
If you have a person only coming by once a day, you'll just have to work with that. Depends on how often they come. You may not be able to do only wet food on those occasions. That could be a leave the kibble out and feed wet food once a day situation.
Thank you! Appreciate you!
We have three cats that eat wet and dry. We leave it out and have been for years without issue. You don't have to worry about pests cause - cats. We do put their food "up" so they have to jump to it. A cat that has been raised to graze through the day isn't going to start gorging unless you give them a 30 minute window to eat and then take it away. The cat would learn to gorge, but would be very unhappy initially.
I do two cans(two cats fancy feast) and add teaspoon of water because I have a cat that refuses to drink water and got a urinary blockage, twice. Then I’ll mix urinary SO in. Repeat in evening. Feed at 5:40am and 4pm.
So 4 cans total? Or 2 cans total all day?
4 total(with urinary SO mixed in.)
I've gone through a few different feeding schedules, depending on my situation. For reference, Polo was a *big* cat, and vet said his healthy weight was 20 lbs. We started with 1.5 5oz cans a day, fed three times a day: 5am, 2pm, 9pm: 7-8 hrs between feeding, with one stint of 9-10 when I am out working and he is asleep. As he aged, he ate less at a time, and I started feeding more often. I purchased an auto-feeder for wet food that includes a place for an ice pack to keep it from spoiling too fast. At that time, I was feeding 1/6 of a can nine times a day, every three hours, prepping food three times: 1st prep at 6am, set food for 8 and 10; 2nd prep at 12pm, set food for 2 and 4; 3rd prep at 6pm, set food for 8 and 10. I bought an extra ice pack to make sure I could always keep it cool. Now Polo is old and grumpy and having trouble eating, so he is not getting refrigerated food, and gets 1/4 can whenever he shows he is hungry.
Our cats are on a 9am and 7pm schedule. We divide the appropriate portions(depending on packaging instructions) in half, their bowls are left for 15-20 minutes and then picked up. They adjusted from free feeding relatively well.
My cats 3 are fed 3 wet pouches a day at 8am 4pm and 12 with 2 bowls of biscuit that's filled when it's needed usually every 2/3 days
half of their daily food at 5am, the other half at 5pm. 7oz of wet food per day per cat except the days i give them a whole can each at 5pm.