Scheduled feedings - is he getting enough?

When we got Orion at the shelter on Saturday, the vet there told us he was overweight. Her explanation was that they feed the cats there far, far more than the normal amounts cats should get because they are in such a stressful environment and all the shelter cares about is whether they eat at all.

Anyway, she told us to to:

a.) Get him a weight-loss cat food like Science Diet Light; and
b.) Schedule his feedings, ie, don't free feed him.

I've been reading other threads here and I don't know what to think of this now. They gave us regular Science Diet to feed him (because that's what he'd been eating at the shelter) but I've learned from here that SD isn't considered a good cat food. We'll be switching as soon as I can get to Petco again - I was thinking to Nutro and a mix of wet and dry? Is that ok?

As for the scheduled feedings, we've been trying to do that since we got him home. Following the instructions on the bag, we give him a little less than 1/2 cup dry twice a day. He does start eating right away when we put the food down for him. But when we go to pick it up (after an hour or so), there is still so much food left in his bowl! I don't want to be starving him. Should we just leave it out? Are we giving him way too much?

Thanks for the help... all the food choices are so overwhelming!

Mix the two drys together and since he is overwt I would suggest Nutros Indoor line adult or wt mgmt ..

Wets you can rotate what ever wet hell eat ... Hopefully he likes wet and then wet mgmt is easier as can is meal feed

Yeah, if you can get him on canned, he'd definitely lose the weight he needs to lose. With my Merlynn, the vet said she was "tanky" and that he'd recommend a "light" dry food. But from reading here, and especially from Sharky's very helpful posts, I decided to try her (and Piccolino just b/c it was easier to control with the canned) on only canned for a few weeks. She lost the extra weight and we're going strong.

I also think that scheduled feedings helped b/c I started this with the wet and I have them scheduled for all meals. 1/4 each dry California Natural for breakfast. 1/2 5.5 oz can each Merrick Surf & Turf or Southern Delight for dinner. Oh and starting on scheduled feedings was tricky. At first, Merlynn wanted to eat smaller meals about 4-5 times per day. But I can't do that when I'm out of the house for 8-9 hours per day. But we eventually got it down to three and now just two. When I wake up at around 630p and when I get home at around 7p.

Sometimes I think I might be giving them too little food too, but after an hour there is usually just a little food left so I know they've had their fill. And if I feel guilty, I put down just a little of the crunchies, b/c they love that...usually they won't touch it so I know it's just me being a "human." They have little tummies and don't need much to get filled up.

Good luck!

The amount on the bag is usually WAY too much. My dog food bag says to feed my moderately active 65 lb rottie 2 1/8 cups of food a day. If she gets more than 1 cup a day she gets fat. It also says my hyper 28 lb boston should get 1 7/8 cup a day, when he only needs 1/2 to 3/4 cup a day.

For my cat it says 1/2 to 2/3 a day. She barely eats a 1/4 cup all day.

It depends on the food, as well. I feed Raw Instinct to my dogs, which is very nutrient dense, so they require less of it.

I am not at all a dry food fan ... if I could get away with it, mine wouldn't have any dry food but that won't work in this house. The kids do love their "cookies" as we call them around here!

You might want to take a look around the Health & Nutrition Forum here and read up on some of the better kinds of cat foods ... and minimize the amount to dry food you put out.

Additionally, remember that many vets make money off the foods they recommend and sell to you, so what they suggest might not always be the best choice for your individual cat's needs.

I free-feed Daphne because she is still young. She will not eat wet food yet so dry is out all day. Seb loves the wet food he will eat but he doesn't like the "quality" wet foods So, I am simply hoping for a happy medium. Seb hasn't gained weight in the last few months and Daphne is healthy and normal weight - guess it is going good

I hope you can get the food thing down, it is very confusing. SD dry is not a great food - lots of by-products and fillers. My two are slowly being changed over to Natural Balance dry for kittens and adults. There are other good ones, too. Let us know how it works out for you

Hi, I'm in Chicago too. Did you get Orion from Anti-Cruelty Society? That's where we adopted Fred & Ginger 3 months ago.

We were given Science Diet and our kitties were eating 1.5 cup each every day, and they still constantly beg for food. First day we introduce Nutro Adult Indoor we mix with SD, to our surprise our cats go after Nutro and leave SD in the bowl. The incessant begging stopped the day we introduced Nutro.

Originally Posted by Rone

Hi, I'm in Chicago too. Did you get Orion from Anti-Cruelty Society? That's where we adopted Fred & Ginger 3 months ago.

We were given Science Diet and our kitties were eating 1.5 cup each every day, and they still constantly beg for food. First day we introduce Nutro Adult Indoor we mix with SD, to our surprise our cats go after Nutro and leave SD in the bowl. The incessant begging stopped the day we introduced Nutro.

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Yes! We got him from the Anti-Cruelty Society and they gave us the standard bag of Science Diet. I think they said they are sponsored by Science Diet.

From my reading here in the forums, it looks like Nutro Indoor is going to be a decent dry option that I can actually get and that still fits into our budget. I guess we'll have to try different wet options to see what he'll eat.

We're going to start to switch over to Nutro and wet food hopefully starting tomorrow (I should be able to get to Petco over lunch!). Do you give yours dry, dry and wet or just wet? And how much of the Nutro do you give them each?

Thank you all for your help!

I suggest using the amount of new dry that you currently use...

now to mix over say the cat eats one cup a day ... 1/4 cup new with 3/4 cup old for two to four days then 1/2 and 1/2 ... you get the idea

Originally Posted by snowmeow9

We're going to start to switch over to Nutro and wet food hopefully starting tomorrow (I should be able to get to Petco over lunch!). Do you give yours dry, dry and wet or just wet? And how much of the Nutro do you give them each?

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We were feeding dry/wet, then change to wet/raw with a meal or two of dry weekly.

Not sure if it's closer to you but for a while I bought a variety of wet from Pet Stuff, right across street from Anti-Cruelty Society.