Food help, complicated situation

I need some advice on what to do with one of my cats. We have a sort of complicated feeding situation going on here.

I have 3 cats. Kitt eats only canned food. He gets Innova Evo 3 times a day. Emma eats only dry food. She won't eat canned at all. She eats Felidae and is free fed. Sheridan is the one I am concerned about.

Right now Sheridan eats the dry food with Emma. However, he is getting a little older (he's 8 or 9) and I really feel like the wet food would be much better for him. Plus, he loves it. I want to start feeding him a meal of wet food in the morning and let him eat dry food the rest of the day.

My husband is worried this will make him fat because he says Sheridan loves the wet food so much, he'll eat it whether he is hungry or not and then continue to eat dry food. I'm not so sure. Sheridan has been free fed since Scott had him and he isn't overweight now. Emma is free fed and she is a really good weight too.

Is feeding Sheridan a meal of wet food likely to make him chubby? Would you do it? Is it a lot better for him?

First of all, good for you for feeding your cats quality food.

Canned food, particularly the premium brand(s) that you would presumably feed to Sheridan, is generally regarded as being better for cats than dry food. Dry food is loaded with carbohydrates (among other less than desirable things) which most cats really don't need in such high quantities. Canned food is at least to some extent closer to a cat's natural diet, plus it provides water which most cats need more of, particularly an older cat like Sheridan.

Because wet food is better for him, his system will process it more efficiently. I don't think it's very likely that he'll get fat solely from consuming canned food. Especially since you plan to only serve it once a day, at least in the beginning. But his weight is something that you can monitor. You just need to figure out exactly how much canned food you want to give him.

And cats usually are able to regulate their food intake where they don't overeat (I wish I could say the same about myself). So I wouldn't be too concerned about that either.

I say go for it.

I would just give them less dry so when it is gone it is gone and they can't over eat

Originally Posted by icklemiss21

I would just give them less dry so when it is gone it is gone and they can't over eat

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... I have always measured free feed ... I measure out the days portion and that is what they get ...

Really? I just worry that one of them will eat it all and then Emma won't get any. She's the only one that would rely soley on the dry food so it's rather important she gets enough.

If Emma would eat canned food, it would make things easier. We could eliminate dry altogether.

Originally Posted by kendalyn

Really? I just worry that one of them will eat it all and then Emma won't get any. She's the only one that would rely soley on the dry food so it's rather important she gets enough.

If Emma would eat canned food, it would make things easier. We could eliminate dry altogether.

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What wets have you tried??? I am a little more lax on what is in wet food if the cat will eat some the benifits out weigh crappy ingrediants

California Natural, Wellness, Merrick (many varieties of it), Felidae and Innova Evo now. She never even tastes them. I've tried warming them up just a little bit to make the smell stronger but still nothing. The only canned food she'll eat is canned tuna!

I could try some of the crappier stuff and see what she thinks.

Well, Sheridan hasn't eaten since Sunday night and hasn't gone to the bathroom since then either I don't think. My regular vet doesn't open til noon today. I don't want to take him to the emergency vet but I might have to because this is looking serious. He threw up 3 or 4 times yesterday and threw up once this morning. He keeps trying all the litter boxes over and over but never is able to go. I can't tell if he's trying to poop or pee but he hasn't done either one.

*sigh* Just got Kitt healthy and now Sheridan has an issue. Darn it.

Did you go to the vet?

vet yet??