What's your feeding schedule?

I'm having a hard time establishing set mealtimes for Mango. He's stubborn and only wants to eat when HE wants to eat. And it's usually when I'm not home, so that won't work in the long run, especially with wet food.

Anyway, just curious to see what your feeding schedules are like with your cats. What time do you feed them in the mornings and then in the evenings? Do you do 2 meals per day or perhaps 3?

If anyone has any tips for a smoother transition of a free-fed cat to one fed at set times, please do let me know. I worry about him when he chooses to skip meals.

Thanks!

the first meal is at 6 AM, the second at 2 PM and the 3rd at 9PM. but its not a strict schedule, sometimes he won't eat his 2PM meal, sometimes he starts meowing asking for the 4 meal... we have no problems with that, but devons are hyperactive and lose a lot of energy during the day, so i dont really know whether our schedule will suit some other cat. plus he never eats everything at once, he eats half and finishes his lunch in an hour or so.


p.s. we are feeding him raw food

Well, in our house, we do free-feed dry food but they get one wet meal a day. I free-feed for a few reasons - namely, two of our cats are kind of, um, food hogs and by allowing them to eat when they want, at least I know little Steve is getting food! Also, our dry food is better quality then our wet, so I am happy that the bulk of their diet comes from that.

But, I do have some experience with set meal times. I would try and avoid feeding the first meal right when you wake up - try to wait a bit. This might limit him disturbing you in the middle of the night for food. My father-in-law always did this, and his cats were amazing in the morning. They knew they would get fed, so they just chilled out until it happened. Make sure you are very, very consistent with your schedule. We feed our kittens their wet meal around 6pm. We have done since we took them in. Find times that suit you and him and then stick with it. You might have to be a bit tough and just stick with it. He will catch on.

Most cats only eat when they want to eat - they rarely stuff themselves. Once he learns the schedule, I am sure he will eat when you feed him.

I have no real set times because of my health issues but there are markers. I feed my cats 2 times a day. They eat raw so they get raw in the morning then 12 hours later they get another meal. In between they get 2 treats. Sometimes the treat is a small can of Tiki cat ahi tuna or small can of Wellness chicken. Sometimes we do something crunchy. Sometimes Bonito flakes, greenies(which are not the best but a few times a week is ok) and jerky.
They get dental chews daily.

Mine are raw fed, breakfast at 5am, a snack at 3pm and dinner around 9pm.

Brady gets a measured amount of dry in the morning (about 7AM) and the same amount again in the evening (about 7PM) with a tablespoon of wet added to it. Sometimes he gbbles it up and sometimes he doesn't, but it's usually gone by the next feeding time.

With my schedule now i'm glad that I decided to free feed with wet once a day.
And the wet is usually in the morning.
Morgan is a food hog so I know Luna is at least eating if I put it out all day.

We feed the morning (dry) about 5-6am and then canned in the evening - about 5-6pm. If we are home, they get a little snack of cheese or crunchy treats lunchtime.

With kittens up to 5 months old, they get to free feed but only in their room - not where the others have access. When we get Jack at 4 months old, he will be on kitten food for about a month and so will have to adjust the schedule a little.

They get their morning food (dry food) around 6 a.m. before I leave for work. Then around 6 p.m. or later if they haven't bothered me, they get half a can of wet food (the smaller cans). And before my boyfriend goes to bed, they get the other half, sometimes around midnight.

I free-feed dry and wet is twice a day... morning and night

I free feed a measured amount of dry food daily. I had cut back to 2 canned meals daily, but lately the guys have been hungrier about 3-4pm. So I have been doing 3 wet feedings again. It's the same amount of wet, just spread to 3 feedings instead of 2.

Originally Posted by AZ<3Me

the first meal is at 6 AM, the second at 2 PM and the 3rd at 9PM. but its not a strict schedule, sometimes he won't eat his 2PM meal, sometimes he starts meowing asking for the 4 meal... we have no problems with that, but devons are hyperactive and lose a lot of energy during the day, so i dont really know whether our schedule will suit some other cat. plus he never eats everything at once, he eats half and finishes his lunch in an hour or so.


p.s. we are feeding him raw food

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Originally Posted by missymotus

Mine are raw fed, breakfast at 5am, a snack at 3pm and dinner around 9pm.

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This is pretty much the same schedule in my house. When I switched from free feeding I just started putting out their food at the scheduled time and then after a while picking it up. Then they didn't get fed again to the next feeding time. They got used to it very quickly.

We feed ours a measured amount of dry at 6:00am, they get wet somewhere between 5 -7:00pm in the evening, and we put out another small measured of dry at 10:00-12:00pm.

I guess it's much easier to transition food when you're dealing with dry. We put out the dry ( a measured amount) and then we don't refill it when it's done just to make sure they have an appetite for their wet in the evening.

Originally Posted by Siamesedreams

We feed ours a measured amount of dry at 6:00am, they get wet somewhere between 5 -7:00pm in the evening, and we put out another small measured of dry at 10:00-12:00pm.

I guess it's much easier to transition food when you're dealing with dry. We put out the dry ( a measured amount) and then we don't refill it when it's done just to make sure they have an appetite for their wet in the evening.

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This is what i do, as well. The measured amount of dry is 1/4 cup in the am and 1/4 cup in the evening. The wet is about a 1/4 of a 5.5 oz. can. She's still getting used to this schedule, as she was previously allowed to eat whatever she wanted. (that's why she's a 12 pound 10-month old!)