changing feeding schedule

my cat, Ernie, is used to a bottomless bowl of dry food to nibble on as she pleases, and two cans of fancy feast a day. i adopted her last week and would like to make some adjustments to her diet. i'd like to switch to one can a day b/c a) she doesn't finish all the food on the plate, b) two cans seems like a lot c) canned food isn't that cheap when you're your popping open two cans a day, and d) wow, does her breath stink and the food stinks up the whole house!! i'll be eliminating eukenuba and adding wellness or innova to her diet.

i'm trying to figure out the best way to transition into the new feeding schedule. i've started mixing the premium dry with the cheap stuff, and i'm thinking of giving her half a can of wet in the morning and the rest at night. and then maybe just giving her the wet in the morning. any suggestions? my other cat was on a dry diet of innova. ernie is my second cat and if her current feeding schedule is exactly right for a seven year old cat, i will keep it as it is.

My first cat, a little girl, was a stray who adopted ME, so I knew nothing about cats. Thus, this advice may be faulty. Like you, I had a bowl of dry for her all the time, and I fed her one can of Fancy Feast in the morning. I assume that she nibbled on it most of the day because when I came home from work, it was usually gone. But she never seemed to want more food, and her weight remained stable at 11 pounds throughout her long life until she began to fail at age 18 (close to 20 when she went to the Bridge).

However, my boy now is a BIG guy (not fat; just long and muscular). He doesn't like dry and gets three cans of FF (or Meow Mix) a day. I feed a half can at a time, and often he doesn't finish it, so I throw some away. I'd guess he's probably only eating two cans total most days. I know it's expensive to throw it away, but he's a weird eater. (Since he came from a shelter, I tend to spoil him.)

I've tried numerous feeding schedules with Luna, mostly based on what she wants.

She never used to really like her dry food and preferred wet, so I would leave out some dry food for her all the time but feed her wet food twice a day.

Then she switched to not eating as much wet food and more dry food, so I started reducing how much wet food I'd give her.

Then she just started not really eating the wet food at night at all, she'd nibble, but she was just as happy just chomping away on her dry food so I stopped giving her the wet food at night and only do it if she's hungry. (she'll go over to where her food is kept and meow if I pick up a can, or at the moment, I haven't unpacked the groceries and they're still on the kitchen floor - she goes and sits amongst the cans and won't do anything else until I feed her if she's hungry)

I think if you start decreasing the amount you give her in the evening, then not at all, it should be ok. But if she really wants it and is really hungry, I guess you'll have to keep feeding her!

I wouldn't try to make too many changes at once. If she isn't eating the whole can of food anyway, try giving her half a can twice a day. You can cut it back to once a day later on. You can also do measured free feeding in between for the dry food.

I split one 5.5-6 oz. can among my five cats once a day. They almost always beg for more, but if I actually open a second can, they barely lick at it so end up wasting it. I put out a measured amount of dry food morning and evening. If they eat it all too quickly they don't get anything more until the next mealtime. Usually there's a little left in the dishes, so I just measure out a slightly smaller portion the next time.