How many times should I feed

my cats a day? They have always free ranged on dry. Then I lost one to FD and another has it now. He is doing very well on wet FF (certain flavors) and insulin. He gets 3 small cans a day. One in the morning, noon and about 5pm. I had everyone on wet food but when you have 7 cats, it just got too expensive. I researched for days to find the best dry and came up with Natural Balance. So now, I separate him out to feed him wet, and offer a tray of dry to the others at the above times. It is a hassle, but we are finding our groove! They eat their fill and disperse. I then put it away so my diabetic can't eat it. Do you think I need to feed a "lunch"? They are all of good weight, a couple are a bit "portly". No one is too lean. My diabetic is a very large guy. Their activity is low as they are house cats. Although one of the kittens has really got them going lately!! They catch his enthusiasm and I know it is good for them. Please, don't critisize for the dry. I feel bad enough having to feed them the stuff. If I ever came into some money, I wouldn't buy a nicer house.....I'd start feeding wet again!! Thanks for the read and any ideas you may have.

You said your diabetic cat is quite large....hhmmm....I think I may have found the culprit....I am thinking that each small can of wet food is 3 oz. And you feed him 3 cans a day. So that means you are feeding him 9oz of food a day. That is quite a bit of food to feed an adult cat that is not very active. I could see why it would be more expensive for you to feed canned food. The small cans are much more expensive then the 5.5oz cans and even more expensive then the 12.5oz cans. How old is your diabetic kitty? How much does he weigh. I could see a kitten getting 9oz of food a day because they are growing and very very active. Your kitten should be eating more food then the adult cats.

I have always fed my cats 3 times a day. Now that they are on a diet I try to feed them 4-5 times a day.They get fed a certain amount for the entire day. No more no less. The more small meals I spread their portion out in it seems they are more satisfied. I think they think they are getting more food then usual If they only knew....

or there abouts. So you think I should only give him a can twice a day? I could do the numerous feedings for the others, but I am going to feel terrible isolating him from those feedings. I wish there was a good treat I could give him while I fed the others. They eat their fill each of the three times I do feed. It takes about 35 minutes for the whole procedure. (I sound like a doctor!) Some of them wander away and return to eat more. I allow for that. When they all ate wet, it was sooo easy. Just put down their tray of 4cans of 9 lives (only certain flavors are accepted for diabetic cats). I don't feel that the noon feeding is terribly important. I usually give them the rest of the food they didn't eat at breakfast. If I happen to be out, I don't rush home to feed. I think they are conditioned to getting fed at noon. I probably could wean them off. Well,thanks for the encouragement and info Denali. It is a never ending adventure with these guys!!

Why can't you spread his daily amount out into 3 feedings? I feed my one cat 5.4oz spread out in 3 feedings. So he gets 1.8oz at each feeding. My male cat is 16lbs. Has the vet told you that your cat is over weight?

Could you also buy bigger cans? They are MUCH cheaper (either the 5.5oz or 12.5oz cans)

Here are a few sites for you to check out (if you haven't already)

http://www.catinfo.org/felinediabetes.htm

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/Felinediabetes/

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/DiabeticCatsDM/

http://www.sugarcats.net/sites/jmpeerson/

http://www.felinediabetes.com/

http://www.felineoutreach.org/Educat...sMellitus.html

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/WholeCatHealth/