Canned food only - how much/how often to feed

Hope is on an all wet diet, unfortunately - yes, unfortunately for my unemployed pocket, and for the inconvenience when traveling, etc...

Anyways- When she got here she was emaciated, so I was feeding her a little more, in addition of kitten food... She is now on regular adult food, and has reached her optimum weight of 9.8lbs.

• She is currently eating 3 meals, and I want to bring her down to 2 - can I just skip lunch? How do we do that?
• Her can of food says 1 can/day per 8 lbs, she weighs 9.6... I often see people here saying that the feeding instructions in the can are exaggerated, so can I just feed her 1 can?

Thanks!!

anyone?????....................

I have contemplated this before as well. Just my opinion, not based on anything but my cats.

What I did with the amount to feed was to observe how much was eaten at a meal, consider body build (too thick/skinny) and how active/inactive a lifestyle. Adjust the amount up or down according to what is left on the plate and if any weight needed to be lost, I adjust down.

I have one cat that has a much higher metabolism than the others. He is long, tall and thin yet very athletic. He will eat more than my "sit on the side lines" tiny cat.

I also think how much they eat may vary slightly between different brands and proteins. When I give them canned chicken they will not eat as much as when they get turkey/salmon.

To stop the mid-day meal, you might just "forget" to feed one time and see how they react and how hungry they are at the evening meal.

Sorry, that sounds confusing. I just watch and adjust per cat's needs.

Not sure I can be much help - if she isn't the "piggie" type to over-eat & make herself sick - I would feed her 2 meals a day, each meal however much she can eat. I've never fed wet only & while yes, feeding guidelines can be exaggerated, I imagine you're worrying about not feeding her enough (that would be my biggest concern).

You can ususually adjust down ... ie many cats do fine on 1/2 ounce per lb thus a nearly 10 lb cat getting 5 ounces a day...

One of my boys eat 90% wet and gets about 7 ounces a day and weighs in at over 13lbs

Originally Posted by white cat lover

Not sure I can be much help - if she isn't the "piggie" type to over-eat & make herself sick - I would feed her 2 meals a day, each meal however much she can eat.

I've never fed wet only & while yes, feeding guidelines can be exaggerated, I imagine you're worrying about not feeding her enough (that would be my biggest concern).

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Yes, this is my fear...

Originally Posted by sharky

You can usually adjust down ... ie many cats do fine on 1/2 ounce per lb thus a nearly 10 lb cat getting 5 ounces a day...

One of my boys eat 90% wet and gets about 7 ounces a day and weighs in at over 13lbs

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ok... good... so, on regular food, I will feed her one 6oz can a day... I will start to reduce the lunch meal and increase the breakfast and dinner portions to get her used to 2 meals a day.
On ziwipeak, I will feed her 3oz a day, which is the recommended amount for an 8 lb cat (equivalent to 6 oz regular food) and hope she won't kill me lol)!

Thanks guys!

Just curious, Carolina...how much will Hope eat in one sitting?

My kitty only eats 1.5 oz at a time, and I wind up feeding her 4 times a day, plus I give her a little dry food for extra calories. Like you, I would like to reduce her meals to 2-3 a day, but I don't see how I could do so without starving her or increasing the dry food.

I'd advise you to make sure that Hope will eat 3 oz at a time first...

Originally Posted by MissKalamata

Just curious, Carolina...how much will Hope eat in one sitting?

My kitty only eats 1.5 oz at a time, and I wind up feeding her 4 times a day, plus I give her a little dry food for extra calories. Like you, I would like to reduce her meals to 2-3 a day, but I don't see how I could do so without starving her or increasing the dry food.

I'd advise you to make sure that Hope will eat 3 oz at a time first...

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Oh, she will eat 3oz at a time... lol no worries... If she doesn't eat the whole thing at once, which is rare, she will go back soon enough to finish it up.

See, that was my concern as I started trying to go to a mostly wet diet - my will only seem to eat, individually, about 1.5 - 2 ounces wet per sitting, and I'm not home to feed mid-day. I've been leaving 1/4 cup kibble (per cat) out just in case....mine seem to enjoy grazing, especially the girl, and since she's on the 'perfect' weight side, I don't want her to get too skinny.

On the other hand, neither of them are sitting on my head in the morning meowing more than usual for breakfast.

I've always found feeding guidelines to be out of whack for my two, so recently I started looking at it by calories instead - make sure they're getting enough calories in a day, instead of worrying as much about the recommended guidelines. So far it seems to be going really well, both eat but no one is ravenous (Freya's a bit neurotic about tuna flavour, but that's it. ) and they're botha a healthy weight.