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How often to feed canned food?

post #1 of 14
11/5/10 at 12:12pm
Thread Starter 
Hi - I am just starting to feed my cats canned wet food (Aristocats, right now... they were on special for 39 cents a can!), and I wondered how much canned food, and how often, I should give the cats. One is an 8-year-old about 15 1/2 pounds, and one is a 6-month-old kitten under 10 lbs. Right now I am giving each about a quarter of a small can each evening (though the older cat usually eats what the younger one leaves unfinished so he gets a little more). Should I increase what they get at night, give them some in the morning as well as evening, or both?

Thanks!
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post #2 of 14
11/5/10 at 12:17pm
3oz cans? The smallest portion of a 3 oz I'd give a cat at once is 1/2. Anything smaller is kind of pointless. I'm kind of surprised you can dig a quarter of it out - are you using a really tiny fork?

As for how much, what percentage of wet as you wanting to increase to? Do you want this to be 1/3rd of their daily food along with dry? Do you want it to be half? Or do you want to eventually switch to all wet?

What dry food are you using? (since that would need adjusting to balance out increasing amounts of wet) Is the dry free fed?
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post #3 of 14
11/5/10 at 12:29pm
Thread Starter 
Maybe I'm giving more like 2/3 of a can total... 1/4 for each was just a guesstimate... the amount of food each cat gets looks like maybe a tablespoon or so's worth (but there is still some left in the can).

Anyway, I was just starting small to see how they'd like wet food. I had tried to get the older cat to eat some wet food awhile back but he wouldn't cooperate then. And my new kitten wasn't given wet food in foster care because the rescue org thinks wet food rots cats' teeth. So they were both new to the wet food "experiment." I wanted to ease them into it. So far, so good.

As for how much wet food I want each cat to eat... it depends on how much they are willing to eat. I can increase it so between the two of them they eat an entire can each night (if they cooperate). That would make me happy. If they reach that goal, I might try giving some in the morning too. I think it is best for them to eat a mix of wet and dry food - the dry food is good for their teeth.

I am free-feeding both cats a mix of T/D and Iams hairball/weight control formula, and giving the kitten some Science Diet indoor kitten chow every day when I can monitor and keep the older cat from getting into it...

Quote:
Originally Posted by strange_wings View Post
3oz cans? The smallest portion of a 3 oz I'd give a cat at once is 1/2. Anything smaller is kind of pointless. I'm kind of surprised you can dig a quarter of it out - are you using a really tiny fork?

As for how much, what percentage of wet as you wanting to increase to? Do you want this to be 1/3rd of their daily food along with dry? Do you want it to be half? Or do you want to eventually switch to all wet?

What dry food are you using? (since that would need adjusting to balance out increasing amounts of wet) Is the dry free fed?
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post #4 of 14
11/5/10 at 12:48pm
I would say morning and night ... I have one cat who will not eat more than roughly one oz of wet at a time my others will eat 3-5 oz in one sitting...

I like to give 50/50 wet to dry, if kitty and budget are willing
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post #5 of 14
11/5/10 at 2:11pm
If you have a kitty you're trying to keep from getting bigger - and the adult kitty does sound like a big cat. You may want to cut back on the amount of dry you put out and replace it with more wet. Wet is better for weight loss, too.

But sharky is right, ultimately it's what the cats will eat and what you can afford. I do close to 2/3rds wet for the adults and the kittens get a bit more dry because they insist on a morning snack (actually Blann insists, steroid munchies maybe? I comply because he needs to gain weight back).
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post #6 of 14
11/6/10 at 9:22am
our 4 month old only eats canned and she eats 1 and 1/2 cans of naturallife or 3 cans of fancy feast a day. We leave dry food out but she hardly munches at it.
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post #7 of 14
11/6/10 at 2:08pm
I like to do wet food twice a day. I feed Wellness and I split one 3 oz can between my 3 cats per feeding. (Both of my females are not big eaters) I also add warm water to the wet food and make it kind of mushy.
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post #8 of 14
11/8/10 at 9:08am
Thread Starter 
I tried upping the amount of wet food to half a 3-oz can for each cat, rather than 1/4, the other night, and they eventually ate the whole thing (at first, they ate about half of it - what they had been used to eating - and let it sit for a few hours, but I added some water to it to moisten it up, and they finished it off... actually, I think the older one ate most of it). Yesterday morning I gave about a tablespoon of pouched wet food to each cat, and they again ate only about half of it at first then let it sit, and gradually ate most of it, especially when I moistened it with some water. Then last night I gave them each 1/4 can of wet food and they ate it immediately. So over the course of the whole day, they probably got about 1/2 can each. I think that is about as much as they are going to let me feed them in wet food. They like their dry food too much... and I do want to keep feeding them dry food because it is good for their teeth.
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post #9 of 14
11/8/10 at 4:06pm
If you can afford it, more wet than dry is preferable. But wet is expensive and inconvenient, so I can understand different ratios.

My kittens are 6 months old, and between the two of them they have a 3oz can of Wellness for breakfast and another can for dinner, and Wellness dry for free feeding.

How much you give depends on the age and activity level of the cat and the caloric density of the food. Usually they have to eat a little bit less of the expensive food since it has less nutritionally void fillers.

You can still leave dry out for free feeding but if concerned about weight then I'd recommend putting the kibble in a food ball. Requires more time and energy to release the kibble, and cats eat less when they aren't inhaling the food. Also helps for kitties that eat so fast that they end up throwing up.

http://www.amazon.com/MultiVet-SlimC...9261151&sr=8-1



I have these too, and the high reviews are justified IMO.
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post #10 of 14
11/8/10 at 4:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by strange_wings View Post
3oz cans? The smallest portion of a 3 oz I'd give a cat at once is 1/2. Anything smaller is kind of pointless. I'm kind of surprised you can dig a quarter of it out - are you using a really tiny fork?
I feed 1/4 can at a time from 3 oz cans all the time. Sometimes even 1/8 can. I use a regular spoon.

I never put more than 1/4 can at a time in a dish for Tolly or Queen Eva. They won't eat it if I do.
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post #11 of 14
11/8/10 at 4:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by purrrplej View Post
I tried upping the amount of wet food to half a 3-oz can for each cat, rather than 1/4, the other night, and they eventually ate the whole thing (at first, they ate about half of it - what they had been used to eating - and let it sit for a few hours, but I added some water to it to moisten it up, and they finished it off... actually, I think the older one ate most of it). Yesterday morning I gave about a tablespoon of pouched wet food to each cat, and they again ate only about half of it at first then let it sit, and gradually ate most of it, especially when I moistened it with some water. Then last night I gave them each 1/4 can of wet food and they ate it immediately. So over the course of the whole day, they probably got about 1/2 can each. I think that is about as much as they are going to let me feed them in wet food. They like their dry food too much... and I do want to keep feeding them dry food because it is good for their teeth.

Not really. It's a fallacy that dry food cleans teeth.

For one thing cats don't have chewing teeth, and the one or two crunches a cat may take does nothing to clean a tooth and in fact may leave crumbs stuck under or along the gumline, which is very bad.

Dental health is mostly genetic, though of course good nutrition plays a part, as it does in all aspects of health.

Dental home care is what you want, if you want to keep their teeth clean.
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post #12 of 14
11/8/10 at 6:49pm
There are kibble varieties that have coatings that are specifically designed for dental health. Kibble sizes are also usually larger in these so that the tooth can penetrate a decent amount before shattering for the natural abrasive benefit.

Its also beneficial for jaw muscles and gum health for some mastication to occur during the day which happens even w/ non-specific designed dry, which doesn't occur at all with "pudding" wet food. These studies are performed by the food manufacturers, but they all sell wet food as well which is surely also very profitable, so I don't think it can be dismissed as propaganda.

For this and a few other practical considerations, I am sold on a mixed diet with flowing clean water sources available at all times to alleviate any hydration concerns.
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post #13 of 14
11/8/10 at 8:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ducman69 View Post
There are kibble varieties that have coatings that are specifically designed for dental health. Kibble sizes are also usually larger in these so that the tooth can penetrate a decent amount before shattering for the natural abrasive benefit.

Its also beneficial for jaw muscles and gum health for some mastication to occur during the day which happens even w/ non-specific designed dry, which doesn't occur at all with "pudding" wet food. These studies are performed by the food manufacturers, but they all sell wet food as well which is surely also very profitable, so I don't think it can be dismissed as propaganda.

For this and a few other practical considerations, I am sold on a mixed diet with flowing clean water sources available at all times to alleviate any hydration concerns.
Can you point me to some of the studies Showing that Dry food actually is good for dental health Outside for the RX foods designed for that purpose... To my knowledge there are 5 dental diets that are RX of those only one with the studies to back the claim. There are a few clinically studied OTC foods for dental health and coating is not it as an aid for dental health. The way they work is the shape and some special ingredients( I worked in the pet food industry for a number of years)... Cats jaws are Not designed for chewing , most cats swallow dry food whole.

The highlight I agree with...
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post #14 of 14
11/9/10 at 2:39pm
Thread Starter 
I think I've decided on a routine of a small amount of wet food in the morning and a little more in the evening. The cats won't eat huge portions at one sitting, but like to have about a tablespoon's worth/quarter of a can each at a time, a couple times a day. The kitten seems to prefer pouched food, while the older cat favors the pate version in cans. So I guess I'll start feeding each cat the type they like... they sure are finicky. :-)

I've noticed the cats are eating much less dry food since they started eating the wet food. So if wet food is indeed better for cats (especially the overweight one), then that's great.
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