I'm certain this topic has been discussed a million times, so if there's a FAQ or pinned topic somewhere that covers this, please feel free to point me there...
We have four cats in our house; one is a 16-year-old male who was entirely outdoor until recently. The other three are mostly indoor, though they visit back yard with us on occasion. All are rescues or have adopted us out of the wild. Up until two weeks ago, they were all fed dry food (originally Friskies Cheap-is-us, more recently Science Diet C/D after Jasmine got bladder stones). They are all now on soft food. Our cats (in order of how long they have owned us):
> Rocket - outdoor, 16YO, *very* thin, black, 8 pounds, developing kidney failure, we thought we were going to lose him recently, but with sub-cutaneous fluids and soft food, he has fleshed out and is looking better. For now, he's staying in the garage so we can keep an eye on him. He won't come in the house because he doesn't like the other cats.
> Yoda - indoor, 7YO, mostly-Saimese mix, about 8 pounds, lean and muscular. Picky about his eating, but likes the soft food.
> Jasmine - indoor, 6YO, black-and-white, about 12 pounds and a bit on the soft side. She's the matriarch of the family, except when Alana borrows the role. Had a $1700 operation for bladder stones a few months ago. *Loves* the soft food, will inhale anything I give her, and whatever she can steal from the others.
> Alana - indoor, about 2YO, calico/tortie mix, 8 pounds, a bit on the thin side, though plenty of energy. Has crippled front leg, missing most of her teeth, the smallest of our cats, absolutely *DOMINATES* the household!! Originally completely ignored the soft food and held out for crunchies, but after about a week she completely changed her mind and loves the soft food now!
One advantage to crunchies was that we could just leave a bowl out all day and they could eat what they want; now, with the soft food, I have to micro-manage their feedings, because Jasmine and Alana will polish off anything that they can get access to, including Yoda's food.
Anyway, at this point I'm giving Rocket as much as he'll eat, as often as he'll eat it, because he's still very scrawny and bony, so we're hoping to flesh him out a bit. He's looking much healthier and more energetic though, which is good.
The other three, I just don't know how much to give them. Since I cannot just leave food out for them, I need some guidelines on how to evaluate how much to give each of them. Right now, I'm giving them about a tablespoon each, morning and evening, plus whatever my wife is leaving them during the day.
Any advice or pointers ???
We have four cats in our house; one is a 16-year-old male who was entirely outdoor until recently. The other three are mostly indoor, though they visit back yard with us on occasion. All are rescues or have adopted us out of the wild. Up until two weeks ago, they were all fed dry food (originally Friskies Cheap-is-us, more recently Science Diet C/D after Jasmine got bladder stones). They are all now on soft food. Our cats (in order of how long they have owned us):
> Rocket - outdoor, 16YO, *very* thin, black, 8 pounds, developing kidney failure, we thought we were going to lose him recently, but with sub-cutaneous fluids and soft food, he has fleshed out and is looking better. For now, he's staying in the garage so we can keep an eye on him. He won't come in the house because he doesn't like the other cats.
> Yoda - indoor, 7YO, mostly-Saimese mix, about 8 pounds, lean and muscular. Picky about his eating, but likes the soft food.
> Jasmine - indoor, 6YO, black-and-white, about 12 pounds and a bit on the soft side. She's the matriarch of the family, except when Alana borrows the role. Had a $1700 operation for bladder stones a few months ago. *Loves* the soft food, will inhale anything I give her, and whatever she can steal from the others.
> Alana - indoor, about 2YO, calico/tortie mix, 8 pounds, a bit on the thin side, though plenty of energy. Has crippled front leg, missing most of her teeth, the smallest of our cats, absolutely *DOMINATES* the household!! Originally completely ignored the soft food and held out for crunchies, but after about a week she completely changed her mind and loves the soft food now!
One advantage to crunchies was that we could just leave a bowl out all day and they could eat what they want; now, with the soft food, I have to micro-manage their feedings, because Jasmine and Alana will polish off anything that they can get access to, including Yoda's food.
Anyway, at this point I'm giving Rocket as much as he'll eat, as often as he'll eat it, because he's still very scrawny and bony, so we're hoping to flesh him out a bit. He's looking much healthier and more energetic though, which is good.
The other three, I just don't know how much to give them. Since I cannot just leave food out for them, I need some guidelines on how to evaluate how much to give each of them. Right now, I'm giving them about a tablespoon each, morning and evening, plus whatever my wife is leaving them during the day.
Any advice or pointers ???
