Set amount of meals or free feed?

At the moment I always have two bowls of dry food out,(the boys don't share well) but after reading around on the fourm, I see most of you have set feeding times or set amount of meals a day. I was wondering should I be leaving food out all the time or set amount of meals a day? my boys are 8 weeks old.

EDIT: while I am at it, how much wet food should they be getting? at the moment I give them as much as they will eat mixed with dry food. is that too much? I hear from all over I should only be giving them a teaspoon every so often, another place told me teaspoon every day and another said only as a treat.

EDIT #2: one more thing, my oldest boy will eat so fast he makes his tummy upset and will vomit up his food. how can I help him slow down?

Thst's so odd. The information about feeding small amounts of wet foods, is it possible those are older sites, not updated for more current information?

Were any reasons for that provided?

Cats can certainly survive on dry food, but given the lack of moisture, and the fact that cats are obligate carnivores, and most dry food has a rather high carb load, cats' long term health benefits most from a more species appropriate diet. This is one that contains the moisture in it, and provides animal-based proteins, with as few fillers and carbohydrates as possible.

A very informational site is written by a vet: http://www.catinfo.org

As to your question about meals, free feeding is for our convenience only. Advantages of timed meals are

- ability to control portions (no fat cats when they're older);
- ability to monitor intake (when cats develop an illness, one of the first symptoms is usually inappetance).

Finally, the last thing to leave the stomach is indigestible material (like hair). It is actually "hunger pangs" that stimulate gastric emptying. It is healthier for cats' GI systems to have those hunger pangs.

Domestic cats in the wild naturally eat 8 to 12 small meals a day. (Think hunting mice). This is often the sole rationale for free feeding. But free fed cats usually nibble even smaller amounts more frequently. So ultimately, it doesn't mimic natural behavior.

Three or four meals a day works for most cats (not young kittens). Younger kitties should be fed as much food as they want, and their stomachs aren't large enough for just three meals a day until they're 4 months old.

MY opinion is that wet food is best for them, but as kittens, they need several meals per day, so that  may not be convenient for you  if you are not home all day.  But by several, I would say at least 5 - 6 at this age.  And as to how much, I would almost leave it up to them, but the cans should give you some indication, by their weight.  (kitten food, or all stages canned, not adult food)  I would  think it would be at least a Tablespoon per meal, if not more.  (sorry, it's been quite awhile since I had kittens that young...probably 30 years!)

As to overeating and then throwing it up, that seems to be a fairly common problem with cats, but as far as I know, only with kibble.  A couple of things I did when I fed kibble was to raise their dishes up off the ground, and put a plastic ball in the dish so they had to work around it to get the food out.  Another thing you can do which also stimulates their brains is to put the kibble inside a container with a lid, and cut a small hole in the side of the container barely large enough for a piece of kibble to fall through.  Then show them how to roll the container around until one piece of kibble falls out.  They way it may take several hours for them to get a meal.  (this works better for an overweight adult cat)  Actually, most of these probably work better for an adult cat.  For a kitten overeating until they are sick, you probaby just need to monitor and feed less per meal.

Yes, that type of vomiting is because cats' stomachs are relatively inelastic. They don't expand the way a human's stomach can. So the kibble takes a bit to expand once it hits the gastric juices. The kibble swells, and if kitty got enough kibble down, it expands with nowhere to go, and thus they throw up the meal.

To stop this, simply feed kibble on a plate. Even better, put the plate on a step stool that is just shorter than kitty's head height.

Or you can put a ball in the bowl, forcing kitty to slow down and get at the kibble around it.

Thanks for the help, it is just the dry food he throws up. The pets store were telling me use wet kitty food as a treat.

I don't feel so bad then about letting them eat as much as they want, I thought I was over feeding them. Should I do the ball thing for both even though it's just the one kitten throwing up his food?

Korvia said:

 
Thanks for the help, it is just the dry food he throws up. The pets store were telling me use wet kitty food as a treat.

I don't feel so bad then about letting them eat as much as they want, I thought I was over feeding them. Should I do the ball thing for both even though it's just the one kitten throwing up his food?

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IMHO, the people at the pet store don't know what they are talking about if they are telling you to use wet food as a treat .  To me, it should be quite the opposite.  But in answer to your question, unless the older guy is then going over to the younger one's dish and polishing off his food as well, I don't think you need to put a ball in his dish as well.  Be sure to use a plastic ball, so you can wash it along with their bowls.  I used a heavy, hard plastic one, fairly large, but, then again, I was trying to prevent my 15 lb big boy from inhaling his food .  Now that we've switched to a raw diet, he's still the first one done, but at least he has to chew it first

mrsgreenjeens said:

 
IMHO, the people at the pet store don't know what they are talking about if they are telling you to use wet food as a treat

.  To me, it should be quite the opposite.  But in answer to your question, unless the older guy is then going over to the younger one's dish and polishing off his food as well, I don't think you need to put a ball in his dish as well.  Be sure to use a plastic ball, so you can wash it along with their bowls.  I used a heavy, hard plastic one, fairly large, but, then again, I was trying to prevent my 15 lb big boy from inhaling his food

.  Now that we've switched to a raw diet, he's still the first one done, but at least he has to chew it first

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if given the chance Oliver (older one) will chow down on his brothers meal. Bear(youngest) just seems to know he should enjoy his meal and not inhale it.

Also while I am at it, is bird seed okay for them? I have two cockatiels and I'm constantly sweeping up bird seed but I think my little piggy Oliver is eating some of it.

From what I've read, a little bird seed will not hurt them.  But if you have any doubts at all, you could call your Vet and tell him what kind of bird seed it is, and make sure.   

mrsgreenjeens said:

 
From what I've read, a little bird seed will not hurt them.  But if you have any doubts at all, you could call your Vet and tell him what kind of bird seed it is, and make sure.   

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Ah that's good it's a never ending game of taking things away the Oliver thinks he can eat.