feeding shedule...how long between feedings

my cat sophie recently went to the vet and we were told she was a bit overweight. last time she roughtly weighed 7 ish pounds and went up to about 10 over the course of the summer. Shes also on predisolone, in case that makes a difference for some skin allergies but is almost done the medicine. 

anyway i have reduced her food as per the suggestion of our vet, and on our own decided to give her evening feeding wet food. so her moring feeding is roughly 9:30/10.  her evening feeding is usally at about 7 so i can give her pill and then feed her. but then there is no food after that till the next moring. im wondering if this is too long without food? and im also wondering how other people shedule thier cats feedings if they do so? 

I feed all three of my cats in the morning around 8 am before I go to school or work - I split a 5.5 oz can high quality wet food between the three of them. Then I feed them a snack in the late afternoon, around 3 pm - I split a 3 oz pouch of Wellness Healthy Indulgences Turkey & Duck between the three of them. Then at night around 7 pm I feed them a 5.8 oz can of Royal Canin Urinary SO between the three of them. I used to feed them dry food throughout the day, but my one cat Buddha got overweight. His healthy weight is around 15 lbs (he's part Maine Coon), but he blew up to 18 lbs. So I have to watch him eat because he tries to steal the other cats food.

Cats are geared toward eating smaller meals more often (also regulates urine pH better). If you can add a third meal and do a before work, right after work, before bed schedule, most adult cats do fine on that schedule.

BTW the pred often acts as an appetite stimulant, so the weight gain may resolve itself once she is tapered off the pred.

Thanks for the advice, i think i will try that tomorrow 

My Dood acted like I was abusing him horribly when I started structuring his feeding times, but he was over 20 pounds and needs to be around 15-16 (he is a very large and tall cat). After a lot of trial and error, meowing and crying, headaches and sleepless nights, I found that 4 meals a day is his happy place.

It was a little tougher because I decided to transition from a partial kibble diet to kibble free and he had some health problems during that time, but the attitude (cattitude?) change was so dramatic switching between 3 feedings and 4 feedings a day. He is now down to 18 pounds and still dropping weight in a slow, steady and healthy way.

He now usually eats at 7am, around noon, 4:30pm and around midnight. It isn't an easy process for most of us, but it wasn't easy for me to cut most carbs from my diet . Good luck to you and Sophie! She'll let you know if she's upset

So you only feed him wet food now? How many oz or calories do you give him per meal? I have an 18 lb cat that needs to get to 15 lbs. I feed him three times a day but may switch to four because he's had urinary issues in the past and smaller meals more frequently is better for his urine pH.

molldee said:

So you only feed him wet food now? How many oz or calories do you give him per meal? I have an 18 lb cat that needs to get to 15 lbs. I feed him three times a day but may switch to four because he's had urinary issues in the past and smaller meals more frequently is better for his urine pH.

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Gah! Lost my post with all of the math. Dood needs approx 252 calories a day to maintain his weight, to get to his goal weight he needs approx 220 calories, what the vet and I discussed was to keep him between 235-245 calories a day. When we went lower than that (which is only like a couple bites) he retaliated and we'd rather he get a few more calories with his favourite foods then threaten a scary hunger strike again. This range varies due to the different flavours of his preferred brands (talk about a headache during the months searching for the right foods for him).

There is a great video on a lot of cat sites by Dr. Patricia Becker that gives a mathematic formula on calorie counting cat food!

Hope that helps a bit

Yes it does, thanks so much!