How much is too much food at one time for an IBD cat?

I was hoping I could get some help trying to determine how much food my cat can safely eating one sitting to ensure he is not over-eating. I work and sleep for part of the day and there isn't always someone around to care for the cat so I need to leave food out for him. When I sleep or go to work I leave 42 grams (1.5 ox) of food on a plate and then the same in each half of a double automated feeder. He would get 42 grams which would have to last for 4 hours and then he would get another 42 grams after 2 hours and then two hours later I would be either home or awake. While i am home he gets a fork full at a time and gets as much as he wants.

As an IBD cat he weighs about 7 lbs and was 10 - 11 lbs as a normal adult cat. Scratchy (my cat) eats roughly 3 - 6 tins of 3oz cat food a day and barely puts on an ounce so the vet has recommended allowing him to eat as much as he wants so he can maintain his weight. Over-eating food in a sitting is bad and he already has really bad flare ups where he is throwing up or having bad stomach craps/attacks so I don't want to make it worse by giving him too much at one time.

Do you think I am giving him the chance to eat too much at once (he will sit there and eat it all sometimes and I am not always there to see that he doesn't) and causing his stomach to be upset or should he be able to handle this?

This is the thread I started for Scratchy to go over some of his issues: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/273903/...creatic-renal-failure-arthritic-geriatric-cat

I feed my IBD kitties (I have two of them) 3-4 times a day, about 2 oz per meal of wet food.  But they also have a dry food free feeder.  They don't eat much out of it, but it's there if they get hungry during the day.  The best thing I've done for their throwing up issues is to give them slippery elm bark syrup every morning.  Jake, who was vomiting every day, now rarely does.  And Molly's diarrhea is practically nonexistent .  I know it's the SEB.

Personally, I don't think feeding him 1.5 oz every 2 to 4 hours is too much, but it's really hard to know until you try it.  Can you do this one day when you are home to see what happens....whether it upsets his stomach or not. 

Thanks for the replies, I have already been feeding him this amount but he still throws up a lot so I want to rule out as much as I could to get to the bottom of this. The slippery elm sounds like the ticket so as long as it doesn't block the absorption of the meds he is on it I may try it. Because he eats huge amounts of food and barely maintains weight I also have to make sure the slippery elm won't reduce the amount of food his body will take in.

The slippery elm should be given well apart from any meds.  I give it to my kitties in the morning with no meds.  They don't get any meds or supplements until I get home in the afternoon, so there are about 6 hours between getting the SEB and getting their meds/supplements.   Everything I've read says give SEB 2-4 hours before any meds or supplements.

Right now Scratchy gets pain meds first thing in the morning with his Pepsin. When I get home I give him his Budesonide and then he is good for about 2 hours when he gets his pain meds. He also gets Cerenia every second day and I give it to him either early in the morning or when I get home. His pain meds are easy because they are absorbed in the mouth so I just have to give them 20 minutes before the Pepsin or the SEB.

I could give him his pain meds then wait 20 minutes and then give him his SEB and leave it at that for the day. When I get home in the mid afternoon he can get his Budesonide and Cerenia which can be given together. Around sub-q time he gets his evening pain meds so again wait 20 or so minutes and then a second dose of SEB and he is done for the day.

He really needs some kind of change so antacid and a different probiotic other than FortaFlora. Thanks again for the input.

You may find that Scratchy needs less antacid when he starts the SEB.  I have Pepcid for Travis but he really doesn't need it any more.  

betsygee said:

 
You may find that Scratchy needs less antacid when he starts the SEB.  I have Pepcid for Travis but he really doesn't need it any more.  

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I'm glad you mentioned that, I actually thought SEB was a complete replacement for it.

That Guy said:

 
I'm glad you mentioned that, I actually thought SEB was a complete replacement for it.

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Well, it may be.  Every cat is different, you'll have to see how it works for him.