Problems with essentially free-feeding?

Besides the potential for obesity anyway.

Sadie is my tiny adorable problem child. When I first got her I fully intended to feed her canned food until I could find a decent way to get her to eat a raw diet. She loved canned food! I had at least 6 different brands with various different flavours and I made sure she had something new to look forward to each day. This worked great for the first, I don't even know, maybe 6 months? Slowly but surely she stopped eating almost all of her canned food flavours and types. It was a slow decline, it started with pates, so we moved on to the chunkier foods, then on to the shredded chicken kinds until there was maybe 2-3 types left over that she will only eat a tiny portion of on the right days and at the magical right times.

So now she primarily eats dry food. It isn't ideal, but it is what it is.

She has gotten into the habit of eating the tiniest meals that I have ever seen a cat eat in my life. There are times she may eat as little as five individual pieces of cat food before walking away. Typically I sit with her while she eats (she will only eat in my room with me in it and the door closed, so I just spend time on my laptop until she's finished). It is a huge struggle to get her to eat enough food some days, so I do give in and feed her several times a day each day (probably anywhere from 4-10 times depending on the day). Even then, she's still a little on the thin side, especially after just recovering from surgery where I could only feed her her dreaded canned food for a full week.

Obviously with just having had surgery (to her mouth region especially) she has been to the vet. There wasn't anything that the vet felt was a red flag to her weird eating habits (besides obviously the blocked salivary gland, but that's been dealt with!). She still does eat, roughly, what she should in a day. There are days where she eats too little and days where she'll eat a bit more than she should, but I'm not sure what else to do at this point.

I'm just worried that eating frequently is going to have negative consequences. I know I've seen a lot of push for a few large meals a day rather than several small ones spread out over the course of a day. I do make sure to monitor how much food she is getting, so she isn't just eating as much as she wants all the time she wants it.

Here's a picture of Sadie to show off how much you can't tell how skinny she is:


Granted that was before her surgery, so she is slightly thinner looking now. Her hair is so crazy thick! She looks nothing like the cat I adopted a year ago who was supposedly fully grown! I just love those whiskers!  (also please ignore the dog snot prints all over the window, that is the best seat for all to watch birds from, including the terrier)

For the last 13 years we've fed our cats many mini meals a day - usually at least seven. The survivor of the two of them is (obviously) 13 now and has never been overweight. I work from home, and feed more or less on demand, but I keep track of quantities eaten to make sure I don't give more food over the day than is needed. Hope that makes sense.

What I don't do is free feed (as in leave food out all day).

My new girl gets slightly more regimented meals as she's still in her own room only. Even so, she's fed at least five times a day, and if she asks for food she gets it (she is very underweight though).

Hope some of that helps.

Your girl is gorgeous btw

Although I usually advocate for healthy canned or raw scheduled feeding, in the end the most important thing for your cat is to eat (no matter what or how often).

You are probably having a long road ahead of you until you find something that works for both of you - trying AGAIN different foods and textures, trying to figure out a suitable schedule.

Free feeding is a tough habit to break. Could you do 5-6 meals a day and then 3 or 4? Could the very small meals be a consequence of her mouth problems? Maybe she's having a hard time chewing or swallowing? Maybe her blocked salivary gland and the surgery changed the taste of the food for her?

In the end, I think your first goal is to have her eat the proper amount. After that, you can work on time feeding and then on the quality of the food.

My 2 babies are free fed dry food and I give them 1/4  (5.5ounce) can food daily (which I switch flavors every other day, pate only)  as a treat in the morning. They are not overweight in any way according to the vet. Both have recently been for checkups. 

This may be interesting / helpful:

"How Many Meals is Ideal?

According to the Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats by the Nutrition Research Council, domestic cats relying on their hunting skills in the wild typically eat 8 to 12 very small meals a day. But this usually isn't practical for our human schedules. Combining our schedules with their needs, most cats do well with two to three meals a day. Young kittens need to be fed more frequently: until they are older than four months, kittens’ stomachs are not large enough to accommodate three meals a day.

Meals for our cats do not need to be evenly spaced. Many find that before work, after work, and before bed works well, whatever that schedule is."

From this article http://www.thecatsite.com/a/transitioning-free-fed-kibble-kitties-to-timed-meals