What, how much, and how often do you feed your cats?

I've been giving my kitties a can of Wellness in the morning, then they munch on Wellness dry kitten food during the day. Should I split it up so they get a half can in the morning and half in the evening? Also, I ran out of canned food and have to give them fancy feast for a couple of days until I can make it into town for their regular food. Would they be better off just not having the canned food until then, or will it be fine for a couple of days? The closest pet store that sells a decent food is 40 minutes away. (I live out in the country, there's nothing closer).

Also I was just curious about everyone's feeding habits. What brand of food do you use? Wet or dry? Do you leave food out or feed them at specific times of the day?

When I was feeding my cat wet and dry food I fed him 1/2 can of wet food in the morning, with 1/6 cup dry and the same in the evening. He ate mostly Nulo turkey and chicken wet food and Origin dry.

Now he eats homemade raw, about 5-6 ounces per day, and is split in 3 meals.

My cat is 1-1/2 years old. Kittens should be pretty much free fed.

Oh! And Fancy Feast classic is just fine to feed them. In fact, if sometimes you are going to "have to" feed it, I would just include it as part of a regular rotation of wet food.

I second that. Fancy Feast is high protein, low carb, medium fat. It's a pretty good food for cats. The kibble is best fed in meals rather than letting them graze - unless they're young kittens whose tummies aren't big enough to eat enough while you're out at work or something?

I used to feed dry my cats grazed on and canned food morning and night. Then I realized feeding them dry was like feeding dry cereal, so I switched to all canned to establish the concept of "meal times." Then I transitioned them to homemade raw, because I felt they would be healthier on fresh food, just like people are. I feed three times a day: before work, after work, and before bed.

My adult cats get fed Blue Buffalo dry cat food. They get their bowls filled in the morning and that is enough for them since they do catch a lot of rodents when they are plentiful. During winter they get more if the bowls empty quickly. I don't keep food out at night in the garage because of raccoons and opossums.

My eleven week old kitten gets a variety of premium canned foods mixed in with some of the dry Blue Buffalo and water, since she wouldn't eat the dry kibble at first. She'll get weaned off of the canned food in a few months. I started her out with five to six feedings a day, enough to lick the bowl clean so there was no waste, and she is down to three feedings with bigger portions.

My 7 year old cat gets 1/8 cup dry (which is a mix of GO! and Nature's Variety Instinct Turkey and Duck as I am transitioning him over to Instinct-after 7 years of eating Go! He decided he didn't like the Go! Anymore) and 1/4 can of canned (Nature's Variety Instinct or homestyle stews, NV Pride, Weruva (no fish) or Almo Nature) twice a day. My other cat has crf and he gets 1/2 can three times a day. He gets a variety as he is the pickiest cat ever. Anything from Natural Balance limited ingredient foods, Wellness turkey or chicken, holistic selects, and the rx kidney diets.

I have a young cat (approximately 3) and a senior cat (approximately 14). Both of them eat grain free wet canned food given to them about 2-3x per day. The senior kitty was the first cat to make the switch to canned food.I switched as soon as I adopted him 6 months ago, because of his health problems. He eats the canned food voraciously and is very non-picky about brand. His health is much better on the wet food. He has lost needed weight, his coat is very shiny and soft, his bowel problems are much better, and he uses the litterbox.

After seeing what it did for my old kitty, I researched up on it and decided to transition my young cat to it too. 

I use a variety of brands. Some of my favorite are Wellness brand, 4 Health brand (Tractor Supply generic brand), Merrick, Tiki, etc.

I have some Taste of the Wild dry grain free cat food still around, but it's not really getting used, because my young kitty is pretty well transitioned off the dry food. So I use the dry food mainly to lure him back to the house if he gets out. (he's an escape artist)

I'm planning on fostering a cat soon and will put out the dry food for my foster cat and use it up. After that point, I don't plan on buying any more dry food.

My 5 year old cat eats Wysong Fundamentals dry food, 1/4 cup twice a day. He also eats a little wet food (a variety of brands) whenever he shows an interest in it, which is not as often as I'd like.

My other cat is 17 and eats only wet food now, because of her kidney problems. I feed her whenever she asks for food during the day, and leave a bowl of wet food for her to eat overnight as well. She needs frequent meals because she doesn't eat very much at a time.

I try to give them a lot of variety in the wet food because they're both picky about it and get bored easily. They eat Weruva, Tiki, Wellness, Nutro Natural Choice, and sometimes a cheaper brand like Iams or Friskies to keep costs down a bit.

My  3 cats eat canned only. They eat twice a day. The girls get 2 3oz cans a day. Sometimes they eat all of it, sometimes not but it is available. Henry eats (or is offered i should say) 1 5.5 oz can and 1 3 oz can a day. They also get supplements. A probiotic and some l lysine in one meal a day- usually dinner. They get a variety of foods including

Friskies pates

Fancy Feast pates

Nature's Variety Instinct

Pride by Instinct

Nutro Natural Choice

Soulistic

Merrick Pates

I do have a bag of dry food (kibble) that I use more as treats in place of Temptations and such but it's not a regular part of their diet. It's Nature's Variety Limited Ingredient  Diet turkey. 

I suppose I'm plying my cats then: I generally feed each of them 1 and a half 3 oz can a day (they eat three times a day half a can each) plus dry food on request (approximatively 20 grams which should be about 0,7 oz, no idea of how many cups it is. I use a kicthen scale when I want them to lose weight, otherwise I go by eye in making the doses). Since they get bored very easily about food, I use to alternate several brands (probably the only ones you might know are Almo Nature and Applaws), while I generally use Royal Canin as dry food.
At the moment both the kitties are on an hypollargenic diet and I think I will change their dry food once they are done with it.

I feed Sawyer wet and dry.  I plan to have him just on wet when he is an adult...but he likes to graze throughout the day, and my work schedule doesn't work out to be home for feedings of just wet.  I feed him wet in the AM and in the PM, approx 1/3 of a 3 oz can each feeding.  He eats Science Diet Indoor Kitten at the moment for dry food, I am going to switch him to Hills Ideal Balance Kitten soon.  For wet he mainly eats Science Diet Kitten, either the turkey or the liver & chicken on rotation, but occasionally gets a can of Blue Wilderness, Wellness or Authority.  If I could afford to have him on a better food I would, but since I work at a Vet Clinic I get Hills at a very good price so I can't justify spending a lot on a higher quality food when I can't afford it at the moment.  

My herd free feeds on Blue Buffalo Multi Cat (they eat about 2.25 cups between the 6 of them daily) and they split a 5.5 oz can (about 1 tbsp each) of Core Wellness or Merrick before bed.  I put the wet food into play so that my herpes girl could get her Lysine, but the little sad noises from the others when I was feeding Jezebel - you know, the "I'm starving" and "don't you love me too?" noises - soon had them all getting a portion.

Hubby is in charge of treats - they get freeze dried chicken in the morning (just a couple of bites) - thrown, so Symphony (my poly/profile pic) can "hunt" them down, while the others just position themselves to catch them as they fly by.  Greenies and other dental/crunchies are hand fed (usually on the bed) just before lights out.

I feed wet only and do two timed feedings with evening snacks of freeze dried chicken purebites, I buy dog size bag. I rotate 10 to 12 different foods. I rotate textures, proteins, and brands. All are grain free. I feed Merrick duck or chicken pate, pride rabbit, red barn tricky chicky, tiki gourmet carnivore multi pack, Nutro natural chunky chicken loaf, fancy feast classic chicken & liver or chopped grill. Iams purrfect delicacies turkey & liver,

bonepicker said:

I feed wet only and do two timed feedings with evening snacks of freeze dried chicken purebites, I buy dog size bag. I rotate 10 to 12 different foods. I rotate textures, proteins, and brands. All are grain free. I feed Merrick duck or chicken pate, pride rabbit, red barn tricky chicky, tiki gourmet carnivore multi pack, Nutro natural chunky chicken loaf, fancy feast classic chicken & liver or chopped grill. Iams purrfect delicacies turkey & liver,

Click to expand...

My cats love chicken and liver, but also eat duck, rabbit and turkey and tilapia and tuna and sea bass