HELP! How should I be feeding my cat?

Hello, I'm sure this has been asked many times before but I'm a complete newbie as I have just adopted my cat, Kira. There are so many opinions about how to feed a cat, what to feed a cat, when to feed a cat etc, and I don't know what's best for him. 

Currently, I am feeding him both wet food and dry food.  The dry food is Hills Sensitive Skin and Stomach and the wet food is Tiki Cat Succulent Chicken (I am also mixing in other brands of wet food so he doesn't become accustomed to only one brand of wet food). Currently, I am free feeding the dry food, and giving him the wet food 3 times a day. (One can split between 3 meals). 

1. What are your thoughts on the current method of feeding my cat?

2. Should I stop free feeding completely and switch to a scheduled meal plan?

3. If I transition to a scheduled plan, which combination of dry/wet food would be best for him?

For example:

A. kibble in the morning, wet food at night or vise versa

B.scheduled meal times with kibble/wet food brought out together

Any tips would be highly appreciated. Thanks for reading! 

-Jason

Well I've never heard of those brands so I can't tell you much on the nutritional value of the food. When I got my first cat three months ago I was worried about the same thing. I have settled with giving her half if can of Purina's wet food in the morning and at night and leaving out halve a cup of dry food to nibble on if she gets hungry in-between. Im a teacher and don't always get home before dinner time and this routine works well with my cat and myself. I will tell you what my vet told me. Purina's is the best food you can give a cat, I don't know if that's true or not but that's the only thing I give her.

The Tiki Cat brand of food is fine. Just don't feed the seafood ones (of any brand really) too often. The Hills dry food is filled with nothing but junk. Is there a reason why you are feeding that particular formula? If your cat has a food allergy / sensitivity, there are better qualtiy limited ingredient foods out there both in dry and canned.

More canned food in teh diet would be better for your cat. Option B seems better if you can limit the amount of dry food your cat eats. Think of the dry food more of a treat or snack (or a side dish for a Human equivalent) than an actual meal.

Thanks for the replies! The reason I'm feeding him the Hills dry food is because that's what the previous owners first fed him when they rescued him. Maybe I can gradually switch to a different brand of kibble in the future? What do you recommend? Kira is 4 years old now and it seems that he only likes chicken and turkey, so no worries about feeding him seafood flavors. What are your thoughts on leaving a specific portion of kibble out every day, and schedule feeding the wet food? That way, I can control how much kibble he's eating and won't have to worry about him getting hungry in-between meals or if I won't make it home in time for his meal. Thanks again.

Yes, you can gradually switch the dry food to something better. If the cat doesn't have any food allergy / sensitivity then you don't need to feed a limited ingredient food. It's possible that the previous owners just grabbed whatever brand of food at the store that sounded good to them and since the cat ate it, that's what they continued feeding.

I know that Orijen is an often recommended brand here on TCS if some dry food has to be fed. I thougt I saw somewhere here onthe forum that Orijen was changing their formulas for the foods sold in the US to something lesser quality? Personally I like the Nature's Variety Instinct brand of food.

A small measured amount of dry food left out for snacking daily is ok. Like maybe 1/4 cup or less. You can schedule feed the canned food. A programmable timed feeder works great for this. I like the Petsafe 5 compartment feeder.

A healthier alternative to regular dry food is freeze dried and air dried raw foods. Both can be fed dry instead of beign rehydrated as the package may instruct. They're crunchy just like dry food but not quite so hard.

It's ok if a cat feels some hunger pangs. They'll just be very eager to eat when you get home   Cats don't need to have a full tummy all the time