free feed

I have just read the post with the poll about free feeding - and I noticed 2 things
1. most seem to give wet food in the morning and
2. most seem to free feed the dry food

my questions are
does it matter if they get wet food in the morning or the evening? I give them wet food at night not in the morning - I suppose it doesnt matter - but it just surprised me that they get that in the morning

and secondly - I dont free feed at all - does anyone know of any sites that discuss the free feeding idea? I dont know if this is something that I should consider or not.

They are both starving come mornings & nights and calling for their dinner - but they arent lacking for anything (I am sure Tipsy is getting fatter by the day!!!)
I find since they are indoor/ outdoor cats sometimes the only way to get them inside at night is to feed them. Once they are fed they dont go outside again (we have a cat curfew here so they must be inside by dusk). I would worry that if they were free fed then they wouldnt be so eager to come inside at night

sorry for the long winded post...

Dan, I do the same as you, I feed the wet food at night for their dinner as they come inside at around 5pm for it and stay in until 7am. I found that my cats ate much more than the recommended amount on the packet of dry food if free fed so they get one heaped cup in the morning and another at night. This is between 4 (5 at the moment) cats.

thanks Tania

I guess I just found it really curious because 99% of people were free feeding and was thinking "hmmm should I be doing that"
I dont really want to as its so hard to get Tipsy in at night sometimes so imagine if he wasnt hungry...

thanks - I have another question for you - so will pm you

I give Rosie and Sophie a tiny bit wet food for breakfast then the same amount in the evening, but they always have a bowl of dry each during the day.

They seem to look forward to the wet when i give them it, i don't know if it's because it's different to having dry kibbles all day?

I give wet at night because I am usually hustling in the morning to get out to work and have more time at night. And for those of mine that go outside during the day, it gets them back in at night. We have an entire ritual around it and if I'm not getting their food ready by 7PM, they all surround me and remind me (can you say meeeooooowwwwwweeeeeelllllllllll?) If by chance we miss the 7PM feeding (we do go out at night once in a great while), they are sure to keep me up at night to remind me what an evil mom I am.

Free feeding is easier when you have a lot of cats, but a lot harder if you have cats with special diets (young, old, or health impaired). I added the evening wet ritual when I started having this mix - special diet cats get their specific place for their evening meal and I ensure that they get their special food then. For those where diets were critical (like my CRF boy), he got special meals throughout the day to ensure he ate what he needed.

I give wet in the PM also because I don't have time in the morning. I'm in the process of switching brands now and then I'm going to feed 2 meals per day rather than free feed. I free feed but in measured amounts but some of my cats are still getting fat...I really need to better keep track of how much each cat is eating and I think scheduled feeding will make that possible.