Feeding : Scheduled, or Open?

So, with our herd of nine now, I'm going through more food of course. I'm not sure it would affect how MUCH they eat, but it got me thinking about what differences there might be (pros and cons) between just continuing to let them open feed (it's there whenever they want it), or setting up some kind of scheduled feeding times.

I'd like peoples opinions if you have a moment. Personal experience and anything you know would be a direct, or indirect effect from either way are all desired.

POLL: Please use the poll to select which you currently use as well. Thank you!

I personally feed dry 24/7 and 1/2 a 3oz can in the AM and in the PM which works perfectly for my Loki!

I free feed Dori dry Innova Light and I give her 1.5 oz of canned Merrick in the mornings when I wake up.

I free feed everyone who is free in the house. If I have feral kittens in a crate, they are fed canned food twice a day and some dry food at night. I make sure they are getting plenty of food to support healthy growth, of course, but it helps to facilitate taming if they are eager for food when mealtime comes.

I'm pretty worried also about putting in wet food, because of just how much it would take to feed everyone. On occasion we let them all split 2 or 3 cans of tuna spread out on a plate... but daily wet food feedings would get to be very costly I'm afraid. We already go through about $50 of dry food each month.

What do you guys spend on food per month? For how many cats? How old are they?

1 cat - $50 - 60.00 a month on wet and dry - age 5

I free feed dry, and put 4 6 oz cans of wet down twice weekly.
4 cans between 6 cats seems to be perfect, all of it is gone in 2 hours, otherwise, it'd get tossed after 2 hours.

well, I am just doing an open feeding with Purina Indoor cat forumla. We get the huge $10 bags (about 5 at a time), and that takes us through a month or so with the 9 cats. I guess I'll keep it open but I'm considering doing something timed because of our recent situations where some of them have been heading out of the house when they find a weak screen frame. I figure if I have sometime timed, it'll be more incentive for them to show up at home safely (stay close by), if/when they get out...

Thoughts on that scenario?

I feed raw so it is scheduled (several times per day). In the wild they would only eat what they catch so they would not normally have food laying out all day. In the wild they would actually only have very small portions several times a day (a mouse or two) and some days they would not catch anything. When I first started feeding them a more natural diet they ate a lot (to make up for nutrients they lacked) but now they don't eat very much and it's much closer to the amount the'd eat naturally in the wild.

Originally Posted by Hell603

1 cat - $50 - 60.00 a month on wet and dry - age 5

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Yikes! that's a lot!! mine costs less then that and I have 5 cats. I feed them meat only!

Tried switching very slowely him to raw food - BUT would not touch it.

It's $20.00 for dry the rest is wet - he loves the Science Diet wet but the problems is he dosen't do left overs from the AM (spoiled brat). So I have to open a new can 2x per day.

You know what I spend more money by accident and don't know where it goes - so why not on him!!

Fixed feeding works best for me. One of my cats is a glutton, and if I free-fed he'd soon turn into a cat-blimp.

Originally Posted by Hell603

Tried switching very slowely him to raw food - BUT would not touch it.

It's $20.00 for dry the rest is wet - he loves the Science Diet wet but the problems is he dosen't do left overs from the AM (spoiled brat). So I have to open a new can 2x per day.

You know what I spend more money by accident and don't know where it goes - so why not on him!!

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Yeah especially older cats they get fixated on dry food. Have you tried mixing raw in with the wet food? Start out with just a tiny bit and add a tiny bit more each day and use less wet each day.
Also if your cat tends to waste part of his wet meal just serve him 1/2 a can of the wet and refridgerate the rest and serve him the other 1/2 at his second serving.

Originally Posted by bengalbabe

Yeah especially older cats they get fixated on dry food. Have you tried mixing raw in with the wet food? Start out with just a tiny bit and add a tiny bit more each day and use less wet each day.
Also if your cat tends to waste part of his wet meal just serve him 1/2 a can of the wet and refridgerate the rest and serve him the other 1/2 at his second serving.

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Oh and I think at first I would cook the meat and then cook it less and less untill they were eating raw. You might be able to trick him into it that way too.

I voted "open" because our four free-feed on dry food, but they also get moist food on a schedule, early morning when I get up and again at mid-afternoon.

well, i do a combination of the 2. the guys get "free fed" their dry in 2 measured feedings of 1/8 cup in their 3 bowls per day. they also get 1-6oz can of food split 3 ways in the morning. then 2 feedings of 1-3oz cans split 3 ways in the evening. (we make it one feeding in the evening for petsitters)

my cost per month varies. we use the big bag of sensible choice chicken meal & rice and i just bought a new bag...15 lbs for 25.99+ tax. i imagine it will last around 2 months again (i can't remember exactly how long it's been since i bought the last bag, that we are still finishing up). the canned food really varies in price. last time we lucked out and got at least a month's worth of pro plan at $0.29 per can. i try to catch the fancy feast/authority/iams/nutro natural (i flavor) on sale too. i feed a variety because one gets bored with flavors...and i would rather do the variety than have one cat eating mostly dry. FF is usually around $0.40-0.45 per can...authority is $0.55 per can...nutro i think is the most expensive of what we buy for canned.

I voted Open, but Maya has dry food out 24/7, I feed her half a can(those little ones) in the morning and evening. She usually eats half of the canned food I give her, takes a short break and then finishes it. Some times I give her just a spoonful of canned food at lunch time if she wants it.(little spoon). She doesn't eat much of the dry food .

I voted open: The dry food is always out, the wet he gets one pouch once a day when I get home from work, on weekends sometimes I treat him to two (one in the a.m., one during his regular time)

I was just calculating how much I spend on Dori's food. If I buy a big bag of dry Innova Light for $16.99 it lasts about 5 weeks. She goes through 1/2 small can of Merrick every morning and they cost $0.99. Sooooo.... I guess that comes out to approx. $25 a month. Wow she's cheap

Dry food is offered 24/7 Canned is given once in the AM