Free Feed or Scheduled Feeding

Rascal is eight months old, almost nine. I've been free feeding him with the dry and giving him wet food once a day. I was just thinking, should I keep on letting him when he wants, or start a scheduled feeding so he won't gain a lot of weight?

Also, when do I start feeding him adult formula?

When I first took in Ivo, she weighed 6 1/4 pounds. Now, she's 12. The vet was concerned that she would get really big at the rate she was putting on weight. So, I feed her 2/3c dry light hairball control daily, with about a third of a small can of wet in the morning and evening, which she only nibbles on.

My vet said to start feeding adult food at 1 year. I hope this helps a little.

I free feed and my two don't have any excessive weight gain. They eat what they need, but don't gorge themselves. Besides, I don't have to deal with the early morning "I'm a starving kitty" wake ups!

If I remember right, the rule of thumb is to start adult food at 1 year. Is this right??

Cleo is roughly 10 months old, and I've been free feeding her since I got her. She was literally half starved when I got her, so she ate and ate and ate some more for a while. While I'm still basically free feeding dry kitten food, I actually measured out what she was eating just to see how much food she goes through in a day--about 2/3 a cup of the dry, plus she'll eat two or three mouthfuls of canned Iams a couple of times a week.

The vet said I should start the adult food in September, as we're really guessing at her age. She's not big and probably never will be, and is still on the thin side, so even if she's really over a year old then, the extra nourishment probably won't translate into a tubbie cat.

We free feed all of our cats and only one comes close to being a bit over weight. I sometimes think that they are just like people, who can eat the same amounts and one will be heavier than the other. The only one we ever feed wet food to is Sandies Maine Coon, who gets half a small can twice a day. They need the extra nutrients because they are such a slow growing breed...ummmm I think that's it anyway..


*smiles*
Ken

I have always free fed all my cats (past and present) starting with dry kitten chow when they are very small. I always feed my cats dry food only with moist food as an occasional treat, and this has worked really well. I have never had a problem with a cat graining a lot of weight; they have all eaten just the right amount. I also start feeding adult formula when the cat is one year old.