How many meals per day for your cat?

[cloud_shade]

Odo gets two meals per day, both canned. He gets the first one shortly after I wake up, and the second one when I get home from work.

Willow is free-fed dry food on the top of my dresser where Odo can't get to it. She also munches on his canned food a bit, and sometimes I give her a small amount of that as well (if I gave her more, it would just go to waste).

 

[jean44]

All of my kitties get two meals of wet food per day. They also get a snack of dry just before bedtime. The all wet diet is recent. I've been using it to hide Clavamox for Stumper and based on the research I've done wet is better for diabetic cats. Eric is being evaluated for possible diabetes so I want to anything possible to help his blood glucose level

I stopped free feeding dry when Eric went on C/D six years ago. Now he is off C/D due to possible diabetes (blood test Wednesday) but Kolohe is overweight and would nibble dry all day if it was available.

 

[sarahp]

Our girls get fed from the automatic dispenser twice a day, but it generally lasts them through to the next meal, so it's the equivalent of being free fed. They also get a bit of wet at night time.

 

[urbantigers]

3 meals a day here. Jaffa has 3 meals of wet and Mosi has 2 wet (one with a bit of dry sprinkled on top) and 1 of dry. But he'll be on all wet soon.

They get fed at about 7am, 5pm and 11pm. At the moment they're actually having 4 meals as supper has been put back (Jaffa has a vomiting problem if he goes too long without food and was struggling to last from supper til breakfast) but they still expect something at their old supper time so are currently having a small snack of dry at about 9pm then their proper supper at about 11pm. I intend to get rid of that and have supper at about 10-10.30 pm instead.

 

[jellybella]

We have 3 scheduled meals. 2 wet (or raw), 1 dry. I would love to be able to leave food out (Stanley is a grazer), but Bella has to lick every bowl clean and she vomits if she eats too much too fast.

The dry does move slower than the wet. My husband puts out 1/3 cup for each when he leaves for work and 7 hours later when I come home there's usually a few pieces of dry in each dish. Stan is such a dry food addict, I have to sprinkle 2-3 pieces of kibble on the wet food to get his nose in the bowl.

 

[silentnate]

Radar gets two wet meals and a limited supply of dry food whilst Sonic gets one wet meal and a limited amount of dry. Sonic is still not quite used to wet whilst Radar is generally just a pig

 

[sicycat]

Free feed dry food and 2 small wet food meals a day

 

[beandip]

Originally Posted by mzjazz2u

I feed Evo canned 2 times a day and leave a little dry out all the time. I worry about Jake not eating enough. And none of my cats are overweight so they must do ok with it!

This is basically what I have done for quite awhile, and I have a little heart patient (Precious) that I worry about (slightly underweight). They always gobbled up the canned so I've been trying to offset some of the dry with more canned. So far no weight problems - except for Sir Leopold. I thought the dry didn't agree with him much (he doesn't have very many teeth) and he would vomit too much for my taste. So since I've upped the wet (6 weeks ago) he has gained 3/4 of a pound!! I guess I can attribute part of that to the lack of vomiting, but wow...so I'm trying to reevaluate things a bit. Everyone else has maintained their weight...well 4 of them are still growing kittens...but no problems with the other 3 adults so far.

Originally Posted by jane_vernon

My kits get unlimited dry food, and one wet meal a day in the morning - Thinking of phasing out the wet though, cause they don't really seem to eat it that much and I was recommended by a vet that a dry diet was better than wet.

The various opinions on that (from vets) is maddening, isn't it!!

Originally Posted by white cat lover

Twitch & Lily have unlimited dry & wet 2 meals 2x a day.

Dorian & Ophelia have unlimited dry & wet 1x a day.

Molly has unlimited dry.

Damita gets her yummy mixture or raw/canned in 4-6 meals a day.

Maybe I should have made the poll multiple choice for multiple cats.

That's quite a schedule you have there!

Originally Posted by sharky

One eats dry free feed about 1 cup a day .. plus whatever raw and canned I can get her to eat
one eats about 6-10 meals a day of raw canned or homemade

the dog eats 2-5 meals per day raw canned homemade and has some dry out for snacks

I think 6-10 tiny meals is probably what Leopold wants. The problem is isolating him without creating mutiny!!

 

[littleraven7726]

i put out a measured amount of dry food 2x a day. they can nibble on that. until it's gone. they don't always eat it all. some days they barely touch kibble and only want wet.

they get 3 wet meals a day. one before work, one after work, and one in the evening.

 

[beandip]

Originally Posted by cloud_shade

Willow is free-fed dry food on the top of my dresser where Odo can't get to it. She also munches on his canned food a bit, and sometimes I give her a small amount of that as well (if I gave her more, it would just go to waste).

That's a thought (the high feeding place). Leopold is still getting into the dry, not much, but enough. He doesn't seem to like it but he nibbles on it when he thinks he is desperate. The washer and dryer are about 4.5 feet tall. Leopold definitely can't make that jump, but I think all the kittens can. I'd have to make sure the skinny one can, though. I worry about her getting enough.

Originally Posted by Jean44

All of my kitties get two meals of wet food per day. They also get a snack of dry just before bedtime. The all wet diet is recent. I've been using it to hide Clavamox for Stumper and based on the research I've done wet is better for diabetic cats. Eric is being evaluated for possible diabetes so I want to anything possible to help his blood glucose level

I stopped free feeding dry when Eric went on C/D six years ago. Now he is off C/D due to possible diabetes (blood test Wednesday) but Kolohe is overweight and would nibble dry all day if it was available.

I'm trying to lean on the wet more. If you don't mind me asking, how many cans (ounces) of wet are you going through per day? Your fur family is almost the same size as mine...so I'm curious.

 

[beandip]

Originally Posted by urbantigers

3 meals a day here. Jaffa has 3 meals of wet and Mosi has 2 wet (one with a bit of dry sprinkled on top) and 1 of dry. But he'll be on all wet soon.

They get fed at about 7am, 5pm and 11pm. At the moment they're actually having 4 meals as supper has been put back (Jaffa has a vomiting problem if he goes too long without food and was struggling to last from supper til breakfast) but they still expect something at their old supper time so are currently having a small snack of dry at about 9pm then their proper supper at about 11pm. I intend to get rid of that and have supper at about 10-10.30 pm instead.

I've found myself going from 2 meals, to 3 and sometimes 4 - because of Leopold. He has a similar problem to Jaffa. Like I said, when he was on mainly dry food, he would vomit pretty often. With mainly wet now, he hardly ever vomits. BUT - I've noticed that not too long after he starts begging I see him licking his lips like he's nauseated. If I go ahead and let him eat a little, he doesn't vomit - AT ALL. If I make him wait, then when it's finally time to eat he will vomit later. It's become very predictable...but since I've catered to his 'needs' to avoid the vomiting, he's getting chunky!! I'm going to ask the vet.

Originally Posted by JellyBella

We have 3 scheduled meals. 2 wet (or raw), 1 dry. I would love to be able to leave food out (Stanley is a grazer), but Bella has to lick every bowl clean and she vomits if she eats too much too fast.

The dry does move slower than the wet. My husband puts out 1/3 cup for each when he leaves for work and 7 hours later when I come home there's usually a few pieces of dry in each dish. Stan is such a dry food addict, I have to sprinkle 2-3 pieces of kibble on the wet food to get his nose in the bowl.

I know the feeling, Beandip is a dry food addict. He comes running at mealtimes...but I think he just likes the ritual. I put the canned food in front of him and he just looks at it. He'd probably eat the whole can if I hand fed him

. Usually if I offer him a bite on my finger he'll stay and eat a bit more on his own...but he just acts like he doesn't care for it. I've been trying some premade raw out on him and fortunatlely, he loves it! So that's progress for my dry food addict.

 

[gingersmom]

I free feed dry and give a wet meal for supper in the evenings.

 

[jcat]

Jamie gets a measured amount of dry food (his favorite) at 5 a.m., and canned food at 5 p.m..

 

[goldenkitty45]

Two meals a day - morning and evening with a few snacks of cheese, etc. during the inbetween times.

Charlie did get some extra during the day when we first got him - but he's 6 months old now and he steals some of Ling's food anyway....lol (growing boy I guess).

 

[bedtime_bear]

Free feed all day of dry food - and usually I give them wet food every second day. They used to get just dry food, but since I've started giving them wet food the're coats are a lot shinier and they seem to like it better this way

 

[batgirl2good]

Humble gets 3/4 cup of dry food to lat all day. Usually he does not eat it all.

Shenandoah gets 1 small can of Fancy Feast a day, spread out over 2 meals.

He also has access to dry food.

 

[laureen227]

since i'm gone all day, i free feed dry kibble [chicken soup brand]. Java & Pixel eat only that. Cable & Chip eat it, too, but also get meow mix wet in the evenings. same for the ferals.

 

[mirinae]

My guys get fed twice a day, a mix of wet and dry both times (carefully measured out according to the vet's instructions, because Oz needs to lose weight and Spike, with his high energy levels, needs all the calories he can get). I'd love to be able to free-feed my kitties, but Oz eats whatever you put in front of him (he used to be a stray and we can't get it into his thick head that there will always be food, so he wolfs it all down right away in case he's never, ever fed again). I think Spike would also eat everything you put in front of him, but only because he knows that if he doesn't eat it, Oz will.

 

[tari]

Mine get two meals of wet food a day, plus a small "bedtime snack" of dry food.

 

[jessy]

Morning and evening, and when my s.o. either goes to or comes home from work depending on which shift he's on. Then whenever else she wants if we're around.