I have two young cats trying to get over a bout of diarrhea, so I'm feeding them wet food exclusively, adding water to it, and leaving running water out (last week Pippin got dehydrated enough that it was necessary to take him in for subcutaneous fluids). The canned food is 100 calories per 3oz can, and the cats are both just over six pounds each (except Pippin who lost a lot of weight on the dry food). The way I understand it, they should be getting about two cans a day. I have no desire to overfeed them because my last cat was overweight and that could have contributed to her (timely but anguished) death.
I have some dry food that's not great, but it's never given them problems so it's okay in a pinch--but I don't want to risk dehydrating them when it's hard enough to get them to drink as it is. They always act like they're starving and cry for more even after an entire can, but Pippin will sometimes wander away before he's finished and with dry food they're content to leave it out. So I figure they're just interested in eating more without needing to eat more, but I don't want to find out later that it was legitimate distress.
What do you think? Am I feeding them enough, too much, etc.? Thanks in advance!
I have some dry food that's not great, but it's never given them problems so it's okay in a pinch--but I don't want to risk dehydrating them when it's hard enough to get them to drink as it is. They always act like they're starving and cry for more even after an entire can, but Pippin will sometimes wander away before he's finished and with dry food they're content to leave it out. So I figure they're just interested in eating more without needing to eat more, but I don't want to find out later that it was legitimate distress.
What do you think? Am I feeding them enough, too much, etc.? Thanks in advance!