Recommended Feeding Schedule

[TeaMatcha]

Hi all,

What's the feeding schedule that you have set for your cats? Will appreciate if any of you could share it.

Usually my mom feed my 10 months old cat breakfast at around 5am ~ 5.30am before she heads out to work. Breakfast will be Wellness Tiny Tasters Pouch. For lunch, usually we will give her some kibbles around 12pm. For dinner, it'll be one canned of wet food and she will usually have it around 6pm or 5.30pm and she'll finish half of it. Around 11pm, she'll meow for dry food and we'll give her some.

However, since 27th January onwards, I noticed that there's some changes in her behaviour. She's sleeping more, and whenever we gave her food around 6pm, she will either doesn't want it at all or she will eat abit and walked off and proceed to sleep. She will wake up around 10pm, and I'll give her the remaining amount of food that was kept in the fridge (of course I heated it up ). And, magically she will eat it all! She'll eat it as if she's really hungry.

She will used to meow for food when she's younger but not recently.

I was planning to bring her to the vet but it doesn't seems like she's sick. When she's awake in the morning or late noon, she will be really active if we're playing with her. She does eat her breakfast and lunch well though. It's the dinner time that's really stressing me out.

Is it okay for the schedule to be like this?

Breakfast - 5am ~ 5.30am (wet food)
Lunch - 12pm (kibbles)
Dinner - 10pm (wet food)

OR

Breakfast - 5am ~ 5.30pm (wet food)
Lunch - 12pm (kibbles)
Dinner - 6pm ~ 7pm (half canned of wet food)
Supper - 10pm ~ 11pm (half canned of wet food)

I'm so stressing over this. Whenever she's not taking a bite of her food, I'll have this anxiousness and I'll start to worried that she's sick and it's really stressing me out.

 

[LTS3]

Cat's eating habits tend to change a bit as they reach a year old. Cold winter weather may mean more time sleeping, too. If your cat is otherwise acting fine and is eating fine, I wouldn't worry about it. Whatever feeding schedule works for you and your cat's appetite is fine 4 meals a day seems better than 3 times a day. It's too long of a time gap between lunch and the one dinner.

I feed raw so my cats' schedule is different from those who eat canned or dry. The cats get breakfast, about 12 hours later they get dinner. One cat may want a post-dinner snack about 2.5 hours later. If he gets that snack, he also gets one before bedtime. If he doesn't want a post-dinner snack, then he just gets it before bedtime. The other cat usually gets a bedtime snack but lately hasn't wanted one.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I feed my cats wet food three times a day. One of my cats mainly eats his "lunch" and that's the only meal I can count on him eating . Every cat is different in how they eat, etc. Like humans, some cats prefer to graze and some like to eat their entire meal in one sitting. You'd think if you just fed them three meals per day they would get the hint and eat when they were served, but not all of them will do that.

If your cat likes the four times a day service, that's what I would do. My schedule is 8:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and 10:15 p.m., then a couple of treats at bedtime. My cat who often only eats lunch started waking me up in the middle of the night to eat, so now, sadly, I have given in to him and keep a bowl of freeze dried raw in a little cubby above my head that only he can get to. Hey, a girls gotta sleep! I was so worried about him getting too thin that I gave in and now I have created a monster

 

[TeaMatcha]

Thank you mrsgreenjeens and LTS3 for your reply.

Just an update that I brought her to the vet today. The doctor examine her stomach and she said she my cat doesn't seems to have any tenderness and everything is great since she's pooping and peeing well. No fever as well.

Doctor calculated the amounts of calories my cat intakes each day as well and it's within the calories she needed. She gained weight too. There's some gingivitis on her gum but it's getting better than last time round.

Doctor did mentioned that cats have the tendency to sleep more and have lesser appetite during hot weather. I lived in Singapore and the current weather here will usually be 32 degree.

Therefore, the doctor recommended me to spread out the feeding time and reduce the feeding from four to three times a day. Breakfast will be 5am, lunch will be 2pm and dinner will be at 10pm. That's the timeline I got after asking her for a recommended timeline. She did mentioned that as she's reaching one year old, she will gradually decrease her frequency of food intake and will sleep more.

And, she suggested that perhaps I can give more kibbles if that's what my cat preferred as she said that some cat grow up to like kibbles more than wet food and there's other cats that's the opposite of it.

I guess I'll keep the to recommended schedule and play around with it. Perhaps some days breakfast will be kibbles and some days will be wet food. But ultimately, I wish she'll have two meals that consists of wet food and one meal of kibbles.

 

[vansX2]

Hi all,

What's the feeding schedule that you have set for your cats? Will appreciate if any of you could share it.

Usually my mom feed my 10 months old cat breakfast at around 5am ~ 5.30am before she heads out to work. Breakfast will be Wellness Tiny Tasters Pouch. For lunch, usually we will give her some kibbles around 12pm. For dinner, it'll be one canned of wet food and she will usually have it around 6pm or 5.30pm and she'll finish half of it. Around 11pm, she'll meow for dry food and we'll give her some.

However, since 27th January onwards, I noticed that there's some changes in her behaviour. She's sleeping more, and whenever we gave her food around 6pm, she will either doesn't want it at all or she will eat abit and walked off and proceed to sleep. She will wake up around 10pm, and I'll give her the remaining amount of food that was kept in the fridge (of course I heated it up ). And, magically she will eat it all! She'll eat it as if she's really hungry.

She will used to meow for food when she's younger but not recently.

I was planning to bring her to the vet but it doesn't seems like she's sick. When she's awake in the morning or late noon, she will be really active if we're playing with her. She does eat her breakfast and lunch well though. It's the dinner time that's really stressing me out.

Is it okay for the schedule to be like this?

Breakfast - 5am ~ 5.30am (wet food)
Lunch - 12pm (kibbles)
Dinner - 10pm (wet food)

OR

Breakfast - 5am ~ 5.30pm (wet food)
Lunch - 12pm (kibbles)
Dinner - 6pm ~ 7pm (half canned of wet food)
Supper - 10pm ~ 11pm (half canned of wet food)

I'm so stressing over this. Whenever she's not taking a bite of her food, I'll have this anxiousness and I'll start to worried that she's sick and it's really stressing me out.

I generally Put down dry food when I get up in the morning . No set Schedule of getting up. Usually the Younger cat is interested in being feed. I alternative morning Feedings between wet and dry food. My older Cat sleeps most of the day in bed. I continue to put down more food when they ask.

 

[Babypinkweeb]

Sometimes cats may change their schedule. When I adopted my second cat he would eat twice a day and clean his plate quickly. Now he would eat a bit and then finish it later. I feed him wet food only. He gets his food when I wake up 8-10am and dinner 12 hours later. He eats his dinner better than breakfast (he eats a bit and then finishes it when he wakes up in afternoon).

My older cat is a grazer and eats dry only (I've tried to fix both but nope) so I measure out his meal for the 24 hours and feed him at night so he doesn't throw tantrum every morning for breakfast.

When it's the hotter days in the summer and AC isn't blasting, they do lose their appetite a lot more. But if they are healthy and hydrated, small eating changes are not the end of the world.

 

[catapault]

Domino and Mr Poe are 11 year old neutered male cats. In the morning they each get half of a 3 ounce can of Tiny Tiger pate style food or Fancy Feast if TT is unavailable from Chewy's. Then 3/4 of a 3 ounce can for lunch, 3/4 of a 3 ounce can for dinner, and 3/4 of a 3 ounce can at bedtime. A little water is used to rinse the can and spooned over the food.

That adds up to 2 3/4 cans / 8.25 ounces per cat per day. They are at a good weight, not fat.

Eager eaters, they clean their dishes PDQ

 

[vince]

Mine all eat when I eat. That way, I get a little freedom from their begging. They also get a snack of some kind once or twice a day, usually a cat treat or a chance to "wash my dishes."

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

They also get a snack of some kind once or twice a day, usually a cat treat or a chance to "wash my dishes."

That made my day. Thanks for the laugh!

 

[TeaMatcha]

Mine all eat when I eat. That way, I get a little freedom from their begging. They also get a snack of some kind once or twice a day, usually a cat treat or a chance to "wash my dishes."

This is the perfect feeding schedule I wished that my cat will be the same too. But she's really picky, especially towards wet food.

She just turn her nose up at her usual favourite food. Guess it's not that flavorful for her anymore on to another quest to finding out what she likes now

 

[vansX2]

This is the perfect feeding schedule I wished that my cat will be the same too. But she's really picky, especially towards wet food.

She just turn her nose up at her usual favourite food. Guess it's not that flavorful for her anymore on to another quest to finding out what she likes now

Perhaps you should let the picky cat starve awhile. Then they won't be so picky. They will be happy when their finally fed.

 

[Maurey]

Mine eat when I eat, with an extra meal before bed so I don’t have to rush to feed them in the morning.

Approx meal time range
9:00 - 9:30 Normal meal / breakfast
13:00 - 15:00 Small snack / lunch
18:30 - 19:30 Normal meal / dinner
21:00 - 22:00 Normal meal / supper (trying to move this later in the evening, but cats say no lol)

 

[TeaMatcha]

Mine eat when I eat, with an extra meal before bed so I don’t have to rush to feed them in the morning.

Approx meal time range
9:00 - 9:30 Normal meal / breakfast
13:00 - 15:00 Small snack / lunch
18:30 - 19:30 Normal meal / dinner
21:00 - 22:00 Normal meal / supper (trying to move this later in the evening, but cats say no lol)

That's a really nice schedule there! My cat just doesn't seems to be motivated with food since young. The only food/treats that can make her go crazy is CIAO.

Do you mind to share the grams/types of food you feed your cat?

I gave mine 50grams of Wellness Tiny Tasters Pouch in the morning around 5.30am ~ 6pm, lunch will usually be 10 grams of kibbles (unless I'm home, I'll play with her before giving her 80grams of canned food), dinner wil be 80 grams of canned food (which she doesn't finish at all).

She doesn't finished up her breakfast wet food and lunch. We tried to give her 80grams of wet food in the morning but she just walked away.

 

[Maurey]

That's a really nice schedule there! My cat just doesn't seems to be motivated with food since young. The only food/treats that can make her go crazy is CIAO.

Do you mind to share the grams/types of food you feed your cat?

I gave mine 50grams of Wellness Tiny Tasters Pouch in the morning around 5.30am ~ 6pm, lunch will usually be 10 grams of kibbles (unless I'm home, I'll play with her before giving her 80grams of canned food), dinner wil be 80 grams of canned food (which she doesn't finish at all).

She doesn't finished up her breakfast wet food and lunch. We tried to give her 80grams of wet food in the morning but she just walked away.

My two have an ideal weight of ~6.5 and ~9kg. The boy is the larger of the two, but he has a less active metabolism, despite being more active, so they eat the same amount of raw food.

They get 75 grams for breakfast (used to be 100, but this would cause one of them to regurgitate part of their meal), 25 grams or a dental treat as a snack for lunch, then another 75 grams for dinner and supper.