How do you feed your indoors-only cat? I mean your schedule.

[raccoon]

I have an indoor cat, and I’m afraid I have been giving her a little bit of her food whenever she wants it. I had an indoor cat before and he gained weight and got diabetes when he was eight. I don’t want that to happen to this cat. (Most cats I’ve had spent most of the time outdoors.) She’s already put on more than she needs.

I’ve been measuring her food and plan to gradually reduce her food allowance. Also planning to feed her twice a day, When We get up and at supper time.

What’s your feeding schedule?

[CaptYossarian]

1. Just once a day.

A couple of cat treats in the meantime (they smell awful) and no human food.

My cat is 7 lbs. and has never reached 9 lbs.

[Freddie]

2. My boys' paws have never touched Mother Earth

They share a small can in the AM, one at supper time and .5 cup each of dry food at bedtime. Do not free-feed dry food, that’s how my Charlie got so, um, portly.

On edit: 2 cats, one normal weight and his brother tipped the scales at 18 lb a year ago. With this new feeding schedule he’s down to 16.

[Lefta Dissenter]

3. Just a suggestion

My little teddy bear dog was a little chunky, so I started reducing her kibble. I find that weighing her meals is a lot easier and more accurate than scooping. You may already be doing this. Anyway, reducing each breakfast and dinner by a gram (roughly two kibbles) every few days got her down to a perfect weight, and it was painless for both of us.

I weigh out both dogs’ meals into little labeled plastic containers (10-packs from the Dollar Store) for an entire week - sort of like using a pill sorter. That way nobody can convince me I haven’t already fed them, and it saves time on work mornings when I might otherwise be tempted to just scoop in a hurry.

[fleur-de-lisa]

4. My vet says it's more a matter of WHAT they eat rather than when or how many times

to keep them from getting too fat.

She suggests wet food only. Canned cat food from the grocery store is fine if you don't have the time or money to cook gourmet food for your cat.

I have 4 inside my home. They are fed canned food once in the morning and once in the evening. I adjust the number of cansI give them pretty regularly, based on whether or not they eat it all.

There are 6 cats that live in my yard. I give them a combination of kibble and canned food, once in the morning and once in the evening. They each get their own individual kibble bowl and wet food bowl.

[TruckFump]

5. I have a healthy, elderly male cat who is an indoor cat

I leave Science Diet dry food out for him all day. He eats when he wants to and does not gorge on food. I cannot feed him wet food -- he gets sick to his stomach with wet food. He gets a small amount of Temptations treat on his food tray every morning also. I inherited the cat when my roommate passed away a year ago last December. The cat is about 15 years old and is active and not slowing down. This is the feeding routine my roommate had for his cat and I have just followed it. Dom is my first cat -- and since he is healthy and happy, I just followed the routine.

[we can do it]

6. Our big boys (12 or so pounds) each get a half cup dry twice a day.

Rotate different quality dry foods.

[eppur_se_muova]

7. Ideally, I'd aim for dawn and dusk. Cats are crepuscular hunters by nature, so that should suit them

Of course I can't manage that exactly ! I try for morning and evening feedings of wet food and leave the dry food out for them to eat at will. It works for three of the cats, but one of my Mom's cat has gotten very heavy. She seldom leaves one room in the house, though, and gets next to no exercise. She is too afraid of the other cats.

[TygrBright]

8. The Feline Overlord does NOT get the seven meals a day that should be mandatory...

...but he does get a breakfast of a little less than 1/4 cup of kibbles at 6 am or thereabouts, a lunch of a heaping 1/4 cup measure of kibbles at about 11:00 am (and the kibbles are divided between his dish and his "puzzle box" so he has to paw most of them out 1-2 at a time, and can't "scarf and barf" so easily,) and a small (a bit under 3 oz.) tin of gushy food for dinner at about 6 pm.

He also gets a "bedtime (for us!) snack" of five dental treats which he gets to chase! One at a time! As we throw them! around 9-10 pm.

And once a week during his weekly torture (grooming) session, he gets mmmmm-yummalicious really gross-smelling hairball preventative.

He finds this regimen DEEPLY inadequate, of course.

But he's quite healthy.

helpfully,
Bright