? Feeding schedule?

[CarolandTigger]

I know that a consistent feeding schedule is really important in maintaining the cats insulin levels. I'm still wondering why vets tell me to feed once in the morning and once at night, when he gets his shots, and nothing in between. I know for a human diabetic it's important to eat small meals more frequently to keep blood sugar stable. Then I read on here that it's a pretty much same for cats. Even the two latest vets who have seen Tigger, who are very young, insist on the twice a day feeding schedule. When do most of you feed your cats and how often? Of course I know that the morning and evening meals are required, but what about the daytime? What about late evening before bed? I'm thinking that maybe Tigger's erratic numbers are partly from an inconsistent feeding schedule.mof course we feed him breakfast and dinner...but some days he only gets a midday meal..someday 2-3 very small meals. Some nights a late night snack..sometimes nothing past dinner. Of course this all depends on our schedule too. Thinking a timed automatic feeder might help with this.

 

[ja9390]

I always lay down "snack meals" between their two morning and night "meal meals". I would be starving and angry if I ate at 7am and didn't get my next meal until 7pm, so I don't subject them to what I wouldn't subject myself to. You've got the right idea already it seems. My two cats split a 5.5 oz can of Friskies in the morning and at night. They usually never even finish even the half a can, so I know they get enough during mealtimes. To tide them over while I'm at work I lay down a half a can of Friskies for them to both eat on, and then when I get home they get another full meal. At night around 11 or 12 before I go to sleep I lay down the remaining half can that I saved from earlier that day. This gives them something to eat while I'm sleeping, otherwise Diego especially will wake me up SCREAMING at 5am every morning without fail.

It is my understanding that if your cat will willingly free-feed, there isn't any real need to get a programmable auto-feeder. Some of the members here choose to use the feeder either due to their personal schedules or because their cats have a tendency to scarf everything down right when its laid out. Both of mine fortunately will free feed for the time being. It really depends on your lifestyle and your cat's feeding habits, but we all pretty much offer multiple small meals throughout the day in one form or the other.

 

[Ferndoc]

I think big meals were needed with older style insulin that use to be used that produced harsh drops so the idea was to use food to counteract those. However, most don't use those insulins anymore but they seem to not to have changed their feeding advise.