Overfeeding an underweight cat

[Asiina & Alex(GA)]

Alex lost weight because of the diabetes, before he was diagnosed, and became underweight. He's a big framed cat so when he was just under 10 lbs you could easily feel all of his bones right under the skin. As part of the change from wet+dry to only wet food, he's been getting a lot more food and right now is probably eating more than he should. I have two cats and I know he eats at least part of Simon's share, so he's probably eating about 1/4 to 1/2 a can more than he should. I'm hoping that as the diabetes becomes more managed he won't be so voraciously hungry and will be willing to let food sit around for longer, since Simon is more of a grazer but it's hard to graze when you have a sugarcat who is devouring everything in sight.

For now though, could overeating be increasing his BG? Should I let him eat as much as he wants even though I know that it's more than he should be having? I want him to put on some weight, but not if it's at the cost of his blood sugar.

 

[Veronica & Babu-chiri]

While he's unregulated his body can't actually use properly all the nutrients he gets on the food that is why he's always hungry his cells are not getting the proper nutrition so if the food he's getting is low carb you can allow him to eat as much as he wants since he's under weight but you should monitor because as his blood glucose numbers get better he will probably start gaining weight and you don't want him overweight so you may need to lower his food intake then

 

[Amina&M'row]

M'row has always weighed a slim 11.5 pounds, was down to 8.5, 8 and a half #±&
at diagnosis. Now, two months later, am happy to say he's back to ten pounds and looking better. I am not worrying about obesity now: rather feeding good food (fancy feast classic, free feeding ) I guess if he got up to 12 or 13#, I'd cut back on the free feeding a bit. If you are out of the house, people here talk about timed food dispensers. Now he's still nutritionally depleted, yet eats fairly moderately under the circumstances, so I'm not even thinking of obesity
So, a question for the more experienced, please. Cat has lost much weight (in M'row's case, 25% of original body weight :-( ) I hear from above post free-feeding now is fine Approximately how long do cats take to get back to original healthy weight? Thanks for wisdom.

 

[Veronica & Babu-chiri]

In my case it took Babu almost 1 year to gain his weight back but he's a finicky eater, and had always been kind of slim, even now he still free feeds as much as he wants, I've known others that regain in just a few months so each cat is different