Please help with feeding schedule

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LaurieL

LaurieL

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Since one of my cats (Gracie) has just been diagnosed with diabetes I'm trying to keep all three cats on a regular feeding schedule. I have always fed them about 3 meals a day, usually 2 wet and 1 dry. Now I'm stopping the dry food at night but all three cats still show up looking for the dry meal that they used to get sometime after 10pm.
Here's what I've been doing for almost a week since Gracie came home from the animal hospital:
AM Feeding: Gracie has been getting her shot at 8am so around 7:45 I open two cans of Fancy Feast and wait until that's gone before opening a third can for the ones still waiting at their bowls for more (Gracie, the diabetic, has been eating at least one can's worth of food but she also helps herself to the leftovers)

Afternoon snack: Sometime between 1:00 and 2:00 I open a 5.5 oz can of Wellness or the new low carb Friskies that we're trying and divide it up between the three bowls.

PM Feeding: Same as the morning routine...feed Fancy Feast right before the 8pm shot.

The problem is that all 3 cats still show up wanting to eat around 10pm which is when they usually got some dry food. One night I gave them all some of the new freeze dried chicken treats but I'd rather save those to use after Gracie gets a shot or ear poke.
We've only been on the new schedule since last week. I wonder if I'm feeding them enough earlier in the day? They are all adult cats: Gracie (about 9 pounds) Alexander (nickname "Zander") is about 13 pounds, and another male Rhubarb (11.5 pounds) Rhubarb is the one who loves the dry food the most so I'm still putting just a little into his evening feeding to encourage him to eat wet food. Before when I was feeding both wet and dry he would often leave the canned food or just eat a small bit of it because he was counting on getting his dry food later.

*The vet at the hospital suggested leaving some prescription dry food out during the day for Gracie to graze on but I don't want to use the dry food and since I'm home during the day I can give them a small feeding in the afternoon.

I would appreciate any thoughts you might have about this new schedule. Thanks!
 
molly my non diabetic was not too keen on the switchover to all wet...she would stick her nose up in the air with the food, it just takes time for them to realize no more dry food is coming, now she loves wet food!
 
Lisa and Merlyn (GA) said:
Maybe when they come looking for food at 10pm give them a small snack, like a can of FF divided up between the 3 of them.
Click to expand...

This is what I was wondering about...Gracie has only been home/on insulin shots since last Wednesday evening so I wasn't sure if small late-night snacks might somehow mess with her blood sugar levels too much. The vet told me to keep her on a strict feeding time schedule and allowed for an afternoon snack.
 
Why not feed a small snack of wet food at 10pm, when they would have gotten their dry meal? From what I gather, you're feeding about 8oz of food to each cat per day? You could split the dinner meal up, so instead of feeding each cat a can of FF at dinner, you can feed 1/2 can at dinner and 1/2 at 10pm. It's well before the nadir, so it's not going to negatively effect BG.
 
Well I can tell you how I feed all 11 of mine. Up until we adopted Maxwell my diabetic all my cats were free fed dry with canned food in the morning and evening. Once Maxwell came home we took away the dry. I now feed 4 times a day. Since all of mine are around 10lbs except Maxwell who is finally a healthy 14.5 lbs ( he is a very tall, long and big boned cat). It works out for us to be 12 (5.5oz) cans of Friskies a day. I break that up to 3 cans 4 times a day. Mine are fed at 7am, noon, 5pm, and the last meal is at 10pm or just before we go to bed. At first I had several that were use to grazing all day on the dry and would take a few licks and walk off, but it didn't take them long to figure out that this is when food goes down and if you aren't there for your share someone else will be happy to eat it for you...lol. Now if I'm not watching the clock closely and walk in the kitchen at the appointed feeding times they are all standing in place awaiting their meals. I even have one guy who is currently on a diet so being fed in a large cat carrier and he will be waiting in the carrier. They're smart so they will figure out the new eating schedule, even if you have to tweak it just slightly to keep everyone happy, like splitting up dinner with their before bed nosh.

Mel, Max & The Fur Gang
 
Now that we are feeding a better quality high protein low carb food, my 4 cats only eat 4 5.5 oz cans a day (2 in the morning and 2 at night). My cats' weights are: 10, 11, 13, and 20. The 4 cans total seem to fill them up and no one is losing weight even though my 20 pounder needs to drop 1-2 pounds. He is OTJ now after only a few weeks on insulin. Once we changed the diet and starting inulin, I gave him 4 small meals a day. Actually his additional "meals" were mostly his leftovers from his portion. I think that eating 4 times a day helped his pancreas heal and thus get off insulin. If i was not home, I would leave some food in a timer feeder near where he usually napped during the day. At night, I would get up around midnight to give him his "snack." He would get to eat in bed and loved the extra moment of attention. So if I were you, I would try to give 4 meals a day - with the bulk of the food at breakfast and supper and the other two snacks about half way between the main meals.
 
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