Feeding Schedule Ok?

I have a situation where my wife and I baby sit our 1 year old grandson 3 days per week. Our 12 year old kitty doesn't like kids. He was fine with the baby before he walked but now that he is a walking toddler, he likes to chase the cat. The cat is having none of it. So he will usually hide and snooze under our bed while our grandson is here. We've been feeding the cat his afternoon meal when our grandson takes his nap. Sometimes the cat will come out to eat on his own (he knows when the toddler is napping ... probably because it gets quiet) and other times we have to coax him out. On the days when we have to coax him out with a play toy, it's gonna be a skittish day and he'll be nervous about eating his lunch and sometimes he won't eat all of it, sometimes he won't eat it at all. This problem is going to be compounded in about a week when we will also have our 6 year old granddaughter two or 3 days a week, as well as the toddler. She doesn't chase the cat any more, but he remembers her doing so, so again, he likes to hide.

Gizmo is 12 and he was free fed kibble his entire life up until a diet change about 6 weeks ago to all canned and now some raw and homemade as well. He's reached a perfect weight now and requires about 220 - 240 calories per day. But he isn't able, at this point anyway, to eat his daily intake in two meals. He can't finish 110 - 120 calories in one sitting. Broken into 3 meals would be perfect but because of the babysitting situation, he could (and often will) end up missing all or much of the afternoon meal 3 days per week because of his aversion to kids.

So here is how I've been dealing with this the last couple of weeks and what I may need input on. I'm a very early riser, usually before 4 AM. I feed the cat a small meal shortly after I wake up. Then another meal a couple of hours later. Then usually a snack a little while after that. Basically, I've been getting (usually) 150 calories into him between the time I wake up and around 10 am; just before the toddler arrives. If I can get the 150 calories into him early, and he skips the afternoon meal, he will sit and eat at least 70 calories for his night time meal and gets his minimum 220 calories. If he does come out for lunch when the baby is here, I'll usually feed him about 40 calories and then another 40 - 50 calories for his nighttime meal. This is still strange for him, I'm sure, because when he was free fed kibble, he did most of his eating during the night. Now it's pretty much the opposite. But I've noticed that feeding him the smaller meal at night makes him hungrier in the morning.

I'm sure it's not ideal and it would be better to feed 3, uniform sized meals throughout the day. But basically this messed up feeding schedule is working in terms of getting him his needed daily calories. What I'm a little worried about is if this schedule is in any way unhealthy for him?

Thanks

I guess as long as he's on the healthy side and he's getting his daily calories, I would not very much worry about him eating more or less at different times.

Usually, if he's not getting enough calories at one meal, he'll make up for it at the next, hence he's hungry if the previous meal was less.

Would he eat a midday meal in your room?

Pjg8r said:

Would he eat a midday meal in your room?

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This is what I’m wondering. Could you feed him wherever he goes when the baby is there?

I haven't tried that. If how he's eating now isn't technically "bad" or unhealthy, I'd rather stick to it than have him always expecting his lunch in our bedroom.

Cats don’t need uniform meals equally spaced apart. Two breakfasts, two dinners, and the daytime meal when you can swing it should be more than sufficient. I would make the daytime meal a half portion so neither you nor he is relying on the daytime meal. It’s a bonus when it works out but he should get the bulk of his calories from dusk to dawn and let him sleep or fast during the day.

Thanks daftcat75.