How should I feed 2 cats and when?

[BeccaT]

So it's almost been 2 weeks since we adopted our second cat, April. The introduction to our resident cat Annie was a bit rocky at first but they seem to be getting along much better now with almost zero hostility, and 2 nights ago we let them sleep in the same part of the house together as we get zero sleep when we let either of them sleep in our room with us.

My problem currently is that I don't know how to establish whose food bowl is who's when I give them their meals. April seemed very against wet food until I caught her eating Annie's once, so we've realised she will eat wet food now if there's no dry food out. Similarly with Annie, she'll eat her wet meal unless there's dry food out and then she'll favour the dry. Before April came along, I used to feed Annie dry food throughout the morning/afternoon (1/3 cup) which she would graze and pick on and then feed her a wet meal at bed time which she always ate. Since then the routine has kind of gone out of the window and I'm trying to figure out how to feed them and when.

When I put 2 bowls of wet food out, April will eat hers and then start on Annie's (I'm confident the portion size is enough though, and April eats hers very slowly). When I put 2 bowls of dry food out, April will hardly touch it and I'm worried that when there's 2 bowls of dry food left overnight, that Annie ends up eating a majority of both. I of course can't supervise their meal times every time but I'm worried about this happening and I don't know how to help them realise which food bowl is theirs and which is off limits. I've looked at those microchip bowls but they're way out of my price range.

I also don't know how to figure out their schedules. They both just kind of eat whenever they want, April eats way less dry food than Annie does. I can leave a bowl of dry food out for April and the bowl will hardly be empty by the end of the day, whereas Annie picks at her dry food throughout the day and empties the bowl by the afternoon and if there's a second hardly-touched bowl out, she'll start eating that one too. I did try separating their dry food into different rooms once, and Annie was very good at eating out of only her bowl whereas April never listened when I tried to stop her from eating out of Annie's bowl and instead go to her own.

So yeah, I'm kind of at a loss. I'm happy with the one wet meal a day (they actually drink enough water, but I don't want them on a pure dry food diet) and dry food when it's appropriate, but I'm struggling to help them realise they have their own bowls so one doesn't overeat and the other doesn't go hungry, and I also have no idea when to feed them as they simply eat whenever they want even when I try to put them on scheduled meals.

 

[vansX2]

So it's almost been 2 weeks since we adopted our second cat, April. The introduction to our resident cat Annie was a bit rocky at first but they seem to be getting along much better now with almost zero hostility, and 2 nights ago we let them sleep in the same part of the house together as we get zero sleep when we let either of them sleep in our room with us.

My problem currently is that I don't know how to establish whose food bowl is who's when I give them their meals. April seemed very against wet food until I caught her eating Annie's once, so we've realised she will eat wet food now if there's no dry food out. Similarly with Annie, she'll eat her wet meal unless there's dry food out and then she'll favour the dry. Before April came along, I used to feed Annie dry food throughout the morning/afternoon (1/3 cup) which she would graze and pick on and then feed her a wet meal at bed time which she always ate. Since then the routine has kind of gone out of the window and I'm trying to figure out how to feed them and when.

When I put 2 bowls of wet food out, April will eat hers and then start on Annie's (I'm confident the portion size is enough though, and April eats hers very slowly). When I put 2 bowls of dry food out, April will hardly touch it and I'm worried that when there's 2 bowls of dry food left overnight, that Annie ends up eating a majority of both. I of course can't supervise their meal times every time but I'm worried about this happening and I don't know how to help them realise which food bowl is theirs and which is off limits. I've looked at those microchip bowls but they're way out of my price range.

I also don't know how to figure out their schedules. They both just kind of eat whenever they want, April eats way less dry food than Annie does. I can leave a bowl of dry food out for April and the bowl will hardly be empty by the end of the day, whereas Annie picks at her dry food throughout the day and empties the bowl by the afternoon and if there's a second hardly-touched bowl out, she'll start eating that one too. I did try separating their dry food into different rooms once, and Annie was very good at eating out of only her bowl whereas April never listened when I tried to stop her from eating out of Annie's bowl and instead go to her own.

So yeah, I'm kind of at a loss. I'm happy with the one wet meal a day (they actually drink enough water, but I don't want them on a pure dry food diet) and dry food when it's appropriate, but I'm struggling to help them realise they have their own bowls so one doesn't overeat and the other doesn't go hungry, and I also have no idea when to feed them as they simply eat whenever they want even when I try to put them on scheduled meals.

I try to alternate dry food and wet food every other day. I'm at the Moment trying to use up the remainder dry food. Then solely will feed wet food. Both cats will eat dry food, but it's been recommended to only feed wet food. I have a pet water fountain that runs 24/7, that both boys enjoy. They share one bowl. I usually Feed them 1 can of 5.5 oz. Blue Buffalo Wilderness "Red Meat" in the morning And 1/2 can of the same at night before bedtime . This way their tummies are Satisfied till morning and I won't be bothered trying to sleep.

 

[momto3cats]

Do they eat the same food? If so, it probably isn't necessary to make them eat from their own bowls. Most cats can self regulate when they have food freely available, so I wouldn't worry about it unless one of them actually seems to be gaining too much weight or preventing the other from getting enough to eat. Just make sure to put enough food down so they both get as much as they want.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Sounds like Annie and April don't really have scheduled meal times since they can graze on dry food. I feed my guys only wet food, three meals per day. Each cat has their own placemat and bowl, and I do feed them in separate rooms. One, the one who will eat any and everything, eats in the kitchen. The other eats wherever we are so we can keep an eye on his bowl and keep the other cat out of his food . This works for us.

Cats don't really need to graze all day and night. They can be trained to eat at scheduled times. Maybe this article will help.

Transitioning Free-fed Kibble Kitties To Timed Meals - TheCatSite

Kitty parents find themselves wanting to transition from free-fed kibble to timed meals and/or a new type of food for many reasons: The need to monitor food intake in multi-cat homes Kitty health As part of a transition to canned, raw, or homemade food, where the food is not left out and must be...

thecatsite.com

 

[BeccaT]

Thank you to everyone for your responses! I also want to mention that they're both under 1 year old, Annie being approx. 8/9 months old and April being approx. 10 months old. I know at this age it's ideal to put them on scheduled meals rather than free feeding but we're also still feeding them kitten dry food, but adult wet food.

I try to alternate dry food and wet food every other day. I'm at the Moment trying to use up the remainder dry food. Then solely will feed wet food. Both cats will eat dry food, but it's been recommended to only feed wet food. I have a pet water fountain that runs 24/7, that both boys enjoy. They share one bowl. I usually Feed them 1 can of 5.5 oz. Blue Buffalo Wilderness "Red Meat" in the morning And 1/2 can of the same at night before bedtime . This way their tummies are Satisfied till morning and I won't be bothered trying to sleep.

We have more than enough wet and dry food so we can't really focus on one more than the other in the sense of getting rid of one, but for financial reasons, I do try to feed them only 1 wet meal a day so that the wet food lasts longer, but so they do get some moisture in their diet via their food. I don't mind them sharing bowls when they're both picking out of the same dry food meal, I mostly worry about one eating a majority of both leaving the other one to not eat enough.

Do they eat the same food? If so, it probably isn't necessary to make them eat from their own bowls. Most cats can self regulate when they have food freely available, so I wouldn't worry about it unless one of them actually seems to be gaining too much weight or preventing the other from getting enough to eat. Just make sure to put enough food down so they both get as much as they want.

They do eat the same food, Annie has/had a sensitive stomach with certain dry foods when we adopted her so I'm scared to put out any other food for April and it seems to agree with her so far. It's still early days with this situation so I'm unsure if one is going to gain more weight than the other, I mostly worry about April not getting enough food because Annie is likely to eat it all if it's left out. Although, I don't think Annie has an overeating problem per se as she won't eat a whole bowl of dry food in one sitting. But she definitely eats more than April does.

Sounds like Annie and April don't really have scheduled meal times since they can graze on dry food. I feed my guys only wet food, three meals per day. Each cat has their own placemat and bowl, and I do feed them in separate rooms. One, the one who will eat any and everything, eats in the kitchen. The other eats wherever we are so we can keep an eye on his bowl and keep the other cat out of his food . This works for us.

Cats don't really need to graze all day and night. They can be trained to eat at scheduled times. Maybe this article will help.

Transitioning Free-fed Kibble Kitties To Timed Meals - TheCatSite

Kitty parents find themselves wanting to transition from free-fed kibble to timed meals and/or a new type of food for many reasons: The need to monitor food intake in multi-cat homes Kitty health As part of a transition to canned, raw, or homemade food, where the food is not left out and must be...

thecatsite.com

Yeah, I did try and put Annie on scheduled meal times before we adopted April as I know it's better for her but it was hard to gauge when she's hungry and how much she'd eat, so I ended up just putting out dry food from the morning until bed time when she'd eat a wet meal and have nothing else until morning. As for feeding 3 meals of wet food, this is something I used to do when Annie was younger but for financial reasons, we've ended up only feeding 1 meal of wet a day (usually 1/3 or half a can each, I'm still working that out as they're on the bigger cans of adult wet now). I'm happy to hear that others use the method of having them eat in separate rooms though! It worked for us for 1 day at least with Annie but not with April. It seems April wants to eat out of the same bowl Annie does but she also doesn't eat as much and not at the same times, which is my struggle currently. But I'll take a look at the article you linked, thank you!