Kitten/senior Feeding Issues- Plus Grain Free Questions - Trouble Shoot!

[Harborlily]

Hi! This is my first time posting here, but I'm hoping I can get a little help with troubleshooting our feeding schedule and foods.

Cats are:
Stripe - 15 yrs and healthy weight (he is 15 lbs)
Gambit - 8yrs and overweight (he tends towards being highly muscular but he has been lazy lately and he's getting hefty - normal for him is about 18lbs and now he is around 19)
Bailey - 9weeks and 1.9lbs (his mama was feral and didn't know how to feed him- she lost his littermates and I rescued him) he is gaining well now and I do weights every other day with him

Current feeding schedule:
1/4c of dry (taste of the wild venison) in the morning for the big boys and a few kibbles mixed with wet food (whole earth) and petlac for Bailey

They dont clean their bowls... so it's almost like free feeding them

Bailey gets offered food whenever he wakes up from a nap and generally is eating 3oz of wet per day mixed with pet lac and he does snack on kibble

pm - 1 5.5oz can of whole earth or evo or merrick split between them (bailey's is mixed with pet lac and some kibble) and they seem to hate the wet and it is eventually finished overnight

Dry food is most cost effective for us and I would prefer to just free feed and then offer a treat or something at dinner time but if they should continue to be scheduled that's fine as well...

I like ToTW but I prefer to feed instict when we can fit that in the budget.... Whole Earth dry seems ok and I'm wondering if free feeding that may help with the weight issue?

The bigger boys seem super picky lately and really only devour purina pro plan dry (bought some to try and they were so happy with the taste but the ingredients seem pretty bad...)

Now if I scheduled them more and say left the dry down for 20 minutes and then removed it - how often would I need to feed Bailey? He's too young to be eating twice a day right?

Thank you for your help!!!

 

[Harborlily]

Here's Bailey

 

[Harborlily]

Gambit and stripe- gambit is the black and white

 

[catpack]

Sorry it's taken so long for an answer!

I'd suggest feeding Bailey 4-5 times per day if you decide to put the big boys on a more set feeding schedule.

If Stripes and Gambit aren't too thrilled with the Whole Earth canned, maybe try Wellness or Nutro Natural Choice. You can get Wellness in 12.5 oz cans for a little over $32 on Chewy.com.

For a dry that is a little more economical that Instinct, but still good ingredients, maybe consider Solid Gold?

 

[Anne]

Feeding cats in a multi-cat household can be a challenge! catpack gave you some good advice. Maybe tips from this article will help too -
Feeding Cats In A Multi-cat Household: A Quick Guide

 

[Harborlily]

Sorry it's taken so long for an answer!

I'd suggest feeding Bailey 4-5 times per day if you decide to put the big boys on a more set feeding schedule.

If Stripes and Gambit aren't too thrilled with the Whole Earth canned, maybe try Wellness or Nutro Natural Choice. You can get Wellness in 12.5 oz cans for a little over $32 on Chewy.com.

For a dry that is a little more economical that Instinct, but still good ingredients, maybe consider Solid Gold?

They all seem to hate solid gold and merrick dry .

Right now they are eating ToTW venison mixed with a little merrick kitten in the am and then BFF canned at night. I've been picking up the dry after they eat and only leaving a little for Bailey.

Bailey has been getting BFF canned mixed with chicken soup kitten canned and petlac at 9/2/6/10p (and sometimes 4 am when he wakes me up) - he is getting probably 5oz per day total plus the dry he snacks on. And he is now 2.1 lbs (yay!)

I'm thinking maybe ToTW and solid gold indigo moon as a rotation and then BFF and weruva cans?

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

The only issue with BFF and Weruva is that they are both really low in calories . (would be great for the big boys, though, especially Gambit!) For a growing kitten, I would try to get more calories into him. 5 oz is a great amount for him, but still, I'd try to increase the cals. If he likes the chicken Soup Kitten, I'd stick with that for awhile.

Good news that Bailey is ganing weight now. Keep up the good work. At his age, I'd let him eat as much as he wants. BTW, it could be that Gambit is gaining because he's eating a mixture that contains kitten dry food (I I understand correctly). It's pretty caloric.

 

[Harborlily]

The only issue with BFF and Weruva is that they are both really low in calories . (would be great for the big boys, though, especially Gambit!) For a growing kitten, I would try to get more calories into him. 5 oz is a great amount for him, but still, I'd try to increase the cals. If he likes the chicken Soup Kitten, I'd stick with that for awhile.

Good news that Bailey is ganing weight now. Keep up the good work. At his age, I'd let him eat as much as he wants. BTW, it could be that Gambit is gaining because he's eating a mixture that contains kitten dry food (I I understand correctly). It's pretty caloric.

Bailey will only eat the chicken soup if I mix it really well with the bff tuna and pumpkin. He shuns any food that is chicken based. (I wish there was mouse flavored cans because that's what he ate with his mother). I mix the pet lac in his food for the extra calories for him.

Yes gambit does snack on the kitten dry and ToTW dry... he is my special cat (he was abandoned as a newborn then adopted for 7 months then dropped off after being abused) so he is still skittish and picky and gains and loses constantly