Transitioning Cats From Free Feeding To Scheduled

[kay lowe]

I have 4 cats; two of them are 2 yr. old female cats and the other two are 6-7 mos. male kittens, pretty active. All feed well. One female is overweight but not terribly; she weights 11#, the others are all normal weight. I have always free fed. With the adult cats, I left dry food out.However, when I adopted the kittens, I added wet food to assist their eating and still add it, and, to keep the adult kitties from feeling left out, I always give them a "snack" of a full spoon of wet food when I feed the kittens.

I badly need to get the cats on scheduled feedings very soon, and for an embarrassing reason; I have a terrible bug problem. Roaches everywhere. I've tried everything to get rid of them and nothing seems to work, and perhaps nothing will as long as I have pet food out feeding the bugs.

What is the best way to transition these cats to scheduled feeding? As I said, they all eat well, and the kittens are approaching 5 and 6#, so they are not tiny anymore. Any suggestions? I am sick of bugs, and they love this cat food!

 

[kittyluv387]

I just do it cold turkey. But for you maybe start off with 3-4 feedings and reduce it down to 2.

 

[kay lowe]

I could try that. The "boys" (younger) would probably have less trouble. They generally get fed their wet food/kibble mix 2-3 times daily. I leave some kibble out for them, but they don't eat much of it, I don't think. I think the big cats get most of it. The older cats, the "girls", might have a bigger adjustment, b/c they have been free fed all their lives. And one of them is the "plump" one.

Unless anyone has any better suggestions, I may try that soon. I need to get this cat food put away instead of leaving it out.

 

[orange&white]

Yes, I would go cold turkey to 3 meals a day. If they start begging for food at first, then you can give them a little nibble for treats. If they beg incessantly, then try to engage them in play or a petting/grooming session to get their mind off food until the next meal time.

If possible, start tracking how many calories a day your chubby girl is eating, and cut her calories back by 10%. I let my senior cat slowly become obese to 16.5 pounds and it took over a year, a lot of worry, and a lot of ignoring his begging, to get him back to a healthy weight. Easier to try to maintain a healthy weight when they are young.

 

[kay lowe]

Yes, I would go cold turkey to 3 meals a day. If they start begging for food at first, then you can give them a little nibble for treats. If they beg incessantly, then try to engage them in play or a petting/grooming session to get their mind off food until the next meal time.

If possible, start tracking how many calories a day your chubby girl is eating, and cut her calories back by 10%. I let my senior cat slowly become obese to 16.5 pounds and it took over a year, a lot of worry, and a lot of ignoring his begging, to get him back to a healthy weight. Easier to try to maintain a healthy weight when they are young.

Sounds like a good plan. I will wait about cutting chubby girl's food, though. She is not gaining; her weight has been steady for over a year or so. She gained when the other girl had a litter of kittens and we were feeding them frequently and adding wet food. She took advantage of that and gained. I think just limiting the food availability may help her when we transition to scheduled feeds. If not, then we will look at cutting her back and increasing her exercise as well. She is only 2 years old, so she can be encouraged to play. Thanks so much for your help!

 

[lalagimp]

I think Tommy was 3 when he was put on a diet and we started doing a feeding schedule because he was pushing 21 lbs.
He's not dieting now, but he's still on a schedule, and all day long I hear about how hungry he is and that I need to make his feeder spin. Nah, dude. It'll go off when it's supposed to and you're always hungry and you always get fed.