Marda, I just got up and read the instructions on my 5.5 ounce cans and it said to feed them that 2X a day. I was a little amazed as well. Both my downstairs kitties are fed dry food ad lib and then I offer the canned food too. So, I'm also curious. I do know some cats are persnickety and some are gluttons. My Tomcat, who is my only fat cat is one of those. He'll eat canned food as long as I care to push it in front of him. Then he'll steal it from the geriatric cats upstairs. Then the dog's kibbles and then will take it off a humans' plate if you are not looking. It's sure a lot easier to monitor a cat's habits if you don't have a multiple cat household. I'm never sure who gets what or how much and that's one reason I keep the dry food handy so if one of them gets their canned food stolen, they at least won't go hungry. The problem with an obese cat, in addition to not being healty is if they ever get in a situation where they go off their feedbag with illness, then they are prone to develop fatty liver syndrome. Good question!

I do mixed feeding. The four cats get one flat can of wet food per day, half in the morning and half in the evening. I mix the canned food with a handful of premium kibble (Kitty Kaviar), add enough water to make a gruel, mix it all up and divide it among the four. They all eat in different places and there is not too much stealing going on.
There is a dish of Chickensoup for Catlover's Soul available at all times, about one cup, refilled once it is gone.
None are fat, they are all pretty active and are fortunate that I live in a place where they can spend some time outdoors.
Wow, it took some time to get this typed, Jasmyn was helping meeeeeeee.

I guess that's why I'm worried. If I cut back too much for Rootie I know he could get gravely ill. I want to get him off most of the dry but can't figure out how much wet to give him. I switched both of them to high grade wet yesterday,no more Fanci Feast..and they ate it. Now it's just a matter of how much.

The Chickensoup kibble dish gets re-filled once a day - if they pig out more than that - well, it's empty until I give them more. It's limited free-feeding

I have to feed a prescription dry kibble to one of my cats which means i have to feed it to both cats. Problem is the one who doesnt need the kibble refuses to eat anything unless its laced with canned. If i lace his the other one steals it so i end up lacing both bowls with canned. I use less than a tsp at a time but they think they are getting more because i make sure all the dry is coated with wet food. Once in a great while gets lucky and one can trick a cat...once in a very great while.

Lilo,you said one flat can of wet but wet comes in two sizes. Which size are you talking about? Both cats get one small can of wet plus about a quarter cup of dry a day and that amount is putting on the weight. Even Ferrell is starting to show it.

I doubt that it's changed since Trina's time. Her vet decided that since she was a very active [and healthy] 5-lb cat, she could have one tablespoon of canned food in the morning and again at night, with dry food available all the time. She wouldn't touch moistened dry, but did eat some dry kibbles after eating her portion of the good stuff. I suspect she also got some tidbits from DD and DH, but not while I was looking, lol. The important thing is to be sure they are drinking enough water, especially if eating a dry food. And the next most important thing is to be sure they are getting enough exercise, even if it means spending an hour walking around the house dragging a feather-tipped string.

Our cats have never had anything but dry food and we have yet to have a fat cat. . . well, not an obese cat, at least. They have food always available.

I suspect animals are just like us, some have better metabolisms than others. We have 5 dogs folks have donated to us over the years. One shows every rib he has, one jiggles when she walks and the rest are average. They all have the same access to the same food all the time.

And DH eats almost twice as much as me -- guess which of us is fat!

Do they go outside? If a cat is outside,it gets it's needed amount of meat in mice,birds or whatever. However a house cat needs meat on a daily basis and dry doesn't supply that in the right amount.My vet told me this a long time ago and just about any site on cat nutrition I've been able to find says the same thing. I just wish I had given Rootie a larger amount of canned and less dried than the other way around,since he's never been outside.

Marda, I use Friskies flat cans. I could get all sorts of premium much better quality wet food, the feed store carries an assortment, but they don't like anything but Friskies, so that's what they get. Remember, I am feeding four cats, so what they get is one fourth can each, divided into two portions. I add the small amount of kibble because it slows them down a little, so they can't gobble it up so fast, and the water thins it out.
All of them drink a lot of water, they have a self-waterer in my bathroom, which they love, because it bubbles, and I have hidden a couple of other dishes in the house, and there is the dog's water and getting into the sink, licking the bottom, they do all of the above.

Maybe it sounds like a lot of food because it's a whole can all at once...

Cats are sensitive about freshness, so it's better to offer them just a little at a time.

If they walk away from food, they won't like the way it smells by the time they want to eat again.

LOL, Marda, I thought you were going to post about fat cat capitalists. LOL!

My male cat refuses to eat wet food, the little female likes it ... but as was pointed out, if she walks away the rest sits and dries out ... so I give her a little at a time.

My male is large but not obese.

Now my vet said dry food is better ... guess it is all a matter of opinion ?

Our cats eat mostly kibble, but we give them canned food as a treat. We buy Fiskies or 9 Lives in cans the size of tuna cans. When we've have a cat that had to eat only canned food (like our old, old cat when all his teeth eventually fell out) we'd feed him one can every day 1/2 in the morning and 1/2 in the afternoon.

Dry food helps keep teeth free of plaque, no doubt of that. However, dry food is not recommended for males - increases chance of urinary problems.

When I had cats I fed one can a day over two meals am and pm. I forget the brand, but it was something like Friskies - my cats didn't seem to be fussy and I changed the flavor often. I never had a fat cat and I never had a very thin cat. They were all outdoor and so got lots of exercise and no doubt vermin and so on. They seemed to bring the catch home to me rather than eat it:)

Feed Rootie Kazooti what you feel is right and adjust it up or down when you see how he does.

I used to vary the foods, buying several types dry and selecting small cans of mostly chicken, fish, beef, etc. I figured that if one type/brand was deficient in some way, they got it in another...plus I hated to think of them eating the same darn thing day after day. Dry food was always available and I think I fed 1/2 small flat can per cat a day.

They also occasionally got a little fresh chicken or fish leftover...just a few bites. Or beef/veggie soup poured over a biscuit. Maybe once a week l/2 scrambled egg each. Do the vets now say not to ever feed them table scraps? Our cats both were in/out cats and not overweight. Both lived to the late teens.

Did y'all know that a group of cats is called a "clowder"? josh

Hi Marda,

We go through 8 5.5 oz cans of Trader Joe's canned food a day. 4 in the am, 4 in the pm. That's for 8 cats, and leftovers go out for the possums.

I could probably taper it down to 3 cans twice a day, but we have one diabetic and he needs to eat, so I worry about running out. And the possums certainly don't mind the extra!

I think the amount of food would depend on the ingredients. Higher carb content should be feeding less.

They also get 1/2 cup of Evo dry food twice a day. I like the Evo for them - it's high protein, low carb, grain free dry food (50% protein, 22% fat & 7% carbs). It doesn't sound like much, but it's highly concentrated protein & fat so they don't eat as much as they would regular dry food. We measure it out, and when it's gone, it's gone until dinner. I never free feed the dry food.

They seem to go in phases. Sometimes the canned food is completely eaten out, other times the dry food is gone first. And some days they eat more than others. Go figure. I think they like the variety.

If your cat prefers dry food, you might like to check out the Evo.

Here is a link that might be useful: Evo Cat Food

Thanks for the info. I give them Innova dry ( which they don't like)mixed in with a little of the low grade dry..Friskies,but maybe they would like Evo better so will try that. You said 1/2 cup..do you mean per cat? If so then each cat is getting one 5.5 ounce can a day plus 1/2 cup of dry. That's way more than my overweight cat has been getting..but then Rootie Kazootie is always inside, male and neutered. I've had a lot of leftovers lately because of all the new stuff I've tried so there are some very healthy racoons and I expect maybe a fox,out in the woods. Thanks everyone for your input. I'll just keep fudging and fudging until I hit on what seems to work the best,but that is also healthy.I can see there is a vast difference in the amounts of food you are all feeding your cats.

No,no 1/2 cup Evo Total twice a day! Not per cat - yikes!

The Evo is very concentrated so they don't need much. But also, I don't like to free feed dry food, so when it's gone, it's gone. They can't nibble all day. That forces them back to the canned food if there's any left. Some of my cats will only eat dry, some only canned and some will eat anything.

Feeding at our house is an art form. There are two pie plates for the dry food (1/4 cup spread around in each dish). Donovan tends to eat too fast and throws it up, so by spreading it flat in a pie plate he has to slow down more to get the kibble. Then there are two soup bowls with 2 5.5 oz cans of canned in each. The food is put down in two locations and each cats finds his own way.

Our cats are all indoors. We have 3 large (60-72 inch tall) cat trees in front of windows that they climb up and down over all day. I think the exercise also helps.

My cats, 18 mos. old, eat mostly dry food, 1/4 cup of Blue Buffalo morning and evening and that's it for the day. They do get a "treat" every day at 5 o'clock: 1/6 of a 3oz can of wet, usually a brand I buy at PetSmart that's all natural but I can't remember the name of it because I just started using it. All I have to say is, "Are you ready?" and they are there like a shot for what amounts to little more than a small spoonful of wet food. they're young, so weight has not been a problem and I hope it won't become one. One cat, the male is half again as big as the female cat. Neither is fat, though the female is and looks like she will always be more lean than the male. They literally never beg for food--the schedule they are on is the same one they were weaned on at the shelter where they were born, and I've just stayed with it. It works.