how often to feed my cat tinned food?

[lollygagger]

My cat has a throat infection and the vet said to feed her soft pate type food until she's better. We have always fed her dry food and just kept her bowl topped up. Now that we're feeding her wet food I'm not sure how often to feed her and how much. She's a very shy and retiring old cat and would probably be starving to start meowing for food so that's not a good indicator. She's about 2.8kg and 14yrs old. She's got antibiotics to put in her food but I only mix it with a small teaspoon of food to make sure she gets all the meds into her but I'm sure she needs more than this. Anyone got any ideas?

[WellWhoKnew]

She sounds like a tiny cat. I have a very energetic, but very small cat who is 3.3kg.

Little and often is the key. Depending on what you can afford.

Mine eats wet, dry and dreamies. Around about 2 sachets of wet a day, put down throughout in portions throughout the day, unlimited kibble and 10 - 20 dreamies a day.

[lollygagger]

Thanks Well. She is a very tiny cat and a really gentle soul so I just feel terrible that she's poorly. She does have dry food down but isn't eating much because it must hurt. I'll put down some more wet just now and see how she goes. What are dreamies?

[catsofa]

It should say how much to give per weight of cat on the tin, does it not say?

Failing that you could just put down one third of a tin at a time and see how fast she actually gets through it, replacing it with more whenever either it has sat there for more than half a day, or she's eaten more than half of what you've put down. You'll soon get a feel for how much she usually gets through.

For a small, elderly indoor cat I'd reckon on her needing something like one tin a day, but if she's not overweight and has been ill I'd just go with whatever she will eat for now rather than worrying about exactly how much you put down. No harm in giving her too much for a week while she recovers.

[catsofa]

Dreamies are cat crack cocaine cat treats. Not ideal to give very many as they aren't nutritionally balanced, but lots of people like giving them stuff that they like so much.

You could also try wetting the kibble a little with water, which in an hour or so will make them go all soggy and soft. Might be worth a try if she likes those better than the wet food.

[lollygagger]

Good idea catsofa, thanks

[cozietoesie]

I have a fussy elder cat and he has his wet food put down to a schedule - which he likes very much. He has four meals a day (plus an evening 'pudding' after his groom) so that works out to breakfast (about 07.30), lunch(12.30), tea (18.00) and supper (22.00). Anything not eaten is put down the loo and I adjust his meds accordingly if absolutely needed.

One thing I've found which has made a big difference recently is actually picking him up and putting him down by his food bowl once the new food is delivered. It sounds a daft thing but his vision has been deteriorating more than I realized and I think that that has made him him reluctant to leave his safe place and go noshing. He's been eating more since I did that - which is good because his meds go down at the right rate and timing.

Good luck.