How many times a day should I feed my Maine Coon?

The truth is that you will see all kinds of answers to the question in the title but one aspect of the lifestyle of the Maine Coon has an impact on the answer and that is they are usually full-time indoor cats. 

Lifestyle?

The point here is that if the Maine Coon was an indoor/outdoor cat they would be more active at night than they are. They would in all likelihood be hungry at the end of a night-time's activity and as a consequence feed more at a time that would be the human's breakfast time. The point I am getting to is that in a good relationship your cat will tell you when they are hungry and this will depend upon the individual cat's lifestyle.

Fixed routine or flexible?

You don't want to feed your cat automatically and habitually at certain times of the day. That's my opinion. I think you should learn when your Maine Coon cat is hungry because they've asked for food and then you pencil in those times as feeding times. 

Full-time indoor cat

And at night you might put down some dry cat food for grazing but I would expect a full-time indoor Maine Coon cat to be fairly inactive at night and possibly asleep with their owner. 

The full-time indoor Maine Coon cat might adopt the circadian rhythm of their caregiver. This will be opposite to the natural circadian rhythm of a domestic cat which would be pretty active at night and sleepy during the middle part of the day. Although domestic cats are 'diurnal' active at night and day butt they are also naturally crepuscular meaning active at dawn and dusk when prey is about.

General rule

In a general sense, it is believed that domestic cats should be fed several times in one day and more frequently than people feed which is three times a day normally. But if you do feed your Maine Coon say five times a day then the portion size should be small for obvious reasons. The general method here is small portions frequently rather than bigger portions less frequently.

That's because this more accurately reflects the feeding habits of the domestic cat's wildcat ancestor but even that depends upon the availability of prey and therefore this argument is rather weak.

50-gram sachets

Also, in a general sense, I think it's better to feed your Maine Coon cat wet cat food in 50-gram sachets which is a lot smaller than the 85-gram sachets which are normally used. 

Less waste

This will lead to less waste especially if you combine the delivery of that food to a time when you know your cat is hungry and will eat it all. 

You learn about your cat's preferences in this regard through observation and being close to your cat. You can develop a rhythm of feeding which should result in all the wet cat food being eaten and therefore no waste problems to deal with.

It is fiddly dealing with waste wet food because it goes off and become smelly.

The general modus operandi is that the default food is wet and the backup, grazing food when you aren't around, which is during the night-time because you are asleep, is dry cat food.

You can see that I am not giving a definitive answer to the question in the title because, personally, I don't think that there is a definitive answer. I should know because I read lots about this and you will see a variety of answers. 

Super-handsome Maine Coon. Photo in public domain.

Basic rule

Feeding times should be tailored to the individual cat but I would say that is probably going to be about four times a day, during daylight hours and then your Maine Coon cat might feed on dry cat food at night about two times. 

This would make six feedings throughout a 24-hour period.

Vegan. Worth considering?

Separately, and on a slightly different but linked topic, I have come to the conclusion that a dry vegan cat food, Benevo, might be preferential to the conventional animal-based dry cat food. Benevo is manufactured around plant-protein. 

I have written an article, this morning, on the question as to whether plant protein is as good as animal protein when feeding cats. The conclusion is that it is and if you would like you can read that article by clicking on this link.

A study concluded that there may be health benefits to a domestic cat including the Maine Coon cat feeding on vegan cat food which is supplemented with essential nutrients such as taurine and arginine. You make up your own mind on that but I have done quite a bit of research on this and, like I said, I'm convinced that it is good and possibly even beneficial health wise in preference to the conventional foods.