my cat eats canned food generally once a day, in the morning. occasionally a 2nd can at night, if he complains & his plate is indeed empty.
when i had 2 cats, they'd get fed a 2nd time in the evening, cuz well, there was 2 of them sharing the food.
the dry cat food bowl is always full, so if my cat doesn't dig on the can flavor du jour, well too bad, there's the dry stuff.
cats can be trained somewhat, such as learning to stay off of the cabinets & dining table or whatever. sometimes just repeatedly saying "no!" does the trick, other times a spray bottle of water will work.
rest assuredly though, as you seem to know already, your cat is always training you as well.
