I am new to this group, and new to caring for cats and have several
questions related to the feeding of two cats.

Short version: If I intend to move from free-feeding dry food to
timed-feeding using canned food, should I have one cat's food dish in
a seperate room from the other cat's dish?

Long version: I have recently began caring for a friends two cats. One
is normal weight with short, medium-length fur (I am unsure of the
breed) the other is an overweight Russian Blue. Both are spayed
females who live indoors only. They are currently being free-fed with
a dry "weight-management" food. They eat from seperate bowls in the
same room and share a water dish and a litter box.

After reading www.catinfo.org/ I have decided it may be a good idea to
begin feeding with canned food. Is there any reason this is
contraindicated?

Assuming it is not, I intend to make the transition as follows:
1) Move one of the feed dishes to another location while continuing to
free feed. Should I also provide another water dish? Another litter
box?
2) Switch to one morning and one evening timed feeding continuing to
use the dry food.
3) Gradually introduce canned food along with the dry food,
progressively increasing the percentage of canned food.

I imagine this transition will be especially stressful for the Russian
Blue. She will eat high-carb foods out of hand and often begs for them
but refuses tuna, chicken, and ground beef. I would appreciate your
comments and any advice you might have. Of course my friend will have
the final say, but I am willing to take the effort to switch the cats
to what appears to be a better diet if this indeed is advisable.

Matthew