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When I fed my cats dry kibble, I just filled up the bowl every time it was empty. never realized how much each of the 2 cats was eating until I started feeding wet.
Because of Oscar's barfing problems, I tried feeding each cat about 1 tablespoon so he wouldn't eat too much too fast. But now they are hollering for more and more to the point I am feeding them about 4-5 times a day. They LIE and tell anybody who will listen they haven't been fed and it makes me look bad!
Does anybody else have greedy guts cats like mine and feed them that often? They are very large Ragdolls, 8 years old and until he got sick Oscar weighed about 17.5 lbs. Then he got to 13 and I don't know what he weighs now. We get about 5 lbs of fur off every day with the Zoom Groom.
There are many things it depends on. Weight and size of cat, type of food being fed (they vary a lot in calories) activity level of cat.
I have four cats. The oldest is 12 years old, 9 1/2 lbs healthy weight, though he has a large build and could go up to 10 or 10 1/2 and not be fat, seizure disorder, and what I would call very active. He eats between 5 - 6 oz of canned food a day, and about 1/2 tablespoon of kibble in snacks, totally caloric intake for him is 180-200 a day.
He self regulates though, if he eats a lot one day, he will eat less the next.
FLUTD kitty is seven years old. 8 1/2 pounds healthy weight, medium build. She is on a prescription kibble and eats just under 2/3 cup a day, about 180 calories. Very active.
5 year old kitty, medium build, 10 pounds, but chubby at that weight. She eats 4.5-5 oz of grain free canned food a day, 160-180 calories a day, but because she has a slower metabolism and is not as active, she is fatter than the other cats at this amount.
Both the middle girls do not self regulate and would eat the world if allowed.
The kitten seems to have stopped growing at 7 pounds, she also self regulates she eats on average 6 oz of canned food a day plus some days up to 1/8 cup of kibble in snacks. Her caloric intake is about 200 cal a day, slightly higher on some days, but like my senior boy, if she eats a ton one day (she'll go up to 8 oz sometimes) the next day she will eat hardly at all. She is very slim, petite and extremely active.
I feed small servings multiple times a day. Breakfast, for instance takes an hour, three or four servings spread out in that hour. Supper is the same.
Snack time is mid day when I come home for lunch, and right before bed time.
So yeah, they are fed 4 meals a day, but those 4 meals are broken up into smaller servings.
I keep track, in a journal on my table, of what goes into each cat, every day, that's how I know to the ounce, kibble and calorie, how much each cat is getting.
PS the canned food eaters are not on the same diets. My chubby girl eats two rotated different brands of grain free pate, three flavors in each brand, and I add water to everything she eats.
The senior boy and the kitten eat a rotation of high quality shredded chicken varieties from various brands. Most are grain free, but some contain rice. They will not tolerate water added.
Because of the excited overeating and the resultant vomiting, Jack is getting a three course meal - a tablespoon of wet and two different kibbles (maybe a half tablespoon each). He get that at least 5 times a day, sometimes as many as seven.
I think it was at the catinfo website I saw that a cat should eat about 13.6 calories per pound of body weight, plus 70 calories. So for example a 10 lb. cat should eat 136 + 70 calories, or about 206. A few foods list calories on the label, if not you should be able to email the company and find out. Of course with multiple cats it gets harder to figure out who's eating what. After I stopped free feeding kibble I started trying to weigh my cats every month or so to make sure one of them wasn't gaining or losing too rapidly. I don't have a baby scale so I weigh myself with and without the cat. The scale's only accurate to about a pound, but at least I know if something drastic is happening.
I think it was at the catinfo website I saw that a cat should eat about 13.6 calories per pound of body weight, plus 70 calories. So for example a 10 lb. cat should eat 136 + 70 calories, or about 206. A few foods list calories on the label, if not you should be able to email the company and find out. Of course with multiple cats it gets harder to figure out who's eating what. After I stopped free feeding kibble I started trying to weigh my cats every month or so to make sure one of them wasn't gaining or losing too rapidly. I don't have a baby scale so I weigh myself with and without the cat. The scale's only accurate to about a pound, but at least I know if something drastic is happening.
That's a pretty good formula. (clarify it is for adult cats not growing kittens) It works out almost exactly right for my 8.5 pound cat who eats 180 calories a day. (the forumla says she should have 185.7)
And again, activity level has to be taken into consideration. My 10 pound kitty would steadily gain weight on 206 calories a day. If I keep her at 180 she does pretty well.
And we have to remember that not all calories are equal. We want our cats to have the bulk of their calories from protein not carbohydrates, so their weight is muscle not fat.
Again using my 8.5 pound kitty, if she was eating the same diet as my other cats she might be able to have more than 180 calories a day, she might be able to have that extra five calories, or maybe even 10. Unfortunately her prescription kibble is carb heavy so she had to be cut back.
5 calories doesn't sound like a lot, in human terms, but for a diet that is only 180 calories, 5 cal can make a big difference.
Finn is another one who would have you believe that he is starving, STARVING, I tell you, and that it has been at least six months and probably more like two or three years since he last had a meal. But I know better.
When I took Finn to the vet last month for his checkup and annual vaccinations, his doc told me that an indoor cat of his weight (between 10.5 and 11 pounds) should get from 150 to 180 calories per day to maintain optimum weight. By checking the calorie content of his food, I was able to determine that he is eating just about exactly that, in the form of half a can per day of wet grain-free high-protein food mixed with water and a very small amount of grain-free dry kibble at bedtime. Plus the occasional treats of dehydrated wild salmon, of course!
I do split his food up in multiple small meals throughout the day. I know it's healthier for humans to eat that way, and I have to think that it doesn't do cats any good to gorge and then fast for 24 hours at a time. So he gets a quarter-can of wet food mixed with about a quarter to a third of a cup of warm water first thing in the morning, the same thing again late afternoon/early evening, and then his bedtime snack (at MY bedtime, by the way, so he won't wake me up at 3:00 a.m. to tell me that he's starving of the hunger) of a smidgen of crunchy noms.
He has been on that regimen now for over a year, and he is glossy, healthy, lively and at a perfect weight. So despite his daily chorus of anguished ravenous yowls, I know he's getting the nutrition he needs.
On an average, ours consume 5 to 7 oz a day each.
Because we have 7, and they all are different ages (3 to 11) and weight (10 to 20 lbs)...I don't know EXACTLY who eats what amount. I do weigh them all about once a month to be sure no one is gaining or losing weight.
I rotate 3 brands and all the brands say how much to feed. However, ours actually eat less than recommended.
I have two small female cats and one good size male all over a year old. Each day they go through two 5.5 oz cans and 3 TBSPs of Purina Kitten Chow as a treat. Several times a week they get raw meat or fish of some kind with a meal. They also occasionally get some scrambled eggs, meat trimmings or broiled chicken. It's hard to say exactly how much each one eats each day. And some days they'll eat more than other days.
My 10 lb girl eats about 1 can of Wellness or Weruva per day. Somedays more, some a bit less but always about this avg.
so I'm guessing you mean one of those 3 oz small cans? does she get it once a day or how many feedings?
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and tell anybody who will listen they haven't been fed and it makes me look bad!
