How much to feed my cat?

katie stanina

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Hi there, I have a 7 year old Calico cat named Kitty. I've done some research and want to switch her over to a half dry/ half wet food diet. I'm still trying to decide on a brand of wet food, But my question is how much of each would I give her? I would probably do dry in the morning and wet food at night. She is a little over weight and so I want to make sure I'm not giving her too much, I'm hoping with some diet changes and of course some exercise she will eventually loose some weight.
 

molly92

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There's a range of calorie levels in cat foods, so it depends. I would work out how many calories you're feeding a day on her current diet. Perhaps halve that for your morning dry food portion, and then calculate how much of whatever wet food you choose to equal the other half. Feed that for a week and weigh her at the beginning and end. If she's not losing any or is gaining, then cut back both portions a tad the next week, etc. If she loses a drastic amount of weight that first week (more than 2% of her initial weight) you would want to increase the portions, but that is very unlikely to happen. Usually it takes a few rounds of cutting back portions before weight loss starts. 

To give you an idea, my cat was originally over 14 lbs and has a low activity level. She gets just wet food, 2-3 times a day, and I had to cut her daily calories down to around 180 before weight loss started. She does get some treats throughout the day so those are not included, but her total was still well below 200. Now that she's 12 lbs she gets between 170-180 calories of food a day as meals of wet food. That's usually slightly less than a full 5.5 oz can, depending on the size and flavor. A more active cat with a faster metabolism of the same size could eat 2 to 3 times as much, though, and maintain a healthy weight. It really depends on the cat.
 

abyeb

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I agree with Molly92. Calorie needs depend on the cat. Unfortunately, the guidelines on cat foods are not right for most cats. Remember, big cat food companies have an objective to sell as much food as possible. So, for that reason, the guidelines on the food packages are usually way more than what cats should have. My Charlie, for example, who is a very active, playful cat, needs only slightly more than half the recommended food intake as suggested on the package of food that he gets, to maintain his ideal weight. Molly92's method of figuring out how much food Kitty should get is great. You can also always ask your vet if you're unsure!
 

NewYork1303

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My cats eat wet and dry food. They each eat around a 3 oz can of Fancy Feast or Sheba each day and about 1/2 cup of Nature Variety Instinct cat food. This is right around 200 calories. 
 

1CatOverTheLine

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My cats eat wet and dry food. They each eat around a 3 oz can of Fancy Feast or Sheba each day and about 1/2 cup of Nature Variety Instinct cat food. This is right around 200 calories. 
That's just about the same as here, except that mine are so picky that they just eat a few bites out of four different flavours.

;)

.
 

milky07

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Thats what i do i give him either 3oz wet fancy feast in the am and 1/4 + teasppon of dry at night or dry in the am and wet at night nutrion first for dry but at the moment friskies my hubby got laid of, [emoji]128532[/emoji] at least hes eating so,thing oh and cooked chicken onces in a while
 
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katie stanina

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Thank you all for your replies and so soon. I'm trying to decide between Sheba, Friskies, or Fancy Feast for wet food. I've read the pate is better, Any thoughts on that? Right now for dry food she is eating the Purina Cat Chow Indoor. She gets treats every now and then for hairball help, And about 3 times a year she gets Whiskas Cat Milk, Comes in a  3-pack​, That lasts about a week. I am trying to play with her for 10 minutes everyday. She loves chasing string and the cat toy laser light. 
 

ashekitty

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Thank you all for your replies and so soon. I'm trying to decide between Sheba, Friskies, or Fancy Feast for wet food. I've read the pate is better, Any thoughts on that? Right now for dry food she is eating the Purina Cat Chow Indoor. She gets treats every now and then for hairball help, And about 3 times a year she gets Whiskas Cat Milk, Comes in a  3-pack​, That lasts about a week. I am trying to play with her for 10 minutes everyday. She loves chasing string and the cat toy laser light. 
I would say Sheba and Fancy Feast are better than Friskies. If you go with Fancy Feast, go with the "classic" line. I personally feed Sheba Patés. Once in a while Fancy Feast. Also I would stick with the non-fish flavors on all of these, although fish is fine for a treat once in awhile. Good luck! Your Kitty is beautiful.
 
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molly92

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Honestly that food looks horrible, especially the dry formula, for weight loss or anything else. Meat isn't even in the top 3 ingredients, and then it's nonspecific byproducts. Corn, wheat, and soy are also terrible for weight loss in cats. They are mostly carbs that get broken down into sugar very quickly so the cat is hungry again very soon after eating. The "high in fiber so it keeps cats fuller longer" is a line weight loss foods love to use but it's incredibly deceptive. Yes, fiber can cause the sensation of feeling fuller, but the average cat does not need very much fiber in their diet nor are they built to digest it as well as humans and other omnivores. But companies use fiber as a justification for all the plant materials in the ingredients, when really they are just cheap fillers and add tons of unhealthy carbohydrates to the cat's diet. Fiber only makes up part of those plants; the carbs are a much larger part, especially in starchy ingredients like corn and wheat. Feeding a food high in meat-based protein is what is really healthy for a cat as well as being great for weight loss! Protein does provide lots of nutritional value for a cat and it actually does a much better job of keeping them fuller longer. When my cat was on a food with more starches, she would be eating lots and still be ravenous between meals. Switching to healthier meat-focused food made her so much happier and weight loss was so much easier to attain because I could cut back on portion sizes and she would not act like she was starving. 

I'm sorry to be a bit aggressive. It makes me angry to see companies push foods with such terrible ingredients, especially as a prescription food! The Purina you're feeding now would even be better, although it still isn't great. A better food would be anything that has meat as the first ingredient if you can manage it. A food like that may not say indoor or low calorie on the package, but even if it has more calories per cup, the quality of each calorie is better and goes further so you feed less of it than you would of a food with fillers.

For wet food, definitely go with Fancy Feast or Sheba classic pates. They are cheap, but they're almost all meat! Which is exactly what  a cat needs to be healthy. The other flavors and textures and the Friskies all have more unnecessary junk foods in them.

I cannot emphasize meat enough with for weight loss! It still takes effort and diligence to bring a cat's weight down even on the healthiest diets, but it is significantly easier for you and the cat when you're not also battling the dramatic rising and falling of blood sugar that happens with meals made mostly of carbohydrates.
 
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ashekitty

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I would not try this food. Cats are carnivores and the first ingredients of this dry food are all plants. Try to get a good food with meat as the first few ingredients, if you can afford it.

Ingredients:
Corn gluten meal, wheat gluten, soybean meal, poultry by-product meal, oat fiber, soy protein isolate, brewers rice, fish meal, powdered cellulose, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols, phosphoric acid, animal liver flavor, potassium chloride, calcium carbonate, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, salt, choline chloride, Vitamin E supplement, taurine, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), manganese sulfate, niacin, Vitamin A supplement, copper sulfate, calcium pantothenate, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid, Vitamin D-3 supplement, calcium iodate, biotin, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), sodium selenite. A-2566
 
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abyeb

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I agree with Ashekitty. In commercial cat foods, ingredients like Corn Gluten Meal are just cheap fillers. Cats need nutrients that come from meat, not vegetables. This can be confusing to cat owners because we tend to think that what's healthy for us should be healthy for cats, which is not the case. Think about it this way: how many times have you heard about cats trying to steal pears or oranges from the table? Probably never. Cats don't seek after these foods because they don't need them.
 

1CatOverTheLine

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I agree with Ashekitty. In commercial cat foods, ingredients like Corn Gluten Meal are just cheap fillers. Cats need nutrients that come from meat, not vegetables. This can be confusing to cat owners because we tend to think that what's healthy for us should be healthy for cats, which is not the case. Think about it this way: how many times have you heard about cats trying to steal pears or oranges from the table? Probably never. Cats don't seek after these foods because they don't need them.
Have you examined the study Blood values of adult captive cheetahs fed either supplemented beef or whole rabbit carcasses [Zoo Biology: November, 2011; Samuel Depauw, et al]?  It's online at the U.S. National Library of Medicine (N.I.H.). 

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ashekitty

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One other thing I forgot to say: Remember to always switch your cat slowly to a new food so your cat doesn't get sick!
 
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katie stanina

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Oh no I really do appreciate your input, I didn't really know any of that. Is there a brand of dry cat food you would recommend for her? I think I'm going to go with the Fancy Feast for the wet food.
 
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katie stanina

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Oh no I really do appreciate your input, I didn't really know any of that. Is there a brand of dry cat food you would recommend for her? I think I'm going to go with the Fancy Feast for the wet food.​
 

ashekitty

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Oh no I really do appreciate your input, I didn't really know any of that. Is there a brand of dry cat food you would recommend for her? I think I'm going to go with the Fancy Feast for the wet food.​
Well it really depends on the price you can afford to pay. Would you mind sharing with us a rough budget so we can recommend some foods in your price range? It's ok that you didn't know what was good and bad for your kitty, but it's great you are learning because feeding your cat the proper diet is very important! :) Your Kitty has a lucky momma who cares about her!
 
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chloe92us

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My cats (9 & 12 pounds, lean) each get a 3 oz can of wet twice a day (breakfast & dinner) and about 1/4 cup of dry right before I go to bed for midnight snacking.  I'm still trying to figure out how much to feed our new cat, he is smaller but seems hungry all the time! 

The hard food I feed them is Natural Balance Ultra.  It's a mid-range food but they all like it.  For wet, I rotate between ProPlan, Fancy Feast, Sheba, & NutroMax. I buy 5 different cases at a time on chewy.com and rotate every meal.  My thought process is by mixing brands and flavors it will prevent them from becoming too attached to one food in case there's a recall or formula change. 
 
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