Feeding Times And Amounts

[FourCuteCats]

there are probably a few places on this forum that this would fit into, but i'll just put it here.
one of my cats, Beeb, is a little more than overweight and i want to get her to lose some of her fat. the best way to do this would be to decrease the amount of food she gets daily and to play with her often, right? well, despite my best efforts, she doesn't get up to play most of the time. she just lays down and swats at the toy when it comes near her, which isn't really exercise that'll help her lose weight. i have 4 other cats, too, so it's hard to have to go from an automatic feeder to using bowls and feeding only a couple times a day. the three cats who are at healthy weights have to struggle along with her.
my question is what should i do in this situation? also, how often and how much do you feed your cat(s)?
do you think i should slowly decrease the amount of food they get a day until they're only getting about 2 feedings daily (and they're eating it all in a sitting)? or should i just feed them several times a day, maybe four or so, so that they finish at least a cup daily and it's much less stressful for them? should they be eating 2 cups of food a day or is it a different number?

 

[MissMolly08]

I'm fairly new to this whole cat nutrition thing but do you mean 2 cups a day shared between all 5 cats?
How much they should be eating really depends on the food you are feeding. Do they get dry only? Some wet? How many calories per cup are in the food you feed?
I just transitioned to feeding my cat a combo diet (Dry and wet) and right now she gets 1/2 cup dry and 1.5-1.8oz (half a 3oz can or 1/3 5.5oz can) of wet food a day.

 

[tabbytom]

Feeding with dry food is sure way of putting on weight. Try to get her on scheduled feed and on wet food. For dieting, feed her wet food.

Is she an indoor cat? If she is, she needs roughly 200 - 250 calories per day.

 

[lalagimp]

We got both our larger males to lose weight successfully on kibble. We used to use prescription but we switched to Nature's Variety Healthy Weight. Tommy had a goal weight of 13 lbs so he was on 60 grams of food spread out over five times per day. Stew's goal was 12 so he was on 5 grams less per day. The girls hold their weight just fine so they have a microchip feeder where they can free feed during the day with the tag on their collar, and the guys can't open it. Tom can be a jerk and nudge the girl that's eating out of the way and hold the electronic door open with his big fat head, but now we just keep less food in their feeder at one time so he can't gorge on what he's not supposed to be eating.
Total amount of lbs the guys lost was 12. I didn't really see a difference in pace between the prescription diet and then the switch to OTC. If you get her to lose weight keep it to no more than 1/2 lb per month for her sake. It's not a race.

 

[Lalka]

I have an overweight cat..and im worried about you saying *a little more than overweight*. How old is she and what is her weight?

 

[maggiedemi]

I agree that wet food will help her lose weight. I feed somewhere around one cup of food per cat per day, half wet, half dry.

 

[Lalka]

feed her at least 3 meal if not 4 everyday. If she eat all her calories/day in one meal...she ll still be hungry at 6 pm. Think like humans in this situation. You eat a big breakfast (kfc double whatever breakfast, 2000 calories..all the calories a human need in a day) you will still be hungry at noon, if not there is no way you ll go bed without eating something else for your 6pm meal.

Give some whole life or purebites freeze dried treats between meal if she is to hungry

 

[ScarlettGatsby]

My target for calories for my cat is about 180 calories a day. She's a perfect weight right now so we are trying to maintain.

She gets 1/4 cup of dry Fromm food, it's pretty high calorie and that's about 110 calories. She doesn't normally eat all of it.
She also gets half a can of wet food which depending on the exact food that day is 70-80 calories. (Merrick Duck Pate, Fromm Chicken and Salmon, and Trader Joe's Turkey and giblets)

I leave the dry out, but only refill her dish in the morning. She gets her wet food for dinner. The math is as close as I could get to what calories she needs without getting a food scale.

I give her some treats sometimes but not everyday. Normally just days she seems hungrier than normal.

Measuring out the right calories would be a lot harder with multiple cats. I'm not sure what I would do!

 

[Horraira]

I feed 1/4 c in the morning and 1/4 c in the evening; Only blue buffalo salmon. If she doesnt eat her food, she doesnt get a refill. I'll only give food if her bowl is empty.

Wet food is every few days - theres usually a handful of brands I use including blue buffalo. No potatoes - that gives her gas. She'll only get half a can of this for dinner.

Greenies every few days for tartar control and good behavior. My kitty is sitting around 14 lbs now. All thats left for me is to introduce some activity in her life to lose some of this weight. Apparently shes 2 lbs over weight.

One more thing - she gets a small amount of rye grass everyday as a treat, and to help with digestion. She loves this stuff and will sit at the balcony door waiting for it every morning. She even stands up to grab it from my hands!

 

[FourCuteCats]

I'm fairly new to this whole cat nutrition thing but do you mean 2 cups a day shared between all 5 cats?
How much they should be eating really depends on the food you are feeding. Do they get dry only? Some wet? How many calories per cup are in the food you feed?
I just transitioned to feeding my cat a combo diet (Dry and wet) and right now she gets 1/2 cup dry and 1.5-1.8oz (half a 3oz can or 1/3 5.5oz can) of wet food a day.

no, i meant each. after looking at the rest of the posts on this topic i went to take a look at their bag of food and found plenty of answers! not sure why i didn't think of doing that before. as with other bags of cat food there's a chart showing how much you should feed based on your cat's weight. my cats mainly get dry but they're occasionally offered wet food. i'd like to increase the amount of wet food they receive but it'll be a while before that can happen since my family's a bit short on money at the moment.

did i say 4 cats + Beeb? i only have 4 kitties in total if i did, whoops!

Feeding with dry food is sure way of putting on weight. Try to get her on scheduled feed and on wet food. For dieting, feed her wet food.

Is she an indoor cat? If she is, she needs roughly 200 - 250 calories per day.

i'll try to convince my dad to get my cats some more wet food. we do feed them some, but it's not that often. all of my kitties are strictly indoor cats.

We got both our larger males to lose weight successfully on kibble. We used to use prescription but we switched to Nature's Variety Healthy Weight. Tommy had a goal weight of 13 lbs so he was on 60 grams of food spread out over five times per day. Stew's goal was 12 so he was on 5 grams less per day. The girls hold their weight just fine so they have a microchip feeder where they can free feed during the day with the tag on their collar, and the guys can't open it. Tom can be a jerk and nudge the girl that's eating out of the way and hold the electronic door open with his big fat head, but now we just keep less food in their feeder at one time so he can't gorge on what he's not supposed to be eating.
Total amount of lbs the guys lost was 12. I didn't really see a difference in pace between the prescription diet and then the switch to OTC. If you get her to lose weight keep it to no more than 1/2 lb per month for her sake. It's not a race.

that's pretty helpful! i was aware not to rush her into it, but now i have an idea for her scheduling.

I have an overweight cat..and im worried about you saying *a little more than overweight*. How old is she and what is her weight?

she's going on to be 6 years old, i believe. she is overweight, but i don't want you to worry! there are tons of cats much heavier than she is. i don't have a scale in my home so i can't tell you her weight, but that's probably something i can get sometime soon. for now all i can say is that she's not as bad as she could be.

I agree that wet food will help her lose weight. I feed somewhere around one cup of food per cat per day, half wet, half dry.

seems like that is the truth! i'm hoping i can get some more wet food soon. we only have a few cans right now.

feed her at least 3 meal if not 4 everyday. If she eat all her calories/day in one meal...she ll still be hungry at 6 pm. Think like humans in this situation. You eat a big breakfast (kfc double whatever breakfast, 2000 calories..all the calories a human need in a day) you will still be hungry at noon, if not there is no way you ll go bed without eating something else for your 6pm meal.

Give some whole life or purebites freeze dried treats between meal if she is to hungry

makes sense to me. i think i'll be feeding them about 4 times a day. none of them eat a full cup in one sitting, but even if they did, as you said i'd still need to feed them because they'd still be hungry and would therefore need to offer less at a time.

My target for calories for my cat is about 180 calories a day. She's a perfect weight right now so we are trying to maintain.

She gets 1/4 cup of dry Fromm food, it's pretty high calorie and that's about 110 calories. She doesn't normally eat all of it.
She also gets half a can of wet food which depending on the exact food that day is 70-80 calories. (Merrick Duck Pate, Fromm Chicken and Salmon, and Trader Joe's Turkey and giblets)

I leave the dry out, but only refill her dish in the morning. She gets her wet food for dinner. The math is as close as I could get to what calories she needs without getting a food scale.

I give her some treats sometimes but not everyday. Normally just days she seems hungrier than normal.

Measuring out the right calories would be a lot harder with multiple cats. I'm not sure what I would do!

it doesn't seem too difficult to measure out the exact amount of calories! i'll do it if i have to. the dry food all day and wet food for dinner sounds like a good diet, and as long as you're offering the right portions i can totally see why your cat is at a healthy weight.

I feed 1/4 c in the morning and 1/4 c in the evening; Only blue buffalo salmon. If she doesnt eat her food, she doesnt get a refill. I'll only give food if her bowl is empty.

Wet food is every few days - theres usually a handful of brands I use including blue buffalo. No potatoes - that gives her gas. She'll only get half a can of this for dinner.

Greenies every few days for tartar control and good behavior. My kitty is sitting around 14 lbs now. All thats left for me is to introduce some activity in her life to lose some of this weight. Apparently shes 2 lbs over weight.

One more thing - she gets a small amount of rye grass everyday as a treat, and to help with digestion. She loves this stuff and will sit at the balcony door waiting for it every morning. She even stands up to grab it from my hands!

sounds perfect for a kitty! i've never heard about anyone adding rye grass to their kitty's diet, but i can see why it would be beneficial.

 

[MissMolly08]

no, i meant each. after looking at the rest of the posts on this topic i went to take a look at their bag of food and found plenty of answers! not sure why i didn't think of doing that before. as with other bags of cat food there's a chart showing how much you should feed based on your cat's weight. my cats mainly get dry but they're occasionally offered wet food. i'd like to increase the amount of wet food they receive but it'll be a while before that can happen since my family's a bit short on money at the moment.

did i say 4 cats + Beeb? i only have 4 kitties in total if i did, whoops!

2 cups each would be WAYY too much food! Most dry foods I have seen have 300+ calories per cup. As some other posters mentioned, 200-250 is the typical calorie range for healthy weight cats. That means just 1 cup of dry food a day is too much. As far as I have read here, even the suggestions on the bags are usually too much. Food companies want you to feed more so you have buy more, that's how they make money.

 

[FourCuteCats]

2 cups each would be WAYY too much food! Most dry foods I have seen have 300+ calories per cup. As some other posters mentioned, 200-250 is the typical calorie range for healthy weight cats. That means just 1 cup of dry food a day is too much. As far as I have read here, even the suggestions on the bags are usually too much. Food companies want you to feed more so you have buy more, that's how they make money.

yeah, i figured that all out pretty easily. i'll measure it out and feed accordingly based on the calories.

 

[Horraira]

2 cups each would be WAYY too much food! Most dry foods I have seen have 300+ calories per cup. As some other posters mentioned, 200-250 is the typical calorie range for healthy weight cats. That means just 1 cup of dry food a day is too much. As far as I have read here, even the suggestions on the bags are usually too much. Food companies want you to feed more so you have buy more, that's how they make money.

Yea 2 cups is overfeeding...If I go away for a few days I'll drop that in her bowl. She usually gobbles it up over a period of 2-3 days. My cat at least knows how to eat in moderation, but some dont.

 

[FourCuteCats]

Yea 2 cups is overfeeding...If I go away for a few days I'll drop that in her bowl. She usually gobbles it up over a period of 2-3 days. My cat at least knows how to eat in moderation, but some dont.

you're incredibly lucky to have a cat like that!