How Many Grams Of Dry Food Should A Cat Eat Per Day?

AIice

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My cat weighs 4.2 kg

A vet told me I should just follow the cat food instruction and feed the cat dry food 2~3 times a day and wet food once a week.

According to the dry food(Whiskas) instructions, a 4 kg cat should eat 55 g per day.
Since my cat is used to have 3 meals a day, I decided to feed him 30~40g each(90~120g a day).
But that's still not enough, the cat wasn't asking for food this much when he was getting only wet food. What am I doing wrong?!!
 

abyeb

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The instructions on a food package tend to be an overestimate, as cat food companies have the goal of selling more food.

This article does a good job explaining how to figure out how much food to give: How Much Food Should I Feed My Cat?
 

Royalty

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My cat weighs 4.2 kg

A vet told me I should just follow the cat food instruction and feed the cat dry food 2~3 times a day and wet food once a week.

According to the dry food(Whiskas) instructions, a 4 kg cat should eat 55 g per day.
Since my cat is used to have 3 meals a day, I decided to feed him 30~40g each(90~120g a day).
But that's still not enough, the cat wasn't asking for food this much when he was getting only wet food. What am I doing wrong?!!
Wow wet food just once a week, which brand / brands of food are you currently feeding.
 

KarenKat

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Your cat might just like wet food better ... it’s more filling in the stomach, tastes better and looks more satisfying to me.

Cats are healthier on wet food because it’s less processed and it keeps them hydrated. In the wild they would get most of their moisture from food.

Sometimes wet food can get expensive, so people feed it as a treat or in conjunction with dry (also some cats are too picky to eat only wet so the dry gives them enough calories). However, there is no need to limit dry on a medical or nutritional basis. Some vets think that dry is healthier or cleans teeth, but this is an outdated notion (some vets aren’t up to date on nutrition).

If your kitty doesn’t seem satisfied, can you feed her more wet food? Ornof that isn’t possible, can you split up what you give her into smaller portions and feed the wet food more often?
 
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AIice

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abyeb abyeb
If possible, I would like to avoid reading articles. They are too long and say the same thing.(calories bla bla) that doesn't apply to all cats.

Wow wet food just once a week, which brand / brands of food are you currently feeding.
Whiskas, both dry and wet.

TBH I'm looking for a correction ... can't believe this vet.
Opening a can just to feed a cat once a week doesn't seem right, the food might lose its quality or even expire , the vet didn't specify how many meals or grams I should give the cat.

KarenKat KarenKat

It seems to be me the cat is enjoying the dry food more, he get excited just by seeing the bag. Probably because he's used to dry food. I made him eat dry food as kitten for months.

Anyway, instead of mixing dry with wet.. I just want to know how much dry food do cat owners feed their cats.
 

MajorTomCat

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I feed my cats 1/8 a cup of dry a day and 5 oz wet. One gets 250 calories the other gets 200. The dry I feed midday since I’m at work and th automatic feeder dumps it. If I was home all day I’d do all wet and no dry since it’s not as healthy for them. But advice from people on a cat forum is going to be specific to their cats so if you don’t want to read an article because it doesn’t apply to all cats and is too long how does multiple other people’s advice about their specific cat help you?
 

KarenKat

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We free-feed kibble for Trin and Gohan all day, they are used to it and it is hard to wean them off onto wet food. They will barely try the wet food, although we are working on that. So basically "all the kibble" is the answer there.

I feed Olive only wet food, because she got pretty fat on the dry food and had no problem with eating canned food. We started with all the kibble, then cut it down to about 1/2 cup per day of Natural Balance Green Pea and Chicken, and now we are at no dry food at all. She gets ~70 kcal per meal three times per day.

Often dry cat food brands spray the food with flavoring to make it more appealing, but it really is less healthy and filling. Could be why kitty thinks he is hungry all the time. If I ate protein bars all the time, I might have the right calories, but I would not feel satisfied and my body would be telling me I need to eat more.

Because each cat is different - and has different energy levels, weight, and calorie requirements - I really have to recommend reading abyeb abyeb 's article. It is very short, and has really good guidelines that explain how to determine what is right for your cat.
 
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AIice

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The problem is neither dry nor wet food say anything about calories, I can't do a dry&wet mix based on the calories needed.

Also, I don't understand how "cup" unit works.

Thanks for your help.
 

Alice catlady

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We free-feed kibble for Trin and Gohan all day, they are used to it and it is hard to wean them off onto wet food. They will barely try the wet food, although we are working on that. So basically "all the kibble" is the answer there.

I feed Olive only wet food, because she got pretty fat on the dry food and had no problem with eating canned food. We started with all the kibble, then cut it down to about 1/2 cup per day of Natural Balance Green Pea and Chicken, and now we are at no dry food at all. She gets ~70 kcal per meal three times per day.

Often dry cat food brands spray the food with flavoring to make it more appealing, but it really is less healthy and filling. Could be why kitty thinks he is hungry all the time. If I ate protein bars all the time, I might have the right calories, but I would not feel satisfied and my body would be telling me I need to eat more.

Because each cat is different - and has different energy levels, weight, and calorie requirements - I really have to recommend reading abyeb abyeb 's article. It is very short, and has really good guidelines that explain how to determine what is right for your cat.
We also free-feed dry food. They always have their bowl of Royal Canin, and my female adult will yell at us if it goes empty. We also give them some wet food everyday. Ours love their wet food and will mostly eat the dry If they get hungry between feedings of wet food. How much wet food they get depends on the cat. Our two chubby males get smaller portions.
 

KarenKat

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The problem is neither dry nor wet food say anything about calories, I can't do a dry&wet mix based on the calories needed.

Also, I don't understand how "cup" unit works.
Usually the bag of food will say "451 calories per cup" or something like that. Cans of food usually (but not always) list the calories per can on the label. If you can't find it on the label, look up on chewy.com or another website and it usually lists it on there. Often for dry food the label says to feed so many "cups", which is a volume measurement. 1 cup = 237 mL
 

Stinky15

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My cat weighs 4.2 kg

A vet told me I should just follow the cat food instruction and feed the cat dry food 2~3 times a day and wet food once a week.

According to the dry food(Whiskas) instructions, a 4 kg cat should eat 55 g per day.
Since my cat is used to have 3 meals a day, I decided to feed him 30~40g each(90~120g a day).
But that's still not enough, the cat wasn't asking for food this much when he was getting only wet food. What am I doing wrong?!!

Your Vet is clueless. Cats aren't designed to eat dry kibble.
Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition – Common Sense. Healthy Cats.
 

LTS3

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The problem is neither dry nor wet food say anything about calories, I can't do a dry&wet mix based on the calories needed.
Does the label not have information on kcal? It's usually in teeny tiny print somewhere near the list of ingredients.

Or look for the calorie information on the pet food company web site or online pet supply web site or one of the calorie databases.

http://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf
CatFoodDB - Cat Food Reviews to help you find the best cat food for your cat
http://www.franklinanimalclinic.vet/sites/site-2382/documents/Cat_Dry_Food1.pdf
http://www.franklinanimalclinic.vet/sites/site-2382/documents/Cat_Canned_Pouch_Foods1.pdf

Also, I don't understand how "cup" unit works.
Take a measuring cup labeled as "1 cup" for dry ingredients, the same you would use for baking to measure flour and such. Fill the measuring up to the top and level off. That is one cup of dry food.

I'm not sure what the metric equivalent of a US cup is.

Measuring by cup might still mean too many calories for the cat. One cup of brand X dry food might have 300 calories while the same amount of brand ABC has 600 calories. That's why it makes more sense to feed by calorie intake than by using a measuring cup.
 
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