How Many Ounces To Feed?

[Gizmobius]

I've been preparing my boy homemade raw with Alnutrin for about a month now and am still in the learning process of how much to give him. With raw fed cats, does the 20-25 calories per pound still apply? Gizmo is a healthy 13lbs so he would need 260 calories a day, correct? My raw recipe comes to about 26/27 calories per ounce according to Alnutrin's nutrient calculator which means he would need 10oz of food a day. Is that right? Gizmo currently gets about 7-8oz which I thought seem liked a lot since I read a few people on here only feed their cats 4-6oz of raw but I don't want to be underfeeding him obviously. It's very confusing! Any help is appreciated.

 

[Ardina]

Cats get a lot more nutrition out of raw than cooked, so 10 oz would be quite a lot! 2-4% of body weight per day is a better way to determine how much to feed. 2% for weight loss/very sedate cat. 3% for the average cat, 4% for very hyperactive cats and growing kittens. So for the average 13 lb cat, 6 oz (~3%) would be fine, 4 oz (~2%) would be for weight loss, and 8 oz (~4%) if he's a kitten or very hyperactive.

 

[Gizmobius]

Cats get a lot more nutrition out of raw than cooked, so 10 oz would be quite a lot! 2-4% of body weight per day is a better way to determine how much to feed. 2% for weight loss/very sedate cat. 3% for the average cat, 4% for very hyperactive cats and growing kittens. So for the average 13 lb cat, 6 oz (~3%) would be fine, 4 oz (~2%) would be for weight loss, and 8 oz (~4%) if he's a kitten or very hyperactive.

Thank you for doing the math for me! I knew 10oz seemed way too high but just wanted to make sure. I will continue to fill up my storage containers with 7oz to give me a little leeway but I will start cutting him back to 6oz a day. Thanks!

 

[Ardina]

Keep in mind that these are ballpark estimates. The best way would be to weigh him every week to 2 weeks. If he's gaining, cut down. If he's losing weight, increase his portions. Good luck!