How much to feed adult cat?

Weezil

TCS Member
Thread starter
Young Cat
Joined
Sep 4, 2020
Messages
20
Purraise
21
Hi-- just a short question! I would like to feed my cat a canned food/dry food diet (my previous cat would not eat canned food) and was wondering how much to give her. I had been feeding her 1/4 cup of dry food in the morning and another 1/4 cup in the evening, but since she is not a picky eater (I have given her canned food a few times and she likes it!) I was wondering how much to give her. She still gets her 1/4 cup dry in the morning so question is-- how much canned food in the evening? She is 4 years old and weighs 7.5 lbs. Thanks!
 

Babypinkweeb

TCS Member
Alpha Cat
Joined
Feb 24, 2021
Messages
409
Purraise
500
I'm sure others will offer great advice, but what I do is calculate calorie needs per day based on my cats activity level and weight. I've read in many places that 20 calories per 1 pound of body weight is a good start. 25-30 cal if they are more active, or less if they are less. My 11 year old is barely eating his 20 calories/lb a day, while my younger cat is very active and I sometimes feed him more. Once you calculate the calories your cat needs, take a look at the calories per can or per cup of food you're feeding her, and work it out from there :)

For example my 11 year old is about 11 lbs, moderately active/normal. He should then eat about 220 calories a day. I feed him 2/3 of a 5.5oz can of my current wet which works out to be 130 calories, and he gets the rest of his 90 calories from the dry food which is about 23 grams. Some days he's more active than others, and since he is a good self regulator, if he seems hungry, I will give him a bit more wet food.

Edit: And I agree that you should aim for all wet if your cat will eat it! My boy ate kibble most of his life, and will literally not recognize his dinner is food until I plop some kibble down for him. He is also still having issues with learning how to eat wet, so I include dry to help him get the calories he needs. My younger cat is on all wet :)
 
Last edited:
Top