Measuring Food For Calculating Calories, And Timing Of Meals

[MissMolly08]

I know for a fact that one cup of kibble does not weight 8 ounces. I keep my scale out on the corner of the counter and weigh the pets' meals...and a whole lot of other stuff just 'cause the scale is there and it's kind of fun to play with.

I pack the cats raw food mix in 24 ounce (3-cup) containers by volume. If I pack them as tightly as possible, they weigh 19-20 ounces of food in weight.

So a cup of kibble does not weigh 8oz but are you supposed to measure it by ounces or with a measuring cup? The back of the bags says kcal/cup not kcal/oz, right?

 

[cheeser]

Okay, so my math isn't perfect when we get down to Tablespoons of wet food.

Your math could very well be right.

Maybe it depends on how tightly packed the food is for a particular flavor. Sometimes after Buddy has eaten his fill and we put the leftovers back in the can so we can measure how much is left, it's like trying to repack an overstuffed suitcase.

 

[maggiedemi]

I just use a measuring cup. I never give my cats more than 1/2 cup each of dry food, usually a little less.

 

[cheeser]

Oh... and as far as timing... I just recently went from free feeding my cat dry to doing set meal times and wet food. I was told on a post I made here that cats can go a max of 12 hours between feedings.

Cool. That's a good thing to know in case of an emergency. We've been fortunate thus far, but sooner or later something is bound to come up where someone can't be here 24/7 to feed the cats.

 

[maggiedemi]

My measuring cups are pretty accurate with the wet food if you don't go too small in the measurements. But I'm curious about the dry food, so I'm going to go weigh it. I'll let you know what I find out...

 

[orange&white]

I just use a measuring cup. I never give my cats more than 1/2 cup each of dry food, usually a little less.

That is perfectly all right. You don't need to know how much the kibble weighs, and the kcals/cup are conveniently listed on the dry food bag as a volume measurement so you don't need to know math conversion.

 

[orange&white]

Would it be easier if you look at the calories per can instead of worrying over tablespoons or weight? You could cut the food into quarters, then if a can is 200 kcals, 1/4 can is 50 kcals, 1/2 can is 100 kcals, and so forth.

 

[MissMolly08]

My measuring cups are pretty accurate with the wet food if you don't go too small in the measurements. But I'm curious about the dry food, so I'm going to go weigh it. I'll let you know what I find out...

It's interesting that your measuring cups are pretty close for wet food. Makes me wonder if it would be more accurate if I gave 3tbsp. of wet food per meal instead of trying to guess by visually breaking the food up.

 

[MissMolly08]

Would it be easier if you look at the calories per can instead of worrying over tablespoons or weight? You could cut the food into quarters, then if a can is 200 kcals, 1/4 can is 50 kcals, 1/2 can is 100 kcals, and so forth.

That's what I've been doing and it works well for pate style foods but it does get a bit tricky with shreds.

 

[orange&white]

I never worried about how much the food weighed when I fed processed "cat food", canned or dry. The only reason I weigh raw diet is that the raw diet is given as a ratio of percent food weight to pet's body weight, not usually fed as kcals.

Kcals in processed foods are easy to count without knowing how many teaspoons, tablespoons or cups are in a can or a bag.

 

[ScarlettGatsby]

So a cup of kibble does not weigh 8oz but are you supposed to measure it by ounces or with a measuring cup? The back of the bags says kcal/cup not kcal/oz, right?

I think most bags list both cal/oz and cal/cup.
Cups are a volume measurement so it's much simpler with kibble than with wet food.

EDIT: Never mind, my kibble lists cal/kg cal/lbs cal/cup

 

[orange&white]

You shouldn't need to weigh kibble if you are counting calories. Calories per cup are printed on the bag by the measuring cup to make it easy. Almost everyone has a measuring cup; not so many have scales. No need to worry about it.

 

[lalagimp]

I saw more progress on weighing the kibble while dieting than using the cup measurement. Using a scale instead of using my eyeballs yielded greater results.

 

[cheeser]

Would it be easier if you look at the calories per can instead of worrying over tablespoons or weight? You could cut the food into quarters, then if a can is 200 kcals, 1/4 can is 50 kcals, 1/2 can is 100 kcals, and so forth.

That's actually what we've been doing, and the 'eyeball' method works great as long as he's only eating from one can, and I can look at it and say, "Okay, Buddy has eaten 3/4 of a can that contains 78 kcals, so he's had 58.5 calories for breakfast. So I'll just round that up to an even 60."

Our problem (other than sucking at math!) is when Buddy feels awful and will only eat a bite or two of his usual food for that meal. Then we'll open a can of something else to try to tempt his appetite, and he might eat a bite or two of that and then quit. After we've waited for what seems like a reasonable amount of time, we'll open a can of something else...and so on. By the time Buddy decides he's done for that meal, maybe he's only eaten a few bites from several cans, and we're a bit confused as to whether or not we need to whip out the syringes and assist feed him, and if so, how much.

 

[maggiedemi]

lalagimp- how much did the kibble weigh, do you remember? I just give Demi a little under 1/2 cup.

 

[cheeser]

That's what I've been doing and it works well for pate style foods but it does get a bit tricky with shreds.

Ain't that the truth, especially when your cat isn't thoughtful enough to eat an equal ratio of meat and liquid to make it easy for you.

 

[MissMolly08]

I saw more progress on weighing the kibble while dieting than using the cup measurement. Using a scale instead of using my eyeballs yielded greater results.

How did you figure out calories when weighing kibble? The bag only lists kcal/cup so I'm curious how you break that down to kcal/oz.

 

[orange&white]

How did you figure out calories when weighing kibble? The bag only lists kcal/cup so I'm curious how you break that down to kcal/oz.

The bag does also specify kcals/kg (and maybe kcals/pound). Those are both "by weight" measurements of calories instead of by volume.

 

[orange&white]

That's actually what we've been doing, and the 'eyeball' method works great as long as he's only eating from one can, and I can look at it and say, "Okay, Buddy has eaten 3/4 of a can that contains 78 kcals, so he's had 58.5 calories for breakfast. So I'll just round that up to an even 60."

Our problem (other than sucking at math!) is when Buddy feels awful and will only eat a bite or two of his usual food for that meal. Then we'll open a can of something else to try to tempt his appetite, and he might eat a bite or two of that and then quit. After we've waited for what seems like a reasonable amount of time, we'll open a can of something else...and so on. By the time Buddy decides he's done for that meal, maybe he's only eaten a few bites from several cans, and we're a bit confused as to whether or not we need to whip out the syringes and assist feed him, and if so, how much.

Yes, I see. Then you really do want to know how many teaspoons he is eating to count calories.

So...

There are 3 teaspoons in 1 Tablespoon.

For precise/accurate calculation you do need to use your Tablespoon to spoon the food from the can into a small jar or plastic tub with lid, then multiply by 3 to get teaspoons. So your above can had 7 Tablespoons of food = 21 teaspoons per can. kcals/can divided by 21 teaspoons per can will give you calories per teaspoon.

 

[orange&white]

Also something I've found very helpful with feeding 2 cats, 2 separate diets (one low-fat for senior, and one "regular" for kitten) is writing a note with a Sharpie pen on the lid with how many ounces are in the tub, calories, and the name of the cat. Those little one cup plastic Ziploc tubs are great. The Sharpie notes wash off with soap and water so you could make new notes with each new can of food you open.