What when and how much do you feed your cat?

[Saikachu]

What does your __ yr old cat eat? How much do you feed them? What is the average amount of food to feed a cat and how often should you feed them?

 

[LTS3]

How much to feed varies depending on age, activity level, breed, health issues, etc There is no "right" amount to feed as every cat is different. Most people follow the general rule of feeding roughly 20 to 25 calories per pound of body weight daily. Cats prefer to eat a few small meals daily. Some cats will throw up bile if they go too long without food. Some people do just fill up a bowl to the top with dry food and let the cat graze until the bowl is empty, which can be a day or two or more later. Free feeding dry food can lead to obesity because dry food is super calorie dense per cup.

My 11 year old cats eat raw food. Since raw food can't be left out, I do scheduled feeding. The cats get breakfast and dinner, roughly 12 hours apart. One cat may need a small snack roughly 2 hours post dinner. Both cats get a snack before bedtime. My 11 lb IBD cat eats about 170 calories daily. My other 9 lb cat eats about 122 calories daily. The calories are a bit on the low side for both but they're maintaining their weight and not hangry.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

my boys are both 13 years old. one weighs about 15 pounds and the other weighs just over 9 pounds. They eat roughly the same amount of calories, also on the low side because at this point in their lives they are turning into couch potatoes, and their diets are also mainly raw, so maybe they just need fewer calories because of the type of food. I can't figure it out, but they don't lose weight on it, so that's good. But I feed three times per day, with an additional bedtime snack (very tiny one)

 

[daftcat75]

My five year old is a nibbler. I set out a 3 oz can of Fancy Feast Chicken Feast pate at 6 am and it takes her nearly twelve hours to finish it. At 6pm, I pick up that plate and set down another. She eats nearly two 3 oz cans a day. She does better with the overnight eating than the daytime. I've only had her a month, and I'm still waiting to have her teeth cleaned for the first time. Assuming there's nothing wrong with her teeth, this may just be the way she eats. She seems to be maintaining her weight and her coat is feeling better since I dropped the dry from her diet. I've been trying to get some raw in her. But she doesn't seem to be interested in more than 10 grams in a 45 minute window. I won't leave raw out for 12 hours. I probably need to do more portion engineering to have a hungrier cat at dinner.

 

[Babypinkweeb]

My 12 year old always been a grazer and refuse to eat wet, so I give him a whole day's worth (just under 1/2 cup of dry, about 250 cals) at night in his microchip feeder. If I split the meal giving he will wake me up at 4am every day even if he has enough to last until noon. Microchip feeder is cus my other cat will want to eat it too.

My 2 year old cat eats about 200 cals of a mix of wet and some freeze dried. He also gets his whole day's worth at night because he doesn't like eating during the day at all. When I used to feed him twice a day he would not touch his breakfast until it's dinner time. He really likes eating all his food overnight and cleans his bowl well.

Both cats are at their ideal body weight and shape according to vet and maintain on this diet.

 

[sivyaleah]

My 13 year old pudgy domestic girl, quite inactive, eats about 4-6 ounces wet a day split into 3 meals. She will usually eat 3 ounces at breakfast, and ounce or so at lunch and then 2-3 ounces at dinner. She eats, and will almost never come back for more if it's left out. She gets mostly Fancy Feast pate foods; she prefers it and since she's missing a good amount of teeth, it's easy for her to manage. She will poach on my other cats kibble but only is able to eat a few pieces before she gives up. I think she is getting around 150 calories give or take. I can't believe she hasn't lost weight but she does kind of sleep all day. She does not like any of our other cats food whatsoever. Cocoa's weight has been pretty stable over the past years but she does weigh too much, 13 lbs.

My 3 year old Maine Coon Luna, still fairly active, very lean. She's a grazer and it can take 3 hours to finish a meal. I always give her a 3 ounce can - lately she seems to prefer Merricks pate though she also will eat Merricks pouches but her real fav is rabbit and it's been out of stock for a couple of months now. Some days she eats all of it, others days about half. She then gets 1/4 cup of a mixture of 2 kibbles one of which is pretty high in calories (Orijen Tundra) on purpose. She gets no lunch - I stopped trying a while ago since she never wanted it. The kibble lasts until dinnertime, some days she does not finish it. She eats the same wet at dinner but hasn't finished a full can in ages. I refill her kibble bowl with fresh. That kibble will last overnight and sometimes there is some leftover. She gets approximately 225-250 calories a day plus/minus, depending on her appetite. She does get treats which the older one does not. Plain chicken if we happen to be having it for dinner, Orijen treats, a lick of cream cheese LOL (she has no problem with dairy). Luna is at a very good weight, possibly a bit underweight I'd rather she wasn't one of those huge MC's anyway. Will be better for her hips as she ages. She maintains her weight of 10.5 lbs only drifting by an ounce or so either way for about a year now.

 

[Bri5]

We have 4 rescued ferals ages 1.5-5ish, and they all live in and around the garage. I do, however, suspect the oldest boy was a pet that was lost or dumped. Anyhow, they get wet canned food in the morning, and dry kibble in the evening. Treats on occasion. They range from 10-14ish pounds, and the almost 3 year old twins are the most active but have vastly different body composition. The big boy also hunts often, as evidenced by the moles, feathers, and half lizards we find at the perimeter of the house.

 

[ailish]

My 9 lb six-year-old cat gets 4 40ish calorie meals a day. Three wet and one dry. She has maintained her weight for five years. The vet says nothing over 10lbs for her. She is probably on the small side of average sized, as she had kittens before she was a year old. She is healthy, indoor, and fairly active for indoors. She is a grazer and will usually eat half her meal when she gets it and the other half awhile later. The dry food is because I have an automatic feeder to give her a meal in the night. She throws up bile very early in the morning if I don't give her that snack. I also like to keep her as food flexible as possible in case someone else has to care for her. I give her a variety of foods, brands, and textures and, although she goes through her picky stages she generally will eat most foods. Except when she's on one of her "I only eat fish" strikes. I don't cater to that and it usually goes away in about two weeks. I don't worry too much, because her strikes are usually kind of halfway. She still eats just enough to not be worrisome. Times are 5:30a, 4:39p, 9:30p, 2:30a. That would be a bit different if I didn't work.

 

[vince]

I have an 8 year-old and a 7-year old, males, and a 3 year-old female. They all get 1/4 cup of dry and 1/2 can of wet food daily, two dry and one meal wet in three meals, plus numerous treats. The older ones are males and the younger is a female. I think the males are "pleasingly plump" and the female is pretty skinny (lanky build). The vet seems happy with their weights. Doesn't seem like much food for them, but they are maintaining their weights well. They're all indoor-only cats.

 

[arr]

Our 2 year old 16 pound boy eats 8.5 ounces of wet and 2 tablespoons of dry each day. His sister and mother, both 13 pounds, eat 4.5 ounces of wet and 5-6 tablespoons dry each day. They eat 3 times a day, 7:00 AM, 1:30PM, and 8:00PM.

 

[aliceneko]

Toffee and Fudge are 4 and a half, and they mostly have dry food - at the moment we have them on diet food because we noticed they were gaining a little too much weight! Other times they have dry regular food. They have three meals a day in the morning, afternoon and in the evening but times vary depending on when we get up and what our day is like. A standard time for their meals is 8:30am-9am,1:30pm-2pm and 5:30-6pm. We also give them Dentabites at night just before we go to bed. They are indoor/outdoor cats but mostly indoor during the cold weather!

 

[siamesecat108]

My 2 year old boy gets approx 8-9 oz of wet food daily, split into 3 meals. He weighs 14 lbs and looks pretty healthy weight-wise to me. He’s young and active now, but could maybe be a tad leaner. I’m planning on discussing with his vet at the next checkup on whether I should reduce his food intake a little bit. My boy is very food motivated, always looking for treats and snacks and begging for anything he can get!

 

[Ladyrosee]

I have a 14lb and 10lb cat and they both eat 200 calories a day. I once followed vets recommendation for my 14lb guy and he became severely obese they told me like 350 calories a day..or 300 I cant remember but I followed it lol. I have a 6-7lb cat and I swear she only eats like a 3.3 oz can of food a day and nibbles on kibble. She must have been malnourished when she was growing maybe she was found at 6 months old and in foster for a year and I just adopted her

 

[Alldara]

You want to find how to feed your cat so that they maintain a good body condition. Each cat is an individual and it will depend on their likes, activity level and metabolism.

I have a cat who can't eat much at a time so they get smaller meals 4x a day. We do a mixture of different brands such as Iams Perfect Portions, Purina, Wureva, and sometimes Fancy Feast or the grocery store brand. They get mostly chicken but also Lamb, Duck, Turkey and Salmon.

They get mostly wet, but also have Royal Canin dental food.

What's in My Cat's Food?: Designer Diets, Grain Free Diets | VCA | VCA Canada Animal Hospitals

 

[Alldara]

Oh sorry. My cats are 3 years, 2 years and estimated 2 years. They all get different amounts because, metabolism. One is also a bit less active than the other two. It's taken some trial and error to get it right for them.