How much to feed our cats?

tidus

Hi all

We've had our cats for just over 6 months and still can't decide how much they need to eat. Feeding guides on cat food indicate that they need 3-4 pouches a day, which I think seems excessive. They generally get 2 pouches a day with some dried food overnight and the odd treat. Does that seem about right? They are fully grown (18months old) and one is average size, the other a bit above average.

I haven't actually weighed them (I think I might have to do this periodically to see if they are gaining/looseing weight) - but by appearance they seem to be staying about the same.

I'm writing this today because at present they are constantly asking for food, and hoovering up anything they can find. I guess this is because its getting colder, and their instincts are telling them to fatten up for winter? Should they be fed a bit more at this time of year?

Cheers for any advise.

tanith

2 pouches and biscuits available is what I used to feed my two moggies and they both lived beyond 20yrs. They used to get titbits of leftover fish , chicken etc a couple of times a week. I was always amazed that on the packet it would say 4 pouches per day so I just went on instinct but I did mix the products up buying some expensive 60% meat/fish packs which I alternated with cheaper less % packs...

tim_n

We have two small short hair rescue cats.

I feed a science plan diet (which has no need for wet food) and top up the biscuits twice a day for a couple of days in a normal size double sided cat bowl - one flavour of food each side.

I split a single pouch of wet food between another bowl and if they clear it, I top it up with the rest.

Recently our food suddenly started disappearing in droves - turned out a neighbours cat had managed to get in our cat flap.

Most wet foods have very little meat in them - about 4-7% so by moving to dried food you're not really changing much!

For water we found that the smaller bowls are pretty useless - the cats ignore it. We use a large pasta bowl, the cats prefer it because they don't have to jam their whiskers in to drink.

When I had two pure breeds and a moggie at my parents, they were fed a single pouch of cat food and again, two bowls of dried biscuits twice a day.

Occasional treats as well for all cats, but rare as we don't want them begging.

Wickedkitten

I never go by what the instructions say because each cat is different so you have to go really by weight and also activity levels. Wet food is good for their bladders but it does tend to make them hungry during the day so I tend to do with ours is give them 25g each of dry in the morning, another 25g each in the afternoon, and then they get a half tin of wet to split before bed.

Fridaycat

tim_n wrote: »

We have two small short hair rescue cats.

I feed a science plan diet (which has no need for wet food) and top up the biscuits twice a day for a couple of days in a normal size double sided cat bowl - one flavour of food each side.

I split a single pouch of wet food between another bowl and if they clear it, I top it up with the rest.

Recently our food suddenly started disappearing in droves - turned out a neighbours cat had managed to get in our cat flap.

Most wet foods have very little meat in them - about 4-7% so by moving to dried food you're not really changing much!
.

Sorry, but this is completely not true and is a falsehood that is repeated far too often on these, and other, forums.

No wet food contains only 4 - 7% meat. This falsehood has arisen from the fact that when you have a wet food which states it is a certain flavour - e.g. Lamb, the minimum legal requirement of Lamb is 4%. Manufacturers then top this up with other meats, typically poultry, to make a MUCH higher percentage of meat.

Hiowever, manufacturers such as Whiskas and Felix are not clear on what the overall percentage of meat is nor on what the quality of said meat is, and they also use grains as fillers to bulk the food out.

When you go to a better quality food such as Bozita, they too only use 4% of the stated flavour, but the quality of the other meats is good and they don't use grains. When you go to an even better brand such as Grau Grain Free - if there is a single flavour such as Lamb, the vast majority of the food will be made up of Lamb.

Here are the ingredients of Grau Grain Free Poultry and Ocean Fish as an example:

Poultry & Ocean Fish: Meat and innards (at least 40% poultry, at least 28% ocean fish, at least 18% mackerel), meat stock, calcium carbonate.

I personally would not recommend feeding a diet made up of a high percentage of dry food. My 5 have dry in the morning and wet in the evening and a bowl of dry down overnight. My Friday cat used to suffer from cystitis regularly, but this has stopped since I started feeding more wet. It is acknowledged that cats often do not drink enough to get enough moisture and if you feed dry only, this is exacerbated.

jemb

We have 2 cats, we've had them 3 years. Have you wormed them recently? As that could be a reason theyre eating you out of house and home! We always make sure dried food is down and they have a pouch each a day. Our vet told us not to give them too much wet food, as my big man Binks was suffering with his gums as a result.

spike7451

Daisy gets nearly a tin of wet food a day plus Purina One or Royal Cannin left out for her.Before you say that's too much,Daisy doesn't drink fluids (god knows I've tried everything!) so I end up throwing about a third of the tin away after she's licked the jelly off.Does urine me off a bit the amount I'm binning but I'm at a loss as how to get her to drink fluids...

madget_2

spike7451 wrote: »

Daisy gets nearly a tin of wet food a day plus Purina One or Royal Cannin left out for her.Before you say that's too much,Daisy doesn't drink fluids (god knows I've tried everything!) so I end up throwing about a third of the tin away after she's licked the jelly off.Does urine me off a bit the amount I'm binning but I'm at a loss as how to get her to drink fluids...

Spike - we get one of our cats to take in more water by mixing some in with her wet food. Maybe worth a try for your Daisy?

spike7451

madget wrote: »

Spike - we get one of our cats to take in more water by mixing some in with her wet food. Maybe worth a try for your Daisy?

Mmmm..haven't tried that..Thanks.I've just changed her from Tesco's cat food to Sainsbury's (which she prefers) which was hard to get until the new store 6 miles away opened last week,before that it was a 40 mile round trip..

KxMx

Lily has a pouch of Whiskas in the morning and a normal cat diner of food in the evening (which she eats some of then and the rest through the next day). She doesn't want any more. She does eat more dry food through out the winter though, happens every year! As she will only drink out of the water bowl in the living room we can keep a good eye on her water intake (we actually put it out last summer, but she ignored it and continued drinking from the kitchen one. Then autumn comes and she suddenly starts using it, now she will only use that one lol, don't you just love cats quirks!)

merlot123

My two cats (litter sisters) are constantly round my feet for food. They are both aged 2 and are wormed using the Drontol spot on.

They have dry food available at all times. I must give them 6/8 pouches a food a day between them and its costing a fortune, they will only eat Sheba pouches or Gourmet pouches. Have tried cheaper foods but will not touch them.

They were vaccinated at the vets a few months ago, one is small for her age (She was the smallest of the litter and was expected to die after her mother rejected her, she was hand reared), the other one is the correct weight according to vet.

Any ideas?