recommended amounts of dry food

2dogmom

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Can anyone offer advice on how much is the correct amount to feed? Brady is about 11 lbs (and according to the vet, is muscular and healthy). If I believe the Nutro bag, he should get about 1 cup per day. Does that sound right? It seems like very little, and I certainly can't trust him to eat the right amount. Now that he has settled in he seems to have the appetite of a Labrador Retriever (this breed is known to eat until they bust) and is very pesty about getting fed.
 

jcat

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Has Brady been fixed? Does he go outdoors? According to the feeding chart, a 10 - 15 lb. cat would get 2/3 to 1 cup a day. Since the charts are usually made up with "intact" cats in mind, 1 cup is probably too much for an 11 lb. cat. I'd go with 2/3, and if he seems too hungry, add a bit more.
http://www.nutroproducts.com/nccatadult.asp
 
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2dogmom

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He has been fixed. For now he is an indoor cat. He did get out earlier this month, but I trapped him and got him inside again. He is young (about 1 yr) and very rascally and rambunctious, even indoors.
I admit that when I was socializing him I was pretty shameless about using food. But now he is like any other pet cat-you would hardly know he was a feral. He hangs out with us in the living room in the evening and in the dining room at mealtime. Asks to be brushed, plays with us, tries to crawl into the cabinets, all that stuff.
 

sharky

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I agree with Jcat for an older cat that is "fixed"... when ZOey ate natural choice she ate 1 and 1/2 cups a day ( she is about 8.5lbs)... My older girl only ate 1/2 to 3/4 cup of Max and she is 11-12lbs
 

jcat

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It sounds as if he's been wonderfully socialized. Do you feed him meals, or just fill his bowl and leave it for him to eat over the course of the day? If he's a "dry food piggy", like Jamie, you might want to give him 1/2 in the morning and 1/2 in the evening, or try about 1/3 of a cup of Nutro for one meal, and a can of food for the other.
A year-old cat is usually pretty active, so even a little more than 2/3 would be okay, though you might have to cut back on the amount later. Jamie (indoor) is 7 1/2, and the two "half-cats" (indoor-outdoor) a year younger, and I've found that a 1/4 cup of Nutro each in the morning, and then a small can of food each in the evening maintains their weight. Jamie weighs about 13 1/2 lbs., Miezi close to 15 lbs., and little ZsaZsa just over 6 lbs.
 

trixtersmomma

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My personal opinion, based on what I have learned about feline nutrition, since my Trixters diagnosis of diabetes, is NONE! Dry food can cause lots and lots of health probs for kitties. I would switch to an all canned diet, like fancy feast or friskies, etc. You can learn about feline nutrition, and why canned is a much more species appropriate diet at www.catinfo.org.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by TrixtersMomma

My personal opinion, based on what I have learned about feline nutrition, since my Trixters diagnosis of diabetes, is NONE! Dry food can cause lots and lots of health probs for kitties. I would switch to an all canned diet, like fancy feast or friskies, etc. You can learn about feline nutrition, and why canned is a much more species appropriate diet at www.catinfo.org.
have you read what is in the Friskies ??? MOSITURE is a GREAT thing but I do wonder about good dry quality vs POOR wet
 

jcat

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Originally Posted by TrixtersMomma

My personal opinion, based on what I have learned about feline nutrition, since my Trixters diagnosis of diabetes, is NONE! Dry food can cause lots and lots of health probs for kitties. I would switch to an all canned diet, like fancy feast or friskies, etc. You can learn about feline nutrition, and why canned is a much more species appropriate diet at www.catinfo.org.
Fancy Feast or Friskies aren't exactly what you could call "quality" foods, though, so even dry Nutro would probably be preferable. Nutro has canned and pouches, and there are a lot of other brands, like Felidae, California Natural, Innova, Merrick, Natural Balance, Ziwi Peak, Prairie, Eagle Pack Holistic, etc., that would be a much better recommendation.
 
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2dogmom

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I had been using the food to bond with him. Also after I learned he had a weakness for Land'o'Lakes American singles I tried to give him a morsel or two if he made it to the kitchen.
---
Most of you probably don't know Brady's story so perhaps it bears repeating-he had lived the 1st year of his life outdoors (in New England, which is a pretty good trick), some lady had been feeding him from her deck, he was trapped and vetted at age 1, lived with foster for one month, I adopted him, LOST him the 1st day we had him, after one month he was trapped and trhen confined to the downstairs bedroom. I had to work with him a bit to get him used to being indoors, getting used to two dogs.
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I was trying to apply a reward system-if he made it upstairs something good was supposed to happen, either he got a treat or a brushing. Now he greets me when I stumble out of bed at 6:30 so I want to "reward" him with some clatter in his food bowl. Also I am trying to get all the critters to get along so they all eat together at about 6-6:30 pm.

The "tradition" in our house is that the animals get some dry food in the AM, and in the evening get dry plus wet. The dogs get a bowl full of kibble plus homemade raw (about 1/2 cup for the 55 lb dog and 2/3 cup for the larger Golden Retriever), the cat gets dry plus about 1/4-1/3 can of Friskies. This is a topic that gets dog people REALLY hot under the collar so I am leery of starting anything here. I am currently involved in a thread elsewhere about how a dog can get sick from eating kibble and raw at the same time. BTW I had tried the Solid Gold Katzenflocken and Brady did not like it one bit. Our previous cat did not like the Felidae so I guess I was not inclined to try it on Brady. He really does like the Nutro and it is not bad and is reasonably priced and easy to get.
 

jcat

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I don't see a problem with mixing kibble and wet. Jamie is a dry food fanatic, and I often put a few "crunchies" on top of his canned food to get him started. Cats' digestions aren't all that sensitive, most of the time, as illustrated by their ability to catch and consume rodents, birds, insects, and reptiles all in one day. Dogs, IME, will eat just about anything without problems.
 

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I also put a few pieces of dry kibble on top of the wet, and it causes no problems with my cats. I can't see any problem with that if the cat is ok with it and doesn't have any digestive upsets.
 

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A good quality dry food goes a long way. The more filler (carbs such as corn and wheat) and the less meat, the more the kitty has to eat.

One cup is waaaaaaaaaaaay too much if you are feeding California Natural or Nature's Logic (as I do with Gizmo.) 8.5 pound Gizzy gets 1/3 cup of chow each day and she's a pretty active indoor girl.

I agree that a good dry food is much better than a low quality wet food as long as the cat drinks water, it should be fine.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by gizmocat

A good quality dry food goes a long way. The more filler (carbs such as corn and wheat) and the less meat, the more the kitty has to eat.

One cup is waaaaaaaaaaaay too much if you are feeding California Natural or Nature's Logic (as I do with Gizmo.) 8.5 pound Gizzy gets 1/3 cup of chow each day and she's a pretty active indoor girl.

I agree that a good dry food is much better than a low quality wet food as long as the cat drinks water, it should be fine.
Just an fyi ... on cal naturals feeding wizard it suggested 2/3 to 3/4 of a cup for a 8.5 moderate to active cat ... Cat food is NOT dog food ... per lb cats eat alot more... but they are guidelines
 

jcat

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Originally Posted by sharky

Just an fyi ... on cal naturals feeding wizard it suggested 2/3 to 3/4 of a cup for a 8.5 moderate to active cat ... Cat food is NOT dog food ... per lb cats eat alot more... but they are guidelines
When CN was available here, I found that 1/4 cup was the perfect half-day ration for Jamie, who weighs in at a little over 6 kg./13 1/2 lbs., while ZsaZsa, at 3 kg. /6.6 lbs, would gain weight on a little less than that, despite being very active (she has a tendency to wander, and goes pretty darn far, and supplements her diet with all sorts of wildlife; she once dragged home a marten [similar to a weasel] that was bigger than she was). I've gotten very "stingy" when measuring high quality dry foods, and usually start with the lowest recommendation.
 

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Gizmo put on weight when I gave her the Cal Natural; this may have been from rice. Probably she is just allergic to chicken since the extra pound came right off when I switched her.

And she really does eat 1/3 cup of dry food a day, no matter what the bag says.
She is a small cat and doesn't eat much; but she's perfectly healthy.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by jcat

When CN was available here, I found that 1/4 cup was the perfect half-day ration for Jamie, who weighs in at a little over 6 kg./13 1/2 lbs., while ZsaZsa, at 3 kg. /6.6 lbs, would gain weight on a little less than that, despite being very active (she has a tendency to wander, and goes pretty darn far, and supplements her diet with all sorts of wildlife; she once dragged home a marten [similar to a weasel] that was bigger than she was). I've gotten very "stingy" when measuring high quality dry foods, and usually start with the lowest recommendation.
My supplementor still eats ..lol.. I think she may be a hyper T cat later on... she burns through food... I would love to find a way to get her to gain another lb
 

russian blue

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Originally Posted by jcat

I don't see a problem with mixing kibble and wet. Jamie is a dry food fanatic, and I often put a few "crunchies" on top of his canned food to get him started.
Mixing dry and wet food is not a problem if the cat eats the whole portion. BUT, if the dry is allowed to sit in the bowl for longer periods it can spoil pretty fast from the added wet moisture.

Originally Posted by 2dogmom

The dogs get a bowl full of kibble plus homemade raw (about 1/2 cup for the 55 lb dog and 2/3 cup for the larger Golden Retriever).......This is a topic that gets dog people REALLY hot under the collar so I am leery of starting anything here. I am currently involved in a thread elsewhere about how a dog can get sick from eating kibble and raw at the same time......
From my research on raw feeding I also read never to mix dry food with raw because they break down in the system at different rates. I'm sure most people would just want to separate them just in case it *may* cause stomach upset in some animals.

Originally Posted by gizmocat

And she really does eat 1/3 cup of dry food a day, no matter what the bag says.
She is a small cat and doesn't eat much; but she's perfectly healthy.
Nakita used to eat only 1/4 cup of Wellness! People used to find that weird and think I was starving the poor girl.
Nakita is the smallest cat I have ever owned (5 lbs) and has a small appetite as well.

Even with her new prescription food she doesn't eat the recommended portions so I try to supplement wet food when she'll eat it. Just like each human, each cat will be different and will comsume a little less or a little more of the recommended portions noted on the bags by the vendors.
 

sharky

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From my research on raw feeding I also read never to mix dry food with raw because they break down in the system at different rates. I'm sure most people would just want to separate them just in case it *may* cause stomach upset in some animals.

Russian Blue you have read correctly...

Raw food exists at about 50% faster than dry .... I feed evan cooked veggies seprate for my dog... and her rice is mixed with the veggies
 
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