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Newbie cat owner questions

post #1 of 4
10/4/10 at 8:03am
Thread Starter 
Hi all!

As the title suggests, I'm a new cat owner and am trying to do the best I can for the little (well, big!) furballs. I've adopted two large breed cats who are already 14lbs and 20lbs respectively.

I've been reading so much conflicting information about how much to feed them. after a bad experience to wet food, we've got them on dry-only. Due to our work schedules we are currently feeding them 2x a day - 6am and 6pm. We've tried free-feeding but that wasn't a success since the bigger cat (boy) doesn't know when to stop

So the big question here is, how much should I be feeding them at each mealtime? a cup? a half cup? three quarters? The recommendations I read on cat food bags only seem to apply to smaller cats, and I don't want to deprive them of course

We are currently in process of switching them from Meow Mix over to Blue Buffalo - slowly but surely over the next two weeks (we know they have sensitive stomachs when we switch the food any faster than that). My understanding is taht with the Blue Buffalo I will feed them a lesser quantity due to the content of the food.

Any help, suggestions, would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much
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post #2 of 4
10/4/10 at 10:21am
Please talk with your vet on proper amounts to feed... I will give you my expeince with my four cats 9-16 lbs .... They all eat roughly half a cup of food each...The food I feed has 443 calories per cup, most cats need 15-30 calories per lb

so your 20 lb kitty would need 300-600 calories a day or 3/4 to 1.5 cups of most premium foods ...

Many cats do eat less of a premium food... Mine are the exception, they eat something I would say is comparable to the grain containing Blue line and they all eat roughly 1/2 cup a day... I had them on grain free( many say better , I say depends on the cat , age and a few other factors) they ate double to triple... On a similiar food with less calories my oldest ( 9 lbs ) ate nearly 2 cups a day( the food had 400 calories a cup)
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post #3 of 4
10/4/10 at 10:27am
Thread Starter 
thank you so much for your feedback, sharky. I think I am overfeeding!
That was another thing i heard about the "lesser quality" foods - that they'll eat more of those to feel full, so they'll consume less of the "higher quality" stuff. I just did not know how many cups to do.
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post #4 of 4
10/4/10 at 4:30pm
Hi.. I am also an owner of big breeds - Ragdolls. My Bugsy is 19lbs, and my female Lucky is smaller, 12.5lbs. They both eat WAY less than the suggested qty on the bag - they eat a mixture of Origen/EVO. Lucky probably eats in between 1/4 cup and 1/3 cup a day, and Bugsy about 1/2 cup a day.

I do measured free feeding - meaning, I measure the food and leave it out to them throughout the day.

I would also rethink the wet food situation... I am not sure what happened in the past, but it is SO much better and healthier for the kitties to have at least SOME wet food in their diets, specially if male.... If concerned about quality, there are plenty to choose from... Just like dry, you can get bad, great, and everything in between!
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