How do you calculate how much to feed?

So Allen is roughly 5.5 months, and weighed 8lbs at his last checkup. So right now I'd say he may be right under 9lbs.

Now that we are getting his Giardia under control, I'm concerned that I may not be feeding him enough. Visibly he looks great, and running your hands lightly over him you can just barely feel his ribs. His foster mom advised me that chances are he's going to grow into a big cat, by the size of his paws, legs, and tail.

His current feeding schedule is 1/4 cup of dry Purina kitten food in the morning, and 1/4 cup dry in the night, mixed with 1/4 can of 3oz Purina kitten can food. He finishes each portion, rarely leaving any behind. Sometimes, for about 10-15 minutes afterwards, he acts like he's still starving and harasses me, but normally gives up.

My mother's cat is a behemoth (read: FAT) and my sister's cat is porking up slowly but surely, so I am determined that Allen will not become part of this trend My fear is that he'll continue to eat even if he's not really hungry, but if it sounds like he may be genuinely hungry still, I can definitely up the wet, dry, or both.

Is there a specific formula or standard anyone uses?

If you feed all dry I would say 1/2 cup to one cup a day

If you feed all wet 8-16 oz..

Right now you are giving 1/2 cup dry plus 1.5 oz wet, this at least by my reading would be okay .... If he act s hungry give him more ( most go with the unlimited plan till 12 months)

This is a good calculator: http://www.natureslogic.com/feeding/cat.htm

and another: http://www.naturesvariety.com/feedguide

I think both account for activity level and age--when I used it I noticed that a kitten gets almost double the amount of a grown cat.

He's still just a kitten though.

I was told to leave dry out for them to nibble on all day up to 1 year of age. My two get two 3oz Wellness and PurinaOne kitten wet, and free feed Wellness Kitten dry and aren't tubby at 6months.

Just be sure to play with them and encourage them to run to chase and jump which is great exercise. A well fed and toned kitty is best IMO, and I try to wear the suckers out till they flop over panting heh!

Personally, I don't believe in a formula, and would rather just observe my kitties level of squishiness. More food to increase squishy, less food to reduce.

Originally Posted by Kody's Mom

This is a good calculator: http://www.natureslogic.com/feeding/cat.htm

and another: http://www.naturesvariety.com/feedguide

I think both account for activity level and age--when I used it I noticed that a kitten gets almost double the amount of a grown cat.

Click to expand...

Those calculators are specific to those brands and yes if feeding those brands they are very accurate and good... Both of those foods in the dry form are on the Higher end of the calorie spectrum thus one using a lower calorie food would get inaccurate results