How much to feed?

Hello,
I am brand new to the forum and I'm hoping to get some advice on how much to feed my 2 kitties.
Luna is 3 years old and she has always been a very large cat, she can loose a few pounds but I don't think I overfeed her. She is about 17 pounds! She is still active - she does run around and play with her sister and brings me toys to throw for her.
Luigi is 1 year and 6 months and she's tiny - 8 pounds max - she's so small she has to wear a kitten size collar. I took her in as a 1 day old kitten (she was 3 ounces) and bottle raised her. She is not a big eater she likes to eat a little bit at a time lots of times per day.
They both eat Taste of the Wild dry and with cans the only thing I can get Luigi to eat is Fancy Feast classic liver with chicken, beef, and sometimes the salmon. I still usually finger feed her the can (I know she's very spoiled - I'm just always scared she's not getting enough and I can't leave it out bc Luna will steal it) Luna will eat any can I usually do those Fancy feast as well as Chicken soup for Pet lovers, Trader Joes and Wellness when it's on sale.
I am on a limited budget since I also have 2 dogs - one with food allergies. Plus I had to spend a lot of money this year as Luigi has luxating patella's and she already had one knee surgery and will need another next year.
So here are my questions - I think I just wrote a novel lol - sorry
If I was to do a 50/50 dry/wet diet how much of each should I feed to each cat?
With Luna I could probably do a 80/20 wet to dry diet since she loves wet food and I want her to loose some weight - how much should I feed then?
If I cannot get Luigi to eat more wet and I do 20/80 wet to dry for her how much should I feed?
thanks for any advice

Welcome to TCS...

Feeding is not an exact science ...

Taste is fairly ave in calories... FF is high for the size of can

Had the vet told you the ideal wt of both? If so what is it ?

Lets say you have a cat who is supposed to be 15lbs

Rough calories per day for a low to moderately active cat is 15-25 calories per lb

I feed my Active ones 20 per day with good results

15 *20= 300

taste is 390 a cup.... so 3/4 of a cup per day dry only

If you are doing wt and dry at 50/50 .. 1/2 cup plus one FF can

I'm trying to feed my cats more wet, but I still want to include some dry. So, if I use your calculations:

if my cat's ideal weight is 13 pounds (per the vet), and she gets 172 calories from wet food (one 3 oz can/172 cal per can), how many cups of dry food should she get? She eats TOTW, so if my calculations are right, that would be less than 1/4 cup of dry per day. (1/4 cup would be 98 calories).

I was not very good at math! LOL I realize it's not an exact science so I am just gauging to get an idea so I can talk to the vet about it.

Originally Posted by kittysback

I'm trying to feed my cats more wet, but I still want to include some dry. So, if I use your calculations:

if my cat's ideal weight is 13 pounds (per the vet), and she gets 172 calories from wet food (one 3 oz can/172 cal per can), how many cups of dry food should she get? She eats TOTW, so if my calculations are right, that would be less than 1/4 cup of dry per day. (1/4 cup would be 98 calories).

I was not very good at math! LOL I realize it's not an exact science so I am just gauging to get an idea so I can talk to the vet about it.

Click to expand...

WOW can I ask what food you are feeding with a 3 oz with 172 cal? I ask because many need a high cal wet and that is one

Lets do 13*20= 260

13*15= 195


Lets split the two for 228 cal
228-172= 55 left over for dry so roughly 1/8 cup plus one 3 oz can

Originally Posted by sharky

Lets do 13*20= 260

13*15= 195

Click to expand...

I don't understand this calculation... Sorry....
It is my understanding the cat should eat 20-25 calories based on it's ideal weight.... Which in this case is 13lbs.
So, if you choose the bare minimum, that would be multiplying 13x20 = 260 a day; matching your first line.

I do not understand however the 15 calories, if you are already calculating with the ideal weight in mind...

To my knowledge, that calculation should be used when used with the current weight instead... So, if you use 15 calories, the calculation would be: 17 (current weight) x 15 = 255 calories a day.

This is what I have known all along anyways, for what is worth...
To the OP - go very slowly - as my vet once told me: I rather have a fat cat than a dead cat. Cats can get very sick from a sudden drop in weight... I would stick to 20 calories per pound based on ideal weight....

I have seen in vet manuals as low as ten calories per lb based on ideal wt to aid in wt loss( after talking with a number of vets 15 is what they use for wt loss, 3 out 4 thought 20 should be moderate to very active... they did input the fact of indoor vs indoor/outdoor vs outdoor )

I took 195+260= 455 /2= 227.5

For example I have VERY active indoor cats ( by the vet actually doing house calls saying this) and 20 keeps three of them maintained only one is at 25 )

IMHO a 17lb cat on 1/8 cup of food and a 3oz can... I would not do it... At least not to start. Too little food.
I never seen before 15cal on ideal weight.... Always on current weight and 20-25 on Ideal weight.

On overweight cats, I prefer to use caution...

caution is good... I would suggest running your idea s by the vet ...

as None of us really know what the start point is(you could have been feeding 35 cal per lb then a start diet pt may be 32 or have been feeding 20 cal per lb where 15 is ideal...)... If you figure that out and then compare and ask the vet ...

Personal example ... My 15 lb who is Proper wt eats 221-292 a day( he gets 1/2 cup of dry 221 cal plus 3 oz wet ).. that is 15 to 20 cal per lb which is feeding Right off the bag guidelines For a cat of his wt not for an over wt cat , most find feeding guides on bags generous ...

A Diet is not Ideal wt amount ... Unless you figure a way to get kitty to exercise hard which is not advisable, exercise yes hard no .. Having had to diet a few over the years it is common for them not to be happy for the first few weeks ( cause you either change the food to a Lower calorie or you Lessen the amount)

Originally Posted by sharky

WOW can I ask what food you are feeding with a 3 oz with 172 cal? I ask because many need a high cal wet and that is one

Lets do 13*20= 260

13*15= 195


Lets split the two for 228 cal
228-172= 55 left over for dry so roughly 1/8 cup plus one 3 oz can

Click to expand...

I was mistaken - the TOTW 3 oz cans are 135. I must have been looking at a different can, I've been looking at so many labels! lol

And, I'm just playing with numbers... not actually making changes yet. I certainly don't want to withhold too much food, too fast. Talking with the vet as well to make sure.

Oh and just to explain what I am feeding now.
68 cal from wet (half can of a 3 oz TOTW)
294 cal from dry (close to 3/4 per cup of TOTW dry)
===
362 total

My thought process was to cut back on the dry food and feed a full can of wet. That's where I tried to figure out how much dry to feed if I was feeding a full can - which is 135 cal.

But thanks for the explanations. Definitely want to talk to the vet before I make any huge changes.

Sorry to the OP for taking over the thread.... it is an interesting discussion on how much to feed if you're feeding combo! Thanks!

Originally Posted by kittysback

I was mistaken - the TOTW 3 oz cans are 135. I must have been looking at a different can, I've been looking at so many labels! lol

And, I'm just playing with numbers... not actually making changes yet. I certainly don't want to withhold too much food, too fast. Talking with the vet as well to make sure.

Oh and just to explain what I am feeding now.
68 cal from wet (half can of a 3 oz TOTW)
294 cal from dry (close to 3/4 per cup of TOTW dry)
===
362 total

My thought process was to cut back on the dry food and feed a full can of wet. That's where I tried to figure out how much dry to feed if I was feeding a full can - which is 135 cal.

But thanks for the explanations. Definitely want to talk to the vet before I make any huge changes.

Sorry to the OP for taking over the thread.... it is an interesting discussion on how much to feed if you're feeding combo! Thanks!

Click to expand...

Just make sure, for safety, to not drop the amount too fats, no matter what the ideal amount of food is. A sudden 50% drop in calorie consumption for example, can put your cat in risk of Hepatic Lipidosis/Liver failiure a very very serious situation....
Go slowly on dieting with cats... Now that you have and idea of how much to feed in calories, work your way to that number gradually; don't just start feeding that immediately.
Yes, At the very least discussing your plans with your vet is the best thing to do- he she will see the red flags if any, and if trouble arises will be happy to help.

Thank you for all the advice...with the cat that needs to loose weight I have not done any drastic reducing. From reading this forum as well as a few others I know that cats need to loose very slowly. I switched her to TOTW dry about 8 months ago, prior to that she was eating Wellness dry adult formula. Just from switching to a grain free I noticed a little weight loss and she has become a lot more active on the TOTW dry. I currently feed her about 1/3 cup dry and about 5 ounces wet. The problem is that sometimes she steals the dry food from the other kitty even though it's set up on different tables since the baby likes to pick at her food.

Guidelines are just based on averages, whereas every cat is different. If the cat is still gaining, or not losing on a certain amount of food, you need to feed it less (once your vet has ruled out medical problems initially.) In order to do that, you need to find a way to track your cat's weight accurately. You can buy a pet/baby scale and do it yourself. They cost around $50-75 new, but you can probably find a used one at a yard sale or on eBay or Craigslist. Another option would be to see if your vet would let you bring your cat down to the office every week or two and weigh her there. You should probably just feed normally for the first few weeks to establish a baseline. Once you see how her weight is trending at the original feeding level, you can start cutting back gradually every couple of weeks until she starts losing at a pace you're happy with.

As for keeping Luna from eating Luigi's food, there are really only a couple of options. You'll either have to just feed them at set times during the day and then take the food away or else find a way to place Luigi's food so that Luna can't get to it. The first option is tough, but they will (usually) get used to it, although they may complain. It's probably a good idea to weigh Luigi as well so that you can make sure he's not losing weight. For segregating the kitties, if one can jump higher than the other, or is smaller, you could try feeding one on top of a counter, or wedging a door so that only the small cat can fit through. You might also be able to use one of those cat doors that only admits a cat if it has the right transmitter on its collar. You could install the cat door on a bathroom door (not recommended in an apartment ) or a large crate. That way, the cat with the transmitter could get inside to eat whenever he wanted, but the other wouldn't be able to.

I have one more question..I'm definitely going to keep Luigi on the Fancy feast because that is the only wet she will eat and 3 ounces per day if I'm lucky.
But Luna (the one who needs to loose) isn't as picky and she actually enjoys wet more than dry. What wet food would you suggest for her other than the Fancy Feast that is a reasonable price and pretty low calories to help her loose the weight? Are certain brands/flavors better for keeping weight off? Thank you.

...Here is a link for alot of foods and calories ... If you are paying .50 cents a can for FF that would = 1$ a can for a bigger can for budget, lots of foods under that on sale
http://binkyspage.tripod.com/CanFoodNew.html