Am I starving my cat?

She's a little over a year old.

We usually feed her Wellness and Trader Joe's brand. However, I think we might be starving that poor thing. The 5.5 oz can says to feed 1 can per 6-8 lbs. She's around 10-11 lbs and we feed about 3/4 of that 5.5 oz can.  Everyone keeps saying that she's "fat", so we keep giving her this amount in order to "monitor" her weight.

For some reason, I think she should be eating more.

I never read the recommended feeding amounts on the cans, they're all way to high for most indoor neutered kitties. If your girl is maintaining her weight on the amount you're giving her and she isn't being a constant pest for food, then you're most assuredly feeding her enough. 

Well, she always sits next to her bowl when anyone is in the kitchen -- waiting, waiting, waiting. I don't know how much of that is just being a cat wanting food, or a starving cat lol
 

How long have you been feeding that amount? 

Past 4-5 months at least. I fed her a bit more when she was a kitten but slimmed it down as she grew. People keep mentioning her weight, but she weighs fine - possibly hasn't grown into her body yet.

IMHO 3/4 can for a 10lb cat might be too little.... If that's all she is eating, I would increase that QTY - if she is begging for food all the time, she is probably hungry....

How old is she? Are you feeding Wellness Core canned? Or the regular Wellness grain free stuff? Wellness Core is only about 1.8% carbs, which is fantastic, but Wellness grain-free is around 18% - not so great, especially for a canned food. Cats tend to get fat on carbs - they're not designed to eat them, and it's definitely worse for some cats than others. :nod:

There was a 39-pound cat that recently died at five years old, Meow. His mom had him on a prescription food diet (prescription food was for urinary health, not being fat), eating just half a cup of (dry) food a day. That was it. HE had blood work done, and nothing showed up as being wrong with his thyroid or other organs that can affect metabolism. :dk: Years ago when we put our cats on the urinary health prescription food, they gained weight - but nothing like that! But it just goes to illustrate how there can be "those cats" that just cannot handle carbs.

I'd consider getting a vet opinion on this. How much SHOULD she weigh? That's the real question here. :nod:

And how much a cat needs to eat varies a LOT. Just like people, cats have differing rates of metabolism, and how active they are (or aren't) affects the number of calories they need.

When I fed canned food, I fed 8 cats five to six 5.5 oz cans of food a day. So they were (overall) getting about the same amount of food as your kitty. The smaller cats I fed a little less, the bigger cats a little more. And on that amount of food, three of my cats were definitely overweight.

In fact, I'm wondering what to do about one of them right now. I switched to a raw diet in January. When feeding this way, you typically feed a cat a percent of their body weight. The range is typically 2% - 4%. I was worried whether they were gaining or losing. Overall, the amount I chose to feed each of them kept them fairly stable. Two have gained a little, one has lost some, and she is now at an ideal weight.

But ONE of our cats, Billy, weighs about 14 pounds. At the low-end of the raw feeding guideline, he would be eating about 4.5 ounces of food a day. I have been feeding him just 3 ounces of food a day for about two months now - that is only 1.3% of his body weight. And he is NOT losing weight. Sorry, I blather on....

So the reason I suggest you chat with a vet is a) to establish what her ideal weight should be, so you know what you're targeting, and b) to ensure there's nothing "off" with her metabolism. We're going to take Bill in for blood work, just to make sure (and to ask just how little can we feed him? :dk: )

But cats tend to get fat on carbohydrates - they don't need them, and in nature don't consume them. They're designed to eat protein, bones, and fat. I would normally suggest you consider a raw diet for your kitty - she may find it more satisfying. Mine definitely do, as they don't pester me for food between meals (not even Billy LOL). But clearly even this has its limitations, as Bill is NOT losing weight! :lol3:

BTW, are you sure she's sitting by her bowl because she wants food? Maybe she just wants attention. :dk: If we don't have regular play times set with our kitties, often the attention they get is at meal times - and when we have busy lives, sometimes it's only at meal times - so they associate the bowl with attention. Just a thought.

Agreed. Find out what her ideal weight is and make sure she doesn't have any medical problems and go from there.

IMO you are feeding her WAY too little.

How is "everybody" qualified to judge the cat's weight?

aeevr said:

IMO you are feeding her WAY too little.
How is "everybody" qualified to judge the cat's weight?

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We're not, which is why I advised the OP to take her cat to a vet.