So we've transitioned our two kids to a wet food only diet, but how much should we be giving them? All cans are ususally made in 3oz or 6oz (on average) size, so I am wondering what others do for a two meal feeding schedule?
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Wet food only diet...how much?
- Thread starter chgojcs
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How old, big, and active are your cats? Those details determine how many calories they need.
I think you will see a lot more 5.5 than 6 ounce cans, based on my Internet searches for wet cat foods. Cats usually don't need six ounces per day after outgrowing kitten formulas, but that much is OK for active cats.
When my cats were on a canned diet, I gave them 5.5-6oz daily.
I just upped my boy to 10.5 oz a day, but that is on;y 280 kcals. He may need a little less than that. I will determine that by if he gains weight or not. He was getting one 5.5 oz can split between two meals and was always meowing at me like he was starving.
So his new feeding plan is he gets Pure Vita Chicken, Turkey (180kcal) in the morning and right before I leave for work.
Then in the evening when I get home he gets half a can of Earthborn Holistic Chicken (100 kcals) and the rest of the half before I go to bed.
I am trying to keep him fuller so he will be happy.
So his new feeding plan is he gets Pure Vita Chicken, Turkey (180kcal) in the morning and right before I leave for work.
Then in the evening when I get home he gets half a can of Earthborn Holistic Chicken (100 kcals) and the rest of the half before I go to bed.
I am trying to keep him fuller so he will be happy.
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"Only" 280 calories? That sounds like an awful lot. How large is your cat? My Mazy is 8 years old, moderately active, 10 pounds 5 ounces. She eats 100 calories a day, if I can believe the pet food manufacturer information. Jennie, at 9 pounds 8 ounces, less than moderately active (but not for lack of trying on my part) eats on average 120-160 calories a day. Queen Eva, at 6 pounds 13 1/2 ounces, eats close to 200 calories a day, but she is a 2 year old extremely active cat.
They aren't all on the same diet, but it is all canned food. Queen Eva gets a little bit of commercial raw.
I don't know how much I trust the calories these pet food manufacturers list, just like I don't trust much else they tell us. So I weigh my cats weekly, to make sure they are maintaining a healthy weight on what I am feeding them.
They aren't all on the same diet, but it is all canned food. Queen Eva gets a little bit of commercial raw.
I don't know how much I trust the calories these pet food manufacturers list, just like I don't trust much else they tell us. So I weigh my cats weekly, to make sure they are maintaining a healthy weight on what I am feeding them.
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okay, if you start on the very basic assumption that an "average cat" (whatever that is lol) uses 30 cal. per lb., and figure it based on how much they should weigh, i think it would be overfeeding except for a cat under 4 who goes outside and climbs trees and chases birds. none of my cats could possibly eat that much without balooning up and me holding a sign on the interstate exit that says, "will work for cat food." the first cat i had was indoor only and he weighed about 9.6 (he looked excellent at that weight) and he ate about 100 cal. a day. that's really low according to "recommended feeding"--10 cal. per lb. he was an indoor only cat, like all of mine are. diotima is 15, weighs 6 and 1/2 lbs. (6.8) and that's six ounces up from 6.2. i asked my vet if 22 sounded about right, and he said yes, but i'm pretty sure it's closer to 14, at best. most of her life she weighed about 8 lbs. and she was a little chubby, but she developed hyperthyroidism and lost weight rapidly and then developed either a grain allergy or IBD and it's been a struggle to keep weight on her. she's allowed to eat as much as she needs to, but i'd bet she doesn't eat more than 3 oz. of food a day, and she doesn't beg. my monster cat is 5, last weighed about 11 1/2 but i think he's gaining on all wet (because i'm giving him too much lol) and he will eat and eat and eat if he gets the chance. he goes around eating everything the other cats leave behind. if i'm generous he will get a little less than a 5.5 oz. can because most of what i've bought seem to run 195-218 kcals. it wouldn't kill him to lose a few ounces. the last one is 2, weighs about 8 lbs. and i'd give him the most food because he's youngest and does those race-with-a-ghost episodes around the house that the other two don't do anymore. it's really hard to estimate how many calories indoor cats use, but i'm starting to think the age doesn't matter a great deal, and that they use significantly fewer calories than any cat food manufacturer or even vet would lead us to believe. the only one who's been eating that much is baci biggie, and if i cut his down to 3 oz. a day i think he'd be fine.
go to doggie.food dot com, they sell pet food (the cheapest i've found, over 49.00 and you get free shipping, over 100.00 and you generally can find a 15% off coupon code and they're already cheaper than all the others, even with subscriptions) and if you go into a particular food, you get an ingredients list that usually includes calories per can. you can also go to the nutritional info page on catinfo.org. she has a lot of foods listed, fancy feast and friskies as well as some of the higher end foods.
i'm only feeding two 5.5 oz cans a day at most, i use 3 oz. cans of some things occasionally, but it's always more expensive to feed that way. almost any food ranges between 30 and 40 cal. an oz. weruva is the lightest because it has the most water, (and most cats love it) and i don't think any of theirs is over 30, and hound & gatoss is 35-38 depending on the flavor. i think the rabbit and salmon are more than the chicken.
i think the calories the food contains (in the higher priced foods) (maybe even the lower ones, but i don't know) are fairly accurate, i think it's the feeding recommendation based on 30 cal. per lb. is what's off. if you have doubts about a particular food, write them and ask very specific questions like where do they source their meat (hopefully usa and not china) or do they use any denatured meat?
if you want to ask about quality, you have to ask them if the meat passed a USDA inspection. if you just ask them if it was USDA inspected, they can always say yes, but what some won't tell you is that it failed. preservatives, ask if there are any in any of the ingredients, not the entire can of food. you can ask them if they use the entire animal, bones and all, how much the ratio of organ meat is to muscle meat, etc. there are so many questions (based on the foods i use, i don't have to ask nearly as much. weruva is very forthcoming and trustworthy.) that i can't remember them all, but ann martin gives a list of things to ask in the book, "food pets die for". you can check it out at the library. if you write a company and ask very specific questions, they can't lie because that's asking for a lawsuit and you'd have it in writing. but you have to ask the right questions, or they can wiggle out of it.
When I transitioned from dry to wet, I went searching trying to figure out how much to feed them. The vet uses 20 calories per pound as a rule-of-thumb for adult cats. Most info on the internet provided a range of 20 calories per pound of cat to 45 calories per pound of cat.
OK - the cats in my feral colony in winter may eat even more than 45 calories per pound of bodyweight, but VERY few indoor-only cats even eat 20 calories per pound.I targeted 20 calories per pound, and they all started gaining weight. Mine seem to need between 11 calories per pound and 15 calories per pound.
MOST adult cats need about one 5.5 ounce can of food a day. That's assuming it's not Weruva, Soulistic, or Earthborn Holistics, whose foods all have approximately 100 calories per can. My cats that ranged from 10.5 pounds to 16 pounds all ate about one can, and the cans I had in rotation ranged from about 180 calories per day to 220 calories per day.
A very common question - and, one which commonly receives incorrect replies.
EmilyMay hit on the answer right in the middle of her post:
The answer can never be simply reduced to the number of any sized cans. To adequately provide the daily amount of food required, we needs to know:
1. the number of calories the cat requires
2. the caloric density of the food used
Here's a tool which can help http://www.petdiets.com/calculate/der.asp
There's reliable info on caloric needs here http://dels-old.nas.edu/dels/rpt_briefs/cat_nutrition_final.pdf and, if it's an older cat, you may be surprised to know that s/he will require more than when younger - that's here http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21435625. You can find all of that in the link at the end of the quote below.
Wet or dry..........the same principle applies.
ChgoJCS - some foods also come in 12-13oz sizes....and can be a great $saver.
