Meal feeding a pregnant cat

I feed what I call the barn cats, that hang out in our hay barn. They actaully belong to our neighbors, but I don't think they feed them.

So I leave food out for them.

Anyway, we got a pretty good snow storm here Tuesday, and its been below zero since then.

One of the females is friendly and she looks to be very pregnant, so I brought her in a fixed her a spot down stairs.

I meal feed all our indoor cats. I mix some wet, and dry together twice a day, and would like to feed her the same way, so that everybody is on the same schedule.

But I'm not sure how much to feed her to make sure she's getting enough?

And how much will she need once the klittens are born?

Thanks all

  At this time she may need about twice her usual amount.     That depends on the cat,  but an average normal amount for a non pregnant intact adult female is around 200 kilocalories  per day.  

Then at first after the kittens are born she would actually need less. because they are still very tiny and not yet needing as much milk from her,    plus usually at  first she will spend a lot of time lying with her kittens,  so she is not using  a lot of energy in activity     During the first week,  she may not need much ore than her normal pre-pregnancy  amount .   

Then her need will increase,  to about 1.5 times ( estimate 300 kcal)   when they are 1 week old ,  2 x (est. 400 kcal) @ 3 wks   and she may even get up to needing about 600 kcal. a day when they are 4-5 wks just at the point when they are about to start eating solid food.    After that,  her  food need  levels off and then gradually decrease as the kittens , over the following month or so,  gradually  eat more and nurse less.

This is just an estimate,   and it is an estimate that fits more with a fairly big litter  like 5 or 6 kittens.   If she has only 2 kittens,  then she would need less.

if she has 8 kittens she would need more.

But  basically ,   I would mostly let her decide.   I would try  to start feeding her 4  meals a day if you can manage to.  and just let her have what she wants.

It's a good idea that you are feeding wet,  and when she is nursing that will be even more important to keep her well hydrated.  so at that time,  you might want to give her some extra wet food. 

 Thanks for looking out for these cats  and taking in this pregnant female to give her a warm safe place to have her kittens. 

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Thanks for the reply!
Lots of great helpful information!