Do I Feed My Cats Too Much? Help?

I have 5 cats, they're all females, ages 13 years - 8 months old. They eat 4 cans a day. The cans are 5.5 ounces each. Is that too much? That is about 1/3 of a cup each I guess. They're fed twice a day (2 cans in AM and 2 at PM). The 1/3 cup guess is total food intake per cat (as in at the end of the day everyone ate 1/3 cup guess weight).

Today was Friskies turkey & giblets pate and tasty treasures chicken with cheese I think.


Happy New Years!

Actually, it sounds like a bit too little to me.

Keeping it simple, a grown cat should get about 6-8 ounces a day, and 20 calories per pound, which would depend on appetite and activity level.  If very high energy, the 8 ounces would be appropriate. And kittens should be fed as much as they want pretty much.  

The other side of the coin is calories.  I'm not familiar with Friskies other than knowing they have a lot of fillers, making them less nutritionally balanced but if your cats like it, and they eat well on it, that's ok.  I prefer other brands, but I recognize everyone does what they can with budget and like/dislike of their cat.

Are they gaining or losing weight or remaining consistent? Do they get any kibble which would add the missing calories?  How does your vet feel about their weight?  

There's a lot of variation depending on circumstance.  Our older cat who is pretty inactive at this point  at nearly 16, only eats about 4 ounces of wet food a day by choice.  However, he does get a small amount of kibble overnight so his overall intake is close to what is recommended.  Our younger one, who is more active and has a better appetite and gets around 6 ounces total wet and a bit of kibble also.  Her total calorie intake is around 200 or so.  

BTW  pet food companies tend to over state how much a cat needs to sell more food.

Hopefully others will chime in and give more specific info.  I'm no expert at explaining feeding, but that's the basics.

Yes that would generally be considered too little. One 5.5-oz can per cat per day is considered the usual amount for a normal-sized cat. Most Friskies pates have around 30 calories per ounce, so 5.5 oz would have 165 calories, that's about right for an 8- or 9-pound cat.

If they're all of a healthy weight and not bothering you about being hungry all the time, maybe they just have low caloric needs? :dk: But the younger one, at least, should probably have more.

The chunks in gravy kind (like Tasty Treasures) are lower in calories than the pates. I'll see if I can find the calorie info.

OK, this chart says that the pates have about 170-187 kcals per 5.5-oz can, and the Tasty Treasures have around 130 kcals per can. http://catinfo.org/docs/SortableCatFoodChartCatinfo.org2-22-13.htm
The Friskies website also has calorie info but you need to click on each flavor 8nstead of having a handy chart.

Wait so each cat gets two 5.5 oz daily? That would be too much to me, unless your cats are super big lol. I think two 3 oz cans a day are about enough for most kitties unless they are really big.
Unless you mean 4 cans total for all 5 cats, in which case I think you could add a can unless they seem to be maintaining weight and don't seem too hungry.

Wasabii said:

Wait so each cat gets two 5.5 oz cans a day or both get 4 cans a day? Either way that does sound like too much to me, unless your cats are super big lol. I think two 3 oz cans a day are about enough for most kitties unless they are really big.
Unless you mean 4 cans total for all 5 cats, in which case I think you could add a can unless they seem to be maintaining weight and don't seem too hungry.

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5 cats are getting 4 cans to share daily. That doesn't sound like enough food to me either.

2 cans of turkey & giblets and 2 cans of TT chicken & cheese would, in total, come to 634 calories. If each cat weighs 8 pounds (Ragdolls are usually bigger, but females not as big. . .? Just a guess), that means they're taking in an average of 15.85 calories per pound. So that's not starvation rations; that's what's usually recommended for more sedate cats, or cats who need to lose weight. So that could be just fine for the older cats. But I think the younger one needs more. She's not spayed yet, right? That would increase her caloric needs even more. So I'd increase their intake at least until the youngest is spayed and more sedate.

I am having a bit of trouble understanding, does each cat get 2 cans of food per day per kitty or are all four of those cans split evenly among five cats? I think if you are feeding 4 cans of food per day for all five that is far too little. Now the two cans per day seems about right per cat except the younger one may need more than that.

This is what I do for two female cats: they share one 3 oz can of meat in the a.m. Then they share a 3 oz can of fish in the p.m. They do not always finish either can. In between there is usually dry kibble for them to feed on once I see they are done with the canned food.

Thanks everyone!

Now I feel like I've been starving them

Cordoba, (my 8 month old Ragdoll) eats A LOT. I usually give her an additional 3 oz can or so in addition to what she already gets. She is not a big fan of kibble but I do offer it occasionally (like tonight). 1/2 cup.

Angel, my 13 year old Persian gets half a cup a day. Being older, she isn't very active (she was also born blind in both eyes). She seems to do well on that.


Star, my 10 year old mix gets half a cup too. She seems to do well on that.

Saphira, my other 10 year old mix gets half a cup as well. She is overweight by 4-6 lbs so she is on a diet. She does well on this as well.


Anya, my 8 year old Ragdoll gets half a cup too but whines for more.

Yes, Ragdolls are large cats and the males tend to be larger.

@nansiludie,

The 5 cats split 4 cans a day. 2 in the morning and 2 at night. These are all 5.5 oz cans.



Should I bump it up to 8 cans a day? Too much? I'm a new canned food feeder. I use to keep a bowl of meow mix filled 24/7 before I knew about cat nutrition. Apparently kibble is measured differently than canned?

Oh and my vet says they all look great! Perfect weights except for Saphira who is slightly overweight.

Willowy said:

2 cans of turkey & giblets and 2 cans of TT chicken & cheese would, in total, come to 634 calories. If each cat weighs 8 pounds (Ragdolls are usually bigger, but females not as big. . .? Just a guess), that means they're taking in an average of 15.85 calories per pound. So that's not starvation rations; that's what's usually recommended for more sedate cats, or cats who need to lose weight. So that could be just fine for the older cats. But I think the younger one needs more. She's not spayed yet, right? That would increase her caloric needs even more. So I'd increase their intake at least until the youngest is spayed and more sedate.

Click to expand...

No, Cordoba isn't spayed yet.

Someone on here told me Friskies isn't very good? I understand the fillers and stuff but everyone else told me Friskies and Fancy Feast classics/pates are good?


I would love to buy ZiwiPeak more often but at $50 per 12 cans is waaaay too expensive for me.
I'm open to food suggestions as well (both kibble, canned and raw).

It all depends what you consider "good". Personally I'm OK with meat by-products in a canned food but some people feel otherwise.

Are you saying your cats get kibble too? If so, they should be getting plenty of calories. But if you mean they're getting half a cup of kibble, that might be too much! Some kibbles have more than 400 calories per cup so half a cup would be 200 calories! What brand of kibble?

If you're feeding all canned food, 8 cans is probably too much. If they need 20-ish calories per pound, and let's say they weigh 10 pounds each so need about 200 calories. Perhaps the youngest cat needs 250 calories and the older and overweight cats only need 180 calories. So, with those assumptions, that's a total of 1010 calories per day. That would be about 5 1/2 cans of pate or. . .hmm, yeah, about 8 cans of the chunks and gravy kind. But of course if they get some kibble you have to count that too.

Friskies and Fancy Feast pates are fine. I split the 5.5 Friskies cans in half and feed one half to each of my cats.  They get less than 1/4 cup kibble each in the morning, and my neutered male gets a Sheba portion for lunch as he's a bigger cat than my female. If I use Fancy Feast, each cat gets one can in the evening.  My cats are lean but not skinny.

It's confusing to me to read your posts and figure out how much you are feeding your cats, but based on my experience, I would be feeding your 5 cats a total of 2-1/2 cans (5.5 oz) twice a day or one can each of Fancy Feast twice a day.  If your cats are not fat, but lean and healthy, I wouldn't change anything.

Lily, my female, was overweight when I got her, so I fed her the kibble in the morning and 1/2 can Fancy Feast in the evening until she lost her excess weight. 

I agree that a half cup of kibble per cat per day is too much. They should be getting half that much, or 1/4 cup.

I see. They are fed the canned food but also have dry food for them to eat as well. Also, I saw where you posted that your Vet says the look great. I feed Friskies canned pate and one of mine will only eat fancy feast.