How do I properly feed my cat??

xshelbyx

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Okay so I'm pretty embarrassed to say this but I have no idea how to feed my cat properly. I've had cats growing up and they were fed 98% of the time with dry food and to be completely honest, the food was cheap and probably super unhealthy for them (it was all my parents could afford). My 3 year old cat, Meadow, has also been fed the same thing since I found her about 6 months ago. I recently read an article saying how bad being fed only dry food is to cats and I felt absolutely horrible because I had NO idea. How often should she be eating wet food? How many calories a day should she be eating (she's still super thin from being on the streets so she DEFINITELY needs to put weight on). Which brands are healthier? I've come to the realization that after having cats for so many years I literally know nothing about how to feed them a wholesome and proper diet. Any suggestions would be extremely helpful as I want to make sure my girl gets healthier and remains that way.
(Not sure if this helps or not but she isn't playful at all. She's only three years old and the only thing she wants to do is sleep and cuddle.)
 

hellomisskitty

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Good for you for be concerned about what you feed your Meadow. Cat nutrition is complex...here is a link to a website by a vet:

http://catinfo.org/

There is a very comprehensive section on feline nutrition and sections of things like vaccines and feline health. Warning: there is a massive amount of information on this website [emoji]128522[/emoji]

Like you, I grew up around cats and my family fed dry food. It was all I knew. So, I did the same when I adopted my cat, Kitty. And then Kitty developed struvite crystals and I began my journey of enlightenment of cat nutrition. Like anything in life, you can educate yourself and then make the best decisions you can for Meadow. There's no "perfect"[emoji]10084[/emoji]️

As an FYI, TCS has a section for articles on all kinds of cat topics from health to behavioral to care. Just click on the "Articles" tab.
If you've not already, please feel welcome to introduce yourself and Meadow in the New Cats on the Block section (and we love cat photos here!!)
 

tabbytom

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Hello xshelbyx, welcome to TCS :wavey:

A general guide of how many calories a cat needs a day is around 20 calories per pound and that is for indoor cats. Outdoor cats roughly around 35 calories per pound. Again it depends on the activity level of your cat.
Cats are obligate carnivores meaning they need high protein diet that is found in meat (wet food). As Meadow is on dry food since young, it takes some time of transition for her to get use to wet food. You can introduce a small amount of wet food to her as you do not know whether she'll eat it or not and also there are many flavors out there. You can reduce the dry food amount and in between feed her wet food. When you free feed a cat with dry, it's a task to get them to change to wet as they graze anytime they are hungry as they are free fed. So to toatally change to wet takes time. Introduce slowly to avoid any stomach discomforts.
Here are some articles for you :-

[article="29707"][/article]

[article="31116"][/article]

For addition information you can find them in Cat Health under "Articles" ;)
 
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