Trying to Calorie Count...Help with kcals?!

permanentruby

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I'm worried I'm feeding my girl too much or too little, and want to be able to determine how much she should be getting.

Currently, I feed her a diet of Simply Nourish Grain-Free dry, and Sheba wet. She gets one of the perfect portions (1.3oz) of Sheba morning and night, and usually ends up not eating a whole thing in one sitting. Then, I free feed some of her dry for her to munch on while I'm gone for the day.

This is the dry food she's eating, with the Caloric count at the bottom:

http://www.petsmart.com/featured-br...lt-cat-food---chicken-20991.html?cgid=5000098 

I've never seen kcals before, so I'm a bit confused by them! I saw in another thread on here that cats should get 100+kcal/lb, and by that measure, it seems I'd be giving her more than a cup of dry daily!

Please help me figure this out! How do I translate kcals, and how much should she be getting daily? She was right around 9 lbs at the vet last month. 
 

Kieka

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Kcal in pet food is the same measurement as calories in human food. On human nutritional labels, calories are measured in kcals, but we shorten the word to “calories” in common use. An indoor only cat should be getting 20 calories per pound while an outdoor and active cat can get up to 35 (we are talking Olympic athlete of the cat world).

When determining the best amount of food for your cat take into consideration body condition not weight though.


At 9 pounds, assuming an ideal body condition and indoor only:

Sheba Morning - 40-45 Calories

Sheba Night - 40-45 Calories

Daily Calories = 9 x 20 = 180 - 40 - 45 = 95 calories remaining for dry which is about a quarter cup of the dry food you are feeding. 

Obviously, some cats process calories better or energy levels are higher. I wouldn't do it as a hard and fast rule on the amount assuming she is healthy condition now. If she starts to get pudgy then reevaluate and very slowly reduce quantity provided. Since we are talking in the range of 180 calories a day a deficit of just 5 calories can make a huge difference. When I have had to measure food I usually go a little over the calculated amount and cut if needed from there rather then being strictly measured and adding if still hungry. Just like with humans, don't forget to calculate in treats when figuring out calories if you are in the position of needing to reduce. 
 
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permanentruby

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At 9 pounds, assuming an ideal body condition and indoor only:

Sheba Morning - 40-45 Calories

Sheba Night - 40-45 Calories

Daily Calories = 9 x 20 = 180 - 40 - 45 = 95 calories remaining for dry which is about a quarter cup of the dry food you are feeding. 

Obviously, some cats process calories better or energy levels are higher. I wouldn't do it as a hard and fast rule on the amount assuming she is healthy condition now. If she starts to get pudgy then reevaluate and very slowly reduce quantity provided. Since we are talking in the range of 180 calories a day a deficit of just 5 calories can make a huge difference. When I have had to measure food I usually go a little over the calculated amount and cut if needed from there rather then being strictly measured and adding if still hungry. Just like with humans, don't forget to calculate in treats when figuring out calories if you are in the position of needing to reduce. 
Thank you! She was a bit underweight when I got her, as she had tapeworms, but she's put on some weight since getting healthy! She's pretty fluffy, but I think she's a 3 now. I wish Sheba provided more info on calorie count, but it seems I've at least been giving her roughly what she should be getting!
 

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Thank you! She was a bit underweight when I got her, as she had tapeworms, but she's put on some weight since getting healthy! She's pretty fluffy, but I think she's a 3 now. I wish Sheba provided more info on calorie count, but it seems I've at least been giving her roughly what she should be getting!
Sheba calories are in teeny tiny print on the label. Whichever half of the label has the ingredient it was right before the feeding guide on the label I checked. A lot of wet foods though don't have actual calories but a "feeding guide" that doesn't really help much. You do want to pay attention to the calories on each package because sometimes they change up the formula and it changes the calories enough to make a difference when you are carefully minding quantity of food. 
 

orange&white

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Since she's at a 3 now, you're doing good.  I would figure out how much dry she is eating by measuring the food when you put it down, then measure what she has not eaten after 24 hours.  That will give you a calorie count of what she is actually getting.  Not a bad idea to keep measuring the dry to alert you if she has any significant changes in her appetite.
 

LTS3

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Originally Posted by permanentruby  

I saw in another thread on here that cats should get 100+kcal/lb, and by that measure, it seems I'd be giving her more than a cup of dry daily!
That thread must have had incorrect info. You feed approximately 20 to 25 calories per pound of ideal body weight daily

There's an updated canned food chart here: http://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf The Sheba Perfect Portions are there.
 
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