How Often Feed Cat/is My Cat Getting Fat?

[Eleora]

How often do you feed your cat? I have been feeding Molly every 6 hours in a 24 hour period. She has high quality wet food and a bit chicken. However I think she may be getting a bit plump but I am not sure. Going to the Vet on Tuesday to have her weight and checked. Here is a video of her this morning. She is now 11 months maybe time to feed her less? last two days she only wanted food twice a day.



Do you think she looks like she is getting plump? taking into consideration that she has a fluffy belly and her primordial pouch.

 

[orange&white]

She looks pretty fit to me. I wouldn't let her gain any additional weight from here. Ask your vet if she needs to lose a little bit and give you an ideal target weight, then go from there.

My cats eat three meals a day, but the number of meals is less important than the portion sizes and calorie intake. My cats get weighed on Sundays and I adjust their calories if they have gained or lost weight for 2-weeks in a row. That keeps them within a few ounces around their ideal weights.

My vet recommended tracking calories daily and weighing at least monthly to adjust feeding. You can pick your kitty up and get on the scale with her, then subtract your weight, or get a baby, luggage, or shipping scale to weigh her.

She's a beautiful little cat! She's lucky to have you.

 

[maggiedemi]

She looks perfect to me. My cats have always eaten 3 times a day in smaller portions. But this week I'm trying 2 times a day just to experiment.

 

[abyeb]

Ideally, you should be able to feel a cat’s ribs through a thin layer of muscle and fat, but not see them. I think from the video, that Molly looks okay, but that could be something you ask your vet about the next time she has a check up.

Here’s an article that gives a great summary about figuring out how much to feed cats: How Much Food Should I Feed My Cat?

 

[duckpond]

She is a pretty little girl! She looks good to me, but without seeing in person, and feeling on her its hard to tell. The vet can tell you for sure. my vet checks mine yearly, and the weigh in is a big part of that.

If they do want her to cut back im not a real big fan of feeding only twice per day. If you need to count calories maybe divide that amount out into 3 or 4 meals if possible? Articles i have been reading talk about how large meals change the ph of the Urine, which is not a good thing to do for cats. In the wild they normally will eat 10,12 or more very small meals during the 24 hour cycle. so my thoughts are more small meals, rather than 2 bigger ones. lol, just my thoughts. I kind of compromise on this, two wet meals per day, and i free feed Dr. Elseys dry food, its high protein, moderate fat and low carb which is what cats need. all the cats do seem to just take a nibble here and there and no one is getting chubby

 

[tabbytom]

Eleora , your cat is 11 months old and soon she’ll be an adult at one year as I see that your kitty is a DSH. From here on, she’ll start eating less as in the amount or number of feeds till she’s two years old.

You’ll notice the gradual change in her eating habits in the coming months. The hours will be longer in between feeds. If you are feeding her totally on wet food and no free feeding, likely is she won’t put on weight easily. A male cat weighs heavier than a female cat. Here’s an article on cat’s weight Is Your Cat Overweight?

If you find her fat, play more with her so she can burn off her fats.

For me, I like my boy to be a little more on the plump side as I like to hug him without feeling his bones He’s not fat btw.

 

[Eleora]

We are just back from the Vets, the nurse said that Molly is a little bit over weight.. get her off kitten food and onto adult food. She is 4.23kg the nurse said that on average a cat should be 4kg :/

 

[orange&white]

1/2 pound isn't bad.

I took my kitten for a check up last fall right before she turned 1 year old. I also thought my kitten was slightly too plump at 11 months. That's when the vet told me to just keep check on her calories and weigh her regularly to keep her right around that weight. That's when I put her on set calories instead of letting her eat all she wanted. She was at 9 1/8 pounds. It's been pretty easy to keep her right around 9 pounds.

You're doing a great job raising you kitty!

 

[di and bob]

She's just getting her mature body. She looks good right now, I just wouldn't let her gain any more. If you think she is getting a little plump, definitely get her off of kitten food, that will cut a lot of calories. I would give her small amts three times a day to start, then cut back to twice a day with larger amounts. My ferals always come twice a day to eat, so I take my cue from them. I figured they know the natural times to eat. If she protests and acts hungry find some low cal treats to give her, like shaved deli turkey, that will fill her up without filling her out.

 

[Eleora]

My husband has just admitted that the past month he has been giving her treats and LOTS of dry food during the night! I thought he was just overfeeding her chicken breast!

No wonder she wasn't playing and running about as she usually does! She was bloated!

Shes back to playing and running about now.

 

[Eleora]

She's just getting her mature body. She looks good right now, I just wouldn't let her gain any more. If you think she is getting a little plump, definitely get her off of kitten food, that will cut a lot of calories. I would give her small amts three times a day to start, then cut back to twice a day with larger amounts. My ferals always come twice a day to eat, so I take my cue from them. I figured they know the natural times to eat. If she protests and acts hungry find some low cal treats to give her, like shaved deli turkey, that will fill her up without filling her out.

Is Turkey less fattening then chicken?

 

[mservant]

Is Turkey less fattening then chicken?

Only slightly - a treat is a treat when it comes to being the size of a domestic cat. Sad but true.

Molly looks gorgeous to me, but yes, I do think she is looking on the pudgy side of healthy.

It's great that you have solved the mystery of her much loved and increasingly rounded cat body, so now we all have to hope your husband can control himself when it comes to resisting Molly's kitty charms. How is it that all cats seem to be born with this ability to con humans in to believing they haven't been fed for days on end?

Mouse has always been a little on the pudgy side of gorgeous but by the age of 6 he was starting to get undeniably overweight and I was embarrassed about taking him along to the vet because I KNEW I was going to be told off. I thought I was giving him the right amount of food, measured out in a cup as indicated on the pack for a cat of his size and age, only strict treat rations, and put his weight gain down to his mautre cat approach (wait and you will be rewarded) to hunting. Nope. When I took him along to see the vet nurse for advice on weight management she told me the food needed to be weighed out as cup measurements could result in significant over feeding. Because cats are so small, what seems to us a tiny amount of food or treats can result in gradual weight gain until it reaches an unhealthy level.

You need to be careful with any control of Molly's food as she is still under a year old and still 'growing'. If you want to reduce her weight it is worth checking with your vet surgery to see if they offer advice and support - which many do and as a free service. They might check her current weight and build, suggest what weight she should be as an ideal, and give you the correct food quantity for the food she is used to. The weight loss has to be very gradual to ensure your cat stays healthy. Once you know the quantity of food you have to stick to it rigidly which can be hard - esp when there's more than one of you she likes to go to. It's likely to mean ZERO treats, and acurate measurements of her wet and or dry food. You have to make sure you have the daily allowance clearly marked out so everyone who feeds can tell what she has had and what she is due through each 24 hours.

It's tough but you can all do it. We (Mouse, me and our lodgers) successfully got Mouse's weight down by a whole kilo in the second half of last year.

Good luck - esp with getting your husband to behave.

 

[orange&white]

Is Turkey less fattening then chicken?

Turkey and chicken have almost identical nutrition profiles. I would give her fresh poultry when you are cooking for yourselves instead of deli meats. Deli cuts have too much sodium plus nitrates and other preservatives which aren't great for any of us (cats or humans...no matter how tasty). A tiny bit as a treat is ok, but unseasoned fresh meat is better.