Need a little help figuring out how much to feed

[matts mom]

Some of you may know that money got tight and Matt was put on mostly dry food during the winter. well I've found the Friskies Indoor multi-packs for a good price so he's going back onto wet exclusively, but I'm bad at figuring out what to feed him...especially since he likes to tell me he's hungry an hour after feeding

 

I got some figures for the foods, and he's about 13-14lbs. What I need to know is how many cans/oz to feed him daily

Friskies Selects Indoor
Chunky Chicken & Turkey Casserole with Brown Rice & Garden Greens	26.11 per ounce	11/23/2011
Classic Chicken Entree with Brown Rice & Garden Greens	26.93 per ounce	11/23/2011
Flaked Ocean Whitefish Dinner with Rice & Garden Greens	25.63 per ounce	11/23/2011
Homestyle Turkey Dinner with Brown Rice & Garden Greens	26.21 per ounce	11/23/2011
Saucy Seafood Bake with Rice & Garden Greens	25.51 per ounce	11/23/2011
Herbed Salmon Entree with Rice & Garden Greens	26.6 per ounce

 

[flintmccullough]

I-am-kinda-confused,LOL,by-what-the-numbers-and-dates-mean.

I-can-tell-you-why,he-is-still-hungry,but-ya-might-not-want-to-hear-it,LOL.

Horses-are-fed-by-weight,kitties-are-fed-by-kcal.Ballpark,how-much-do-you-have-to-spend-per-week?

I-have-4-and-I-spend-ballpark-$10-week,and-altho-they-are-fed-dry,and-a-good-quality-grain-free-food,I-keep-them-flushed-out,as-one-is-a-crystal-kitty.

If-your-interested,LOL,be-very-glad-to-help-you.

p.s.this-is-kinda-rushed,have-to-go-run-errands.

 

[matts mom]

oh sorry the 26/oz column is the calorie count...../i think the dates were when the information was added to the chart( I just copy and pasted the relevant section without editing,oops)

http://www.petfinder.com/cats/cat-nutrition/wet-cat-food-calorie-count/This is the chart I used

8-10/week sounds about right for me for wet food. I know it's always a little more expensive, but I feel better knowing that he's getting enough moisture with the summer heat and it's better for his weight control

 

[catnamedpanda]

If you are willing to spend $8-10 a week on wet, have you considered trying raw. The most I have spent on a 6lb bag of raw is $32, the brand I am feeding now is only $24. For one cat if you were to feed him 4 oz a day, the bag would last you for 24 days.

Otherwise for money saving I would look for brands you can buy the big 13oz can in.

As for how much to feed him, when I was feeding my 11lb cat all wet he was eating 1 (5.5oz) can a day. Thefeeding instructions said to feed him an ounce per lb of body weight but he could never eat that much.

 

[flintmccullough]

In-this-case,for-this-food,the-calories-are-per-oz,so-if-its-a-3.0-oz-can-you-multiply-that-by-3,if-its-a-5.5-oz-can,you-multiply-that-by-5.5,some-on-the-chart,are-by-can,but-you-would-have-to-know-which-size-can-they-are-referring-to.

All-of-Friskies-foods,are-full-of-grains-and-glutens-and-by-products.

Grains-cause-crystals-and-tummy-upset

Glutens-cause-tummy-upset

By-products,are-the-left-over-anything,from-the-animal,which-can-include-the-4D's,as-well-as-euthinized-cats-and-dogs,including-their-colors,and-restaurant-waste,and-well-pretty-much-any-garbage,they-want-to-throw-in-there.

Which-is-why,he-is-still-hungry,its-like-you-just-eating-a-bag-of-potato-chips,and-wondering-why-you-are-still-hungry,LOL,grain-foods,are-empty-calories,its-just-like-eating-junk-food-for-you-or-I,no-nutritional-value.

Friskies-is-also-made-by-Purina,you-might-want-to-do-a-search-on-purina-issues,recalls,etc,alot,will-come-up.

Do-you-have-a-full-body-picture-of-Matt,do-you-feel-he-is-underweight,overweight,or-just-right?

What-is-his-activity-level?

If-you-feed-a-good-qualty-grain-free,gluten-free,by-product-free,soy-free-food,you-will-actually-feed-less-of-it,and-he-won't-be-hungry.

Mine-don't-start-asking-for-foodies,until-it-gets-very-close-to-their-feeding-time.

I-feed-Blue-Wilderness.They-were-getting-"each"-1/2-of-a-3.0-oz-can,mixed-with-water,to-keep-them-flushed-out.The-cans-are-ballpark-$1.49-a-can,so-at-one-can-a-day-feeding-half-in-the-morn-and-half-at-night,its-ballpark-$8-$10-a-week.

I-have-4,so-that-got-kinda-expensive-for-me,they-cut-our-hours-way-back,so-now-I-feed-them-dry,mixed-with-baby-food,and-water,to-keep-them-flushed-out,it-still-comes-out-to-around-$10-a-week,a-6lb-bag-is-ballpark-$20-and-it-lasts-me-2-weeks,they-get-1/8-cup,each-feeding.

You-don't-have-to-feed-blue-wilderness,there-are-other-good-quality-grain-free-foods-out-there.

Here-is-a-very-good-site-to-read.

http://catinfo.org/

 

[vball91]

A good general guideline for neutered indoor only cats is 20 calories per pound of ideal weight daily. So, if 13 lbs is his ideal weight, then you want to feed about 260 calories a day and adjust as necessary. The Friskies pates and Fancy Feast classic pates are ok low budget food. As is Authority which has a product very similar to Friskies pates.

The pates have higher animal protein/fewer carbs than the non-pate choices from those brands.

 

[matts mom]

matt 013.jpg

• matts mom
• Jul 27, 2013

here are some photos of Matt. I don't have any good profile photos, since if he's up, he's usually either stalking or on the 

matt 014.jpg

• matts mom
• Jul 27, 2013

go exploring....but I thought 3 photos from different angles might be helpful. When we got him his weight was only 8.7lbs.

matt 015.jpg

• matts mom
• Jul 27, 2013

He was very thin after having been a stray, but he put the weight back on FAST. in only took him about 5months to get to his ideal weight of 12lbs, and then he past it and kept going. He was 13.86 when I microchipped him in August last year, and seems to be fluctuating little since then because I try to feed him about 240 calories/day. (Vet said to feed for a 12lb since that's his ideal and he gains weight so easily)When I can afford it I buy EVO, Merrik or California Naturals, when I can't I buy Friskies......but Friskies doesn't give me the Kcal on the can so I was guessing...I don't like guessing. Especially since he'll beg all day no matter how good the food I buy him-can't listen to the glutton

It took him along time to learn to eat twice a day too, because he free-fed his dry food(saved some for later) so I had to wean him to wet by using smaller frequent meals until he learned to eat more in one go. Now he eats about half a 5.50z can in one sitting. and the other half at night. I've been giving him a little(about a 30ml medicine cup) dry when he acted Really hungry, but that seems to depend on the variety of can food he ate that morning...

 

[flintmccullough]

Matt-is-a-very-beautiful-kitty!I-love-his-color!

Actually,he-looks-good,maybe-take-him-down,a-pound-or-two,but-he-looks-good.

Each-can/brand,even-tho-its-a-5.5-can,is-different-kcal,and-kitties-have-a-different-metabalism,some-need-to-be-fed-more,some-less,of-the-same-exact-food.

Can-you-afford,ballpark-$1.50-a-can-per-day?

If-you-can-feed-a-good-quality-grain-free-food,which,Friskies-is-not,you-can-feed-less-of-it.I-think-5.5-a-day-is-too-much,mine-wouldn't-eat-all-of-that,even-split-into-2-feedings,they-got-half-a-3.0-a-feeding,when-I-could-afford-to-feed-just-wet,and-they-are-neither-thin,nor-begging-for-foodies,until-it-gets-near-the-next-feeding.

You-can-ballpark-estimate-what-a-kitty-should-get-kcal-wise-a-day,but-each-kitty-is-different,you-have-to-adjust-up-or-down,depending-on-their-metabalism-and-activey-levels-are.

Not-critizising-you,LOL,if-Friskies-is-all-you-can-afford,then-you-have-to-go-with-that.I-just-wanted-to-give-you-information.

If-you-want-to-stay-with-the-5.5,then-split-it-into-3-feedings.If-he-is-gaining-weight,then-cut-it-back,the-amount-you-feed,per-feeding.To-determine-how-much-to-feed-each-kitty,per-day,you-first-have-to-decide-on-one-foodies,and-adjust-up-or-down.

He-is-begging-for-foodies,cause......he-gots-his-mommy-trained,LOL,if-he-cries-enough,she-gives-him-a-little-dry-food,LOL.His-mommy-is-rewarding-bad-behavior,LOL.

To-make-him-feel-fuller,and-keep-him-hydrated-and-flushed-out,mix-his-wet-food,with-lukewarm-water,so-its-like-a-thick-soup.

If-you-want-to-give-him-some-"snackies"which-I-do,do-it-at-the-same-time,every-day,no-acceptions,LOL,don't-let-him-dictate-the-times.I-give-them-a-handful-of-their-dry-foodies,at-just-before-bedtime,and-I-scatter-it-on-the-floor,they-have-to-hunt-for-it.They-know,when-snackies-time-is,and-they-know,they-don't-get-it,until-the-same-time-every-night.Ya-gotta-train-him,not-him-train-you,LOL.

 

[Ryetim]

I did a lot of research for my diabetic cat ant THE lowest carb, grain cat food on the market is Friskies Turkey & Giblets Pate. The chunks and slices and all that stuff that has gravy IS high in grain but not the Pate.