When you bring your cat home, one of your first thoughts may be, “How much should my cat eat?” if you’re a first-time cat owner. Even if you’ve had cats for a long time, you can occasionally wonder if they’re eating enough or too much. Let’s go through a few things to think about when determining how much to feed your cat.
How much should my cat eat? Quick overview
The answer to the question “How much should I feed my cat?” depends on a number of factors, including the cat’s weight, cat’s age, whether you’re feeding wet or dry cat food, how active the cat is, and whether or not she is nursing or pregnant.
When determining “How much should I feed my cat?” there are other factors to consider, including the brand of food you’re providing. It will take fewer servings of a dense, high-quality dry cat food to provide your cat with the same amount of nutrition as a food of lower quality since it contains more nutrients by weight.
Many cat owners give their cats free access to dry food, with canned food added once or twice daily as a supplement. If you offer your pet high-quality food, a dry-food-only diet is not inherently harmful, but you will need to encourage your cat to drink a lot more water to make up for the water she isn’t getting from canned food.
When To Give Your Cat To Eat?
It’s crucial to feed a new cat the same amount of food on the same schedule that she has become accustomed to when you first bring her home. Then, gently transition her to your own diet and schedule. Consistency in the food and schedule will smooth the transition for the new cat and prevent intestinal distress because cats are extremely sensitive to change and will be experiencing a lot of stress from the new environment.
When you’re ready to introduce your cat to your personal diet and routine, you’ll need to decide what sort of food you’ll be feeding her (wet or dry, raw food, or a combination of these), and you’ll need to calculate how much of each type to feed her based on the calorie counts in each.
What Should Your Cat Eat — wet food or dry food?
Considering what you’re feeding your cat is a crucial consideration when determining how much to feed it. Meat, fish, and chicken are examples of flesh-based proteins that make up the bulk of a healthy cat diet. Dry food should have a high animal protein content and a low plant protein content (which cats are ill-equipped to digest). Less than 10% of the total ingredients in cat food should be carbohydrates.
Meat should make up the majority of wet foods, with the least amount of byproducts and fillers.
How Much Should My Cat Eat: Calculations
An adult cat weighing eight pounds who is healthy and active needs roughly 30 calories per pound per day, according to the Animal Medical Center in New York. Therefore, an 8-pound cat needs roughly 240 calories daily on average.
Typically, a cup of dry food has about 300 calories, whereas a 6 oz. can of canned food has about 250 calories. (or, one 3-ounce can contains 125). An 8-pound cat would require around 4/5 of a cup of dry food or just under a full 6-oz can (or two 3-ounce cans) of wet food each day based on these figures. Depending on how much wet or dry food your cat prefers, you can change the quantities.
If you’re free-feeding your cat dry food, put the appropriate amount of food into the dry food feeder each day. This reduces the quantity of food that spoils and needs to be thrown out. Additionally, it will enable you to keep track of your cats’ food intake. If you can pinpoint just how much she eats each day, it will aid in the diagnosis if you have to take a thin cat to the vet.
Your cats won’t eat too much if you portion out the food. One of the main causes of feline obesity is free choice feeding.
How often to to give your cat to eat?
The frequency of feeding your cat is a consideration while figuring out “How much should I feed my cat.” What you give a cat determines how frequently you should feed her. Most cat owners give their cats breakfast and dinner, and some owners augment those meals with free dry food feedings all day long.
Is your cat eating too much?
You will need to adjust your cat’s food over the course of her life to account for changes in her metabolism and nutritional requirements. Feel the ribs and backbone of your cat. She is too thin if her ribs and backbone are visible through her skin. Your cat is probably overweight if you can’t feel the ribs. Adapt her portions as necessary.
It’s much simpler to prevent your cat from getting overweight than to make it diet. And you and your cat will both be more happier as a result.
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