I don't know how much to feed my cats! Help?

[SciFiScream]

Hi All,

Last owned cats 16 years ago, often cat sit and follow the owners guidelines for whatever cats I'm looking after.

Now have 2 7-month old cats and I'm worried I'm not feeding them enough.

On a mix of wet and dry food - which I want to continue for the best of both worlds

Always fresh water out

They have 1/2cup of dry food each and share a big tin of cat food each per day. Tends to be given over 3 meals.

It's not enough is it? They don't ever ask for food

[AnnaMagnani]

Not nearly as much as the cat makes out it wants.

If the cats aren't even bothering to ask for food, then you are prob feeding too much!

Mine have 2 small handfuls dry food each and a 1/4 of a small tin wet food each - 18 months. One has a belly, both behave like they have never been fed before in their lives

[Mumshotel]

My small but fully grown cat has a small Felix pouch for breakfast and one for tea. Daytime is a handful of dried left out for her to pick at. She doesn't always finish this.

[mimibunz]

My adult cat gets two pouches, am and pm, and always has a small bowl of dry available. Fresh water twice a day. He’s older but very active and playful.

[gobbin]

My 3 average sized cats have one tin of food (400g) between them a day plus 100g of Applaws dry split between two meals. This equates to four Felix pouches between three of them a day when they have pouches.

[SciFiScream]

New/next question which is the best food to feed the cats? Both wet and dry?

I've read that the jelly in wet food is bad for their teeth?

At the moment eating whiskas wet and burgess dry.

Looking for best balance between environmentally ok, cost and best for cats.

Thanks all

[JurassicGirl]

My 3 cats share a tin of food in the morning & another tin in the evening.

There's always a bowl of dried food available & always fresh water.

Sometimes the eat the dried food as well so I top it up before I go to bed.

[LostPlatypus]

It depends on the brand of food to an extent. Something like Smilla (from Zooplus) is decent quality but not hugely expensive (similar cost per 100g to Whiskas). Not so sure about the dry food - my cat is on prescription dry food.

Re jelly, my vet has said that gravy is worse than jelly as it sticks to their teeth more (my cat has dental issues). Now obviously that's just one vet's opinion and I don't know how valid that is, but that's what I was told.

[SciFiScream]

Last time I had pets I was a child/teenager in my Dad's house and I did what I was told. Now I'm the grown up (I think!) and I'm having to make these choices myself - hence all the questions. Thanks all.

[TimeIhadaNameChange]

What do the packs say? My cat is on the large side. The dry food says 60g/day to lose weight, and the sachets say 5 a day to maintain her weight. She gets 40g and a sachet, which means she gets 85% of the full measure. Since she hunts, and gets treats, this should mean she doesn't put any weight on and may lose a little.

She was on dry when I got her, but I soon noticed a small amount of blood in her poo, and suspected the dry food was too dry for her so added the wet and no more blood. The vet was happy to agree with my decision.

She's on James Wellbeloved hairball dry, and Gourmet Perle sachets in the main (with the odd Sheba / broth thrown in as a treat). I moved her onto JW grain free a few years ago as she overgrooms and I wondered if she was allergic, but it made no difference. I've now gone down the anti-hairball route as she was being sick every few days. It's now down to once a week and I'm hoping it'll reduce over time.