To ask how much you feed your cat

[Wiggles28]

Recently rehomed a three year old cat. He’s quite big (tall) and weighs around 4.5kg.

He seems to be constantly hungry! He currently wakes us up around 6am wanting breakfast (1/2 pouch), then has biscuits then another 1/2 pouch for dinner and then the same for supper. We’ve been giving him supper as at first he was waking us at 4am to be fed!

He’s active but not going outside yet.

How much do you feed your cat, and what?

That’s not much, to be fair. I think he should be getting full pouches. Mine have three pouches a day (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and biscuits in between.

Mine are massive (6kg each) so eat about 5 pouches each a day. Costs a bloody fortune 😱

Hi OP. I'm no expert,but it sounds like you may be under feeding him a little. If he's an active cat,only 3 years old and weighs 4.5kg(obviously not overweight) he could probably use another half a pouch. My cat is 7 years old and weighs 6.5kg which the vet has said is 1kg too much. (She is an indoor cat and very lazy!). She has lost 0.4 of a KG in the last 3 months by having 2 pouches a day instead of 3,and a handful of biscuits.

My 4.5kg boy has around 4 sachets plus biscuits available all day. I say around - sometimes he gets more if he manages to con one of us into thinking he's not had any! He's very active though.

Not as much as he'd like, but more than I think he really needs.

3 to 4 pouches a day

My 4kg boy has 3 pouches a day, sometimes 4. And a constant small supply of biscuits. Sounds like you need to increase your offerings!

My 5 have 3 pouches a day each and some biscuits
Bengals (very active) Expensive!!

Pouches don't give active cats enough calories without going through tons a day.

A decent dry food is more energy dense and keeps them satisfied for longer.

Both DTwatCats can confirm this - they lose weight on tinned and are permanently obsessed with getting more food, but are happy, peaceful and disinterested in any other potential snacks if they have their dried.

My 2 cats have a pouch between them 3 x a day
If I use tins - a tin a day between them
They also have unlimited biscuits but never finish either wet or dried food so don’t think they are underfed
They also both have a varied own caught diet!

I’ve got 3 and between them they demolish a big bowl full of complete dry cat food and 3 pouches each a day. 1.5 pouches for a 4.5kg cat is nowhere near enough

I think 2 pouches and a good quality biscuit should be enough. My active female has 2 bigger pouches but is blagging a third some days as we're around. I've bought some of the smaller ones to offer as the third. Her food does get stolen by the kittens though!

Mine is just under 11 lbs.

She has a small tin of wet food in the evening and 2/3 cup or so of dry food in her bowl daily, which she can munch whenever she wants. She usually polishes off a bowl of dry food every 24 hours. She gobbles the wet food in approximately 30 seconds.

I made a point of not feeding her wet food in the morning so she wouldn't mither me for food at silly o'clock.

My cat weighs about the same 4.7kg, he has:

7am ish - 1 pouch
10am - 1 pouch
1pm - biscuits
5pm - 1.5 pouches
7pm - biscuits or sardines (1 tinned fish)
10pm - biscuits

The times are 'ish' but I'd say that was a typical amount. He's very vocal & won't leave me alone unless I feed him .

He's a long lanky boy, aged 15.

I give mine 2 pouches and 1 scoop of dry food.

My 7kg boy only has 2 pouches a day and big bowl of dried food

Ours have biscuits left down 24/7 and one pouch each a day (1/2 at breakfast, 1/2 at dinner). One weighs 2.5kg and the other weighs 10kg!

They also get some tuna or chicken as a treat most days on top of that - not loads, just if DH is using it for sandwiches they get a bit in their bowl.

I've never fed mine more than 1/2 a pouch per meal and we've always had cats. They have good quality good biscuits in between.

My cat is raw fed, she gets around 150g per day.

1.5 pouches for a 4.5kg cat is nowhere near enough

That entirely depends on what you feed. Remember, manufacturers want you to buy as much of their food as possible!

I've never given 1.5 pouches a day to any of my cats (always a maximum of one per day) plus good quality biscuits and they're all perfectly healthy.

4.5 kg is not overweight for a 'tall' cat. He seems to be on a very tight diet. Mine gets a can of sheba and a bowl of dry food. And he wolfs the lot.

My two rescue boys treat every meal as their last; they were found (separately) living rough in gardens, so grab food where they can. With previous residents, I was able to leave out a hopper for snacking at will; these two will literally gorge until sick is given the chance.
Previous cats seemed to know when they were full.
The result is one weighing in at 8 kilos, the other just under; you know all about that when it lands on your lap.
For their own good, they get 60g of Hills Special Diet biscuits, divided into two meals a day. This is taking effect, but from the histrionics you'd think they were starving orphans of the storm, but they're big lads with a remarkable turn of speed.
Lockdown isn't the moment, but when vets are open normally again, why not ask the vet?

Those pouches are so expensive though. I don’t have a cat at the moment but mine used to have two a day plus 24/7 biscuits.
Has he having enough water?

Plus anything he could scrounge. And he loved yoghurt.

Mine has a full bowl on a morning and another at night & I top his biscuits up as often as he needs, he also has a bowl of milk as he won’t drink water