how much should we be feeding our cat?

[tissy]

We have an old cat- about 15/16 I think, she spends a lot of the time curled up on the radiator, but does go out on the prowl at night.

A cat-loving friend says that she's fat, BUT she's fluffy, so looks fatter than she is IMO. We found that feeding her twice a day resulted in food being thrown up on the kitchen floor, so we feed her three times a day (6 am, 4pm, 10 pm) and give her about 40g of tinned meat each meal plus about 20g of IAMS senior biscuits at breakfast time. She gets water to drink, and the occasional little bit of chicken/ salmon/ lamb.

Cat keeps telling me we are starving her, and she's wasting away, but if she is, it's not obvious.

Are we giving her enough, or too much?

bump

bump?

Oh blimey, I don't weigh the food so I don't know if you are under or over feeding.

But if it helps, one of our cats in particular will meow for more no matter how much we feed him. His tea is always at 6pm, but he will start hassling us for food from about 3pm onwards.

If you are worried put some dry food down between meal times. If she eats it she's hungry, if she leaves it she's not!!!

Also I believe meowing increases in older cats as they can suffer from dementia.

If you are not sure about her weight then I would get your vet to check her out and advise you. The majority of cats will only eat as much as they need to maintain a healthy body weight, but some cats are just piggy and just eat and get fat! Therefore the majority of cat owners are able to leave down a bowl of biscuits pretty much all the time and do not have overweight cats, but some people have to feed a certain number of times a day only to control the weight and not allow "snacking" in between these times. If she has recently been really demanding more than she used to it could be a sign of thyroid disease and your vet could get that checked out at the same time perhaps - especially if you think she may have lost weight recently too.

Hope that helps

thanks

lol at the idea of cat having dementia

will get her check for thyroid disease, but has not apparently lost weight!

our vet said you should be able to feel their ribs relatively easily.

Our cat is on a diet and don't we know it!!! If he is awake you are hassled, when the meowing doesn't work you just get loved to death instead.....................

Does this qualify as the most boring question on MN ever?
I am sure it eclipses my tedious forays into the world of steam cleaners.

my friend/s cat is old like yours, and diabetic, and never stops hassling her for food.