Any vets here tonight, or people in the know about how much food a cat should eat?

[DumbledoresGirl]

I have 2 cats, brothers, aged 3 and a half. They both spend most of the day outside and we have a large garden which borders a stream and open land so I imagine the hunting could be good though I have rarely seen the spoils of the hunt.

Anyway, the two of them eat two large tins of cat food a day, one for breakfast and one in the evening. But for some time now, they have been wanting more food and, if I give in to their demands, can easily pack away another tin per day.

During a recent visit to the vet for jabs, they were both weighed and both came under the category of medium sized cats though one looks much fuller, shall we say, than the other. Even so, he was only 12lbs I think it was, so not that heavy though the vet implied he could be getting on the heavy side. I don't want them to get fat, but they are clearly very hungry and easily capable of eating three tins a day between them. So is this too much food? Are they hungrier now because they are finding less to hunt outside? Or do they need more food in the winter months to maintain their heat given they spend most of the time outside?

They surely can't have worms can they? because they are not skinny and fading away.

I'm not a vet but have had cats all my life - the last two died peacefully aged 18 and 16. We have always given our cats about half a tin a day each plus dry food - about a handful a day. We used to live in the city so they didn't roam too far and spent lots of time asleep. Now we're almost in the country (small town really) the two young cats we have now eat a bit more than that, about a tin and a half a day, and dh is constantly - well two or three times a day - giving them biscuits. They don't sound as active as yours. I'd ring the vet and check.

I'm not a vet but I have and do have lots of cats....

To answer your last question first, yes they can have worms: worms won't necessarily cause any visible symptoms and cats who hunt are particularly susceptible to tapeworm.

As for the amount of food, some cats just seem to be, em, greedy. In theory you should be able to feel all of your cats ribs but lots of cats become overweight. I have one who should be about 3.5kg, is actually 5.5kg and would probably be about 10kg if I let him. 12lbs is 5.5kg and that is quite a lot for a standard moggie cat.

Cats are very good at pressurising their owners into feeding them, so assuming your vet ruled out any medical problems, you just need to have willpower on their behalf

HTH

Thank you for replying. I don't give mine dry food because it caused at least one of them (maybe both) to have diarrhoea when they were younger, though I do sometimes chuck on a handful of some dry stuff the vet recommended to prevent the build up of scale on their teeth.

You see, I don't think of 12lb as being heavy. I grew up with cats and we had one who was easily over 14lbs most of his life (he died aged 16) and my parents' most recent cat was much bigger than my two and he died at 20. I suppose it depends on frame as much as anything. But I am of course concerned that mine don't tip over into obesity this winter.

When I said they couldn't have worms could they I meant that they have been dewormed and they were fully examined by the vet last month when they went for their jabs. Would she have been able to feel worms then? I remember her feeling their abdomens. I wish I had thought to mention it to her then, but tbh, I don't think they were as hungry then.

The vet was feeling his internal organs - they can't feel worms.

It depends what you wormed them with tbh but it's a bit of an old wives' tale that worms make them hungry/skinny whatever.

My fat boy gets wormed regularly but he just loves food

Whehter or not 12lb is too heavy does depend on the frame of the cat but if you can't feel his ribs and his, ahem, uphosltery is quite plentiful you can assume he's overweight.

Thank you, I am going to give him a feel next time I see him (if I can get near - he is very good tempered but not keen on being handled). In fact the cat flap just banged and I looked up expectantly, but it was the skinnier cat coming in!

I am a bit worried now about the worm issue. I thought they would fade away if they had worms.... What do you use to worm your cat? And another thing I have never been sure of, does it kill worms there or simply prevent worms establishing themselves?

I use Drontal tablets which treat all the worms they are likely to get, or you can use a spot on wormer from your vet like Profender. These will kill any worms the cat already has but it needs to be done every 3 months as it won't prevent the cat becoming re-infected.

You can get these from your vet or there are online vet pharmacies too.

HTH

Oh that makes me feel a lot easier as they have the profender drops. Phew! Seems like I can rule out worms then. So, just greediness driving them on then? No-one going to tell me that a cat needs one and a half big tins a day?

We have two cats and they would eat all day if they could get away with it. They are medium sized cats and weight about 5.5 kgs each which the vet thinks is slightly too much so they are now on 'obesity management' specialist dry food from the vet's. The aim is to get them to about 5 kgs each. We feed each 1/2 a small tin of cat food plus 2 x 15 grams of the obesity management food a day. They do seem almost permanently hungry though and I find it difficult not to give them more. If you are concerned, I'd talk to your vet about it. At ours, you can have your cat weighed for free and discuss any weight management at the same time.

That sounds like a lot of food but then, if they are busy outdoors all day maybe they're just burning up the calories. I imagine it's more difficult for them to grab the odd passing mouse snack during winter too! Maybe they always eat this much but during the warmer months, they get most of it by hunting!

hey DDG, good to see you on a "normal" thread!

Our old cat had a very small appetite - one pouch of catfood a day and a bowl of dried food to nibble at - she was a prolific hunter though!

Our new kittens seem much hungrier (though of course there are two of them) but I think the male kitten will be a bigger cat (already looks fully grown to me at 5 months old...). They have a pouch between them 3 times a day plus dried food and any scraps from the dinner table..

Oh I wasn't going to mention the leftovers from the family roast cos sometimes our fatter cat can get through an entire plate of chicken skin and scraps etc in addition to the 2 tins a day (that is only once a week at most though!)

Doodle2U, yes the great unknown is the amount they eat from hunting. I sometimes think they are not out hunting at all but have nipped next door for some peace and quiet (and maybe someone else's Sunday roast?!) but I like to trust to what I know about cat behaviour and imagine that they are doing the patrol of their territory.

Not seen the fatter cat yet to see if his ribs can be felt. This is typical: I don't see that much of either of them.