IAMS - why is the amount im supposed to give my cat per day so tiny?

[juicychops]

she's always sitting there staring at her empty food bowl as she isn't getting enough from the recommended daily allowance measurement thing on the packet. im giving her the correct amount for her weight and considering the fact she doesn't have meat too, but im having to give her extra. ive also started to give her garden greens as she doesn't go out very often, but it looks like i never feed her!

It looks tiny because wet food is up to 80% water, so without all that water it doesn't look much

You could try splitting it up into 2 meals a day, maybe.

i have been splitting it, but then it looks even less. it just looks a pittiful amount and then she gives me a look to say 'are you taking the piss!?'

been doing half the Iams morning then evening, as well as some garden greens morning and evening too. in the process of growing grass too

i just feed my cat whenever he sits at his bowl. I know you can get some really fat cats, but generally they don't overeat. Mine has made it to almost 16 by being fed whenever he likes.

Sometimes he has a little tin of tuna in spring water, other times a slivver of cheese. But his main meal was always complete dried food.

Now he is older he has a pouch of gourmet cat food for breakfast.

spoilt kitty!!!

so am i just worrying too much then? can you not make a cat ill by overfeeding them slightly then? i might start giving her little bits of tuna and prawns and chicken etc as little treats to fill her up a bit more

Because cats are tiny, if you discount the fur.

And of course what bella said about the water. If you dried out a pouch of gourmet cat food I bet that would look tiny too.

Your cat is simply trying to make you feel guilty - if you give in and overfeed IAMs the next step will be looking accusing till you give her sheba, and she'll end up on fresh chicken and fish.

i say def stop worrying. Cats are quite fussy, they walk away when they have had enough. Feed her when she wants it and if she looks like she is beginning to get too porky then you can cut down.

cool thanks il stop worrying so much. my cat food budget will never stretch to sheba!!! it has only stretched to Iams this week as im trying different foods to stop her being so smelly!

Have you tried Burns? One of my rescue cats was smelly and now he is odourless!

ive never heard of Burns. can you get it in supermarkets?

it is quite expensive juicy. But then iams is not cheap. you get burns at the vet and also pet shops. not sure that you would find it in usual supermarkets, but may be proved wrong.

hmmm, may stick with iams for a few more days as she's only been on them for 4 days and see if there is any difference. yes the iams are quite expensive but then prob not much more than i was spending when i was buying the wet food for her that she wasn't eating.

out of whiskers and felix, go cat etc all the supermarket brand complete biscuits, what do people consider to be the best that their cats like the most??

Do what I do juicychops. Think about how much each portion of IAMS is costing you. That makes you a whole lot less open to the guilt trip - believe me!

In answer to your question about cheaper supermarket brands.... my two will only eat Go Cat dried food. They don't like any of the others.

What is her weight like? If she is quite slim it should be OK to feed her a little extra. (maybe the Iams morning and evening plus something in the afternoon like a pouch or a small tin of fish for a treat)

Seriously though, what I am doing now is making one of their meals a mixture of biscuits and wet food, then giving another small portion of biscuits at bed time. So they get biscuits, mixture, more biscuits. That little extra seems to satisfy them.