How much should my cat eat?

[SolidGold]

I have two cats; a Siamese, aged 5, he weighs approx. 5.5 kgs, maybe slightly more now, and a DSH aged 2, he weighs 4.2 kg. I feed them high quality wet food, brand Bozita, and Vets Kitchen dry food.

I have been feeding them wet food when they want and dry food down all the time, but YC remains at ideal weight, Siamese gets fatter!

I've removed the dry food for now and am just putting a little of it down for the night.

How much do you feed your cats when they are on a diet?

The vet recommended Royal Canin dry food Lite, but I don't want him to eat too much dry food.

At the moment I am trying to limit how much I feed him, but he is constantly asking for food. To punish me for not feeding him, he is constantly fetching my knitting out of the bag and chewing it!

He does go out, but not much in this weather. The only exercise he gets is chasing YC up and down the stairs I play with him a little, but as soon as YC joins in (which YC does almost immediately) Siamese won't play anymore

I don't want him to be hungry or miserable or to think I don't love him anymore, but he does need to lose weight.

That feels like a lot for a Siamese unless he's unusually big and rangy.

I'd go for a set feeding schedule rather than on demand and keep it at wet in the interim. (It should take the Siamese about two to three days to adjust as long as you stay strong about it.)

I fear you also need to find some way to play/interact with him more to get his mind off food. Does he sleep with you?

Thanks Cosie

For the past few days I've been giving him a tiny amount (about a tsp) when he asks.

A pack of Bozita is 400g (so the same as a large can of food). How much would you give him and how many times per day?

I've had cats all my life (and I'm nearly 50!) and always had food down all the time, but never had a fat cat. Siamese started putting on weight after he was neutered and hasn't looked back!

He's not tiny, probably similar size to YC, a more old fashioned shaped Siamese. But he is overweight. The vet weighed him in August at 5.5 kg and said he could lose a bit.

I might try shutting YC out when we play, see if it helps. Any good toys to recommend? If we didn't have a dog, I'd try a kibble ball, but the dog would start hoovering them up and she can't afford to put on weight either!

He doesn't sleep with us, we tried it, but he started leaping around at night, so he sleeps downstairs with YC and the dog.

I would be oil lowing the feeding guides for a 5kg cat for a Siamese cat. All foods are different so you need to check the packs of the actual foods you have if you would like to feed both the wet and dried food you feed half the recommended daily allowance of each. The dry food will probably seem like a scarily small amount compared to what you currently feed, this is often where the problem is.
Cats will not self regulate it is a myth you need to control their food intake. Posh arrogant boy would be the size of the house if I let him.

That would following the feeding guides damn spell check is in it's own world today.

Difficult one re the playing, SolidGold. It's excellent that he has a good relationship with YC and I wouldn't want to disturb that. (It's not a given when you have a Siamese - in fact my experience is that its much more likely to be pistols at dawn with another cat rather than best chums. I discount the dog. In my experience, Siamese regard dogs as 'big lumps of no account'.)

Why not start off by going to a strict food schedule? Lone has given guidance on amounts so all you need to do is divide those up and set your appropriate feeding times. I'd go for more than two if you can - maybe four (eg breakfast, lunch, tea and supper) - but much will depend on your own hours and obligations.

And really stick to those. If you get importuning in the gaps just give them some attention instead. (That's usually what they're really after.) It should take just a day or two for the cats to adjust and you may well find that it changes eg their nighttime behaviour. (Being hungry and then getting a supper nosh is usually a signal for bed and, besides, a full belly will calm them down later at night.)

See how that goes?

Siamese regards the dog as a hot water bottle!

There are no guidelines for amounts on the packs. How much wet food do you feed your Siamese? I.e half a tin a day, 2 pouches a day?

I'll try to find out on the Bozita website.

Ah - haven't looked recently. (Seniorboy is in a routine with his food so I know how much to give him.)

The info is on the web generally though - eg for Seniorboy's Gourmet Cat Food it's 260g of wet food for a 4 kg cat -ie 2-3 pouches. (So you scale up to 5 kg worth.) Kibble is much more concentrated so quite a lot less by weight.

That seems to be about right for him by the way although as he's elderly and not so active, he may leave some. At any rate, it's maintaining his weight at just under 4kg.

If he gets a substitute meal such as a bit of dry or some cooked chicken or ham, I automatically cut down his main food. (It would be a genuine substitute.) Easier for me because I would be entirely happy if he put on a few grams so I don't have to worry if he ate more than he's doing.

Let us know what foods you want to serve and I'm sure we can find the RDA if you can't track it down.

The Bozota recommends 380g per cat per day so half ration 190 and the vets kitchen daily ration 50g so only 25g as half ration.
So I would recommend these amounts split into what ever number of meals you prefer I am a two meals person.

Thank you! Very helpful. 390g is one pack, it seems a lot

It does seem a lot I have to say. It's not a food I'm familiar with. Protein content seems low at 8.5% DM the type of food it is, particularly when you compare it to Applaws at 14%DM. Fat content is also high at 4.5%DM compared to Applaws 1% DM.

It does seem a lot but that's for a 5kg cat. If he's podgy at 5 kg, I'd be tempted to put him on a lower (say 4.5 kg) allowance (and reducing) as a diet - eg the final 4kg allowance would be 300g according to the manufacturer which is a tad closer to the UK standard.

Your call as to how full of willpower you're feeling. Unless there are clinical reasons, I'd be wanting a gradual weight loss rather than a sudden big drop in intake.

PS - or you could try to up his activity levels but then you might hit the problems we mentioned above.

Bozita was recommended to me on a pet forum as a good food, high in meat and without grains. The cats do well on it. It isn't cheap though.

I'm going to put away the dry food for now and just feed wet twice a day, see how we get on. The reason we started feeding little and often was because in the summer he was leaving some and it would go off so we were throwing lots away.

I have a Siamese who eats and eats and eats - he is so thin but all muscle iykwim

he would eat 5 sachets a day of wet food no problem
they are all so different

......in the summer he was leaving some and it would go off so we were throwing lots away.......

Now that's a possible interesting signal. In the summer, he had things to do outside so he only ate what he needed. Now that the weather has worsened, he's inside and a bit bored - so eating as an occupation. I reckon the playing is going to be important for him.

Solid Applaws has no grains high meat content, I would suggest that as the protein is lower and fat higher quite a lot of the 'meat' content is actually fat. Look into Applaws it's a great food for all the same reasons, but much less fat which could give you a leaner cat.

Thanks are they pouches?

We are extremely strapped for cash at the moment (dh out of work), so I'm having to find a compromise between quality and cost, getting as good a quality I can for my money.

I'll have a look at applaws, but have just received a new order of bozita, so will use that up first.

Cozie, I wish he was easier to play with He doesn't like my games much.

Go for attention then. Daily grooming (which gives them a concentrated burst of attention) and loads of cuddles. If they're contented, they'll often curl up and doze gently, thinking contented thoughts.

Other things. Do you have an electric blanket on the bed or in a cupboard? Leave it on during the day in the cold weather and show it to him - they love heat. And does he have a little soft toy or two to toss and chew?

You might also leave yourselves open minded about sleeping arrangements. Occasionally leave the bedroom door open and see if a small body sneaks in to bed with you and lies quietly. That would top up his contentment tank quite seriously.

Thanks Cozie.

I'll certainly top up the grooming and cuddles (although he's not missing out there!). I can't leave the door open at night, as the dog will creep upstairs too and wake us all up. We've tried the cat on the bed thing repeatedly and it doesn't work, he keeps everyone awake

Forgot to say, I don't have an electric blanket, will look into that, but he does lie on my lap in the evening and curl up with YC often during the day.

Don't buy one if money's a tad tight. It's just that a hot spot is much loved by Siamese. (You might find that friends or relatives have one knocking around a cupboard somewhere that they don't need.)

I must say I'm amazed that he's not heading to bed every night. I've never, myself, had a Siamese that didn't sleep in bed. And that would be in bed and not on bed. (Apart from the summer heatwave when His Lordship would take the occasional breather on top of the duvet.)

I'll ask around

He races around at night with YC or, if separated, just generally wanders around the house, waking everyone repeatedly. If shut in my room he scratches the carpet to get out.

As a kitten he did sleep in the bed in my arms, but at some point stopped getting into bed with me.

When the other cat arrived by any chance? Or was the dog being noisy?

(I'm thinking that however well he gets on with YC - for which you can be eternally thankful - he might nonetheless get edgy if he knew there were other non-humans around and think he had to keep tabs on them rather than relax in bed with you.)

Who can tell. Strange creatures sometimes, cats.

No, not when we got YC. We've always had more than one cat - our old boys died a few years ago - and he's always chased around with them. I also don't think we had the dog at the time.

We did go through a phase when he didn't get on well with YC - I posted a thread under my old nickname about it - but thankfully that problem was solved, I just carried on giving them treats together and he just got over it. I think YC had maybe got a bit carried away in the game and hurt him and Siamese couldn't forgive!

Definitely are strange creatures - Siamese in particular! Who knows what is going on in his head?!

Siamese are the most territorial creatures. (Basically, if they can even think about it, it belongs to them.) There will be something going on in his brain about overseeing the demesne.

Still - all that pacing will be using up some calories, eh?