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The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Original poster

How much do you feed your cat everyday?

41 replies

Clankboing · 13/10/2019 10:22

A discussion is currently going on in our house about this. We have looked online and get various answers. We have 4 adult cats (2 younger, 2 older - 2 larger sized). My ds will pour out a whole sachet each for 1 cat claiming that that is why they are made. I think that is over feeding mainly because they can always 'ask' if they want more. I tend to share a sachet between 2 cats so I give 1/2 sachet each. (By the way, we do buy tins as well for so many cats but get sachets as my teenagers are more likely to feed the poor cats after school this way!) It is difficult to monitor with 4 cats tbh - but our vet has told us to keep an eye on the weight of the eldest cat.

OP posts:
TheQueens · 13/10/2019 10:25

I have a 6 year old female who might wander down the garden and back but doesn't tend to be too active. She gets 1/2 pouch of wet food each evening and there is always a small bowl of dry food out for her to graze on during the day. She probably only has a small handful daily.

SimonJT · 13/10/2019 10:26

1/2 a sachet is only 50g of food, decent quality wet food (not supermarket rubbish) wouldn’t be enough on only 50g a day.

My cat has a combo, wet some days, raw others. Where wet is concerned she tends to have grau, natures menu and macs. On wet days she eats around 350-400g, she weighs around 4.5kg and has an ideal body condition score.

viccat · 13/10/2019 10:30

Whether one pouch is enough or too much of course depends on how many times a day they get fed and what else they eat (and which pouches they are, as well - some are more filling/nutritious than others).

My cats have about 150 grams of wet food and a tablespoonful of dry + a few freeze dried chicken or salmon treats a day each. All are young (under 3) and healthy weight. Their food is grain free high protein food. They'd happily eat more than this but I'm being careful they don't become overweight.

ongranaryplease · 13/10/2019 10:31

Half a sachet!!!! My cat would be ravenous. He is perfect weight for his build and has 3 sachets a day. The box says he should be having 3.5 a day for his weight but he wouldn’t eat the extra half if I gave it to him.

rainbowstardrops · 13/10/2019 10:53

My cat is seven and not that active really (I want to come back as a cat!) I give her half a pouch of wet food and a handful of dry food first thing in the morning and then the same at dinner time. The vet says she's a tiny bit overweight but nothing to worry about, so once it's gone it's gone!

WWlOOlWW · 13/10/2019 10:55

My 10 year old brother and sister get 1/2 a sachet twice a day, plus a palm full of dry food.

They have had this amount for the 10 years that I have had them.

Original poster
Clankboing · 13/10/2019 10:56

Sorry - I didn't mention that the cat has 1/2 sachet 3x a day. The vet has told us that this is too much really!

OP posts:
HandsOffMyRights · 13/10/2019 10:58

Half a pouch each morning and early evening

Access to dry food permanently (which they begrudgingly eat).

HandsOffMyRights · 13/10/2019 11:00

I have two cats and each eats the same.

Original poster
Clankboing · 13/10/2019 11:01

I also leave out crunchies during the day whilst I'm at work. I realise that they are dense nutrition but it's a small bowl which to me, as an experienced cat owner, doesn't look lots. I'm just a bit surprised that the vet has said 1/2 sachet 3x a day needs to be adjusted, to be made smaller amounts. My (19 year old) son disagrees and thinks it should be 3x sachets a day (on top of the out at work crunchies).

OP posts:
cricketmum84 · 13/10/2019 11:12

I think it depends on how active the cat is too.

Ivy has been kept in recently after illness but I continued feeding the same amount (2 sachets per day plus biscuits always down). Went for a checkup at the vets and she had gained a kilo (and a belly pouch) in a month and was overweight. Now she is going outside again I'm feeding the same amount but she is losing the weight and starting to look healthy again.

AnnaMagnani · 13/10/2019 11:26

Not as much as they want!

It depends what your sachets are. If they are Whiskas/supermarket crap they don't contain much but the cat will still want more regardless. They are the MaccyDs of cat food.

I have one dustbin of a cat and one underweight old lady with renal failure.

Underweight old lady gets as much renal kibble as we can get her to eat, about 5 Snackies, a packet of Sheba Cat Soup and about an eighth of a tiny tin of Animonda Carny a day. Plus sometimes some cat milk.

Cat dustbin gets 2 small handfuls of Purizon kibble and a quarter of the tiny tin of Animonda a day. Plus anything she can scrounge from anywhere else. Any more than that and she gets fat. If she has free access to kibble she turns into a balloon - old lady has a microchip feeder to stop hers being hoovered up.

On the high quality food, the portions are really really tiny.

Original poster
Clankboing · 13/10/2019 11:38

Ok, this is maybe where I am not doing so well - perhaps we are not buying good quality wet food. (We get decent dry food). However the wet food sachet comes from our local coop - Felix - and we get that due to convenience and the cats like it. I buy Butchers tins with our supermarket weekly shop. They mainly have Butchers - 2 out of 3 meals - is that ok? After school (one of their 3 meals) I get my teenagers to feed them 1/2 sachet of felix each - unless the 19yo gets there first and he gives a whole felix sachet each!!! (It costs a fortune but I love my cats). Morning and night they get Butchers from the tin - as I don't mind dealing with the tins - and the cats like this. I always think it looks ok - should I be getting better? I could order some better sachets and tins online from a pet supplier especially if it is better for them. By the way eldest cat is not overweight - just creeping towards it.

OP posts:
SimonJT · 13/10/2019 11:44

Ditch the dry food, a cats diet should be no more than 10% carb, cats also have a poor thirst drive as they are designed to get all of their fluids from food, so use of dry food does cause dehydration.

cricketmum84 · 13/10/2019 11:49

High quality dry food can be better than wet food. It's also much better for their teeth and gums. Ivy loves her dry food. Most vets would recommend a good quality dry food over wet.

We also have a kitty water fountain that she regularly drinks plenty from so I don't think it's necessarily true that all cats have a poor thirst drive.

AnnaMagnani · 13/10/2019 11:51

Zooplus was lifechanging for us and the cats - no more lugging cat food and cat litter home. A load of grain-free brands the Germans love their cats all cheaper than the Whiskas/Felix crap I'd been buying before.

Cats, me, and bank balance all delighted.

I'd love to ditch the dry food but Old Lady cat is obsessed with her crisps, as they are known in this house.

SimonJT · 13/10/2019 12:05

@cricketmum84 High quality dry is not better than wet, it also isn’t better for their teeth/gums compared to wet. Dry food causes dehydration, obesity, diabetes, kidney problems and urinary problems.

A cat fed on dry needs to drink around 450-500ml of water per day.

Most vets know very little about feline nutrition, if they did they wouldn’t recommend species innapropriate dry diets. I like asking vets how biscuits clean a cats teeth seeing as a cats jaw cannot make the movements required to chew biscuits. Not a single one as been able to answer with anything but “it says it works on the bag”.

Cats are obligate carnivores, not a single dry brand is suitable for obligate carnivores even if we ignore the dehydration as they contain things like sweet potato which cause sugar highs and increased hunger. The likes of royal canin etc don’t even contain any actual meat, just highly processed extracted proteins.

cricketmum84 · 13/10/2019 12:14

OK - I'm going to keep listening to my qualified vets recommendations of the best food for Ivy thanks Wink

Maybe you could come tell my kitty that her jaw can't chew biscuits while she is happily crunching away...

AnnaMagnani · 13/10/2019 12:17

Old Lady has renal failure and is supposed to eat wet food for the fluid content. However she has decided death is preferable to all the renal wet foods so a compromise has been reached - dry food with the Cat Soup to get some fluid in.

If there is no Soup in the morning, Old Lady feels it is a situation worthy of calling in the United Nations.

Original poster
Clankboing · 13/10/2019 12:17

The discussion over dry v wet - we had 2 vets in same practice say different things about dry food in two recent trips. I knew I wasn't going mad as Dd was with me. I guess everyone has different opinions ... Would you say 1/2 sachet 3 times a day (with a few crunchies) is too much? I feel like insisting "But she's fluffy not fat!" to the vet but unfortunately she has weighed her, so I can't con her. Unless of course the fluffiness is quite heavy!!

OP posts:
Bbq1 · 13/10/2019 12:20

Our cat is 5 and she has 1-2 sachets a day and we keep her 2 different types of dry food topped up. She has a few dreamies a couple if times a week.

Original poster
Clankboing · 13/10/2019 12:20

Anna I will look at Zooplus thanks, sounds good.

OP posts:
MrsPellegrinoPetrichor · 13/10/2019 12:20

3.5 year old cat and has 4 pouches in 24 hrs, doesn't have dried food at all and about 4x a wee raw meat as well.

eddiemairswife · 13/10/2019 12:23

My cat has 2 sachets of Felix a day, supplemented with the odd butterfly in the summer. Like most cats she is fairly inactive, but not overweight.

MrsPellegrinoPetrichor · 13/10/2019 12:24

**week