How Much is Too Much... Food!

[Pebble21uk]

I have a gorgous one year old boy, Timmy (will post obligatory pic in the hope of getting responses!!) He's a Bengal cross - so quite big (he seems longer than your average cat!!) and he turned one in September. For the first year he was on wet kitten food (2-3 sachets per day in 3 / 4 meals) and James Wellbeloved biscuits which were left out all day for him to graze on... and he seemed to self-regulate pretty well. When he was weighed / went to the vets he was fine for size / weight.

Since turning one we've changed him to adult wet and adult James Wellbeloved and did the same to begin with with the dry food (as in leaving it down and he could eat it freely) but he had a couple of pouches max per day wet food. Around a month a go we noticed him getting a tummy, so began to cut down a little.

He's VERY active - and a teenager obvs!! (He's over 5kg)Today (and most days it's suitable weather) he will spend around 5 hours out in the garden / neighbours gardens - he has quite a big territory and he hunts and climbs. And he's making it known he thinks I'm now starving him! He's never been so ready for food, but I don't know if I'm feeding him too much or too little any more - as he has a mixture of foods it's not so easy to go on what's recommended for each.

So today he has had (in aggregate): 1.5 pouches of Felix As Good As It Looks, half a tub of Lily's Pate and a measure of James Wellbeloved biscuits suitable for a 'sedentry indoor cat' for the day (with no extra wet).
Opinions please??

The one where he's having some screen time is pretty recent!

Cant really see body size in the pictures. Mine get dry left out and half a pouch each twice a day. They also like a small portion of chopped cooked chicken most days.

When my Bengal was alive he had 4.5 pouches a day and a bit of dhs dinner if it was suitable ie chicken, beef joints, fish.

My cat has 4 or 5 pouches a day and some days raw meat as well. He's just over 3kg and very active.

Why do you give him food for a sedentary cat when he's not?

**he also goes bonkers if I haven't given him raw for a few days, sachets just don't do it!

I think the only way to tell is to weight him. Has he been neutered?

Different cats need different amounts. Mine is 3kg and very active (out doors most of the day whatever the weather). Still, she only has a quarter to a third of a tin a day (I guess that’s about a single pouch) plus a small bowl (20g) of go cat. We had to cut the dry food recently as her weight has been creeping up. And this sounds like she has far less than @MrsPelligrinoPetrichor ‘s cat of similar size.

Yeah,mine is a skinny minny even though he eats loads. He's a good hunter too. He has no dry food whatsoever though.

Are you sure he has a tummy and it's not fluff? He doesn't look enormous from the pics

Yes, sorry about the pics - I'll try and find something better!
He eats the daily allowance for a 'sedentry cat' because I give him wet on top of that. If I gave him the allowance for an active cat plus wet he really would be overweight!
Sounds as though there is no 'norm'... I guess it will be trial and error!
Yes, he is neutered... was done as soon as he reached 1kg

One of him relaxing on the sofa!! (Which probably makes him look fatter than he is because of his position!)
And one only taken yesterday when he bought a poor old slow worm in! (It was alive and was rescued and put back in the compost heap!)
If anyone is wondering what the big blue button on his collar is, it's a TabCat tracker as he likes to wander!!

My cats are asleep in most of my pictures

I'd try him on wet food only plus some raw and see if that satisfies him. Bengals are a bit of a law unto themselves ime....

Lovely pics dementedpixie

I'm struggling with this at the moment too, I have four cats and one in particular is too chonky and one is too skinny, and one was chonky and is now a bit too skinny... The fourth one has stayed a good weight throughout by some miracle. They wouldn't self regulate at all though and would all happily eat as much as I give them and steal some of mine too.

The amount you're feeding does't sound like a lot for a very active boy cat. Could you give him the full Lily's Kitchen tub? How much is a measure of dry food?

His dry food is about 45g of James Wellbeloved (so the low end of the scale for dried food if it's all your feeding) But then 1-2 pouches / trays on top... plus a few treats.

Why do you give Felix and then Lily's? I was always led to believe Felix was a bit like MacDonald's for cats from posts on here.

Is it??? Gosh!
He's been on Felix since a kitten as it's what the breeder had him on (Please don't have a go for not getting a rescue cat / kitten - we would have done but I'm allergic to most. The only way I could have a cat was with the Bengal mix as I'm not allergic to Bengals!)

But we have been looking at other alternative wet foods (may look even harder now!!) as he seems to leave very stinky deposits on Felix sometimes and I also saw that grain free is best - hence trying Lily's (which he does seem to like).

Mine like some of the encore wet food (fish ones mainly)

I wouldn't dream of having a go, we're in the same boat with allergies etc,I just wonder if it's filling enough for him. He's such a lovely cat .