How much food for a 3.7kg adult (2 year) cat

[myheartskipsskipsabeat]

Hi, I adopted a cat a few weeks back. I am unsure how many pouches to feed her? She is having 3 pouches daily and is able to graze on dry food. She has snacks once or twice a week.

My vet told me 2 pouches a day was sufficient together with access to dry food. However even 3 pouches a day does not satisfy her and she is constantly after our food when we are eating and spends large amounts of the day sat at her feeding bowl waiting for more food. I can't leave any of our food out at all as she just runs to it straight away and eats it.

She has just started going outside but generally prefers to stay inside so she isn't particularly active.

Should i be feeding her more? Her water intake is fine.

Thanks!

Does she eat the dry food? Do you know anything about her history, if she's been hungry or badly treated at all? Is she a healthy weight? Has she been wormed recently? Does her poo look healthy and a normal amount, probably 1 or 2 a day?

All ours get the equivalent of just under a packet each (we have 5 at the moment and I generally do a 400 g can or 4 sachets between 5) twice a day but one is quite elderly and doesn't eat much and another eats a lot of dry food so only really gets a small amount if she's around when the food is served, which is only some of the time.

They then get free access to dry food and we do go through quite a lot - I don't measure it but I'm sure that if I weighed out a serving it would look tiny, like cereal for humans IYKWIM?

They're all a healthy weight on the above. It's quite rare that cats over eat so you could try giving her a little more as she could genuinely be hungry, or possibly a little anxious about food supply. I've seen that in rescues because they've been hungry in the past.

Aside from having worms, an overactive thyroid is another reason for constant hunger, but I'd hope the vet has discounted that?

What sort of food are you feeding her? Sometimes Whiskas or Felix type isn't very filling, or even makes them more hungry because it's a bit carby, so you could try something with higher protein.

We get a lot of our food from Zooplus but the way we buy food for 5+ wouldn't work for a household with a single cat as it's mostly in multipacks and you have to spend £40 or pay for delivery (we also foster rescue cats and kittens and the amount of food a nursing mother goes through has to be seen to be believed!)

But this is the sort of thing you could try:

www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/canned_cat_food_pouches/smilla/smilla_poultry_pot/110281

www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/canned_cat_food_pouches/rafine/animonda_carny_adult/14033?origin=hopps&q=carny&i=2&ro=1

I don't know if anything like this is available in pet shops where you could just get a couple of cans to try if you don't want to risk buying loads if she won't eat it.

It totally depends on the food, you should be able to find a chart online which shows amount per kilo of cat in that life stage, if it's not on the packet.

Ours is similar weight and has 4 to 6 pouches a day as he won’t touch the dry. We just feed him when he asks as he isn’t overweight.

That's really helpful thank you.

She is a rescue but I don't know much about her previous history. I'm wondering whether she is worried if she is going to get another meal or whether she is genuinely hungry.

Good point about the food, I'm starting to reduce her pouches and give her chicken and other meat that I have cooked myself. I have started looking into cat food and have realised how poor quality standard cat food actually is. I'm actively looking into alternatives so thank you for the links

I'm sure she doesn't have worms. She does nibble on the dry food and eat a small portion a day. She seems to prefer the wet food and when she eats it she devours it and eats it very fast.

That’s really interesting.

I’m wondering if she is genuinely hungry and if I’m under feeding her?

My rescue who was a stray is on two pouches and has dry food (but controlled by my smartphone through an automatic dispenser) he gets 2-3 small portions a day and is a healthy weight. To begin with he was always asking for more food. We also give him some pieces of chicken breast a few times a week on the vet's advice. He goes out and about and seems happy with his mealtime allowances!

Same. Mine is 3.2kg and has a metabolism I can only dream of

I've had several cats over the past 42 years. All (I've only got one old cat now) had 4 pouches a day, plus dry food available all the time. A few times a week (probably 3 or 4 days) I'd replace 1 or 2 daily pouches for a tin of tuna in oil (never brine) and/or freshly-cooked chicken.

Thanks for the replies, very helpful.

I have given her 3 pouches today and some chicken breast and she has seemed a lot better. I’m taking her to the vet in two weeks so will get her weighed and see how she’s getting on.

Mine (14) has one pouch a day and a handful of dried food (she throws up with any more). More than this and she puts on weight. She is a prolific catcher of mice, voles, shrews etc

The 2 year old has the same and she's an ok weight on this. When she had 2 she was getting a little too rounded.

I've had cats for years and would never feed this level of wet food - far too expensive and I've never had a cat who actually A needs it and B starved to death

I buy very high quality grain free dry food and she has a scoop of this morning and night. She has one pouch a day, half in the morning and half in the evening

She's just under 4kg and always has been since being an adult (8 now)

Some cats will just take what you give them and if cost isn't a consideration for you then crack on. I prefer to spend my Money on the best dry food and this works for me

@HardRockOwl sounds similar - I was starting to feel like a meanie!!

@SummerSazz don't get me wrong - I could feed more wet food and afford it . But some people on this thread are feeding 6 pouches a day! Take a generic brand like whiskers for example ... that's gotta be about 4 quid a day .. madness! They honestly don't need it.

I buy the Senses 6 dry food at about 25 quid a bag or sometimes Fish4Cats and although pricey, it lasts ages so I'm not a total meanie there just aren't enough hours in the day to feed up to 6 pouches a day!

I have 2 cats and they get grain free dry food left out and ½ a pouch each twice a day. They get dreamies and webbox sticks as treats and sometimes chopped cooked chicken breast too.

My 2 get exactly the same, they are definitely grazers and quite often still leave some wet food so it works for them, they drink quite a bit of water so that's good.

I was just going to come on and ask about how much everyone is feeding their cats, so this thread is perfect.
Mine are 2.5yo, brother and sister. They get 2 pouches or 2 small tins a day (one morning, one evening), plus have grain-free dry food available all the time. I buy the best quality food I can find and afford (currently Shesir) , and by buying multipacks and signing up for subscriptions I've managed to get it down to under €1/pouch or tin (not in UK). They finish all the wet food immediately, and usually eat a good scoop of dry each as well. I don't know how much they weigh, but they look perfectly sized. GirlCat goes out, BoyCat stays inside, but I don't think either is exactly "active" :D
I'm just amazed at how much they eat - they polish off more than the dog (small terrier)!

My son has 8 month old Siamese siblings and they have both wet and dry available 24/7 , or as soon as someone notices the bowls are empty . He weighs 4 kg and she is just over 3 kg , neither are fat but they are very active .

I have two which are both around 3-3.5kg. They get 2 pouches a day each plus occasional dry food. They also eat rodents as well, no idea how many of those they supplement with!

That's a huuuge amount of wet food.

Mine are 2, 6 and 7 and they all get half a pouch of wet food twice a day, plus unlimited access to dry, which gets topped up maybe once a day.

That amount of wet is going to cost you a small fortune long term 😳 I would look at the quality of the food and feed a really high quality dry which should fill them up and stop them demanding so much wet meat.

I think she might be having you on about how hungry she is. Complete liars most of them 😂 we've just got 8 week old kittens and one is already trying to convince us he's dying of starvation whenever we eat, even when we've just watched him polish off his own and most of his brothers meal.
We have a future chonk on our hands.

2 sachets is plenty with free access to biscuits. Don't be fooled by the act 😉

Forgot to add, our old girl who we sadly lost earlier in the year, would have half a sachet with dry food put down twice a day and stayed a healthy weight all her life.

The thing is she has access to dry food and she has a quick nibble but she clearly prefers wet food. She doesn’t drink water so I prefer giving her wet food as well to keep her hydrated.

There is a lot of conflicting advice online (just like on this thread) about how much to feed. Also there are various opinions on how dry food isn’t good for cats.

I am definitely open to advice so all the replies have been very awful and it has been interesting to hear the different viewpoints and experiences.

I agree that my cat is probably trying it on 😆. Im
going to stick to three pouches and a snack for now and speak to the vet again once I have her weighed. I don’t think it matters if she has an extra pouch/bit or chicken instead of access to dry food all day as she eats very little dry food.