I've not been feeding my cat enough

[vroom321]

I feel so bad. She's 3 and I've always given her1 pouch in the morning and 1 around tea time. I can't believe I've just noticed she should have 3//4 a day. I give her treats / biscuits / chicken but not every day. Sometimes not for days. If she ever cries in the kitchen and I've already fed her twice then the kids will do but I tell them not too usually if I've fed her twice 😢😢

My vet says those guides are too much and that cats need much less than the packet says - the manufacturer wants you to buy more food!
Mine are indoor - they get half a pouch each (took ages to get big cat to eat wet food, she is fussy) and 30g of good dry food (for indoor cats). Little cat will eat anything you leave lying around but she's not hungry, just likes snacks.

My cat has no teeth so she can only eat pate food, no biscuits or treats. She gets 2/3 pouches a day, but quite often leaves some.
She doesn't hunt so she's not eating anything else.

Well of course a pet food company will tell you to feed your cat 4 pouches a day. It's almost like they've got a vested interest in you buying as much as possible

Mine has one scoop of high quality biscuits a day and one pouch, split in two. She's 3.5kg and perfect weight

Mine have one pouch a day each and free access to dry food plus odd snacks. They are both 7 and healthy weights.

I'm now cutting mine down to one pouch a day, they have dry food however much they like and treats etc but I can't afford to keep buying it like I have been. They only eat whiskers and it used to be a good deal at farm foods but not so much atm 😞

Agree with upthread poster-if it was hungry you would know about it! Am sure lots of cats have a second restaurant on the go.

Also to add my 2 are both healthy weights and the vet has earned about one getting too chunky as he has 3 legs so it's a lot of strain if he's chubby! They are well looked after!

My cat eats four pouches a day, but we haven’t had him long and he was a stray who is still putting weight on as he was quite thin. He asks for food several times a day.

My boy cat weighs approx 3.5 kg but looks bigger because of his floofiness, however he's an ex-farm cat and an extreme, lean, hunting machine!

He has breakfast, 2nd breakfast, elevenses, brunch, lunch, afternoon snack, afternoon tea, dinner, supper and then usually milk & cookies at bedtime - this amounts to 2-3 sachets in total, probably a handful of dry biscuits mixed in with the wet, small amount of treats & some cat milk.

Can you tell that he's trained me well?

He also regularly announces he's a superhero and has caught & killed some poor little wildlife critter then sits by his bowl and expects his payment.

Our 5kg ragdoll cat has 2 small tins a day plus access to dried food all the time. And a lick e lix or 2!

She is a rescue and came on one pouch a day plus tiny amounts of dried food. She was visibly underweight when we got her and is a good weight but not fat now. She is a large build cat.

If she's not underweight, she's fine.

My three get a pouch per day, split over two meals, plus good quality dry biscuits and the occasional bit of chicken. Two get dreamies but the other can't have them as they give him the runs or make him sick 🙈

Manufacturers always advise you to feed more than necessary as well - remember, they want you to buy as much of their product as possible

I don't know for definite she's not underweight. She hasn't been to the vet since her vaccines and neutering but she is pretty heavy.

Mine eats 3-4 a day but he's an old boy who is skinny, has one tooth and doesn't eat dry food

My 8kg lump of a boy gets 1 pouch a day split morning & evening, a small handful of biscuits twice daily plus fresh fish on a Sunday.

His weight is stable but he's still on the chonky side according to the vets. He absolutely doesn't hunt but it seems to be enough food for him.

3-4 pouches a day seems way too much, and expensive!

Every cat is different. Being a different size, different levels of exercise throughout the day and requiring different amounts of food.

Our wet cat food pouches say 3-4 per day too but our cat has 1.5 pouches of wet food per day, but she does have a portion of biscuits too which is probably the weight of another pouch. She's quite small, so this amount seems to fit her individually.

My cat has one pouch of food a day. In the evening. She has free range biscuits all day.

My cat has 2 pouches per day plus a few biscuits if she's still hungry. The cynic in me thinks recommending 3-4 pouches per day is just to get you to buy more cat food.

My 6kg porky pie has 2 pouches a day and free range biscuits all day it got to the point last winter I had to put him on a diet as he was getting quite chunky.

You're not starving your cat. It's a lie, they don't need 4-5 pouches a day.

A pic if that helps. Although a lot of her is fur 😂😂

Aww cute!!! I like big cats x

Not a very good pic I've just taken it and I don't have many on my phone without the kids being on the pic.

Are these 80g pouches? I cat sat a lovely little outdoor cat who had one 80g pouch a day, plus some dried food, and was in perfect health and condition. Then there’s my chonky boy, who eats 1.5 / 2 x 400g high meat content tins a day, plus 100g of poached fish just before bed, plus one cat soup pouch daily, and snacks. He is massive but even with his thyroid condition being treated he is very hungry! He is down to ‘only’ 8kg weight and the vet says he’s healthy.

Mine doesn’t hunt so much now he’s old, but until a couple of years ago (he’s 15) he would regularly catch and consume pigeons and mice, even a rat once (the stench was awful)

Oh? @Jayneisagirlsname hes gorgeous!

Mines on 1 pouch and 1 portion of biscuits per day. He maintains at 5kg perfectly (So not a small cat).
If your cat was underfed she would be skinny and getting skinnier. How does she feel when you stroke her? Is she boney and ribby? How is her coat? Prolonged under feeding would affect that too. If that's all ok she's fine - she certainly looks healthy and happy!