How much should I feed him!

[BB78910]

Hi!
please excuse my naivety - we adopted an adult cat, it’s our first family pet and he has settled in very well.
we took advice from some friends who have cats, looked online a little around how much we should feed him but can’t land on a good amount.

he is a big cat - I’ll attach a pic for reference but none of his documents have stated his weight - we will of course find this out when we take him to the vets for the first time but we wanted to give him some time to settle in before we take him out again (especially to a place he’ll hate). He’s had a full check up, neutered, all treatments and vaccinations were done via the rescue.

we feed him half a pouch of wet food in the morning and the other in the evening + some dry food to snack on through the day and night. He polishes it all off, at night he breaks in to the treat packs which we learnt to hide! It just doesn’t seem to be enough (or I’m just being soft!)

the picture lengthways is almost the whole two seater sofa and that’s the boy laying on it

we want to stick to a mixed diet as we do work through the day so like the idea of him being able to snack on the dry food when we’re not here - online usually refers to solely dry or solely wet as guidance

thanks in advance!

I'd let him
Have a whole pouch night and morning. And biscuits down to graze on. He looks a big boy.

Some cats are incredibly greedy and will eat until they're sick, others are much better at self-regulating their intake.

I would personally carry on as you are and get him into the vet this week for a check-up. It's much easier to increase the amount of food than decrease if you end up needing to put him on a diet - I speak from experience

Our smaller girl has three pouches a day and treats. She’s very active though and goes out a lot.

My 7mo kittens have two pouches a day plus dry food. I followed what was on the side of the packet of dry food, they are the perfect weight. Not sure if kittens eat more though?

Mine is also a big boy!
He gets half a pouch of wet food first thing (he's sick if he has dry food first)
And then I follow the weight guidelines on the dry, he has James wellbeloved diet
Plus one treat a day of a few dreamies or a treat stick

Our cats have two to three pouches each a day, plus dry food left down all day, plus any human food they can snaffle, plus anything they catch and eat outside.
None are overweight at all.
You have a very cute long cat OP 😁.

Mine is 6kg and has been fat shamed by the vet. Though the vet also agreed there wasn't a lot I could do about it.

We give him one 370g carton of grain free wet food a day. Half in the morning and half at night.

No dry food, no treats. But he helps himself regularly to the local wildlife. Thinks nothing of eating an entire rabbit in one sitting and steals human food, licks plates and pans and bin raids.

If I'm aware that he's eaten a whole rabbit then I won't feed him but mostly he just yowls at us and digs his claws in to our legs until we give in.

He's a complete bell end and I love him.

Arthur is a big boy too, and an outside cat. He goes through phases, like a camel. Sometimes he will just have a 1/2 pouch morning and night, plus dry. Other times he will demand a full pouch three times a day (has been known to go up to six when he was younger!), plus dry, plus a couple of mice. He also loves prawns, smoked salmon, and raw chicken breast, which he will get as extra treats. He's about 5kgs. Cat tax....

Mine have a pouch of wet food twice a day, and free access to dry food.

Not all pouches are the same so it's hard to compare.

A pouch of Whiskas is not going to be the same as a high end pouch with no carb filler.

My cat would think he was being starved on that! There might be a feeding guide on the box which could help. Anyway, I give mine a microwaved frozen whitefish fillet for breakfast, at least 2 pouches or trays and unlimited biscuits. No treats any more because he has a delicate digestion (hence the fish) and they go right through him. This is supplemented by the odd pigeon or mouse unfortunately. He's a large Manx but very active, playful and in excellent condition and as he's well on his way to 18 he can have whatever he wants.

My 2 have half a pouch each in the morning and half at night, dry food left out in the day and if they eat it all, more dry food at night so they don't wake me up at 3 am if they're hungry.
Sometimes one will eat all the wet and the other doesn't want any, sometimes they don't eat all the wet but eat all the dry, sometimes they don't eat anything and then act like I've starved them when it gets to teatime 😂
Probably I would just give some more dry overnight, see whether he eats it.

I have 2 midsize cats 🐈‍⬛ and they have about 250 calls each a day over 2 meals. In winter they eat a bit more, summer a bit less. They are quite active, go outdoors etc.

You can weigh yourself with and without holding the cat to get an idea of his weight.

He's beautiful

I feed mine katkin. 100% meat. They love it.

I had a big cat, he had 4.5 pouches of gourmet a day plus a bit of meat off dhs dinner

I mean he looks on the skinny side of slim doesn’t he? There’s not much muscle mass going on there.

That's not enough food for a big cat or even a small cat. My large male cat has 1 1/2 pouches in the morning, 1 pouch for late lunch about 2pm and kibble, 1 1/2 pouches before I go to bed. My small female cat eats 1 pouch early morning, 1 pouch 2pm, 1 pouch late when I go to bed and there is always a little kibble they can eat. I often give them a meaty treat too or a handful of dreamies. None of my cats are overweight and my vet told me they are in tiptop condition.

He looks about the same size as my boy, who is almost 2. He was 4.6kg, when he arrived here, 8 months ago, and weighed 5.4kg at the vets, 2 months ago, which the vet said he was a healthy weight.
I'm obviously a bit concerned about such a large gain, but think they were probably underfed in their previous home - multi cat foster, dry food only.

He has 2 x 70g tins (Untamed) per day, alongside dry, which is always available. He would eat more tins, if I could afford them!
His sister is always asking for food, but hardly touches the dry. She has visibly gained weight, but is noticeably smaller than him.

I'd say offer him more wet, if you can, and just keep an eye on his weight.
I'm considering ordering a hook/spring type scale from Amazon.

I'm new to cats, but all I've read suggests that higher meat content foods will fill them up for longer, on less food, which makes sense. I keep trying them on raw, which is more affordable and species appropriate, but I end up binning half of it. Could be worth a try.

There's a lot of trial and error, while we get used to cat ownership.

You’re all amazing - thank you for so many responses. After weighing them all up, I’ve upped his feed to one wet pouch in the morning and one at dinner time, he’s been finishing them but on the flip side ate less of the dry in the day and instead he just finishes it through the night. I will get him to the vets as soon as and advise on anything else that may be relevant.

someone mentioned he looks skinny - yes he’s not a chunky boy at all but the more he’s here and relaxed the more I notice he’s not too much of an active cat, he will come for cuddles or to be nearby but will lay down most of the day and night!