How much food do you give your cats?

My cats expect to eat every time I go in the kitchen. One has a digestion problem and has mainly wheat-free food. Generally we feed them 4 times a day (between approx 50 and 100g), with some biscuits in between and at bedtime. They're both 'well-covered'. The younger one often turns her nose up at the food and goes and catches herself a rabbit. So no way can we regulate how much she eats!

Looking at the advice from (I think) Cats Protection, and talking to friends, we are giving our cat 2 pouches a day, with dry food available too, though she's not very interested in this. I don't see her becoming fat as she's not that interested in food (though that has its own drawback in terms of teaching her to use the cat flap!)

Mine eats two pouches of Felix at night and about a decilitre of dry food over the course of 24 hours.

He' s big and out and about a lot, but I feel two pouches of Felix is perhaps a bit much, as when his brother was alive, they shared two pouches. I've spoilt him since Storm died, I know.

Sometimes he adds a mouse or two to his daily diet.

I ignore the I'm hungry look that all cats can put on on demand.

Bertie has dry food down 24hrs a day. 4-5 Dreamies at 3pm and a Felix pouch at 5 pm.
He can tell the time

Mean't to add sometimes he is out or sleeping at treat time.
He wouldn't eat more than one sachet of Felix as he dosen't always finish the one. He dies eat quiet a lot of dry food.

does not dies

Daph thinks all day is food time - I only give her small amounts as she has no teeth and just brings it all back up if she has too much. She eats a few Dreamies as bribery to let me groom her but again will sick them up if I give her too many. I guess over the course of the day she probably has about 2 pouches of Felix as she always has a little to go to bed with.

Alfie only eats when he's hungry - he has a packet for breakfast then has some biscuits and probably doesn't eat again until bedtime when he has the same again, Neither of them are overweight - unlike their owners

mine have a pouch between them 4 times a day and dry food out all the time ,I'm hoping to convert them to dry only .They have a water fountain in the kitchen and have certainly eaten more dry since it arrived.I had them weighed last week and they are spot on for weight gain at their age...almost 7 months .The biggest is 2.8k and the wee one is 2.5 ...though she looks much smaller and thinner because she's not a big furry beast like her sister .They love dreamies an d shake of the packet will get them downstairs in a microsecond ( is that a word).

Dry food is always available inside and wet is fed whenever my cat comes in and asks for it - several times a day, but I only squeeze a bit out, so probably I use 1 1/2 -2 packets a day. She also has special treats like Dreamies -not daily.

When I go to work or out socially I put some prawns or tuna with her wet meat to encourage her to eat it straight away so the flies don't go on it when it's left outside or in the garage for any length of time. My cat is not fat.

If some cats are not given that much at home but are still fat, I suspect they are dining out as well!!

About 20 meals a day it seems, like Septimia our cat expects to be fed every time we go into the kitchen. If we leave the cat food out three dogs are there like homing missiles to slurp it up.

One pouch of Whiskas in jelly in morning and one of Purina in gravy at 'dinnertime'. Iams or Purina dry kibble down all day.
She licks the jelly and gravy off both and only has a wee bit of the meat, but does have a bit of the dry food though never finishes the dish. Bullies me for Dreamies by ripping my chair to bits (but is allowed very few at a time). She's 9, and 'well-built'.

I should add that my older cat with the problem digestion (frequent vomiting which we now largely have under control) probably developed the problem due to being left with a large quantity of dry food to share with another cat. It was before he came to us and I think he was wolfing down as much as possible, which did his digestive system no good at all. We now leave dry food to supplement wet food when we're away because our neighbour isn't very reliable timewise with the feeding. But we use an automatic feeder so that it only provides a small amount in one go.

Gosh. We keep the bowl if Royal Canin dry catfood topped up all the time and give Baz a few Dreamies at night. He's not overweight at all or even particularly interested in food. Mind you, I think Dreamies are cocaine/heroin for cats!!

Oddly, my cats don't like Dreamies!

My cat also turns his nose up at Dreamies, mind you he's always been fussy. I put down about three helpings of food each day, much of which he ignores. He mostly goes for his 'crunchies' but not always.
He's an old boy who needs regular injections from the vet for tooth and gum problems.
At 19 years old he looks quite good for a geriatric.

Ours only have Science Diet dry food. My Dh feeds them the amount it says on the pack, plus they have a few Dreamies at bed time.

They are big cats, weighing 11lb and 16lb but strangely, it's the little one who gobbles all the food up. They definitely don't get food elsewhere as they're indoor cats so I don't know why the Big Boy is so big.

Smallish bowl of dried food available for ad lib "grazing".

Wet food served up twice a day, usually 7.30 am and 6 pm. Usually a pouch between them, but if they clean up, then may be given more.

Oliver Sprout is a big chap, (just a tad under 6 kilos [shock ]) but definitely not obese, Minnie in comparison is quite a dainty little thing at around 3 kilos.

I'm afraid that I just put the food down and let them get on with it. I really cannot stand over them and make sure each one gets the right amount of food for their size!

When we got Minnie from Cat's Protection, the fosterer was worried that with the ad lib dried food she would just pig out and get fat. She had been a stray, and while with CP would clear her bowl every time food was offered.

I think that now she does actually know where her next meal is coming from, she isn't quite such as greedy gut bucket as she was!

Both happy and healthy, although Oliver Sprout is (as I believe I have mentioned on a previous thread) an incredibly messy eater.

Our cat doesn't like dreamies either or fish. He does like meat especially rare steak.

Erm. Baz is 12 kilos. Yes really. Not fat just big. He's a Maine Coon. If he sits on my knee I can't see the TV. He's very cuddly just like a big Teddy.
Not much going on in his head mind you!

My Dh would love a Maine Coon. I know who would end up grooming said Maine Coon, so I'm afraid it's a 'nope'.

My dd's friend has two Norwegian Forest cats, which are also large, though I don't think as big as MC's. They more or less feed themselves in summer, as they go off hunting and are away for days.

She was a bit shocked a while back when she spotted the two cats acting in partnership, dragging home an expired mallard duck! And no, she didn't cook it.

*Jane10" when we got our kittens just before christmas we got them weighed by the vet ,the heaviest of the 2 was just under 900 grams ,the vet was astounded when I told her the tiny wee kitten was just40 grams lighter than my son had been at birth .Seems impossible now that he was that small .

Tara is on a prescription diet for digestive problems. She does not like wet food so the dry food is down permanently and I top up as and when. She is not greedy and seems to eat mainly during the night. She is very slender but is out all day- doing what I have no idea. Gone are the days when she had a juicy mouse or two to enhance her diet.

I do not think she is active outdoors -I think she has found a comfortable spot to snooze the day away. She goes out early am and returns around 7 pm.

paddyann yikes! Your son must have been born very prematurely. One of those 'sugar bag' babies I used to read about in the 'Sunday Post'.
What a worry for you at the time though.

Oh my goodness, paddyann
My DGS was about 4.8kg!

I used to feed DD's cat one pouch a day and he had cat biscuits too to eat whenever he felt like some.

Who knows what else they fill up on?