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How much food do you give your cats?

(31 Posts)
shysal Thu 18-Apr-19 11:36:33

I am in charge of several neighbours' cats over Easter as usual. I am always surprised at how much more than my overweight cats they eat. Tommy next door (owned by a vet) has 5X100gm pouches of Felix plus unlimited diabetic dry food per day. He is a large but not fat animal. Other next door pair have 2 pouches each per day plus unlimited biscuits. They are overweight. Kittens along the road have 1 pouch each plus dry.
My two have half a pouch each in the morning and in the evening share a cup of oral health kibble measured for their desired weight. Despite these smaller amounts they are gradually getting heavier. I have been advised to use a metabolic dry food which works better than the light version. Any other recommendations?

Craftycat Sun 05-May-19 12:03:51

Half a pouch each morning & evening but there is kibble down all the time as well at cat milk.
I've never had a cat over eat. They are usually quite sensible.
They get a few cat treats during the day too.

sodapop Fri 19-Apr-19 16:01:43

Oh dear I feel really mean now SalsaQueen my cat has leftovers if we have anything suitable with his dry food. My three dogs share one pouch of meat with their dry food. They seem healthy aged 14, 13 and five.
Maybe I should change my name from Sodapop to Scrooge

patcaf Fri 19-Apr-19 14:45:10

We leave dry food out all the time and they feed when they want. They are out a lot of the time so are not overweight. They are naturally large cats being a Maine Coon and a Rag Doll. We do not feed wet food at all and they do not get any other food. We have had several cats over the years and we have always fed this way without any health problems.

SalsaQueen Fri 19-Apr-19 12:18:48

I suppose it depends on how active the cat might be, and what age.

My own cat has 3 pouches of Sheba per day, with a big bowl of Purina dry food available all the time. He's about 15 now, and not very active these days. He weight 5.5kg (about 10, 11lb) and the vet isn't concerned about his weight.

My son's 4-year-old cat is extremely active, eats 4 pouches of Felix plus dry food. She's lean and muscular.

Callistemon Thu 18-Apr-19 20:20:44

I have a great-niece who was about that weight paddyann; she is fine and doing her GCSE's this year - hopes to study law.

Callistemon Thu 18-Apr-19 20:19:02

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?

Jane10 Thu 18-Apr-19 19:52:35

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.

Charleygirl5 Thu 18-Apr-19 19:02:30

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 Thu 18-Apr-19 19:01:19

*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 .

SueDonim Thu 18-Apr-19 18:33:26

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'. grin

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. grin

Jane10 Thu 18-Apr-19 16:54:43

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!

sodapop Thu 18-Apr-19 16:48:45

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

phoenix Thu 18-Apr-19 15:23:48

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. blush 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! grin

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

SueDonim Thu 18-Apr-19 15:19:42

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. confused

lovebeigecardigans1955 Thu 18-Apr-19 14:42:32

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.

shysal Thu 18-Apr-19 14:27:41

Oddly, my cats don't like Dreamies!

Jane10 Thu 18-Apr-19 13:56:27

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!!

Septimia Thu 18-Apr-19 13:36:53

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.

Marelli Thu 18-Apr-19 13:36:52

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'.

sodapop Thu 18-Apr-19 12:51:30

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.

quizqueen Thu 18-Apr-19 12:47:48

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!!

paddyann Thu 18-Apr-19 12:37:48

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).

Willow500 Thu 18-Apr-19 12:28:18

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 grin

ninathenana Thu 18-Apr-19 12:19:16

does not dies smilesmile

ninathenana Thu 18-Apr-19 12:18:05

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.