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Old November 10th, 2009, 11:21 PM
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How much food should a cat eat?

Hi

Can someone tell me who much wet food a cat should eat? They are around 10lbs.

I want them to start eating their food at one sitting instead of snacking all day as one of the cats will eat everyone's foodthen be sick.
Thanks
Debbie
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Old November 11th, 2009, 12:31 AM
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A rough guideline is 20-30 calories per pound per day. So a 10 lb cat might need between about 200-300 calories, although factors like age and energy level play a role. My rather sedentary 16 yr old only gets something like 15 cal/lb/day and he's still chubby.
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Old November 11th, 2009, 12:40 AM
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I'm just curious ...is it alright to just feed them once a day?
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Old November 11th, 2009, 01:33 AM
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With the Wellness canned a rough starting point is 1/2 of a 5.5 oz can twice a day that's if they are only eating canned. If they are eating dry as well then you either cut back on the canned or the healthier choice would be cut out the dry.

Anything that is left in their dish after they eat remove that amount from the next meal - ie if you give each cat 4/8 (1/2 a can) a 5.5 oz can and 1 cat eats 3/8 of a 5.5 oz can for that cat give them 3/8 in the next meal. If they are leaving food behind it's too much, if once you start cutting back they are looking for more little by little add more. Beware though some are just pigs & will continue to eat even when they are not hungry anymore.

Are OS & M at a good weight for their size? or are they getting a bit pudgy too?
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Old November 11th, 2009, 01:37 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rainbow View Post
I'm just curious ...is it alright to just feed them once a day?
With cats they are "grazers" they like to eat a little here & a little there so twice or three times a day is best. If they have dry out to munch on during the day then canned once is okay, if fed canned twice a day they are more likely to pick that over the dry food
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Old November 11th, 2009, 10:22 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by growler View Post
With the Wellness canned a rough starting point is 1/2 of a 5.5 oz can twice a day that's if they are only eating canned. If they are eating dry as well then you either cut back on the canned or the healthier choice would be cut out the dry.

Anything that is left in their dish after they eat remove that amount from the next meal - ie if you give each cat 4/8 (1/2 a can) a 5.5 oz can and 1 cat eats 3/8 of a 5.5 oz can for that cat give them 3/8 in the next meal. If they are leaving food behind it's too much, if once you start cutting back they are looking for more little by little add more. Beware though some are just pigs & will continue to eat even when they are not hungry anymore.

Are OS & M at a good weight for their size? or are they getting a bit pudgy too?
Thanks growler. I tried giving them all 1/4 cup of wet food as I read something last night about feeding 4-6 oz of food split up into 2 - 3 feedings a day.

They all ate the 1/4 cup of food but that didn't seem very much. I will be feeding them 3 times a day, with wet food, or sardines and other meat. No dry food, it took me almost a year to get willie off dry food so I'd like to stick to the wet food.

O'Shawnnessey and Mirabelle are at a good weight, I can see an indentation where their waist is.

Darby has no waist line, same size from bow to stern.

Quote:
Originally Posted by growler View Post
With cats they are "grazers" they like to eat a little here & a little there so twice or three times a day is best. If they have dry out to munch on during the day then canned once is okay, if fed canned twice a day they are more likely to pick that over the dry food
Quote:
Originally Posted by sugarcatmom View Post
A rough guideline is 20-30 calories per pound per day. So a 10 lb cat might need between about 200-300 calories, although factors like age and energy level play a role. My rather sedentary 16 yr old only gets something like 15 cal/lb/day and he's still chubby.
thanks scm for the information. I just have to figure out how many calories are in their food.

Debbie
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~Tegan 9 year old yellow lab~
~Wilbur 9 year old LH cat~
~Mirabelle 18 mos dsh~
~O'Shawnnessey 18 mos dsh~
~Darby 1 year old dsh~
~Mindy 7 yr old shih tzu~
~Dexter 10yr old Salmon (large goldfish)
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Old November 11th, 2009, 10:53 PM
wanderer wanderer is offline
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Our two cats, both domestic short hair fixed males, each get a 5.5-6 oz can a day split into four separate feedings. Larry is a healthy 16 pound cat with no fat on his frame and Daryl is a healthy 12 pound cat also with no fat on his frame.

Interestingly enough, if we were to follow the feeding guidelines the one can find on the side of the cans, Larry should be fed twice as much as we give him - in our opinion though, we believe they would fatten up if fed that much food.

Remember feeding guidelines are just that - guidelines. You know your pets best and it's best not to overfeed them.
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Old November 11th, 2009, 11:10 PM
wanderer wanderer is offline
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BTW, our two male cats are fed the following over the course of a week - all 5.5-6 oz cans...

Wellness Turkey
Wellness Chicken
Wellness Beef & Chicken
EVO 95% Chicken
EVO 95% Venison
EVO 95% Beef & Chicken
Wellness Core Chicken
Nature's Variety Instinct 95% Chicken
Nature's Variety Instinct 95% Rabbit
Evanger Holistic Pheasant Dinner
Evanger Organic Turkey & Butternut Squash Dinner
Eagle Holistic Select Turkey & Barley
Addiction Brushtail & Vegetables
Addiction Venison & Apples

The Nature's Variety Instinct stuff is their favorite by far of the above foods with the Evanger varieties coming a close second.
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Old November 12th, 2009, 08:16 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tundra_Queen View Post
I just have to figure out how many calories are in their food.
Which foods do they eat?
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