Mealtime Is A Special Time For Cats
Feeding not only satisfies a cats abundant energy needs, but also provides her with the right nutrients she needs to stay healthy and strong. Although some cats have the ability to regulate their food intake, others will overindulge or have difficulty eating around other cats. Inside this guide, youll find helpful tips and suggestions to help you understand your cats unique feeding behavior and how to properly feed her for the best possible results.
How Often Do Kittens Need To Eat
Kittens under 2 weeks old that are bottle feeding need to be fed formula at least every 2 hours, which goes up to every 34 hours between the ages of 24 weeks.
Kittens between the ages of 616 weeks need to be fed several small meals throughout the daybetween three and six to be more precise. PetMD recommends feeding kittens of this age every 68 hours. From the age of 45 months, kittens start switching to two meals per daythe standard number for adult cats.
One thing to bear in mind is that its a good idea to get your kitten used to a feeding schedule by splitting their daily food allowance into portions. Cats need this kind of routine as it gives them a sense of security and makes sure theyre eating at the times they need it most.
Why Feed Wet Cat Food
Felines require up to three times more protein in their diets than dogs do. Wet cat food often has high protein content, which benefits obligate carnivores like cats who depend on animal proteins to meet their nutritional needs.
With an average of 75% water, wet cat food can also help your cat meet daily hydration needs, especially since felines tend to not drink enough water. The high moisture content in wet food may be beneficial for cats with urinary tract problems, diabetes or kidney disease stay hydrated.
Also, wet cat food is often more appealing than dry food and is offered in a wide variety of flavors and textures to please all types of felines.
Pro Tip: Dont let wet cat food sit out in your cats bowl more than 20-30 minutes. Canned cat food doesnt stay fresh as long as dry food, so be sure to refrigerate any leftover food and serve it within 72 hours. On the plus side, wet food has a long shelf before its opened and, with smaller, stackable containers, is easier to stock up on than larger cat food bags.
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How To Choose A High
You want nothing but the best for your cat, so you want to choose the highest quality wet cat food possible. To do so, look for cans stating they are complete and balanced. This means they will meet all your cats nutritional requirements to keep them healthy.
Some cats are picky, so you may need to try several different varieties and brands before you find something your cat loves. Once you do, you can feel confident making wet food a regular part of their diet.
For more feeding tips from our experts, visit our Pet Expertise page.
General Feeding Guidelines For Different Ages Of Cats
How Often Should You Feed a Pregnant or Nursing Cat?
Due to the demand on their bodies for nutrients, I suggest leaving food out at all times. Make sure you are providing enough calories for the increase in metabolism they are experiencing during pregnancy and nursing.
How Often Should You Feed a Kitten?
Because of the nutrient requirements for growth and high energy demand, leave food out at all times for kittens up to six months old. You should only feed kittens a diet specifically formulated for them so that they are getting the proper amounts of vitamins, minerals, and other essential nutrients. Kitten-specific food is designed to be nutrient-dense. This allows them to get the needed nutrients and calories in smaller amounts.
How Often Should You Feed an Adolescent Cat?
For cats between the age of six months to one year old, I suggest feeding at least twice daily but again monitor total calories for the day.
How Often Should You Feed an Adult Cat?
For adult cats over one-year-old, in most cases feeding at least twice daily is ideal. But if need be, once daily is acceptable. This can be impacted by certain health issues, such as diabetes, where it is critical that a cat eats prior to receiving insulin.
How Often Should You Feed a Senior Cat?
Questions? If you would like to speak with a veterinarian about your cat’s eating habits,
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What Schedule Is Best For Feeding My Cat
Cats tend to be creatures of habit, and they particularly love routine. Now that you know how much food to give your cat, its essential to work out when to feed it. Cats should be eating at least two meals per day, 12 hours apart. However, it is also possible to provide your cat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, depending on your schedule. Ensure not to leave more than 12 hours between meals, as this can cause the stomach to become hyper acidic, which can lead your cat to feel nauseous. You can also purchase a dry food feeder, which you can program to provide portions throughout the day.
Mistakes People Make Feeding Cats
Are you making one of these blunders when you feed your precious puss?
We make plenty of mistakes feeding ourselves. We eat too much sugar and salt, we eat too little, then too much. With all the problems we have with our own diets, is it any wonder we make mistakes when feeding our cats?
So what errors are we making and why? Our cats canât tell us, not with words. Sometimes we donât know where weâve gone wrong until our cat is sick.
Not to worry. WebMD went to the experts in cat health — veterinarians and animal nutritionists — and asked them to outline the most common cat feeding mistakes so that you can avoid them and help your feline friend stay fit, feisty, and well-nourished.
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How Much Wet Food Should You Feed A Kitten
Kittens should eat about three times a day. Its a good idea to set up a feeding schedule, like morning, afternoon, and evening to control your kittens diet more easily and ensure she doesnt overeat.
Can kittens eat adult wet food? Your kitten has different nutritional needs than an adult or mature cat. Whether wet kitten food or dry, check the package to be sure the food is labeled as complete and balanced and formulated specifically for this healthy growth life stage. Plus, kitten food can contain DHA & ARA, which help support brain and eye development.
You can see a complete list of pet food label requirements at AAFCO.org.
The Manufacturer’s Feeding Recommendations
Another reference point for the amount of food for cats is the manufacturer’s feeding recommendation, which is printed on the packaging.
These amounts too refer to the average calorie requirements and aren’t set in stone. However, they are quite helpful for orientation purposes.
In the zooplus online store, the feeding recommendation is listed for all cat food varieties as well as the composition of the food.
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Sterilized Cat What To Do
When it comes to cat feeding, it is necessary to know whether she or he has been neutered or not most domestic cats are, in fact, sterilized.A sterilized cat varies greatly in his lifestyle habits and also changes in the metabolic level: partly because of boredom, partly due to hormonal disturbances, the cat will find itself spending much more time eating or requesting food.
It is a good rule to feed him with special food for castrated cats by administering two or three times a day and avoiding leaving them available, so as not to entice him to eat continuously and risk the overweight. For a 4 kg sterilized cat, which prefers to stay warm to sleep and has an energy requirement of about 200 kcal, a can of 85 g per day wet and a ration of 30 g of dry will be sufficient.
How Much Wet Food To Feed A Cat Every Day
Dr. Bartley Harrison is a veterinarian with more than 15 years of professional veterinary experience treating dogs, cats, rabbits, ferrets, birds, and small mammals, with a specific focus on Emergency Medicine. Dr. Harrison is part of The Spruce Pets veterinary review board.
Once you find the right type of wet food, you need to figure out how much to feed your cat. General guidelines are available for how much wet food to feed cats of any shape and size. For example, a 5-pound cat with a lean body type needs about 170 calories per day, and a 10-pound cat with a lean body type needs about 280 calories per day.
While the specifics vary from brand to brand and between different types of canned food, as a very rough guideline, a 3-ounce can of cat food has around 70 to 100 calories, so the average adult cat would need to eat two or three cans of food per day. However, you should always take your cat’s size, age, and health into account when deciding on the proper amount of food.
Discover how much wet food your cat needs below.
The Spruce / Theresa Chiechi
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When To Stop Feeding Kitten Food
Kittens grow fast and before you know it, youll need to switch to adult cat food. For most cats, this transition should happen around her first birthday.
Large breed cats like Maine Coons, however, take a little more time to mature. They may need to continue eating kitten food until between 18 months and 2 years of age.
Your kittens first year goes by fast, but ensuring she’s getting the right nutrients during this time will help support her in the years to come.
For more on kitten feeding and nutrition from our experts, visit our Pet Expertise page.
How Much To Feed A Kitten
Kittens are in an important developmental phase of their lives, so their nutritional needs differ from those of fully-grown, adult cats. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to feeding a kitten as it varies depending on how old they are, how much they weigh, and other factors. Just to give you an idea, though, a kitten at 6 weeks of age eats around 1/4 to 1/3 of a cup of food per day.
In this post, well explore the nutritional needs of kittens and share a feeding chart to give you an approximation of how much they should be eating at different ages.
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What Ingredients Should I Feed My Cat
Some nutrients are crucial when choosing the right cat food. Feeding your cat low-quality foods may mean some of these essential cat food ingredients are missing in their diet leading to malnutrition. Make sure your pets food includes the following:
- Protein: Protein is a vital nutrient for your pets food since all cats are carnivores. Do not feed a cat an animal product-free diet, as this is not healthy for them. The protein content should account for at least 25% of their diet.
- Taurine: This is an amino acid that is naturally present in meat. Cats cant generate enough Taurine on their own. Therefore, Taurine must be present in their diet. Taurine helps ensure a healthy vision, good digestion, a healthy heart, and a functioning immune system. It is also essential for maintaining normal pregnancy and fetal development.
- Fat: A cat generally needs around 20-24% fat content in its diet. Look for a specific fat source, such as chicken fat, when buying cat food.
- Omega 3s and 6s, vitamins, and minerals: Cats need vitamins, minerals, and omegas to maintain a healthy, well-functioning body. Deficiencies in any of these nutrients can result in health issues.
Cat Feeding Mistakes: Feeding Only Dry Food
âThe biggest mistake people make is feeding cats dry food,â says Lisa A. Pierson, DVM, a California veterinarian focused on feline medicine and nutrition, and creator of CatInfo.org.
As it turns out, todayâs domestic tabby evolved from desert-dwelling ancestors, a heritage that no doubt left our furry felines with their grace, hunting prowess — and low thirst drive.
âWe know that a catâs sensitivity to thirst is blunted compared to a dog,â Case says. âThey don’t voluntarily drink water like a dog would.â And because cats naturally produce highly concentrated urine âwe’re setting them up for urinary tract problems when their diet is low in liquids.â
âWhen cats present with urinary tract problems, the recommendation is to get them on a water-rich diet,â Pierson says. âHowever, why are we closing the barn door after the horse is a mile down the road? Why not practice preventive nutrition by feeding them canned food before they end up with urinary tract problems?â
Cats are designed to get their water with their food, Pierson says. Although mice, a cat’s normal food, are about 70% water, and canned food about 78%, dry food is between 5%-10% water. That’s why âcanned food does a much better job of keeping your cat well-hydrated,â Pierson tells WebMD. âThink of canned food as hosing down your cat’s bladder several times a day.â
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Cat Feeding Mistakes: Too Much Food
Probably the most common mistake people make when feeding cats is over-feeding, says Joe Bartges, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, DACVN, professor of medicine and nutrition, the Acree Endowed Chair of Small Animal Research, in the College of Veterinary Medicine, at the University of Tennessee. âObesity is the most common nutritional disease seen in cats.â
Although a pudgy kitty may look kind of cute, obesity is associated with cat health issues including diabetes, arthritis , and urinary tract disease. In fact, Bartges tells WebMD that cats may suffer from something similar to that very human condition, metabolic syndrome.
Itâs not necessarily that weâre intentionally giving our cats more food than they need, says Linda P. Case, MS, author of The Cat: Its Behavior, Nutrition, and Health. Itâs that our kitties âare more sedentary, as compared to the days when they were barn cats and more active. They’re little couch potatoes now, their nutrition needs are much lower, so it’s easy to overfeed them.â
So how much food does your cat need? Thatâs a question best answered by a professional, though recommendations range between 24 to 35 calories a day per pound, to keep cats at a normal, healthy weight.
How Much Should I Feed My Cat The Basics
The answer to How much should I feed my cat is based on many variables, including a cats weight and a cats age, whether youre feeding wet cat food or dry cat food, the cats activity level, and whether or not she is pregnant or nursing.
The brand of food youre feeding also makes a difference when were answering the question How much should I feed my cat. A dense, high quality dry cat food will contain more nutrients by weight than a low-quality food, and thus require smaller portions to deliver the same amount of nutrition for your cat.
Many cat owners allow their cats free access to dry food, supplemented by canned food once or twice a day. A dry-food-only diet is not necessarily a bad pet diet if youre feeding high quality food, but it does require that you encourage your cat to drink a lot more water to compensate for what shes not getting in canned food.
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How To Calculate Food Doses
Before filling your cats bowl with kibble, it is advisable to consider the age, habits, lifestyle and his physical characteristics. An adult cat has different needs and requirements from a few months old kitten. Furthermore, it is necessary to evaluate what type of food you intend to give the cat: dry food or wet food?
If the cat eats wet food, the correct dose of food is about 40 grams per kilo of body weight, for example an animal that weighs 4 kg should eat 160 grams of treats per day. However it should be specified that in the cats diet there cannot be only wet, but this must constitute at most 20% of the total.
If the cat eats dry food, the correct dose of food is about 40 grams for each kilo of weight, and the total divided by three, because dry food is more concentrated than wet and to obtain the same requirement, a smaller amount is needed.
So be careful not to stuff the bowl when it is empty cats, in fact, have a tendency to eat everything they find inside, just for the sake of emptying it, but then they will have to deal with diseases such as obesity, just as happened to the cat Bazooka, which was continuously fed by its elderly owner, up to weighing 16 kilos!
Should I Feed Both Wet And Dry Cat Food
One of the best ways to entice a finicky cat is to mix wet and dry cat food for a variety of flavors and recipe combinations, but watch out for weight gain. Eating too much wet or dry food can cause your cat to become obese. No matter what type of food your feline prefers, always feed a diet that contains high-quality, nutritious ingredients that can help your cat stay healthy throughout her life.
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