How Often Do Cats Need To Eat

Cat Food Portions Matter

Cats who have a hard time keeping slim should be fed several measured meals of cat food throughout the day rather than having 24/7 access to food.

How often should you feed your cat? You and your veterinarian can discuss the right frequency based on your situation. But, in general, cats do best when they eat multiple smaller meals throughout the daytwo at a minimum, but more might be better.

The math that you just performed can help inform your decision. In the example that weve used, the cat should be eating 3 1/3 cans per day. Wouldnt it make sense to feed three meals of one can each with the extra third of a can added to the last meal of the day? Whatever you decide, simply divide the number of cans you need to feed in a day by the number of meals you want to provide, and youll have the right portion for each meal.

If youre watching your cats weight, youll also need to subtract the calories provided by any treats you give as well as any dry food you offer. If it helps, keep a log of your cats daily caloric intake goals and then track the food and cat treats you give throughout the day to help keep your cats weight on track.

What Treats Can I Feed My Cat

Every cat-owner will be all too aware that cats love treats. If you do opt to give your cat treats, make sure you limit the amount throughout the day so they dont gain weight. Treats specially formulated for cats are a much better option than leftovers or raw meat, although a small amount of cooked chicken or fish is fine.

Food enrichment puzzles and toys are great ways to keep your cat occupied as well as limiting their treat intake. Alternatively, why not treat your cat to a little extra attention or play time? Youll strengthen the bond between you and your cat, without the potential weight gain.

How Much Wet Food Does Your Cat Need

Your cat’s caloric needs depend on several factors. Your cat’s weight can give you a basic guideline of how much to feed. However, it’s essential to determine your cat’s body condition. A lean, muscular cat with a large frame may weigh 15 pounds and be at a healthy weight. This cat will require more calories to maintain that healthy weight. However, a 15-pound cat with a more petite frame will be overweight and need fewer calories. The overweight cat should be fed according to its ideal weight, not its actual weight.

Age and activity level also play a role in determining the proper amount of calories needed. A growing kitten needs many more calories than an adult or senior cat. An active cat that runs and plays frequently will need more calories than a cat that remains sedentary most of the time. A nursing mother needs extra calories to produce milk and stay healthy.

If you wish to be accurate in calculating the number of calories you feed your cat, then start by finding out how many calories your cat needs. The National Research Council offers a general guideline of nutritional needs of cats:

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Scheduled Or Meal Feeding A Cat

You could go with scheduled feedings, sometimes called meal feeding, starting when your cat is young. Serving your kitten wet or dry food at a certain time of the day is the best way to closely monitor how much your pet is eating. This is particularly helpful in multi-cat households. You may find your feline begging for food in between meals, however. Many experts say that a kitten should be fed up to three times a day, but once a cat turns one, feeding them twice a day is acceptable.

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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How Often Should You Feed A Cat After Giving Birth

Your big girl is giving birth! ADORABLE! Now you can have multiple mini-kittens.

But what about your darling mother cat? How much food does she need? And when?

Cats after pregnancy eat a lot! They will eat after every 3 to 4 hours. But just take care to not overfeed it. Plus, you can make things easier for your cat by giving it aPetKit Adjustable bowl that will allow it to eat by laying down calmly as it feeds its babies! Isnt that wonderful?

Should I Leave Food Out For My Cat All Day

No, you should not leave food out for your cat all day. Leaving food out all day is unsanitary. All types of foods are at risk for growing bacteria, mold, and rancid fats the longer it sits out.

Grazing on food all day is also unnatural for cats. Cats mainly hunt at dawn and dusk and rest during the day.

Leaving food out all day can encourage overeating which can lead to obesity.

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Important Things About Feeding Your Cat

For more information on what, how much and how often to feed your cats, our helpful video has all the answers, including how to keep your cat healthy and not overfeed your cats.

Choosing Between Dry Food Canned Food Or Both

In general, you need not offer multiple flavors and textures to cats. They get very good at training their owners to add something else to the mix if the cat shows any hesitation to eat what is given. If the cat is otherwise acting fine, a choice to not eat what is offered can be normal, or a test by the cat to see if something better will show up. Very, very few cats need any encouragement to eat. The opposite is usually a goal.

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How Often To Feed Kittens

Younger kittens need to be fed several meals per day, if you are not free-feeding.

As they are growing and burning calories, we want to keep their bodies supplied with energy. Feed meals every 6-8 hours.

Your veterinarian will figure out the total daily calories that your kitten needs, and you can divide that between the number of meals per day. Typically, by the time kittens get to 4-5 months, they can be transitioned to two meals per day, still feeding the total number of daily calories, but in less frequent, larger meals.

How Much Food Should My Cat Eat Every Day

Before you know how often to feed your cat, you need to know how much to feed your cat.

I have gone in-depth on this topic in this article, but Ill cover the basics here to get you started.

An online calculator is a fast and easy way to get a ballpark amount of calories to give your cat.

Regardless of how often you feed your cat, they always need to be getting a balance of nutrition to maintain optimal health.

Lets go over the steps to finding out how much to feed your cat.

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How To Convert Calories Into Portion Sizes

Once youve determined how many calories your cat needs every day, you need to figure out how much of their food will provide those calories. Thankfully, manufacturers are required to list a foods caloric content on the label. On wet food labels, it will be written as kcal/kg and kcal/can. On dry food, it will be written as kcal/cup. Don’t be intimidated by the lingo in nutrition circles, a kcal is the same as a calorie.

Divide your cats caloric needs by the foods caloric content . The answer will let you know how much food your cat needs each day. To figure out how much food to feed at each meal, simply divide the daily amount of food by the number of meals you plan to offer each day.

For example, lets say your cat weighs 10 pounds and is very active. According to the chart above, your cat should consume 346 kcal/day. Now, imagine they are on a diet of Tiny Tiger Pate Chicken Recipe Grain-Free Wet Cat Food. Let’s take a look at the label:

Since the calorie content of the wet cat food is 95 kcal/can, you would determine your cat’s daily portion by dividing 346 kcal/day by 95 kcal/can.

346 kcal/day ÷ 95 kcal/can = 3.64 cans of Tiny Tiger Pate Chicken Recipe Wet Cat Food per day.

If you feed two meals per day, divide 3.64 by 2 to find out how much to feed at each meal: roughly 1.82 cans per meal.

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Develop A Relationship With Your Vet

Your vet is a valuable resource to ensure that you have the right feeding protocols for your new kitten. Your vet will determine the kittens health and offer advice for the type of food as well as portion sizes.

If your kitten seems to be gaining too much weight, or alternately not enough, your vet can determine the underlying cause and help you develop a plan. This ensures that your kitten grows up to be healthy.

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My Cats Feeding Schedule

Jerichos feeding schedule includes two meal feedings and one treat feeding.

• 6:30 AM breakfast
• 12 PM hunting for treats

His main meals are 12 hours apart. And he hunts for a small number of treats in the middle of the day.

I hide treats around our apartment to simulate the hunting experience.

Cat feeding supplies:

Put food or treats on the supplies. Hide the supplies around your home for hunting!

The con to feeder mice and treat-release toys is that they are made out of plastic.

Plastic traps bacteria. Even with regular washing.

Clean these supplies after you use them. And replace them regularly.

I use glass jar lids and puzzle rugs because its more sanitary.

NOTE: Hunting for food/treats means you hide them for your cat to hunt right after you put them down. Then collect the supplies and wash them. Im not telling you to leave hunting food/treats out all day.

Factors That Might Affect Feeding Schedules

While most healthy cats will thrive on two or three meals per day, some cats might need an adjusted schedule.

If your cat has a health issue, your vet might recommend a custom feeding schedule. For instance, a diabetic cat should only eat when he takes insulin, so youll need to pair meals with doses.

Kittens should also eat more frequently up to six times per day because they require more calories per pound and have even smaller stomachs.

If youre unsure how often to feed your cat in a day, your veterinarian can help.

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How Often Should I Feed My Cat Wet Food Daily Portions Improve Digestive Health This Way

Nutritionists are gushing about the benefits of wet cat food. It isnt as processed as dry food and usually mimics the nutrition profile of the natural diet of hardwired carnivores like cats. So,how often should I feed my cat wet food, and is it an ideal dietary solution for house cats?

Wet food is usually the best choice among store-bought products, but cat parents should pay attention to the quality of a particular item and the feeding frequency for optimal results. A poor-quality wet food or an inconsistent feeding schedule will do more harm than good to your kitty.

Weve compiled all the necessary info for you in this hands-on guide to help you tailor the best and tastiest diet for your kitty.

Wet meaty meals taste like heavenI can eat this every day for the rest of my nine lives! Is that okay, hooman?

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Should You Free Feed Your Cat

Free feeding is not typically recommended by vets, as cats can easily eat too much and gain unnecessary weight.

This is especially true for certain indoor cats who dont get much stimulation or exercise throughout the day. They end up eating out of boredom and those calories can add up fast.

Cat obesity is a very common, preventable disease , so having control of how much you feed your cat in a day is incredibly important.

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Can We Feed Wet Diet Only

As we mentioned above, a cat is an obligate carnivore, and its body needs animal-based proteins. So it doesnt mean that you should not give dry food to your kitty?

You can feed wet food and dry food if it becomes difficult for you to make them eat what they like the most. Your kitty may also feel bored eating the same food always.

Offering some dry food can keep their teeth healthy and strong while your cat eats the wet diet. Just make sure that they dont become obese from overeating.

Talk to your veterinarian if youre not sure how many times a day to feed wet cat food. They can help you develop a feeding plan thats right for your cat, depending on their age and lifestyle. Or Stick with the general rule we discussed above.

Do Cats Prefer Dry Food

With dry cat food, you can anticipate that your cat should bite it more effectively and take more time to eat drink more water, and return consistently to the food rather than eating everything simultaneously. Dry cat food is advantageous in that it will remain new the entire day. So, it tends to be left out for your feline to eat at whatever point it needs. Dry cat food must, notwithstanding, be put away in a dry, clean climate.

You can take care of your feline on wet or dry food, or a blend of both. A few cats like to eat wet food in the first part of the day, for instance, however, have dry food left out during the day to nibble on. Dissimilar to many dogs, felines like to smash on their dry food and by and large track down it less appealing when drenched or soaked, so keep it dry.

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What To Feed Kittens

Your kittens dietary requirements are going to be different from an adult cats dietary requirements. To help a kitten grow healthy and strong, their food typically requires:

• Higher protein levels

• More calories per cup

• Higher amounts of certain nutrients

Your new kitten will likely have tons of energy and engage in rowdy play, so their food needs to support their body as they burn calories exercising as well as expend energy for growth.

Feed Your Cat At Least Twice A Day

Did You Know …

Like us, a cats stomach structure is simple. Once their stomach has filled it up with food, it begins to empty over a few hours. When their stomach is empty, which usually can take 8 to 10 hours, the brain begins to get signals from the stomach that it is hungry. This is one reason why it is generally recommended to feed cats at least twice daily.

We all know what it feels like to skip a meal or have to fast NO FUN! Additionally, your cats stomach can produce extra acid if they go longer than 12 hours without food. This can cause your cat to become nauseated and possibly vomit. I dont know about you, but I am not a fan of cat vomit!

Whatever schedule works for you and your cat, stick to it. Cats like a predictable routine, just as most people do! Their day is designed around feeding and for some cats, it is how they cope with the day-to-day events of their household.

Feeding routines can also help you switch foods more easily. A hungry cat will be a little less picky.

Finally, a feeding routine allows you to better monitor how much your cat is eating or if there is a change in their behavior when eating. These can signal early health issues that might be missed without a schedule.

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