How much do I feed a cat?

When we found Mal in the middle of the road at about 4-6 weeks old, we were unsure if we would keep her. But we decided to foster her, even though we had never done this before. The first question that came to mind: how much do I feed a cat?

I looked online for articles that could spell out exactly how much to feed this cat. Instead, I found a wide range of recommendations, like “1 to 2 cups” per day. That’s double the portion!

I’ve literally seen a label on a can of wet food that read “0 to 2 cans per day”. 0? Really? (I tried looking for the brand, but can’t seem to find it now. If I do, I’ll take a photo of it).

It was tough to get a clear answer, and I was frustrated. That led me to research extensively online, trying to figure out how much do I feed a cat, and this is what I have learnt and applied to my own cats.

Note that this article focuses on how much to feed an adult cat (1 to 9 years old)—not kittens or senior cats. There are more details to cover for both of those categories, so we’ll leave it for separate articles in the future.

Before we continue, here’s an important disclaimer: The information provided in this article is intended for general informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional veterinary advice. Healthy Kitty Care is not liable for any changes made or their impact on your pet’s health. Always consult with a qualified veterinarian before making significant changes to your cat’s diet to ensure their well-being.

TL;DR

• It’s all about calories—just make sure that your cat’s not overconsuming or underconsuming calories.
• Start with a baseline target daily calories, then monitor your cat’s weight and body condition score, and adjust the calories as necessary.

Understanding cat nutrition

The basics of cat nutrition follow the same principles as human nutrition—calories in, calories out. Generally, if your cat’s caloric intake matches the calories it burns, its weight will stay the same. If the intake exceeds what’s burned, your cat will gain weight. Conversely, if your cat consumes fewer calories than it burns, it will lose weight.

Factors that affect caloric intake

• Meals
• Treats
• Other things that your cat accidentally eats when you’re not looking

Factors that affect calories burned

• Age
• Weight
• Activity level
• Whether your cat is neutered
• and more…

When you break it down like this, it might seem daunting, but understanding these basics makes it much easier to determine how much food your cat needs.

How many calories to feed your cat

Just like with humans, tracking calories for cats is more of a guideline than an exact science. While it’s not perfect, having a guideline is better than guessing. This means we need to make our “best guess” (based on the information we know) on how much to feed our cats, monitor their weight over time, and adjust as needed.

How you adjust calories depends on your goals for your cat and their age. If your cat is overweight, you’ll want to reduce its caloric intake to encourage weight loss. If it’s underweight, you’ll want to increase the calories to promote healthy weight gain. And of course, if your cat’s weight is ideal, you’ll want to maintain the amount of calories consumed.

If your cat is free-fed, it’s impossible to ensure that they’ll stick to a certain number of calories. They’ll just eat whenever they want, however much they want. To be certain of the number of calories your cat is consuming, we would have to restrict their diet, and not free-feed them. So for the purposes of this guide, we’ll assume that your cat is not free-fed.

How much do I feed an adult cat

The average daily calorie needs for cats can vary a lot depending on the individual cat but can be estimated at 55 kcal/kg per day¹. So a 5 kg cat will need 5 kg x 55 kcal/kg = 275 kcal per day.

How much to feed a cat by weight

Using the above estimates, here’s a table of the number of calories to feed your cat by weight.

Weight (kg)	Daily calories (kcal/day)
2	110
3	165
4	220
5	275
6	330
7	385
8	440
9	495
10	550

Understanding your cat’s body condition

Before we get to figuring out exactly the servings of food to feed your cat, we still need to understand one more piece of the puzzle—your cat’s body condition.

Ultimately, this is our benchmark for “success”. We want our cats to be in the “ideal” range, so that they stay healthy. This is the a helpful chart from Pet Obesity Prevention that determines the “body condition” of your cat².

We can reference the chart to figure out our cat’s BCS and decide what to do—increase or decrease calories.

How much food to feed your cat

Okay, now that we understand both calories and our cat’s BCS, to figure out how much food to feed your cat, we do the following:

1. Determine your cat’s BCS (based on the chart above).
2. Weigh your cat.
3. Calculate the number of daily calories that your cat needs based on Table 1 above, or by multiplying your cat’s weight by 55 kcal/kg per day.
   • For example, if I’m cat’s weight is 4.2 kg. My cat would need 4.2 kg x 55 kcal/kg = 236 kcal per day.
4. Estimating the daily calories to feed your cat based on it’s BCS.
   • If your cat’s BCS is 5, then stick to the recommended calories (from step 3).
   • If your cat’s BCS is more than 5, reduce the calories slightly.
   • If your cat’s BCS is less than 5, add a few more calories.
   • How much more to add or reduce is based on your cat’s current BCS. Since this is just an estimate, don’t worry too much—use your best judgment. We’ll check in weekly and adjust as needed.
5. Calculate the servings of food to give your cat based on the daily calories—measured in grams, pounds, cups, cans, etc.
   • This includes any treats and snacks that you give your cat outside of regular mealtime.
6. Weigh your cat every day at the same time (or at least once a week if you can’t do it daily). It’s more accurate if you have daily data.
7. Look at the average weekly weight, and see if your cat has been gaining or losing weight. Then, adjust the calories based on how they compare to the ideal body condition.

I’ll expand more on step 5 because that’s a bit tricky. To convert calories to portions measurable portions—grams, pounds, or cans of food—we need to determine the number of calories per serving for the brand of food you have at home.

In my experience, this can be frustrating because companies sometimes make this information difficult to find, and the calorie content per serving can vary widely depending on the product.

How to calculate servings / portions to feed cats

Before we move on to calculating portions of food for your cat, make sure that you’ve got the estimated daily calories needed (from step 4 above).

In this example, my cat’s 4.2kg, has a body condition score of 5, and the estimated daily calories to give is 236 kcal per day.

How much to feed a cat canned food

1. Get the number of calories per serving for your cat food at home.
   • If it’s wet food, I look for the number of kcal per can.
   • If it’s dry food, I look for the number of kcal per gram (you can also do this in pounds, but for this example, I’ll use grams).
   • Sometimes the packaging already has this information, if not you have to do some calculations.
2. Calculate the number of cans of wet food per day.
   • Using Instinct Original Real Chicken wet cat food as an example— it has 205 kcal per 5.5 oz can.
   • To meet the target of 236 kcal per day, we need 236 kcal (target) / 205 kcal (per can) = 1.15 cans per day.
   • Since 1.15 of a can is difficult to measure, I’ll stick with 1 can per day and add meal toppers or dry food.
3. Add toppers or dry food to hit the recommended number of calories.
   • Using Orijen Original Cat dry food as an example, it has 4120 kcal/kg, or 4.12 kcal/g.
   • I need to add 236 kcal (target) – 205 kcal (per can) = 31 kcal to reach my target.
   • So, 31 kcal / 4.12 kcal/g = 7.5 g of additional dry food.
4. Divide the portions by the number of meals per day.
   • Let’s say I feed my cat twice a day.
   • I can feed it 1 can / 2 = 0.5 can of wet food, and 7.5 g / 2 = 3.75 g of dry food for each meal.

How much to feed a cat wet and dry food

There are also other ways to hit the target calories. If I want to give just wet food for one meal, and dry food for another meal, here’s what I can do:

1. Calculate the number of calories for half a 5.5 oz can of wet food.
   • Using the same wet food in the above example, we have 205 kcal / 2 = 102.5 kcal.
2. Calculate the remaining number of calories needed to hit the target calories.
   • 236 kcal (target) – 102.5 kcal (half a can) = 133.5 kcal.
3. Calculate the number of servings of dry food to meet the target calories.
   • Using the same dry food in the above example, we have 133.5 kcal / 4.12 kcal/g = 32 g.

How much to feed a cat dry food

If I want to feed my cat just dry food for both meals, here’s how much to feed it:

1. Calculate the number of servings of dry food to meet the target calories.
   • Using the same example above of 236 kcal per day for my cat, and Orijen Original Cat dry food at 4.12 kcal/g.
   • The amount of dry food to feed per day is 236 kcal (target) / 4.12 kcal/g = 57 g.
2. Calculate the number of servings of dry food per meal.
   • We’re feeding the cat twice a day, so that’ll be 57 g / 2 = 28.5 g of dry food per meal.

In both examples, for the ease of calculation, I did not account for any treats given, but you should account for that if you give your cats treats.

Now you might be thinking: “This is a lot of work, I wish I had a calculator for this”. I’ll be working on it soon, so stay tuned for that! 😸

Adjusting the amount of food you feed your cat

To ensure that your cat’s body weight is in a healthy range, you need to monitor it’s weight and BCS, and make adjustments to the amount of food you feed it as necessary.

1. Every week,
   • Check the chart to determine the body condition of your cat. Write down your cat’s BCS, and take photos for easy reference in the future.
   • Check your cat’s average weight for the week. Write this down as well.
2. Every month,
   • Check to see if there are any upward or downward trends in your cat’s weight and / or it’s BCS.
   • If your cat started off with a BCS of 5, you’ll want to maintain that.
   • If your cat’s BCS is less than 5, then increase the number daily calories by about 10 calories.
   • If your cat’s BCS is higher than 5, then decrease the number of daily calories by about 10 calories.

It’s also normal for weight to fluctuate slightly, so I wouldn’t worry too much about it, but if there’s a consistent weight increase or decrease over time (a couple of weeks at least), then I would change the amount of calories.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Why do I need to track my cat’s weight?

Remember the target daily calories we calculated before is an estimate. It’s very likely that the “right” number of calories needed for your specific cat will be higher or lower than the one we started off with.

Your cat’s weight, like the BCS chart are measurement tools to help us make informed decisions about your cat’s health. So if you’re just starting out to track calories for your cat, or maybe you’re switching foods, tracking your cat’s weight is a good practice to make sure it doesn’t become underweight or overweight.

2. What if my cat’s weight increases, but still “looks” ideal based on the body condition score?

You can still maintain the number of calories, but keep tracking it’s weight and body condition score to make sure that it doesn’t change too much in the following weeks.

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This guide “how much do I feed a cat” is just a place to start to understanding cat nutrition. Remember that your cat is different from other cats, so keep monitoring your cat’s weight and adjust the number of calories as necessary. When in doubt, please consult a vet!

It’s also important to choose the right type of food so that your cat’s getting enough nutrition, but we’ll cover that in another article (that I will link to once I’ve written it).

References

[1] Delgado, M., & Dantas, L. M. S. (2020). Feeding cats for optimal mental and behavioral well-being. Veterinary Clinics of North America: Small Animal Practice, 50(5), 939–953. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cvsm.2020.05.003

[2] Association for Pet Obesity Prevention. (n.d.). Pet weight check. Pet Obesity Prevention. Retrieved August 17, 2024, from https://www.petobesityprevention.org/pet-weight-check