How much canned food should cats eat?

Question

I have a kitten and I started giving her a tiny bit of canned food in the morning. She loves it! Now I give her a tiny bit at night too. I leave dry food out all the time, and she still eats that too. I know canned food has a lot of calories and can cause problems with their teeth, so how much should I give her without it being too much?

Answer 1

Cats should eat pretty much 100% canned food. Occasional dry treats are OK, but their diet really should be canned (or pouched) food almost exclusively.

The reason is that cats are obligate carnivores and they lack the digestive enzymes required to digest plant proteins. Dry foods are made almost entirely of grain. Cats don't digest grain, they just turn it into fat, then live off the fat as if they were starving.

And its not the canned food that's loaded with calories - it's the dry! This is why it's not uncommon for cats who eat a lot of dry food to be obese and malnourished at the same time.

Also, as desert creatures, cats evolved to get their moisture from their prey, and to have a poorly developed thirst reflex. Wet food has about the same water content as fresh killed prey. Dry food has almost no water content, and because of that poorly developed thirst reflex, cats eating dry food are not likely to drink enough water to make up for what they're not getting in their food.

These factors can lead to long term health problems in cats that eat a lot of dry food. On very serious example is chronic renal failure. That was almost unheard of in cats until the introduction of dry cat foods, and now it's so common it's beyond epidemic; it's considered almost a normal part of the aging process. It's probably not coincidence that chronic renal failure started to become common in cats right about the time dry foods were beginning to be popular.

Don't be fooled by that old myth that dry food is good for cats' teeth. That's bunk. The idea is that by chewing dry food they clean their teeth as they chew the kibble into an abrasive paste. It's hogwash because cats don't chew! They can't - they don't have molars! They just chomp down on their food, they don't grind it with side to side jaw motions. When they bite down on a hunk of kibble with their pointed canines and sharp-edged premolars the chunks just shatter into smaller bits, and they swallow the bits. That does nothing to clean their teeth.

Read this and learn:

http://www.catinfo.org

Answer 2

I feed my cat a half of can of cat food in the morning and the other half at night. I also leave out dry food all the time. She is about 10 years now. We have had her since she was a kitten. Enjoy your cat! :0)

Answer 3

Yep, I agree....only a little bit and only as a treat. I have 3 cats and leave dry food out all the time. I split one can of food amongst the three of them maybe once a week.

Answer 4

You are right canned food is bad for a cat's teeth. I say make it an occassional treat, I feed my cat about 2 tablespoons every now and then. For your kitten a little less than 2 Tablespoons should be ok.

Answer 5

For a kitten, I wouldn't say more than a teaspoon per day. Don't get a cat hooked on wet food. They must eat more dry food than wet food.

Answer 6

I would just use it for treats, cats can actually be trained by placing some canned food on a plastic sppon and they will follow it, its rather cute. But keep it to a minimum 4 tablespoons or less a day

Answer 7

wet food shold be given as a treat.

mind gets a the small can of fancy feast once a week, and at that day i take off a little of her dry food to balance it out.

Answer 8

its only good for them when their kittens, not past 2 months probably. If their on it to long they get additcted and will never want anything else. It's just like a baby and a mothers milk, you have to wing them off. same with cats

Answer 9

I would use as a treat unless the vet tells you otherwise.

Answer 10

just a little bit for treats is good.