what is the amount of cat food you give to your cats?

Question

i give my cat food whenever i see the food bowl is empty. means i just simply refill. but i don't know how much i should really give. sometimes after they bowl is empty, they keep asking for more in the next 2 or 3 hours. i don't know they are still hungry or just over-pampered. my cats range from 8 months-3 years old.

i alternate between iams, purina, whiskas or any good food i find in the pet shop or recommended by the vet.

what about you?

do you feed your cat according to time like morning, afternoon, etc or just simply put it whenever they are asking. how much do you usually put?

Answer 1

there are 2 schools of thought on this

the first is to only feed them 2-3 x a day.

the other is to leave dry down all day long as cats are pickers. they eat small amounts often throughout the day.

unless your cat have a weight problem and the amt needs to be controlled i would go with the latter and let them go at it as they feel they need to

now i have 4 cats. i leave dry out all day long. but i have one cat, that is underweight. so i will give supplement her food with some canned cat food, as often as she wants.

usually the can/bag of catfood, will have guidelines as to how much you should be giving the cat. as each brand varies in nutrience and calories, it's important to read each label.

good luck!

Answer 2

You should not be changing their food that often. Dogs and cats have very different digestive systems then humans- we can eat numerous types of food in one sitting and it digest well; however, dogs and cats digestive systems do best only digesting one type of food at a time- this is why you stick with one brand and if you do switch the brand you are supposed to slowly transition the change over a two week period.
You are going to create intestinal problems in your cats if you continue to feed them that way. Feed them a high quality cat food like Felidae- they sell it at Pet Supplies Plus and online- it's made me Canidae (a dog food brand) and has no by-products or fillers- it's very good for them. Iams, Purina, and Whiskas are not the greatest brands and have tons of by-products and fillers.

Also, you can leave the food out all the time for the cats as long as none of your cats are overweight- in that case you need to monitor the amount of food given.
Read the back of the cat food bag and it will say how much to feed the animal based on their weight.

Answer 3

The reason they are still feeding hungry is cause you are not feeding what they need. You aree feeding dry food. A cat is not spoiled when being fed inappropiatre foods. read the labels. You can lave food out all day and the cats that need to lose weight will with appropiate food

Nutrition since there are so many bad things out there is very important to your cat’s health
Contrary to what you may have heard; dry foods are not a great thing to feed a cat.
Please read the label on what you are feeding? What are the ingredients? Do you know what they mean? Is the first ingrdiant a muscle meat like chicken or meal or other things?
http://www.catinfo.org/#Learn_How_To_Read_a_Pet_Food_Ingredient_Label
Dry foods are the number 1 cause of diabetes in cats as well as being a huge contributing factor to kidney disease, obesity, crystals, u.t.i’s and a host of other problems. Food allergies are very common when feeding dry foods. Rashes, scabs behind the tail and on the chin are all symptoms
The problems associated with Dry food is that they are loaded with carbohydrates which many cats (carnivores) cannot process them. Also, Most of the moisture a cat needs is suppose to be in the food but in
Dry, 95% of it is zapped out of dry foods in the processing. Another thing, most use horrible ingredients and don't use a muscle meat as the primary ingredient and use vegetable based protein versus animal. Not good for an animal that has to eat meat to survive.
You want to pick a canned food w/o gravy (gravy=carbs) that uses a muscle meat as the first ingredient and doesn't have corn at least in the first 3 ingredients if at all. Fancy feast is a middle grade food with 9lives, friskies whiskas lower grade canned and wellness and merrick upper grade human quality foods. Also, dry food is not proven to be better for teeth. Does a hard pretzel clean your teeth or do pieces of it get stuck? http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/bpo_ch4a.php

Please read about cat nutrition.
http://www.newdestiny.us/nutritionbasics.html
http://www.catinfo.org/feline_obesity.htm
http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.htm#Dry_Food_vs_Canned_Food.__Which_is_reall

Answer 4

My two cats like to eat every chance they get, but a healthy cat has a tiny stomach - and a healthy heart helps them live a good long life. Look up a diagram of a cat's organs, and see how small the tummy really is. Unless you want a Swiffer cat dusting the floor with its belly, give it a bit in the morning, and a bit at night - a little canned followed by a few crunchies will help clean tartar off the teeth as well. Meowy Holiday Memories!

Answer 5

You should feed your cat mainly dry food because its better for their teeth and they are less likely to over eat it. You can use canned food as a special treat but only once or twice a week as a special treat. When I do this I split 1 can of Fancy feast between my two cats, and this is just a treat - in addition to their dry food.
The amount of dry food depends on the size/weight of your cats. Most food bags will have a chart on the back that shows how much you should give them, depending on how big they are. I have 2 cats- one about 11 lbs and one 14 lbs. I give them a total of 1 1/2 cups of dry food a day. Most days they don't eat it all

Answer 6

I feed 2 tablespoons of Innova dry food in the morning and two tablespoons of innova or evo canned in the evening.. I used to feed junk purina and whiskas. UCK. and since it has almost no nutritional value my cat ate 3 HEAPING bowls of it every day to meet her daily nutritional requirments.

Since Innova and EVO are packed with lots of real high quality meat sources like Salmon,Herring,Chicken,Turkey,Rabbit,Beef,and Venison(deer) ,fruits,veggies, and whole grains my cat gets all the vitamins,minerals,carbs,protein,and fat she needs from just 2 tablespoons of that stuff, so she eats less,has shinier fur,less shedding,more energy, etc etc. Oh yeah my cat gets two meals a day. in the morning and evening. And she doesn't beg constantly anymore. Innova fills her up and keeps her going. It's holistic and all natural.

http://www.innovapet.com/

and innova also has a product called EVO which has no grain whatsoever. which is good. But it's kind of pricey so I feed it only on occasion.
http://www.evopet.com/

And yes I agree with Madison on the first page, Felidae cat and kitten formula is an excellent brand as well. It's a lot cheaper too but my feed shop doesn't carry it for some reason. Heres the website http://www.canidae.com/

Answer 7

I have 4 cats. Ranging in age from 1yr to 11yrs. They each get 1 can each in the morning and 1 bowl dry food to share. If the dry goes empty I refil it once a day. Keep water bowl filled with cool fresh water daily

Answer 8

I have 2 (4-5 months old) kitties in my house.

They have 2 food dishes and 1 water bowl.

The food dishes hold approximately 3/4 a cup of food each.

I fill those every morning and if that's gone at the end of the day then I put about 1/2 cup each at night.

I give fresh water every morning and at night as well.

They seem satisfied. But I notice that they get really lazy so I could be overfeeding them.

Answer 9

I keep dry food out all the time. I have 4 cats. One of them only eats the dry food. He seems to eat just when hungry, not just to eat!

Other than the cans my husband opens first thing in the morning regularly, it's whenever they ask me (or drive me crazy till I cant take it anymore!!) But I try not to overfeed them (2 are skinny as anything, 2 are chubby..but they don't eat any more than the other two...go figure!!).

They get treats, usually at night when I'm watching TV (in the "treat seat"!!)

My cats are super spoiled and get Fancy Feast. Don't start with that brand (expensive too) or they'll never want anything else!!

Answer 10

Before I had a clue about anything, I free-fed my new kitten. Who rapidly swelled like a poison toad and eventually reached the epic proportions of 24.6 pounds at one year old.

So with a weight problem to deal with I have to feed carefully. Both cats are given 1 can (5.5oz) per day. Sophie eats a little less than that and Poppy takes up the slack. I started this over a year ago and Poppy lost 5 pounds (Sophie lost 2 although she was actually ok).

I'm still feeding that same approximate amount but I've now added raw meat to the rotation. So they both still get about the equivalent of one can per day.

I feed set amounts at set mealtimes. You have to if you're feeding any wet food - you can't leave it out all day. I give them one meal before I go to work and they get the next one when I get home.