How much should you feed your cats?

[Bkitty]

This is kinda a stupid question. I never really thought about it. What is the "normal" amount you should feed your kitties? Beener weighs 25lbs, Zachary weighs 11lbs, Milo weighs 19lbs, Pepper weighs 18lbs and Gizmo is still a kitten. They have a bowl (big one) of Purina One Urinary tract formula that is always full and then every morning and night they get 2 cans of wet food-friskies. They eat the wet food like hogs and graze on the dry food all day and night. We go thru a 20lb bag every 2 weeks and about 28cans of wet food a week. The vet has never said anything except " They look like good eaters".

[Bkitty]

Wow! They are definatly over fed. I tried picking up the hard food once,,they meowed all night long jumping on the bed till I got up and fed them. They are hooked on the wet food because I started giving it to Zachary as we had to put his Liqui-lax in it ( Got to keep him lubed up cuz of the stuff he eats) and they all wanted some and so now we are in this habit that they wake me up at 630 and want to be fed and then again at 330 when I come home from work! I tried to feed them seperately and that didnt work out to well either. I will have to figure something out.

Oh-Ill throw this in here. Beener (senile kitty) has been biting the heck outta us at random times. Not the love bite either a viscious bite! Is this from the senility?? He is not in pain. Just being,,,,,mean!

[maaskant]

oh and the reason my old cat refused to eat wet food wasnt because she didnt like it but because when she was a kitten we found her outside abandoned by her mom and she had some medical issues that required her to take meds.  we would put her meds in wet food so she would take it and she figured it out and after that she refused because she thought we were trying to give her more meds (she had a really good memory about things like that lol)

[maaskant]

the cats i have now are on mostly dry food.  actually i only give them wet food once a week and they love it.  i found that when i give them wet food more than once a week they get the runs.  or atleast one of them does.  shadow the oldest cat of the group has been on dry food all of her life and she is fit and thin but then again shes an outdoor cat so she get a lot of exercise.  with bella my baby who is gonna stay inside i find that she is actually a little on the skinny side and they have food out almost all day long.  i also feed them science diet which is a really good cat food (i also like to say its more expensive than gold lol).  i think it has to do with the activity level of your cat.  The cat i had that lived until 17 the reason she had a weight issue was because she didnt move a lot but when we brought in another kitten when she was starting to get older she first got a lot of exercise because she was trying to run away from him (lol) and then she got it because they would play together and she slimmed down.   Im not saying shes wrong with what her site says but i also believe that it doesnt apply to all cats.  some cats do better on wet some do better on dry.

actually the funny thing is that my mom (worked as a vet tech for la county animal control and now works for dallas animal control) has always told me that dry is better for them than wet.  i guess it depends on who you talk to.

[Sonrissa]

This will be a spirited debate! My vet (actually 2 of them) told  me that cats really should not be fed dry food! Yes, because of the carbs! They blamed the dry food on my cats weight issues! The minute I stopped free feeding dry food, and made their main food a small can of wet, they started losing weight! My cats love dry food more than anything! I call it their crack food! I give them no more than 1/2 cup of dry per day! I would like to get down to 1/4 cup! Plus, they eat low calorie, weight control dry food! It really was surprising to me to find out how bad the dry food is for them!

[opus88]

there are always exception to the rule maas....even high quality dry foods are high in carbs and preservatives they cause dehydration to name just one problem....and of course if fed dry food they (most) will refuse to eat wet food...its like us getting offered broccoli when theres french fries to be had.
Please don't take my word for it, read the total article by dr. Pierson..she's been studying cat food and nutrition for years....I've had cats all my life, and most too were fed dry food until doing some research to find out the reasons behind some of the illnesses and early deaths I saw.....♥

catinfo.org

[maaskant]

i hate to disagree with you but feeding a cat dry food only doesnt really hurt them as long as it is high quality cat food.  I had a cat that ate only dry food and even if i offered wet food she refused to eat it but she also refused to eat treats also.  yea she was a little overweight but she was healthy and happy.  she lived to be about 17 years old before she got sick and had to be put down.  

[opus88]

yes that is a lot of food...no wonder they are so heavy Bkitty:)
Dry food is very high in carbs...and is definitely like having kitties on a diet of 'junk' food, and like us they tend to crave junk food....free feeding is a big NO NO...I will send a link to alot of great info on nutrition Dr. Pierson also talks abt all the health problems associated with dry food...
I recommend this reading to all cat owners...
Take away the free feeding, if you must feed dry food than only offer a small feeding daily...
I feed canned food only and give my boys a small dish full 3-5x per day.

catinfo.org

[Sonrissa]

Hey Bkitty! Well, that sure seems like a lot of food!  My vet has told me that "normal" cats should weigh about 13-15 lbs! Most of my cats are overweight! My vet also told me not to allow the cats to free eat! Mine get about 1/2 cup of Iams weight control, indoor, hairball formula dry food a day! Plus, they each get 1,  3 oz can of fancy feast wet food! Plus about 5 kitty treats! I measure out the dry food carefully!

It's funny, a couple of my cats LOVE the dry food more than anything! I call it their crack food (smile)! Others love the wet food best! I'm trying to get my cats to lose a little weight! LOL

I'm sure others will "weigh" in on this, and I'm anxious to see what they do! Take care!