How much to feed your cat
The tables on the bag are for an average cat, and hardly any cat is average: a neutered indoor cat burns far less than you would think. Enter its weight, its life stage and what it eats, and we tell you how many grams that is and how much water it should drink.
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Why the table on the bag falls short
The tables on the bag are designed for an average cat of that weight, and almost no cat is average. A neutered cat burns quite a lot less energy than an entire one, an indoor cat that spends the day on the sofa burns even less, and a growing kitten needs more than twice as much per kilo as an adult. That is why the same bag can make one cat fat and leave another short. This tool starts from weight, but adjusts for age, neutering, activity and whether it needs to lose weight, which are the factors that move the figure most.
How the portion is worked out
First, the resting energy: 70 multiplied by the weight in kilos raised to the power of 0.75. Then that is multiplied by a factor for its life stage: 3 for a kitten under four months, 2.5 from four to twelve months, 1.4 for an entire adult, 1.2 for a neutered one, 1.0 for a not very active indoor cat and 1.1 for an older cat. A neutered 4 kg cat comes out at about 240 kcal a day. With a dry food of 360 to 420 kcal per 100 g, that is about 60 to 65 grams. It is a starting point: what decides afterwards is how its weight changes.
A strict carnivore, and the label shows it
The cat is not an omnivore with expensive tastes: it needs animal protein and nutrients it can only get from it. In an adult dry food, between 30 and 40 % protein is reasonable, and taurine is essential, because a lack of it is linked to heart and eye problems. That is why a cat cannot follow a vegan diet or regularly eat the family dog’s food, which is not formulated for it. If the bag says “complete food” for cats, those needs are covered; if it says “complementary”, they are not.
Water, the part most often forgotten
Cats naturally drink little, and on a dry-only diet they can fall short. That matters most in neutered males, which are at greater risk of crystals and urinary blockage. Wet food provides a lot of water (which is why it has only 70 to 110 kcal per 100 g and is fed in larger amounts), and mixed feeding is a simple way to get a cat to drink more without noticing. A fountain, several water bowls away from food and the litter tray, and wide bowls also help. The tool gives you a rough daily water figure, counting the water that comes in its food.
Never a sudden diet
This is the most important warning on this page. A cat that stops eating or loses weight quickly, especially if it is overweight, can develop hepatic lipidosis, a serious liver disease. That is why the weight-loss option works on the ideal weight with a moderate factor, and it is best done with the vet, weighing the cat every few weeks. The same goes for changing food: gradually, over seven to ten days, and never leaving it without food “until it gets used to it”. If it has kidney disease or is very old, the vet sets the diet; some elderly cats need more food, not less, because they digest less well.
An educational tool from Michipedia. It gives estimates, not a diagnosis: for anything to do with your cat’s health, ask your vet.