How much canned cat food should I feed my cats?

Tenacious: How much canned cat food should I feed my cats?
I have two cats. One is a year old, the other seems to be two.

I was wondering how much cat food they should get a day. (It is canned cat food)
I understand how the weight thing should work, but until I can find a accurate scale I’ve gotta go by holding-the-cat-and-guessing.
We had dry food, I don’t know if we’ll get it. Besides, I didn’t ask about what wet food causes, I asked about how much they should be getting.

Answers and Views:

Answer by minisaucy
You can go to the manufacturer’s website and they should have suggested feedings there. How much to feed an animal is based on weight, not age. They are both old enough to be on an adult food though.

Answer by ♥Carolyn♥
I would start off with a 1/2 a can in the morning and see if they want more, they will let you know. If they do go for the other half. Then try another half in the evening, if they want more repeat. On the other hand wet food tends to lead to tartar, dental caries, weight gain and “foul” smelling defecation. I would try to slowly change them over to hard food, you can even stay with the same brand, not to mention same some money. Plus when you go out of town you don’t have to worry about you little buddies. Hope this helps.

Answer by presouzKitty
It goes by calories, see last website I posted it is about 25-35 calories for each pound of cat. Depending on if their current weight. Bottom line its best to feed quality food so those calories are doing some good and not fillers or cereals and junk cats need protein I have a website there are links in the middle of the page gives your proteins carbs calories, its a great site to book mark GOOD LUCK

Answer by anbymemc87
There is also a higher chance of kidney stones from wet food, due to the oils in the food. But if you want to continue feeding them wet food, you should go to the manufacturer’s website. They might help you.

Answer by kittyweezy
All reputable cat food manufactures, whether we like what they make their food out of or not, have feeding instructions on the can.Follow the guidelines

edit >> We’re all getting zapped for good answers. What’s going on here?

Answer by cat lover
On the can are suggested amounts. Since wet food cannot be left out more than a couple of hours, I would experiment. If you are feeding three times a day, portion it out, and if they eat it all within a hour and eat normally the next times, you will have your answer. If they gobble it down immediately but then seem satisfied until next feeding, that is also an answer. But, if the next feeding results in them wolfing it down, which usually results in upchucking, then your previous portion was too small.

Most cats will self regulate on how much they eat. Cats often get fat because they are fed calorie rich treats, or even people food.

Answer by J C
Depending on the size of the cat, they’ll eat about a can or a can and a half a day (assuming it’s a 6 ounce can). But that’s just a guideline as some will eat less, and some more. Take your cues from them – if what you put on the plate just sits, it’s too much. If they gobble it up and still look hungry, it’s not enough (within reason of course). Some cats seem to have big appetites and high metabolisms, others seem to barely eat. That’s why the directions on the can are just guidelines. It’s a good place to start, but not a hard and fast “rule”.

Answer by Sky M
im really sure about that but you should always give them dried food as well because giving them canned food every day is not the best for them and there teeth dry food helps there teeth.

Answer by Percy-and-Penny
Wow – so much bad advice!!!!

First off, if you went by what the manufacturers recommend on cat food cats your cat would be clinically obese. Even the best of foods list the amount to feed as nearly twice what it should be.

Secondly, contrary to all the “expert” comments, canned food is FAR healthier for your cat than wet food and doesn’t lead to all the problems that the “experts” say it does.

Thirdly, here’s a site that tells the TRUTH about why cats NEED canned food – https://www.littlebigcat.com/?action=library&act=show&item=whycatsneedcannedfood

Fourthly, dry food does NOT clean the teeth https://www.littlebigcat.com/?action=library&act=show&item=doesdryfoodcleantheteeth

I have four cats and I feed them the smaller cans of food so there’s never any waste. If I use the larger cans then I end up either putting too much on their plates or stick the rest in the fridge where I never remember to take it back out again – so into the trash it goes. My four cats split a small can twice a day and I also feed them dry food, Innova Evo, which is 50% protein and contains zero grain. With your two cats you could just feed them once a day and split one small can. If this is all you’re feeding them then I’d give them each half a can twice a day.

Answer by mightysquirrell
My cats are on an all-canned-food diet (no dry foot whatsoever) and they each get about one 5.5oz can a day. This amount keeps them at a healthy weight without gaining or losing any. One is 8 lbs, one is 9 lbs, and one is 10 lbs, and 5.5oz a day works well for them all.

If you feed all canned, you don’t even need to worry about refrigerating the can since you’ll use it all up by the end of the day – just put a lid on it in between meals.

It works out well for me since I have 3 cats – I just open one can per meal and give each cat a third. After 3 meals, they’ve had a can each for the day.

Answer by darksong17
Check the back of the can… it has feeding guidelines that will tell you how much your cats should be getting based on their weight. Is it really that hard to go out and pick up a scale?

Good job feeding wet food. Contrary to popular belief, wet food is healthier than dry.

The reason is, in the wild, cats normally get most of their water content directly from their prey items and drink very little. Domestic cats are no different, and because of the fact that they are designed to take in water with their meal, they have a very low thirst drive. Cats often just don’t drink enough. This leads to urinary tract infections and crystals. The bit about dry food being better for teeth is a myth and has not been proven in the least (cats barely even chew their dry food and, really, does a pretzel clean /your/ teeth? Cats should have their teeth brushed with cat toothbrushes and cat toothpaste at least a few times a week as well as see the vet for dental cleanings when necessary /regardless/ of what they are being fed). Canned/wet food is better because it more closely mimics the cat’s natural diet. More on why canned food is best:
https://www.catinfo.org/ (Excellent cat nutrition information by a vet)
https://cats.about.com/cs/catfood/a/canned_food.htm (Canned Cat Food: Can Your Cat Afford to Live Without it?)
https://www.littlebigcat.com/?action=library&act=show&item=whycatsneedcannedfood (Why Cats Need Canned Food)
(The Dry Food Crisis)
(Max’s House: Feline Nutrition)

Another option to get cats to drink more would be a cat fountain. Cats tend to like to drink from running water and cat fountains see to that need, encouraging cats to take in more water.

Be sure to feed a high quality cat food!

Examples of low quality foods to avoid: Anything you can find in a grocery store will be low end, Purina, Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Royal Canin, Whiskas, Fancy Feast, Friskies, Meow Mix.

Examples of high quality foods to look for: Innova, Wellness, Solid Gold, Felidae, Fromm Four Star, Merrick, GO Natural, Nature’s Variety Prairie, Nature’s Logic, Artemis Fresh Mix, Timber Wolf Organics.

Darksong~

Answer by grammy c
Its depends on your cat age & weight. Here you can get best cat food with complete balanced in low cost price at *AGRITURA.COM*. Feeding Instructions mentioned on Food Packet labels by Cats Age & weight.

Answer by HannahIsAwesome
i give my year and a half year old cat dry food sitting out all day and canned at dinnertime. he gets half a can.