The Ultimate Cat Food Portion Guide

It may be a great challenge knowing the right portion of food to feed your cat. This is because different factors could determine the food portion. All cats are not the same–typically, differences in age, current weight, level of activity, and whether they are nursing or pregnant are some of the primary factors that must be considered.

Every cat needs a well-balanced diet to stay fit and healthy. Knowing the right cat food portion will help effectively prevent the effects of overfeeding and underfeeding. If a cat is overfed regularly, it can lead to being overweight, making them more lethargic, less mobile, less active, and even fall sick. A fat cat can develop sicknesses such as diabetes or heart/liver disease. In addition, long-term overfeeding can result in the cat’s death.  And if a cat is underfed, it can both make them lose weight and sick eventually.

Factors that Affect Cat Food Portion

Below are some of the numerous factors that affect how much you feed your cat:

1. Age: Cats have a high energy requirement, and they must be provided with a lot of nutrients. For senior cats and adult cats, they feature fewer caloric intake requirements.
2. Size/breed: All cats do not have the same size, which can determine their food portion. For instance, Maine Coons (a larger breed of cat) will need a bigger food portion than Siamese (a smaller breed of cat). Also, there can be differences in the body frame size of cats. You will need to give smaller-framed or petite cats less food compared to the food portion that a larger-framed or big-boned cat requires.
3. Activity level: If your cats get a lot of exercises, they will tend to burn more calories than those that lay around all day. It should be noted that every cat features a personal unique metabolic rate; some are low, and others are high.

4. Reproductive status: Due to the nutritional demands on the body of pregnant and lactating cats, they tend to have a higher caloric requirement. However, reducing the number of calories will be great for spayed and neutered cats because of their slower metabolism due to a lack of hormones.
5. Indoor vs. Outdoor: Indoor cats tend to burn fewer calories than outdoor cats, as they are usually less physically active.

Frequency of Feeding

There are essential factors you need to monitor over a period of time when it comes to feeding your kittens. Some cats do like to graze on food both day and night, while others prefer feeding at set times (you must always remember this)  during the day.

There have been different claims on frequency feeding: some believe that food should be left out all the time, some think it’s ideal for feeding cats with two meals per day, and some think providing several meals is proper. But the significant factor is to ensure that you are not feeding your cats more calories than their daily intake needs.

Close observation needed: Some cats may find it difficult to regulate how much to eat at a meal, which may lead to obesity or overweight – this is why you must avoid just filling the bowl anytime you see it empty. It would be best to consider the factors explained in the previous section before feeding them.

Subsequently, as much as you need to know how much and how often to feed your cat, the type of food also matters.

Comparison Between Wet and Dry Food

It’s always advisable to choose wet cat food over dry cat food. This is because wet cat food features significant nutritional advantages over dry cat food. Let’s discuss the pros and cons of wet and dry cat food.

Pros of Wet Cat Food

• Hydration: Naturally, cars are not good water drinkers. So, to fill in that space, you can feed them wet food, which ensures that they are well-hydrated.
• Balanced nutritional needs: High-quality wet cat foods contains more protein and meat with lower carbohydrates when compared to dry cat foods. This makes it better than dry cat food when meeting the cat’s nutritional needs.

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Cons of Wet Cat Food

• More expensive and messy: Wet cat food is not as less expensive as dry food, and it can be messy.
• A short freshness time: Unlike dry cat food, wet cat food doesn’t stay fresh as long.
• Can’t scrape plaque from teeth: Unlike dry cat food, wet cat food can’t scrape plaque from a cat’s teeth.

Pros of Dry Cat Food

• Cost-effective and can hold longer: Dry cat food is usually less expensive, and you can leave them out for more extended periods of time without spoiling.

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• Better teeth: Dry cat food can make your cat’s teeth better as the dry kibble scrapes the plaque off them as they chew.

Cons of Dry Cat Food

• Dehydration: Dry cat food can lead to dehydration ( causing kidney problems and urinary tract infections) because it contains more sodium and less moisture than wet food.
• Difficulty digestion and diabetes: Since dry cat food contains a high carb count, it can make digestion hard. Also, its lower protein can lead to diabetes.
• Obesity: If your cat is poor at portion control, leaving dry cat food out can result in obesity.

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