You could take help from our veterinarians to answer this question based on health needs, breeds, and diet recommendations. Some factors to consider are as follows:
- What age is your cat?
- What is your cat’s weight?
- How energetic is your cat?
- If your cat is pregnant or nursing
- Whether or not your cat has been neutered
- Choices of wet food, dry food or a combination of the two
- Nutrition information on your cat’s regular diet
- Your cat is staying indoors, outdoors, or both.
- Is your cat suffering from any particular disease? For example, kidney disease or heart ailments etc.
- Is your cat allergic to a particular ingredient?
Assess Your Cat’s Food Requirements
By observing your cat’s body, you can take notes on dietary requirements. For example, is your cat’s waistline clearly visible, or is her tummy reaching the floor while walking? Does she prefer to be more outdoors or indoors? Cats that incline towards the outdoors will have varying dietary needs as seasons change. When a kitten experiences growth, it can eat more compared to a fully grown adult cat. Age and growth periods are major factors in determining the dietary needs of your cat as well.
You must consider how often your cat burns the energy it consumes with food. If your cat is of a sedentary disposition and lounging around the house all day, it will need less food to ensure unhealthy weight gain doesn’t happen.
If, however, your cat is a climber, jumper, and adventurer, it will burn more energy and need a larger quantity of healthy food to stay fit. As a general guide, a healthy and active cat would need between 270 to 320 calories per day, and knowing your cat’s food(s) calorie count can help define quantities. Adjustments would be made to this generalisation according to your cat, depending on whether it is a senior (one), obese, underweight, or pregnant, etc.
It’s always a good idea to get your cat’s veterinarian to provide advice according to health needs. Discuss your observations with them to arrive at the best diet for your pet cat.
Cat Food Nutrition Information
Perform an assessment of your cat, consult a veterinarian and check cat food labels for nutrition information. By doing so, you would get a pretty good idea about diet quantity and composition. However, you must keep up your observations to make adjustments and tweak your cat’s diet accordingly for optimal enjoyment of mealtimes. If you’ve figured out how much, you will inevitably ask, How often? Using the total calorie count, you can adjust your cat’s feeds according to its preference. Splitting the calories between breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack time is a good idea. While keeping on top of calorie count can be tedious, in the long run, it’s worth it for your cat’s health.
Periodic Observations & Assessments
Once a diet plan is in place and you’re running it like a pro cat owner, the next step is to assess periodically. Look for these indicators:
- Does your cat leave food in its food bowl?
- Does she ask for more in the wee hours of the night?
- If the bowl is empty, you must watch if your cat is losing or gaining weight. This makes it clear if there’s too much or too little food being provided in the bowl.
- Watch for signs such as the cat eating happily and maintaining a healthy weight and body.
To help your cat reach a healthy weight, whether through increasing or decreasing food, try adjusting quantity and frequency for the desired outcome. With proper observation, advice and consistency, you can help your cat live a healthy and enjoyable life. It can be a tall order to begin with, and your pet may not always welcome your efforts. But it is worth it in the end for a healthy cat.
For any further help or advice, please contact our team of veterinarians at The Cat Vet. We will answer any queries about your pets.
