Food portion size for domestic cats

You don't have to be worried as a cat owner about the food portion size for your cat and neither do you have to be concerned about the amount of food your cat should eat over a 24-hour period. This is because pet food manufacturers tell you how much to feed your cat, dependent upon the size of your cat, on the box. It is part of the labelling and you simply have to find it and read it. It can be hard to find it!

Sheba food portions and daily feed for domestic cats as indicated on the packet. Photo: Michael

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For instance, with the fancy British pet food manufacturer Encore, they say that for a domestic cat who is lighter than 3 kg you should feed her one can over a 24-hour period. Each can weighs 70 g. This seems like a very tough diet to me! I am sure that this is incorrect and their instructions are poor. They seem to be advising adding dry cat food for a complete diet but once again the labelling is poor because this is not specified clearly. So much for relying on the manufacturer's guidelines!

Another box of cat food: Purina® Gourmet™ Perle states that for an average cat of 4 kg in weight you should feed her or him 3 to 4 pouches per day in at least two separate meals. This applies to an averagely active cat under normal environmental temperatures. The amount fed should be adjusted as required. Each pouch weighs 85 g.

A third cat food that I have is Sheba. These are 50 g pouches and the manufacture tells me that for a cat weighing 3 kg you should provide her with four pouches over a 24-hour period. For a cat of 4 kg, five pouches is applicable and for a 5 kg cat, give her six pouches. They advise feeding the pouches which is a wet cat food with dry cat food and under these circumstances you should provide a 3 kg cat with three pouches +10 kg of dry cat food. For a 4 kg cat you should provide her with three pouches together with a 20 kg amount of dry cat food and for a 5 kg cat it is four pouches +20 kg of dry cat food.

Who reads the box to decide what portions you should give your cat? I have rarely done it. But it might be a good idea to read the box in future except for Encore. Crappy instructions.

Japan's leading cat doctor, a veterinarian, Dr Yuki Hattori, advises that cat owners should calculate portion size carefully. He recommends that you read the daily portion size, as determined according to the cat's weight, on the back of the packet. All you need to do is to measure the right quantity for her size. A cat's energy requirements depends upon their weight, age and body mass. As the calculation is complex it makes sense to refer to the pet food manufacture's guidelines.