How Much Should I Feed My Cat?

Wondering how much to feed your cat? Well, you’re not alone. Even as nutritionists, we recognise that feline nutrition can be tricky. Luckily at Burns we try to make it easy if your cat is proving to be one of the more complicated ones!

The first thing to consider is whether your cat is overweight or underweight. You should base their feeding amounts on their ideal weight and not their actual weight. Unsure what their ideal weight should be? Your vet can help you with this.

Feeding Adult Cats

The feeding cats table below shows the feeding guide for our adult cat food. These foods are also suitable for senior cats but we recommend less food for the seniors as their digestion starts to slow down. It’s worth noting that this is only a guide and you may need to adjust this depending on the:

• activity of your cat
• their age
• their breed
• characteristics – outdoor / indoor

Feeding Kittens

The feeding kittens table shows the feeding guide for our Kitten Chicken & Rice food. We base feeding amounts on their current weight as well as their age so you will need to keep increasing this as they grow. We recommend moving to adult food at around 9 months old.  Read our blog on feeding your kitten for more info.

How Often Should I Feed My Cat?

There are a number of different ways you can divide your cat’s food throughout the day. The best option depends on what your cat prefers as well as what fits your lifestyle best.

1. Free-feeding

Free-feeding is when you distribute your cat’s allowance in the morning and they can choose to eat this at any point.

Of course, if your cat is a greedy guts and likely to devour the whole thing in one, this may not be the best option. Conversely, if your cat has the ability to self-regulate their meal times and graze throughout the day, free-feeding is a viable option. This is all down to appetite and every cat will be unique.

2. Scheduled Feeding

Feeding your cat at set meal times with their daily food ration spread out between meals is another option. Ensure your cat eats at least two meals per day because cats usually prefer to eat little and often. There are a number of benefits to this including:

• Being able to monitor how much your cat is eating
• Picking up on behavioural changes as and when they occur [1]

3. Treats and Extras

We all enjoy giving treats to our cats but moderation is key! Your cat will need a bit less food to account for any treats as they should be given within their daily feeding amounts. Treats or extras should not make up more than 5% of your cat’s diet [1].

Keep an eye on the body condition of your cat and their behaviour towards their food as this will give you a good insight into if their current food and meal times are suiting them.

If you would like more specific advice please contact us on 0800 0836696, email us on info@burnspet.co.uk or use the Live Chat on our website.

*References: [1] Case. L. P. (2003) Nutrition in The Cat; Its Behaviour, Nutrition & Health, Blackwell Publishing, Iowa, 330-331.