Preparing A Nutrition Diet To Feed Your Adult Cat

All cats aren’t alike, and discovering the right feeding program for your kitty can require a bit of sleuthing on your part.

Commercial conventional cat food as well as premium cat food have directions on the back label for how often and how much to feed a cat. But some cats may need a change to that schedule based on particular needs. You need to determine a few things about your cat:

1. Your cat’s weight/body fat. Is it appropriate or does he need to gain or lose a few pounds? If his belly is dragging, you know he has a weight problem!

2. Your cat’s activity level. Is he an inactive snoozing couch potato? Or is he the buster that chases the other cats all day?

3. Is he healthy? Stressed? Convalescing? Does he have a chronic disease issue?

4. Is he an indoor/outdoor cat? Is it cold out?

Since your goal is to maintain normal weight, you may have to adjust his quantity of food as well as the times you feed him based on these considerations. An overweight or lazy cat may need his rations cut from the recommended quantity. Very active cats use up a lot of protein and energy and may need a diet with higher protein.

A stressed or convalescing cat may need smaller quantities but in more frequent feedings or foods that are higher in protein and energy. Outdoor cats may need more food to help keep some fat on them for winter, and cats exposed to hot weather may need more protein to make up for the fact that they may have a decreased appetite. Cats with chronic health issues may need to be on prescription diets prescribed by the veterinarian.

More confusing is if you feed your cat homemade food. Richard Pitcairn, author of “Dr. Pitcairn’s Complete Guide to the Health of Dogs and Cats,” Rodale, has developed a chart depicting how much of his homemade recipes owners should feed their cats per day based on weight. Amount is also based on the recipe.

For example, a healthy weight one-pound cat would only be fed ¼ cup of his Cat Growth Diet in a day; whereas an equally healthy six-pound cat would get a little over one cup of food each day. But for cats facing specific issues, he increases the food volume as necessary to maintain normal weight. Some of his recipes are also geared toward special needs like malnourishment or cold weather. His Feline Feast could benefit a cat facing cold weather; whereas, the Mackerel Loaf is good for one facing stress.

In his book, he also lists the nutritional breakdowns for the cat diets. For example, the Cat Growth Diet supplies 2,306 kilocalories per day with 45.3% protein, 17.8% fat, 28.1% carbohydrates, .5% fiber. He also includes measurements for ash, calcium, phosphorus, iron, vitamin A, thiamin, riboflavin and niacin.

Experts recommend actual feedings rather than free feeding, and a normal adult cat can be fed twice a day.

Next article: Preparing A Nutrition Diet To Feed Your Neutered & Overweight Cat