What is too much cat food, what is too little? These are difficult questions to answer since it very much depends on the size of your cat and how active it is. Outdoor cats are more active and tend to need more cat food than indoor cats who need to have a closely monitored diet to keep weight down. Below I have create a table to help guide you with what and how much to feed your cat.
Table: Suggested Dry and Wet food combination diet from kitten to pregnant cat
Cat weight (average) |
Cat Type |
Dry Food |
Wet Food |
| 1.5 lb / 0.5 kg | Kitten | 1/6 cup kitten dry food | 1.5 oz / 40 g (kitten food) |
| 2.2 lb / 1 kg | Older kitten | 1/5 cup (adult) | 2.1oz / 60 g (adult) |
| 8 lb / 3.5kg | Average cat weight | 1/4 cup (adult) | 2.8oz / 80g (adult) |
| 13 lb / 5.8 kg | Large Cat | 1/3-½ cup | 3.5oz / 100g (adult) |
| 16 lb / 7.25 | Pregnant Cat | 1/3-½ cup | 3.5-3.7oz /100-110g (adult) |
*note, this table’s weights are based off averages from multiple sources listed in the bottom of this article.
There are a few main things to remember when working out what to feed your cat:
- Make sure carbohydrates make up no more than 10% of your dry food
- Wet food should predominantly be meat with little to no fillers
- The average 8 pound (3.5kg) cat requires 240 calories a day
- Dry food is roughly 300 calories per cup.
While cats do tend to prefer one over the other, a balanced diet is actually a combination of both drys and wets. I feed my cat a 1/4 cup of drys in the morning and one serving of wet (generally 85g) a night. Being an indoor cat I need to keep on top of her diet to maintain her slim figure since it can be very easy for an indoor cat to gain weight if their diet is not monitored.
Kittens around 4-8 weeks are being weaned off their mother’s milk so it is important to keep feeding them milk and gradually replace it with dry or wet kitten food.
For pregnant cats, its always a good idea to check with your vet what you need to do to help keep your cat healthy. They can suggest adding other stuff to the diet to keep mamma cat and kittens happy.
Keep monitoring how your cat responds to different foods. My cat hated the previous batch of dry bits we bought and we switched to a new brand and she now loves them. Trial and error is the best way to find out what your cat likes and remember to try and find grain-free food options for your cats.