October 11, 2009
How much should I feed my fat cat?
Posted by: admin : Category: Cats
Liz asked:
My cat will be 4 years old this October. He wieghs 17 lbs. I would say he is about 2-3 lbs over weight. Currently, he eats about 3-4 cups of food a day. He is mostly a inside cat, so he isn’t outside exersizing that much. I feed him alley cat brand of food. I need to put him on a diet. How much should I feed him?
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My cat will be 4 years old this October. He wieghs 17 lbs. I would say he is about 2-3 lbs over weight. Currently, he eats about 3-4 cups of food a day. He is mostly a inside cat, so he isn’t outside exersizing that much. I feed him alley cat brand of food. I need to put him on a diet. How much should I feed him?
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October 14th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
house cat training
Let him eat as much as he wants, cats don’t care about looks.
October 15th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
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Try a better cat food Alley Cat is about the worst. A lot of fat and filler. Not much in nutrition.
Get him some toys and play with him a little each day
October 16th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
house cat training
Your best answer would come from a vet. Speak to your cat’s vet and hear what they say. Good luck
October 18th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
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It isn’t so much a question of how much as WHAT you feed the cat. A meat diet (canned) is the way to keep a cat trim and in good muscle tone.
Go to and read Dr. Jean Hovfe’s article, “The Right Weight Loss Program for Cats.”
ANY dry food has too much carbohydrate to help the cat lose weight without making him suffer from a small amount of food.
At that site Dr. Hovfe has many articles on cat nutritiion and how to select a good food for your cat.
October 22nd, 2009 at 2:21 am
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Oh my goodness….my cat is huge too…but the vet said to feed him 1/2 cup of cat food a day. My cat weighs more than both my dashunds…and he does steal some of their left over food but they only get 1/2 cup each a day also….that’s 1 1/2 cups of food for 3 animals. Id be dropping him down to 2 cups per day til you got down to 1/2 to 3/4…your hurting your cat with kindness.
October 24th, 2009 at 12:35 am
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3-4 cups of food is WAY too much for a cat. Depending on their breed, cats should be about 10-12 pounds. Most adult cats should only be eating 1/2-3/4 cup per day total. And less if you are feeding canned food. If you are really feeding that much, than back off slowly. Don’t do it all at once. Cats who are overweight, and begin to lose weight very fast can get very sick. Call your vet to find out a good way to begin backing down on the food. You might want to consider switching to a light version of the food he is on now. Whenever you do a food change, you should do it over the perios of one week, adding more of the new food, and less of the old one each day until he is eating onnly the new food. If you find that he is hungry all the time on a lower amount of food, try splitting up his meals instead of leaving it out all the time to keep his belly full. Good luck!
Also, alley cat is not the best food out there. Try switching to Eukanuba or iams light formula for best results.
October 24th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
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sometimes i wonder if it is not a cat’s job to just get fat in my care….my cat would explode if i fed her the amount you feed your kitty, though. but i really have no room to talk, because my cat is fat, and i spoil her terribly, and i feed her whenever she wants, and i’m just awful…but 4 cups is a bit over the top.
October 28th, 2009 at 9:46 am
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Yikes that food is garbage! That’s like feeding a child a diet of cheap cereal! And you’re feeding him about FOUR TIMES the amount you should be feeding him. No wonder he’s overweight. Dry food is loaded with carbohydrates especially the cheaper stuff.
What your cat needs is a high protein, low carbohydrate diet. I would either get him off dry food entirely or switch to a quality food. Innova Evo is one of the best (if not the best) on the market. It contains NO grain and 50% protein. Here’s a link on how best to put kitty on a diet -, why cats need canned food – and the truth about dry food -
FYI – while quality foods do cost more the added cost really isn’t that substantial. The more nutrient-dense a food is, the less your cat will eat. Think about how you could probably eat a huge bowl of cereal (or even two) but the same amount of meat – wouldn’t that be way more filling? Also the healthier you feed your cat, the less likely it will be to develop health issues which in turn become expensive vet bills.
October 30th, 2009 at 2:26 am
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Feed low calorie cat food and follow the feeding instructions on the pack.
October 30th, 2009 at 5:26 am
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Yikes! That’s one well-fed cat! LOL
That’s truly an enormous amount of food – your cat could probably easily drop the required weight if you simply fed him the correct amount. So what IS the correct amount? The guidelines on the bag are just that – guidelines.
Because of the massive amount you’re feeding, if you cut him back to 2, or even 1, cup per day, he’d probably lose weight quite easily on what you’re already feeding him.
But if you want to get more technical about it, find out how many calories are in your cat food. Then do some math: An adult cat can eat between 20-30 calories per day per pound. So if your cat weighs 17 pounds, and the food is 300 calories per cup, your cat could eat about 450 calories per day to MAINTAIN his weight. (I multiplied 17 (pounds) by 25).
But since your cat needs to lose, you would first set the target weight. Let’s say 14. To lose weight, your cat could eat 350 calories per day, so that means 1.5 cups per day.
So find out how many calories are in the food, do the math, and then start feeding that amount.
If you’d like to learn even more about it, see my blog (link below).