[Bonnie82]

Our two are currently fed twice a day, once at 7.30am and once at 7.30pm.

Each time they are given 100g of food each and they usually finish their food.

They are on a rotation of Smilla, MACs and Animonda Carny.

Monty weighs just under 5kg and Dinah is about 4kg. They are 20 months old.

I am not sure that this is enough to be feeding them but equally, I don't want to overfeed them. I know that you need to feed less of the better quality foods...

e.g. for MACs:

cat weighs 4 kg, feed 150 - 200g
cat weighs 5kg, feed 180 - 250g

So we are feeding the appropriate amounts for their weights. I'm just not totally sure whether it's enough. Monty is chunkier than Dinah and sometimes I wonder if she's too skinny, but then her appetite doesn't seem as big as Monty's. Hmmmm really not sure. I hate the thought of them being hungry!

Any ideas?

 

[Aurelia]

Maybe try and stick an extra meal in there about lunchtime of about 50-80gs and see how they get on? They are both absolutely adorable still btw :001_wub:

 

[wellsandmittens]

With AC or Smilla our two (4.7 and 5.7kg moggies) will eat about 300 - 350g each a day I think but they are indoor/outdoor so probably need more than purely indoor cats. I would give them slightly more and see if they eat it, just keep an eye on their weight.

 

[hobbs2004]

Hey long time no see Bonnie - yes, as the other two ladies have said definitely up their intake. Smilla and Animonda are of a lower quality than Macs and if I remember rightly both have feeding guidelines of 300g+ for a 4kg cat.

 

[Bonnie82]

Excellent, thank you guys.

We can't manage another feed at lunchtime as we work full-time, but yesterday decided to try the following: 100g at 7.30am, 100g at 5pm, 100g at 11pm.

Well they ate it all, and ate their additional late-night 3rd meal at the same speed and with the same enthusiasm as their earlier meals, so I think we may be onto a winner. I feel a bit guilty that we have perhaps not been feeding them enough. Monty looks chunky (a lot of it is fluff though, admittedly) but Dinah is definitely on the skinny side, which is what prompted me into thinking they may need more food.

Will maybe try a full tin of Animonda Carny or Smilla per day (between them) plus half a tin of MACs between them? *tries to do the maths*...

 

[Guest]

I would base it on how their bodies feel. I think the ideal is that you can just about feel their ribs, and there's no pot belly to speak of. If they're like this at those weights then I'd imagine they're growing well on the food they have?
I've always kept my cats on the lower end of normal weight rather than risk the upper end, as obesity in cats doesn't do their health any good long term.

You could perhaps try and learn what sort of eaters your cats are. One of my cats, Phoenix, will walk away from a full bowl of food when he is sated. The other two will always always finish what's put in front of them. So I personally wouldn't take how much they can eat as a guide for how much they need, at least not by default.

 

[Bonnie82]

Our two have always left food when they're not hungry, as I remember that when experimenting with raw food they LOVED it but only ate as much as they wanted (we were giving them too much and both left what they couldn't manage). So I think they are quite good at leaving what they don't want... unlike their mum.

I can definitely feel their ribs and I can also feel the bumps on Dinah's spine, which I know isn't a great sign. It's hard to judge sometimes as they have quite long hair and it's hard to see what they really look like from the side. They both have saggy bellies but I think that's mostly skin rather than fat.

I think Dinah definitely needs a bit more food, and Monty... well, I'm not sure, but it would feel strange to feel the smaller, lighter cat more food and not the bigger one!

 

[anotheruser]

I thought you were supposed to be able to feel their ribs?
Only slightly mind.

But then I feed more or less 200g per cat per day. They seem to be okay with it, their weight is okay (so the vets said), I don't want them to be too porky it all just makes sense. But saying that, I think as I make the transition to raw fed then I will probably uptake their meals to slightly more and see how they get on.

 

[Bonnie82]

You are meant to be able to feel their ribs, but not the bumps along their spine (or so I read).

 

[hobbs2004]

Out of interest Bonnie, given that you already import Macs, why don't you get the bigger tins to make it even more economical - feed more of that and less of the other two for nearly the same amount of money?

 

[Bonnie82]

I have considered that before Hobbs, but worried about an 800g tin going off... as it would be spread over at least 48 hours. What are your thoughts?

 

[hobbs2004]

I have considered that before Hobbs, but worried about an 800g tin going off... as it would be spread over at least 48 hours. What are your thoughts?

Really depends on how your cats feel about eating food that is a day old (and has been kept in the fridge). My two boys don't mind but my two girls aren't overly keen. Otherwise I would have absolutely no problems (as long as the food is kept in a container other than the tin in the fridge).

A little birdy told me that zooplus are going to stock Macs come Spring next year. They were meant to stock it this year but negotiations or some other procedural thing has meant it has dragged on a little. They will sell it on Zooplus.de, whether it will come to .uk remains to be seen but I don't see why not. What sizes and what ranges they will stock I don't know but given that you already feed Macs I thought you might like to know. Fingers crossed that little birdy wasn't just whistling me a merry tune.

 

[Bonnie82]

They haven't ever eaten food more than 12 hours after the tin has been opened, but maybe they won't be fussy. I can only try! Oh and that's fab news about MACs and ZooPlus... lets hope it's true! (Though I am very fond of Ffloyds!)

 

[wellsandmittens]

Re the big tins issue, my two start turning their noses up if they get the same thing twice in a row so that option wouldn't work for us. I would love it if Macs comes to Zooplus, I haven't braved the German sites yet... But would still need to stick to normal 400g tins for the fusspots.

 

[anotheruser]

If it doesn't come to .co.uk I would purchase it from the .de site. When they see many orders of it coming to the UK then they are sure to stock it on the UK website.

 

[Bonnie82]

Well, we found a pile of undigested food on the living room carpet on Saturday morning :001_unsure: so I'm not entirely sure this new feeding experiment is going as well as I thought! Dinah is also leaving some of her breakfast every day now, whereas she didn't before.

Hmmm... maybe what they were eating before was enough?!! I suspect the pile of vomit was from Monty, as he does have the tendency to finish what Dinah doesn't want.

We reduced the amount of the third meal from 100g each to 50g each, but Dinah still isn't finishing her breakfast...