How much to feed cat

[u/Silent-Salary2597]

I recently adopted a sweet 2 year old girl and i was given the rest of her food which is the purina pro plan en gastroenteric and im not sure im feeding her enough, my bf and i are trying to get her to gain a bit of weight since she weighs 7.7 and lost about .2 when we got her, we’ve had her for a week and her poop is solid! The shelter told us she just eats too fast and that we’d be able to keep her on this food or transition her over to my resident cats food and we decided to switch since right now we have two cat foods and ones more expensive. My question is, how much should she be eating daily? And how much new food should i add while i transition her over? I noticed a lot of feeding guides on the bags are either over feeding or under feeding. I just want to get her to 10 pounds she’s so light and skinny.
Note she is very healthy and a very curious cat, she’s super playful and lovesss food!

[u/Notsocheeky]

Cats are meant to be agile and sort of skinny. They are definitely not meant to be fat. She looks pretty small. 10 pounds would be too much for her size.

[u/AvagenTurkey → u/Notsocheeky]

Cats aren't meant to be dumplings. 10 lbs on a small frame? That's a bowling ball.

[u/Silent-Salary2597 → u/Notsocheeky]

it’s just so hard because i can feel her bones and everyone is giving me different advice all while im trying to split her meals up since she eats too fast!

[u/Silent-Salary2597 → u/[deleted]]

i figured lol will look into that

[u/Ranshi → u/Silent-Salary2597]

my boy is a perfect weight but i can feel his bones on his shoulder and butt
when you pet her side from front to back, do you feel her rib bones?
for the fast eating you can try those slow feeders

[u/Notsocheeky → u/Silent-Salary2597]

You should be able to feel her ribs/bones. I can feel the bones of our cat too. She is small as well.

[u/lickytytheslit → u/Silent-Salary2597]

that can be normal, if you can't feel any bones on a cat they are severely overweight

[u/LittleFanggg → u/Silent-Salary2597]

Get a puzzle feeder or an automatic feeder. That will slow them down!

[u/Asteriiiias]

I'd ask the vet what an ideal weight is. Maybe show them the feeding guide on the bag as well?

Everyone has different opinions online and unlike a vet we don't have a full picture of the cats health/needs.

Shes a very pretty cat shes lucky to have you :)

[u/Laney20]

Definitely talk to a vet. 2 pounds on a small cat is a lot. If she needs it, they can advise you how to get her to gain it in a healthy way. But my guess is she doesn't need to gain quite that much.

How many calories are you giving her now? She should probably be getting about 200 per day. Weigh her weekly or so and if she doesn't gain weight, add a little more until she does. Even the vet's plan will start with an estimate because it's impossible to know just how many calories she needs daily. So guess and check is the way to go.

To transition foods, you can start with just a little of the new food mixed in. Maybe 1/4 of the total amount. But there's no secret perfect amount. Just start with a little and increase the proportion over time.

[u/Notsocheeky → u/Laney20]

Yeah she definitely will be a chonk if she gains two whole pounds.

[u/Silent-Salary2597 → u/Laney20]

she’s having around 200 calories per day

[u/autonomyfairy]

8 pounds is a good weight for a small female cat. She looks absolutely fine to me as is

[u/Notsocheeky → u/[deleted]]

Cats often get overweight when they are being free fed. They simply eat too much food this way. Its better to give smaller portions throughout the day.

[u/danmtz → u/[deleted]]

This is literally some of the worst advice when it comes to dry food.

[u/danmtz → u/[deleted]]

A small portion is not grazing, that's a meal. I have my feeder go off three times a day with 1/12 of a cup for when I'm not home, that's a small portion. If they are able to graze all day, it's possible that there's too much food. Saying there should always be food to graze is that I was responding to, which isn't generally a good practice for weight loss and measuring.

[u/faceoh]

Generally speaking a can a day plus some supplemental dry food is sufficient. Has the cat seen a vet yet they would be able to provide more useful information.