Feeding a cat is just like feeding the rest of your family. As pet parents, we need to provide our little felines with the nutrients they need to grow and stay healthy, with enough calories to live life to the full.
The type of food is less important than the nutrition it provides. Whether wet or dry, it’s more about giving your feline friend enough calories to live life without making them pile on too many pounds.
If you’re a new pet parent and are wondering how much wet food to feed a cat each day, this blog is for you. We’re going to share some of what we’ve learned over the years and give you our top tips and advice to help your cat live their best life.
How many pouches of cat food a day does a cat need?
How many pouches you feed your cat depends on their age, whether they have been spayed or neutered, their activity levels, their size and any underlying health conditions they may have.
You can use this table as a general guide on how much to feed a cat per day for adult cats:
Remember that these are averages and don’t take breed into account, but you can still use this as a rough guide. As most wet cat food pouches have calories on the side, you can easily work out how many pouches of cat food a day your furry friend needs.
If you’re still unsure, visit your vet, as they know your pet best and can offer personalised advice to help.
How often should you feed your cat wet food?
How often you feed your cat depends on their preferences. Just like their humans, some cats will prefer one large meal per day, while others will prefer smaller meals. Some cats prefer grazing, but that isn’t always practical for wet food, especially in warmer weather!
We suggest feeding a kitten four to six small meals a day up to their daily calorie intake. As their tummies are only small, they would be much better off eating little and often. Older cats, however, can have anywhere between one to three meals per day up to their daily calorie intake.
As you spend more time with your new family member, you’ll quickly see what meal schedule they prefer. Don’t worry if it takes a little while to figure out. If it’s not working for them, they’ll soon let you know!
Should you feed your cat wet and dry food?
You can feed your cat wet and dry food if you want to. There’s nothing wrong with mixing food types as long as you bear in mind the daily calorie intake. You can mix wet and dry in the same bowl or provide wet meals and dry food for grazing. It’s up to you and your cat to decide what and when to eat. Just be careful to manage those calories!
If you do serve dry food along with their breakfast and dinner, subtract the average calories for the given weight of dry food so you’re not overfeeding them. As much as cats like to pretend they’re always hungry, it’s important not to overfeed them, as it could make them poorly and eventually lead to medical complications.
How to serve wet cat food
Now you know how many pouches of cat food a day to provide, let’s talk about how to serve it.
Using an automatic cat feeder
If you’re around during the day and have one or two cats, serving them wet food in a bowl should be enough. But if one cat likes to help themselves to the other’s dinner, you may need to step in.
If you’re not home during the day, we would recommend an automatic cat feeder. In particular, our automatic cat feeders for wet food have chilled food storage to keep wet food fresh and can even open on a timer. Once you know your cat’s preferred dinnertime, you can easily set the feeder to open at that time.
Using a microchip cat feeder
If you have multiple cats, you may want to consider a microchip cat feeder. These use the same principle as a microchip cat flap, where only the correct chip will open it, keeping it safe from other cats.
Even though wet food can provide most of your feline’s moisture requirements, it’s always a good idea to keep fresh water around too.
Using a cat water fountain
If you’ve ever seen your cat lap up some water from a running tap, you should try fresh flowing water from a cat water fountain to help encourage them to drink.
Generally, cats tend not to drink enough, so we need to give them every opportunity to hydrate. Running water is what they would prefer in nature, and a water fountain is the next best thing.
How many pouches to feed a cat
We hope this guide has helped you make an informed decision about how many pouches to feed your cat.
It’s less about ‘how many pouches should I feed my kitten’ or ‘how much to feed a cat per day’ and more about how many calories. Feed them enough to get the most out of life, but not so much that they gain unhealthy weight.
Your cat or kitten will soon tell you what they want to eat, when and how, so you don’t have to worry too much about that!
Convenient cat feeders for wet food at Closer Pets
To make serving wet food simple, our automatic cat feeders for wet food are the perfect option to feed your cats when you’re away. With their specially designed compartments, these also make controlling regular portion sizes simple to avoid overfeeding your feline family member.
We also have numerous cat water fountains that provide continually running, naturally oxygenated water, as well as our innovative cat flaps that provide and prevent access in many useful ways.
If you’d like to know more about our range of cat feeders and various cat products, get in touch and a member of our team will be glad to help you out.