How Many Pouches Should I Feed My Cat?

If you’re wondering “how many pouches to feed your cat”, we’ve put together a handy table below that will help you decide.

Please note that this is a rough guide only, cats nutritional needs will vary considerably based on their metabolism, activity levels, age, health, gender, breed and the calorie content of the pouches your are feeding them:

Size of cat	Activity Level	Recommended number of pouches per day
Kitten	High (always!)	2-4 pouches of kitten food depending on age
3kg-3.5kg	Low (mostly sleeps)	2
	Medium (spends a couple of hours a day outside/playing)	2.5
	High (spends 3 hours+ playing and exploring outside)	3
3.5kg-4kg	Low	2.5
	Medium	3
	High	3.5
4kg-4.5kg	Low	2.5
	Medium	3
	High	3.5
4.5kg-5kg	Low	3
	Medium	3.5
	High	4
5kg-5.5kg	Low	3.5
	Medium	4
	High	4.5
5.5kg-6kg*	Low	4
	Medium	4.5
	High	5
6kg+*	Low	4.5
	Medium	5
	High	5.5

It’s generally acknowledged that most average cats should eat between two to four pouches per day. If your cat is underweight or is a particularly big breed that number can go up to five. 

On the other hand, if your cat is overweight or obese, the amount of food that she receives should be lower. That doesn’t mean that you should ever starve your cat. 

There are plenty of ‘light’ varieties out there, all of which have a lower number of calories, and your vet is the best person to recommend several varieties. 

Benefits of Pouches vs Dry Food

Unlike dry food, pouches and cans tend to compensate for the lack of appetite for water that most cats have. 

In certain urinary pathologies, making your cat drink a lot of water can be challenging but essential to the way the disease is treated. 

Moreover, dry food is usually richer in calories compared to its wet counterpart. Therefore, if you want your feline friend to lose a bit of weight, you should consider switching to an all-wet diet. 

Variety is another reason to feed your cat pouches and cans instead of kibble. 

Some pouches come in different forms, whether jelly or gravy, and there are also pouch snacks that don’t have any solid bits — and that most cats tend to love. 

Monitoring How Much Your Cat Eats

If you want to feed your pet a wet cat food diet only, monitoring how much she eats is rather easy. You merely have to pay attention to the number of pouches you give her on a daily basis. 

On the other hand, if you also leave her some dry food in a bowl so that it can last her through the night, we advise using a measuring cup. 

Each dry diet has different recommendations – with some advising you to feed your cat ⅓ to ½ cup of kibble every day. 

Cat pouches also have such feeding recommendations, so all you have to do is to go online and look for the manufacturing brand’s website and have a look at them. 

Factors That Affect The Amount Of Food You Should Give Your Cat

Not every cat should eat the same amount of food, and it differs depending on several factors, such as the following:

1. Their Weight

The weight depends on the cat breed, but not only. It sometimes also depends on the cat’s gender, with males being slightly larger than females. 

2. Their Age

Kittens and younger cats tend to eat more than their geriatric counterparts, and that’s also due to the fact that they have more energy, they play more, so their activity level is higher. 

If your cat is still growing, your veterinarian might recommend that you feed her pouches twice a day and free feed her dry food all throughout the day. 

However, once your cat becomes an adult, and if you neuter or spay your feline friend, you should start paying attention to the amount you feed her. 

3. Feeding schedule

Adjusting your cat to your work schedule can be challenging, but most cats seem to like eating in the morning anyway. 

Depending on the quantity of food that your cat likes to eat, you can feed her slightly more in the morning (since perhaps during the night she ate less) and another large amount when you get back from work. 

If you struggle to maintain a feeding schedule that works for you and your cat it is a good idea to get an automatic cat feeder, while most of these only work for dry cat food there are a few models, such as the SureFeed Microchip Pet Feeder, which can handle the wet food that you get in pouches.

Keep in mind that you should divide the daily amount in such a manner so that your cat gets enough nutrients and calories, but without overdoing it. 

4. Their Health

Pregnant cats should eat small and frequent amounts. Geriatric cats also tend to eat less due to various conditions that might affect their health. 

Diabetic cats might want to eat all the time, especially if they haven’t yet been diagnosed, since no matter the quantity of food they might ingest, it will not get absorbed properly into their bodies. 

Make sure to take your cat to the vet at least once or twice a year to see whether her health is in perfect shape. If it is not, your veterinarian will advise you on how you are supposed to feed her. 

5. Their Activity level

As previously mentioned, young cats have higher activity levels than senior cats, so they should have to replenish their energy by way of food more frequently. 

The older they get, the more sedentary they tend to become, especially if they live an indoor-only life and they are spayed or neutered. This means that as your cat turns into a senior, you will have to pay a lot more attention to what and how often you feed her. 

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Our table below gives a rough guide based on weight and activity levels however remember to make adjustments based on their health and age too, if you’re still not sure how much your cat should be eating speak to your vet.

Size of cat	Activity Level	Recommended number of pouches per day
Kitten	High (always!)	2-4 pouches of kitten food depending on age
3kg-3.5kg	Low (mostly sleeps)	2
	Medium (spends a couple of hours a day outside/playing)	2.5
	High (spends 3 hours+ playing and exploring outside)	3
3.5kg-4kg	Low	2.5
	Medium	3
	High	3.5
4kg-4.5kg	Low	2.5
	Medium	3
	High	3.5
4.5kg-5kg	Low	3
	Medium	3.5
	High	4
5kg-5.5kg	Low	3.5
	Medium	4
	High	4.5
5.5kg-6kg*	Low	4
	Medium	4.5
	High	5
6kg+*	Low	4.5
	Medium	5
	High	5.5

Do Calories Make Any Difference?

Yes. Calories are important if you want to keep your cat’s weight healthy, whether your cat needs to lose or gain some. 

No matter the variety of wet cat food you opt for based on your feline friend’s preferences, it will most likely come with a list of kilocalories or calories per pouch or can. 

For example, a Friskies pouch that weighs about 3 ounces will provide your pet with as many as 81 calories. A Nutro Natural Choice Complete Care for Seniors over the age of 7 has around 83 calories per pouch. 

But how many calories should a cat get per day? Once again, the number depends on the factors that we have highlighted above. 

An indoor cat should get about 20 calories per pound to be able to maintain her weight. The number is higher for outdoor pets as they consume more energy – 35 calories per pound. 

For example, an indoor-only cat that weighs in at 10 pounds should get approximately 200 calories per day from food, which means that you should feed her 2-2.5 pouches per day. 

Is Homemade Cat Food An Option?

Yes. If you would like to avoid buying commercial food, you should do a little research and ask your vet about your options in terms of making your own cat food. 

More often than not, you will have to add several more ingredients to the food besides the meat itself – such as omega 3 fatty acids (fish oil) or taurine, which is important for our feline friends. 

While making your own cat treats is relatively simple the process of making homemade cat food and calculating the calories that it contains can be far more difficult.

This is one of the reasons why most cat owners choose to go for commercial grain-free wet cat food varieties. 

How To Make Your Cat Eat Less

Cats are creatures of habit, and since they can also be quite sensitive, it is not a good idea to switch their pouch brand to something different right off the bat. Otherwise, they might experience digestive distress.

If you want your cat to lose weight and she’s been eating regular pouches, you can gradually mix a light or obese management variety into her old one with every meal. 

Feeding cats smaller and more frequent meals is always better than having them eat a lot of food at once. 

This is especially true for breeds that have long hair and that tend to develop hairballs. In this case, you might notice that after a particularly copious meal, your cat might throw up. 

How To Make Your Cat Eat More

If you’re looking to fatten up your cat you should try as many cat food varieties as you can until you find those that best appeal to your cat. Like people, cats are unique and have different food preferences. 

If you can’t make your cat eat more food, you can always have a look at a food chart to find out what pouches have more calories. 

This way, you can continue feeding your cat the regular amount, but you can rest assured that sooner or later, she will gain weight. 

Special Diets

If your pet was diagnosed with diabetes or a renal or hepatic condition, your veterinarian will most likely advise that you switch to a special diet. 

Unfortunately, most pet parents find it hard to change their cats’ diet since many of them will refuse to eat anything other than what they are used to. This is especially true with geriatric patients. 

Naturally, you do not want to starve your cat, but you also have to somehow convince her that this is the new food that she needs to eat. 

Usually, this can be done by mixing small amounts of the old food into the new or by feeding your cat very small meals 5-6 times a day.