? Am I overfeeding all my cats? (Including civvies)

My sugar kitty is underweight, can't eat Young Again (had a blockage when he was a kitten and can't eat non-prescription dry foods), and tends to more reliably eat at least medium carb canned foods (Friskies shreds) than lower-carb pates.

My two civvies are also on canned foods only because Jester won't eat his canned stuff if any dry food at all is around.

This is my first experience with cats only on canned foods and I'm worried that the civvies are being fed too much.

Bastian was about 11 pounds at his last check up. He's not a very big kitty and had a rough time before he came to live with me (he was apparently abandoned in the neighborhood and had to eat whatever he could and as much when he found out). Jester pre-diagnosis was a free-feeder, but I had to stop that because Bastian would eat everything in sight and gained a fair amount of weight in the process. Even then, I assumed he would just stop eating when he had had enough. (He was about 12 pounds at his top before he had some health issues last fall.)

Sage is a food thief so I have to separate her from the boys so they can eat in peace. But I'm sure I've been feeding her too much lately as she's definitely a much chunkier kitty now than before Jester was diagnosed. I'm not sure exactly how much she weighs now as I haven't been able to afford to get her to a vet in a while because of Jester and Bastian's health issues.

So here's the rundown of what they get.

I try to get Jester to eat at least 2 5.5 ounce cans of Friskies (combo of some pate and mostly shreds) per day
Bastian currently probably eats as much as 1.5ish 5.5 ounce cans of pate per day - although not necessarily that much - depends on how much he begs me.
Sage might eat at least 1 1/3 5.5 ounce cans of shreds. But when I'm trying to get Jester to finish his food (he can be very poky about it) and she gets very demanding, I become concerned I haven't fed her enough and might give her another 1/4 to 1/3 can more.

Opinions and insights would be much appreciated.

 

I'm not sure of the calorie count in the foods you're feeding, but there are a few handy feeding calculators out there. I've used this one before and it matches up with Wellness' feeding guidelines.

 

I was told 1 1/2 cans of friskies a day for a 9 lb cat is about average. I thought Baby was eatting too much but when I took the dry away, she needed the extra canned food. (From beginning) My vet is the one that figured this amt.

 

I think the formula is something like 20 calories per pound of cat.

 

The 20 kcal/lb and similar rules are only estimate. If a cat is gaining weight and you do not want that then you are feeding too much, if loosing then not feeding enough. Best is to judge by weighting the cat weekly.

 

If I could, I would. I don't own a scale small enough for a cat.

 

You could weigh yourself with and without the cat, then subtract. Not 100% accurate, but close.

 

Considering I'm looking for ounces and half pounds, it just wouldn't be accurate enough. This method has been suggested to me before.
I appreciate the suggestion, but I'm likely too picky for this.

 

Baby scales work really well for cats. I picked one up on Amazon a few years back for around $50 and have never regretted spending the money.

It's easy to get caught up in calorie counting and worrying about under or over feeding our cats. After all, we're on this board because we care about our cats and want to do what's best for them. A number of years ago Dr Lisa boiled it down to "if too thin, feed a little more, if too heavy, feed a little less" and those words of wisdom are my mantra. Sometimes we have to tinker a little when there are medical issues driving the process, but for the most part I think cats tend to be grazers and tend to self regulate their food intake. Often my former ferals and strays will plump up, as if they don't trust that there will be a next meal, but generally I try not to obsess over it. I free-feed canned food and over time most of them settle in to a decent routine and weight. Even my diabetics have free fed as it seemed their numbers were better when they ate small amts more frequently.

 

I have a Salter 911 digital baby scale that I got from Amazon for about $35-40. The Health-Meter is the same. I’m feeding my two young ones about 4 oz raw a day, which is about 170 calories and they weigh 9 lb 7 oz and the other a little more.