Food amount

Having Friskies show up in the next couple of days to do a complete transition finally. Is the recommend 1oz of food to 1lb of body weight true? So Harley is 14lbs and with his body size he is "ideal" weight. So if I bought the 5.5oz cans he would have at little less than 3 cans a day? or 2.5ish?

 

Normally, it is based on calories rather than ounces of food. There are a few different formulas. Going with about 20 calories per pound of ideal body weight is one I see often.

 

@FurBabiesMama is right. The “recommendation” on the packages is usually really high. For an indoor cat, 20 cal/lb is a good starting point. You can adjust as needed based on how much they eat and their weight.

I actually feed my smaller cats who are 10 and 12 lab only 180 calories. The bigger cat lost a lb (she needed it) from 13 to 12 in 8-10 months of doing that. The smaller cat gained a little bit. They are 8 and 11 years old so they don’t do much. Activity should be taken into consideration.

Check out Dr. Lisa Pierson’s chart for calories of Friskie’s pate. It’s in the main forum up top.

Hope this helps!!

 

So, 14 lb x 20 calorie per pound = 280 calories per day

Depending on flavor, Friskies pate 5.5 oz cans are 165-189 calories. So in fact, Harley would only need about 1.5 can of Friskies pate per day to meet his calorie needs for weight maintenance.

While you are transitioning, I recommend mixing his old food with the new food slowly - 1/4 new food 3/4 old food for 4-5 days. Watch for diarrhea during food switch. After 4-5 days, do 1/2 and 1/2. And so on until you are fully switched to Friskies. This will minimize GI upset.

Also during this time, monitor his sugars carefully. Some cats insulin needs drop significantly when they are switched to a lower carb food, and some may not even need insulin.

Hope this helps. let us know if you have any questions!!

 

So Dr. Lisa Pierson's chart for calories, if it doesn't say 242/a cup then are the calories per 5.5oz can? I know friskies has a couple 10oz cans too.

 

Yes, unless it is specified (like on top with FF, for example) the nutrition value listed is for a 5.5 oz can

If you got some 10 oz cans let me know what flavor and I’ll help you do the math to figure out how many calories there are and how much to give.