How many calories a day does a cat need?
Adult cats require approximately 40-45 calories per kilogram of their target or healthy weight. However, calories should only ever be used as a guide with cats as just like humans, it's not an exact science as each cat is different.
The following factors can affect your cat's required energy intake:
- Breed
- Age
- Size
- Activity levels
- Whether they are neutered or not
- Health issues such as thyroid issues
How to use our cat food calorie calculator
Have you ever thought, I wish there was a How Much Should I Feed My Cat Calculator? Look no further! Use our calorie calculator for cats to find out roughly how many calories a day your cat needs. Use this as a starting point, trial it for two weeks and then flex up or down depending on whether your cat is losing weight, maintaining weight or gaining weight, and what your goal is for them.
How many calories does a kitten need?
Before weaning, kittens need 20–25 Calories for every 100 grams of body weight.
How many calories are in my cat's food?
To find out how many calories are in your cat's food, either check the back of the pack (or tin) or look on the brand's website. Most cat food brands have this information readily available, although there are some companies that don't so you may need to contact their Customer Care teams.
Some wet food will contain a lot more calories than you may think due to added sugars. This could be the source of your cat's weight gain and is why it's very important to familiarise yourself with your calories in cat food. As humans, we know that when it comes to buying our own food, all is not always what it may seem. We may pick up a ready meal that seems healthy but then we see there is over 1,000 calories in it. The same is true for cat food. Become familiar with the ingredients, nutritional value and calories in your cat's food.
If you need help with this, contact us and we'll be happy to help: help@tippaws.com.
If I feed my cat both wet and dry food, how much of each should I give them?
Most feeding guidelines for cat food will be based on only feeding your cat that particular food. However, the reality is that most people switch up cat food either because they feed their cat wet and dry food, or they like to provide variety or their cat is fussy!
In our feeding guide, we’ve researched the most common wet cat foods in the UK and provided a recommendation on how much Tippaws Dry Food you need to feed your cat based on you feeding your cat one portion of wet food a day. We've also created a cat food calculator for wet and dry food.
If you are looking for how much dry food to feed a cat, you don't need a calculator for that. Instead check out our feeding guideline for Tippaws dry food or you may want to be more specific and calculate how much dry cat food is needed based on your cat's individual caloric needs.