How Much Dry Food Should I Be Feeding My 3 Year Old Border Collie

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When deciding what type of food to feed your cat, many cat owners consider opting for a combination of both wet and dry food to feed a cat. Cats aren't inclined to recognize thirst, and therefore it's often the case that they don't drink enough water. Feeding them wet cat food or canned food, with its high water content, can help mitigate the risk of dehydration and help support their kidneys, urinary tract, and overall health.

If your cat is a fussy eater, incorporating wet food into their diet may encourage them to eat, as cats prefer wet foods over kibble. Once you've decided which food to give your cat, you need to figure out how much-wet food and dry food to give your cat, according to the cat's weight and other factors. Read on to find out more about providing a healthy cat diet to your feline friend.

How to Know if Your Cat Food Meets Aafco Standards?

As a clarification, no cat food can be approved by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO). Instead, the association sets out the guidelines for pet food. The guaranteed analysis that you find on a packet of feline-friendly food is based on these guidelines.

What Does the Guaranteed Analysis Do?

Labels on the package of pet foods require a guaranteed analysis to advise the buyer of the food's nutrient content. At a minimum, guarantees are required to disclaim the minimum percentages of crude protein and crude fat and the maximum rates of natural fiber and moisture. It is the case unless the product is not intended to contain these nutrients. Water, however, is always included. It will help you to compare the contents of different nutrients across different foods.

Guarantees for other nutrients are provided at the manufacturer's discretion, but they must offer them if claims are made on the label. For example, if the title reads "high in vitamin E," the guaranteed analysis must include the minimum vitamin E guarantees.

How Much To Feed a Cat (CHART)

Use the following chart as a cat feeding guide, rather than strict guidelines to follow.

How Much Food to Feed My Cat (Calculation)

To work out how much food to give your cat, you must divide your cat's caloric daily needs by the food's calorie content (kcal/can or cup). It will tell you how much to feed a cat or how much dry food to feed it. If you provide your cat three times per day, divide the daily amount of food by three, and you will figure out how much food to feed a cat at each meal. Divide the daily amount of food by three. For example: if your cat requires 400 kcal/day and the can of food is 95 kcal/can, you can do this calculation: 400 ÷ 95 = 4.21 cans per day.

Measure Your Cat's Food

Giving your cat measured meals is essential to ensure that they receive their nutritional requirements and aren't overeating or undereating. Using a mug or a cup will not provide accurate measurements as they do not come in one standard size. If you're feeding your cat a dry food-only diet, or portions of canned food, do not simply estimate the amount.

Use a Digital Scale

According to veterinary nutritionists, weighing out food portions using a digital scale is the most effective approach to ensuring your cat receives the right amount of food. On some pet food brands, manufacturers will include the weight of serving sizes as part of the feeding guide on labels. It allows you to weigh the amount of food your cat requires accurately.

Why Should I Measure My Cat's Food?

Ensuring that you feed your cat the correct amount of food is as essential as choosing high-quality food. Whether you're caring for a kitten, adult, or senior cat, make sure to weigh out each portion correctly. A pet's nutrition requirements are only reached when they receive the correct amount of food, ensuring that they ingest each nutrient in the correct quantity.

What Schedule Is Best for Feeding My Cat?

Cats tend to be creatures of habit, and they particularly love routine. Now that you know how much food to give your cat, it's essential to work out when to feed it. Cats should be eating at least two meals per day, 12 hours apart. However, it is also possible to provide your cat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, depending on your schedule. Ensure not to leave more than 12 hours between meals, as this can cause the stomach to become hyper acidic, which can lead your cat to feel nauseous. You can also purchase a dry food feeder, which you can program to provide portions throughout the day.

How Often to Feed a Kitten?

The regularity at which a young cat needs to be fed differs from the recommendations for adult cats. There are different options when it comes to the frequency of feeding your kitten. You can provide these little bundles of fur at regular intervals, up to 6 times a day. Alternatively, you can choose to practice free feeding. It is essential when you allow your cats free access to food. If you have an overweight cat, it's best to avoid free-feeding to ensure your pet only consumes its recommended daily amount.

How Often to Feed Adult Cats?

At about one year old, when a cat reaches adult age, you can feed them twice per day. Make sure to provide them an adult cat food to ensure their nutritional needs are being met.

How Often to Feed My Cat When They're in Their Senior Years?

It would be best if you fed senior cats at the same schedule throughout their adult life, as this frequency also works for cats in this life stage, and cats are sticklers for routine. Look for age-specific adult cat food.

How Often to Feed Pregnant Cats?

When a cat is pregnant, the pressure of the kittens on her stomach can make it difficult for her to ingest large quantities at any one time. Therefore, adjust your cat's feeding schedule to 4/6 mealtimes per day.

How Often to Feed Nursing Cats?

It's best to allow your cat to free feed when she's nursing, as this will let her eat whenever she has the chance. Wet food is preferable for nursing cats, as it is high in protein. However, dry food can be left out for longer without spoiling, so provide her with access to both.

Can I Leave Pet Food Out for My Cat to Graze on Throughout the Day?

Leaving food out for your cat to graze on throughout the day is called free feeding. It is a method that works best with cried foods, as they don't spoil as quickly as wet foods. If you're feeding your cat both a wet and dry food diet, give your cat the wet food for its breakfast, and leave out a bowl of kibble for them to graze on during the day. It is a beneficial approach if you're out and about for a majority of the day.

Note: if you're feeding wet food to your cat, then it can only be left out for a maximum of 4 hours before it spoils.

Tips for Helping an Obese Cat to Lose Weight

If your cat's weight is more than it should be, it will require dedicated care and attention to return to a healthy weight. Following the advice above when deciding how much to feed an adult cat will give you a good chance of ensuring your cat remains healthy. However, if you have adopted an obese adult cat, or you are looking to change the diet of your overweight adult cat, here are some tips:

Visit a Veterinarian for Advice

A veterinarian should be your first stop when it comes to any health-related questions. They will ask you questions such as how active your cat is, whether they're an indoor cat or outdoor cat, and how much food your cat eats. They may also ask whether you feed your cat wet food or feed your cat dry food. The more information you can provide your vet with regarding your cat's lifestyle, the better. A vet will also be able to perform tests on your cat to see if their weight gain is due to an underlying medical condition. Based on the information you give them and what they can ascertain by observing your pet, they will be able to decide how best to proceed with a weight management plan.

Reduce the Amount of Food

To reduce your cat's body weight, the vet may recommend that you reduce the amount of food your cat eats while still ensuring that the amount you give them is reaching the cat's nutritional requirements.

Begin by reducing the daily portion size by 25%, then by a further 10% every two to three weeks, until your cat loses 1% of the bodyweight they started at. If your cat eats one meal per day, or you leave food out all day long, then split their daily ration into several small meals, and remove the bowl after 30 minutes, even if the cat hasn't eaten it all.

Avoid free choice feeding for overweight cats, as they may overfeed if their food is available all day.

If you like to spoil your cat with cat treats, you may want to consider cutting down on this habit.

Encourage Your Cat to Play

As is the case for humans, cats can benefit from extra exercise when they need to lose weight. By encouraging them to play, you will be helping to increase their daily activity. Try buying a laser pointer, as cats tend to love chasing these around a room. It has the added benefit of allowing you to stay seated! You will find that a cat's energy level is higher the younger they are. Indoor cats need more encouragement to play, as they have less space to explore than their outdoor relatives.

Be wary, don't over-exercise, and obese or senior cat, as this can be dangerous for their health and cause further issues such as injuries.

Common Mistakes People Make When Feeding Their Cat

When feeding your cat a combination of dry food and wet cat food or canned food, there are some essential points to bear in mind to avoid causing your feline friend any harm.

Too Much Food

One of the most common mistakes people make when feeding their cats is that they give them too much cat food. You should provide a cat according to the cat's weight and life stage. Following the packaging guidelines and consulting with your vet will give you an idea of the correct cat food portions to give your cat. It will help to prevent feline obesity. If your cat weighs more than it should, you should look into starting it on a weight management routine, whereby they consume fewer calories over some time.

Overweight cats are more at risk of developing hepatic lipidosis, a potentially fatal liver disease, and other diseases that can affect the liver.

Offering Too Little Water

Cats are not natural drinkers, as they don't tend to recognize thirst. It means that most cats are in danger of becoming dehydrated if they only eat dry food. If you're feeding your cat a dry cat food-heavy diet, then you need to ensure that you offer them plenty of water. For this reason that it's recommended to provide both dry cat food and canned cat food to ensure your cat is ingesting enough moisture.

Adding Garlic for Tapeworms

One sign of tapeworms is a thin cat, who seems to have a large food intake. One of the biggest misconceptions is that feeding garlic to a cat can help treat tapeworms. No proof adding garlic to your cat food ingredients will help your cat out. Too much garlic can cause damage to your cat's health by destroying a cat's red blood cells.

Trying to Feed Their Cat a Plant-Based Diet

Cats are obligate carnivores. It means that to keep a cat healthy, they need animal protein. With the rise in veganism among humans in the past couple of decades, some animal activist pet parents have perpetuated the idea that they can feed cats plant-based cat food. Feeding cats a vegan or vegetarian diet is not recommended.

Taurina, an amino acid, is only found in animal tissue. Cats must ingest enough of this amino acid, and a lack of taurine can severely impact a cat's life, leading to heart problems, blindness, and even death.

Feeding Unbalanced Homemade Diets

Some pet owners may opt to feed their cats homemade diets to eliminate packaging and filler ingredients. However, it is difficult for the average pet owner to know how much to feed a cat of each type of ingredient. Cats have complex nutritional needs that a pet's food has been designed to cover. For this reason, it is better if you're feeding high-quality food to your cat than to try to make one yourself.

Final Words

If you do choose to base your cat's diet on both wet and dry food to feed a cat, make sure to avoid a lousy pet diet by only selecting foods with high-quality ingredients. You may find that your cat prefers wet food, but with patience and experimentation, you should find a kibble that they enjoy that requires all the cat nutrition necessary for your pet to stay healthy. Alternatively, offer them slightly more canned food than dry. As long as you're covering your cat's nutritional needs, they're set to lead a happy and healthy life.

Related:

How much dry food should I feed my cat?
How much wet food should I feed my cat?
How to get rid of fleas on cats?
How Long Can Cats Go Without Food?

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Source: https://www.catfoodpoint.com/how-much-wet-dry-food-feed-cat/