Feeding Guidelines
The amount of homemade food to offer your cat depends on a number of factors including age, activity level, size, breed and health. Generally, plan for your cat to consume between 2-4% of its body weight daily.
You may need to experiment with the amount your cat needs (more/less food). The guidelines listed below will help you get started.
Larger cats over 10 pounds
Feed about ¾ cup to 1 cup (120 to 150 grams) daily
Divide this by the number of meals you feed your cat each day to get the per-meal amount
Example: 3 meals per day = 40 to 50 grams per meal. Chunky Tucker is 16 lbs and eats 135 grams per day.
Average to Smaller Cats 10 pounds and under
Feed about ½ cup to ⅔ cup (60 to 90 grams) daily
Divide this by the number of meals you feed your cat each day to get the per-meal amount
Example: 3 meals per day = 25 to 30 grams per meal. Mia is 8 lbs and eats 75 grams per day.
Kittens
If you are personally weaning your kitten at about 4-5 weeks of age, start with 10-15 grams per meal and offer it 4-6 times per day, if possible. As your kitten grows, you can offer more food per meal.
Kittens 8+ weeks: offer at least 20 grams or more 3-4 times per day. Never limit how much your kitten eats per meal so as not to cause an obsession over food. Kittens are growing and need to be able to eat until they are full.
Kittens 6-12 months: by this time, your kitten should be on a consistent eating schedule. Kittens are still very active at this age, so make sure you’re feeding enough. Starting at 6+ months of age, Mia was given 25 grams per meal at 3 meals per day.
Special Breeds
Depending on the breed of your cat, some cats will require more food than recommended above for the average house cat.
For example, at 6 months old, our Maine Coon kitten Izzy was eating about 35 grams per meal + an extra late evening snack compared to 3-year-old “average to smaller” cat Mia at 25 grams per meal.
At 1 year old, Izzy was eating approximately 225-275 grams per day - this was broken into 4 portioned meals (about 45-50 grams each), sometimes a couple in-between meal snacks and a 2am snack in the auto-feeder (with ice pack cartridges).
If you have a special breed, you’ll want to be aware of the nutritional requirements for your cat.
A couple notes…
If your cat is still hungry after eating, give her a little more. If he never eats all of his food and leaves it sit (or if he is overweight), scale back a bit. A kitchen scale definitely comes in handy for this! After a while, you’ll be able to “eyeball” it.
If you need help with transitioning your cat to a homemade diet and palatability tips, click on Tips + Troubleshooting below!