Pets
How much food should you feed your cat per day?
Daily calories and grams of dry, wet or mixed food based on your cat’s weight, age and lifestyle.
Quick answer
Cats are small, and that makes portion mistakes proportionally huge: an extra 20 grams of kibble a day — a small handful — is roughly 75 kcal, a third of a typical indoor cat’s daily needs. It’s no surprise that around half of house cats are overweight. The math behind correct portions is the same veterinary formula used for dogs: resting energy requirement RER = 70 × (weight in kg)^0.75, multiplied by a lifestyle factor — about 1.2 for a neutered indoor adult, 2.5 for a growing kitten, 0.8 for a cat on a diet.
Food per day
31 g dry + 119 g wet
- Calories per day
- 238 kcal
- In 85 g pouches
- ~1.4 pouches
Based on the standard veterinary formula (RER = 70 × kg^0.75) with multipliers for age and lifestyle. Wet food kcal varies by brand (0.7-1.2 kcal/g) — check the label of your pouches. For weight loss, use the target weight, cut gradually, and never fast a cat: going without food for even 2-3 days can trigger hepatic lipidosis. Not a substitute for veterinary advice.
How it works
The step where most owners go wrong is converting calories to grams, because dry and wet food are wildly different: kibble packs about 3.8 kcal per gram while pouches are around 1 kcal per gram. A 4 kg neutered cat needs roughly 240 kcal a day — that’s only ~63 g of kibble, but almost three 85 g pouches. The calculator above handles dry, wet and 50/50 mixed feeding, which many vets like because the wet half adds water to a species notorious for not drinking enough.
Frequently asked questions
How many grams of dry food should a 4 kg cat eat per day?+
A neutered indoor 4 kg cat needs about 240 kcal per day, which is roughly 60-65 g of average dry food — much less than most people expect, and less than many bags suggest. An intact or outdoor cat can need 15-20% more. Weigh the daily ration once with a kitchen scale: "eyeballed" cups are the main source of overfeeding.
Is wet or dry food better for cats?+
Both can be nutritionally complete; the practical difference is water. Cats evolved from desert animals and have a weak thirst drive, so wet food (about 80% water) helps protect kidneys and the urinary tract — where cats have the most problems. Dry food is cheaper, more convenient and more calorie-dense. Mixed feeding — wet for one meal, measured kibble for the other — is a popular, vet-approved compromise.
How do I help my cat lose weight safely?+
Slowly — this is critical. Feed for a deficit of around 20% (the calculator’s "needs to lose weight" option), aiming for 1-2% of body weight lost per month. Never crash-diet or fast a cat: overweight cats that stop eating for even 2-3 days risk hepatic lipidosis, a life-threatening liver condition. Switching part of the diet to wet food helps, since it fills the stomach with fewer calories.
How much should a kitten eat?+
A growing kitten needs 2-3× the calories per kg of an adult — the calculator uses a 2.5 factor. Use kitten-specific food (denser in protein and fat) and feed 3-4 small meals a day up to 6 months; free-feeding kibble is acceptable for kittens since very few overeat while growing. Recalculate every few weeks: a kitten can double its weight in a month.
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