How Much Should You Feed a Cat? A Daily Portion Chart by Weight (2026)

You fill the bowl, the cat eats, and twenty minutes later she is asking again. Or she leaves half of it and walks away. Either way you end up guessing, and guessing is how a lot of cats end up a pound or two heavier every year.

The feeding chart on the bag is a starting point, not an answer. It has to cover every cat that eats that food, from a lean four-pound kitten to a sedentary sixteen-pound senior, so it gives a wide range and leaves the judgment to you. This guide walks through the calorie math behind the chart, a daily portion table by weight, wet versus dry portions, and the body condition check that matters more than any number on a label.

Short answer: Most healthy adult cats need roughly 20 to 30 calories per pound of ideal body weight per day, or about 175 to 375 calories daily across the common weight range. Feed to keep your cat at a body condition score of 4 or 5 out of 9, split across two or more meals, and adjust from there based on weight and body shape.

Why the label chart is only a starting point

Feeding guidelines on cat food are written to be safe for a broad population, which means they run high for a neutered indoor cat and low for an active intact one. They also assume a measuring cup, and a cup of kibble is one of the least consistent units in your kitchen. Kibble size and shape change how much fits, so two people scooping the same food can easily differ by 20 percent.

Three other things push the chart off target. Treats are usually not counted, even though a handful can be a fifth of a cat’s daily calories. Individual metabolism varies more than most people expect; two littermates on the same food can need very different amounts. And the chart is based on current weight, which is the wrong anchor if your cat is already overweight.

Use the label to find calories per cup or per can, then ignore the suggested amount and do the math yourself.

Do the calorie math first

Veterinary nutrition uses resting energy requirement, or RER, as the base: 70 multiplied by your cat’s body weight in kilograms raised to the power of 0.75. You do not need to compute that by hand. The table below does it for typical weights and applies a maintenance factor of about 1.2, which suits a neutered adult indoor cat.

These are estimates, not prescriptions. Use them as a two-week starting point, then let the scale and your cat’s shape tell you whether to go up or down by about 10 percent.

For weight loss, the multiplier drops to roughly 0.8 of RER, and the target weight is used instead of current weight. That is a job for your vet, because cutting calories too fast in an overweight cat is genuinely risky.

Wet food, dry food, and mixed feeding

Wet food is roughly 75 percent water, so a can looks like a lot of food and delivers comparatively few calories. A typical three-ounce pate can runs somewhere between 70 and 100 calories, depending on the recipe. Dry food is concentrated, usually in the range of 300 to 450 calories per cup, though some formulas sit outside that.

For a ten-pound indoor cat needing about 260 calories, that works out to roughly three three-ounce cans of pate, or about three-quarters of a cup of a 350-calorie-per-cup kibble. Mixed feeding is simple arithmetic: if you give one can at 85 calories, the remaining 175 calories come from dry food, which is about half a cup at that same kibble value.

Weigh dry portions in grams instead of scooping. Most labels list calories per kilogram, so grams of food equals your target calories divided by calories per kilogram, multiplied by 1,000. A small kitchen scale removes the whole cup-size problem in one step.

Wet food does more than deliver calories. It adds water, which matters for urinary and kidney health, especially in cats that drink little. If your cat refuses wet food, adding water to dry cat food is a workable middle ground. If you are choosing cans, this guide to healthy canned wet cat foods covers what to look for on the label, and these canned food storage guidelines help you avoid leaving an open can out too long.

Whatever the split, count everything. A cat eating 200 calories of food and 60 calories of treats is on a 260-calorie day, not a 200-calorie one. A common guideline is to keep treats under about 10 percent of daily calories.

Meals versus free feeding

Adult cats do well on two measured meals a day, roughly twelve hours apart. Three smaller meals is often better for cats that gulp and vomit, and it gives you more chances to notice a change in appetite. Kittens under six months usually need three to four meals.

Free feeding works for some kittens and underweight cats, but it makes three things harder: monitoring how much your cat actually eats, controlling weight, and managing a multi-cat household where one cat guards the bowl. If you free feed now, measure what you put down each morning and remove what is left at night for a week. Most people are surprised by the number.

Meals also give you a behavior tool. A cat that screams at 4 a.m. is often bored rather than starving, and a puzzle feeder or a measured portion split into smaller meals does more for that than topping up the bowl.

Body condition score beats the chart

Numbers on a scale cannot tell muscle from fat, and they cannot tell you whether your cat is carrying an extra pound under a fluffy coat. Body condition scoring can, and it takes about thirty seconds.

On the nine-point scale vets use, 4 or 5 is ideal. You should feel the ribs easily under light pressure, like the bones on the back of your hand. Looking from above, there should be a visible waist behind the rib cage. From the side, the belly should tuck up slightly rather than hang level or sag.

• 1 to 3: ribs prominent, spine and hip bones visible, no fat cover. Too thin.
• 4 to 5: ribs easy to feel, waist visible, slight tuck. Ideal.
• 6 to 7: ribs need firmer pressure, waist barely visible, belly rounding. Slightly overweight.
• 8 to 9: ribs cannot be felt, no waist, belly sagging. Obese, and worth a vet visit.

Weigh your cat monthly on a baby scale if you can, and write it down. A change of a few percent over a couple of months is easy to miss by eye and easy to act on early.

Kittens, seniors, and cats with health conditions

Kittens need roughly two and a half to three times RER, because they are building bone and muscle. Feed kitten-formulated food, free feed or offer three to four meals, and follow a growth curve with your vet rather than a fixed cup amount. Most cats switch to adult food around a year, though large breeds may take longer.

Seniors often need slightly fewer calories but more protein quality, and they lose muscle easily if they eat poorly. Dental pain, a dulled sense of smell, and kidney disease all reduce intake, so a senior that is losing weight despite a full bowl needs a vet visit rather than a bigger portion.

Cats with medical conditions should be fed the amount your vet prescribes, not the amount on the can. Kidney disease, diabetes, thyroid disease, and urinary conditions all change the math, and prescription diets are formulated around specific nutrient targets rather than general calorie counts.

When to call your vet

Call if your cat stops eating for more than about 24 hours, especially if she is overweight. Cats that go without food can develop a serious liver condition, so anorexia is not something to wait out. Also call for persistent vomiting, diarrhea lasting more than a day or two, or a sudden change in thirst and urination.

Unexplained weight loss, weight gain despite measured portions, a dull coat, or visible muscle wasting along the spine all warrant a check. Kittens that are not gaining, and seniors dropping weight while still eating well, should be seen promptly.

The bottom line

Start with about 20 to 30 calories per pound of ideal weight, split into two or more measured meals, and count treats. Weigh the dry food in grams, watch body condition rather than the scale alone, and adjust in small steps every couple of weeks. The label is a reference, your cat’s ribs and waist are the real chart.