How Much Should I Feed My Cat? Portions by Weight, Age, and Food

The short answer: a typical spayed or neutered adult cat needs roughly 190 to 320 kcal per day, depending on weight. What that means in grams or cups depends entirely on which food you feed, because energy density varies several-fold between products. That is why the useful question is not "how many cups" but "how many calories, and how many grams of this food is that?"

Here are starting daily calorie targets calculated with the standard veterinary formula (resting energy requirement of 70 × weight in kg^0.75, multiplied by a FEDIAF/WSAVA life-stage factor):

Cat weight	Neutered adult (1–7 yrs)	Intact adult (1–7 yrs)	Mature (7–11 yrs)	Senior (11+ yrs)
3 kg (6.6 lb)	≈ 191 kcal	≈ 223 kcal	≈ 176 kcal	≈ 160 kcal
4 kg (8.8 lb)	≈ 238 kcal	≈ 277 kcal	≈ 218 kcal	≈ 198 kcal
5 kg (11 lb)	≈ 281 kcal	≈ 328 kcal	≈ 257 kcal	≈ 234 kcal
6 kg (13.2 lb)	≈ 322 kcal	≈ 376 kcal	≈ 295 kcal	≈ 268 kcal

Kittens are different: cats under 4 months need about 2.5 times their resting requirement and kittens from 4 to 12 months about 2 times, because they are building a body, not maintaining one. Outdoor access nudges any of these targets slightly upward.

Two important caveats before you measure anything. First, these figures use your cat's current weight; if your cat is overweight, feeding to current weight maintains the excess, so ask your vet for a target-weight plan instead. Second, these are population averages. Individual cats routinely need 20 percent more or less, which is why the trend on the scale matters more than any formula.

Use the calculator to get the number for your cat's exact weight, age, and food:

Free tool

Cat portion calculator

Weight

kglb

Age (years)

Under 1 for kittens, e.g. 0.5

Spayed or neutered

Goes outdoors

Food energy from the label (kcal per 100 g) — optional

≈ 238 kcal per day

Basis: neutered adult maintenance. Split across your cat's meals for the day, and count treats within this total.

This is a starting estimate using the standard resting-energy formula (70 × kg^0.75) and FEDIAF/WSAVA maintenance factors — the same math the MiauMiau app uses. Individual cats vary; adjust with body condition and your veterinarian's advice, especially for weight plans or medical conditions.

Get a full plan for your cat, not just a number →

Why calories, not cups

"Half a cup a day" is not a portion; it is a volume of unknown energy. Dry foods commonly run around 350 to 400 kcal per 100 g, while wet foods often sit near 70 to 100 kcal per 100 g because most of the can is water. The same cup can therefore hold four to five times more calories in one food than another, and even two dry foods can differ enough to make a cat gain or lose weight on the "same" portion.

Every complete food states its energy content on the label, usually as kcal per 100 g or kcal per kg (sometimes as kcal per cup or per pouch). Find that number, and portions become simple division:

grams per day = daily kcal target ÷ (kcal per 100 g ÷ 100)

For example, a 4 kg neutered adult with a 238 kcal target eating a wet food at 85 kcal/100 g needs about 280 g per day, roughly three standard 85 g pouches. The same cat on a 380 kcal/100 g dry food needs only about 63 g per day, a startlingly small pile, which is exactly why free-pouring dry food overfeeds so many cats. If the label only lists kcal per kg, divide by 10 to get kcal per 100 g. Our guide to reading cat food labels walks through where to find these numbers and what the rest of the label means.

Count treats inside the daily total, not on top of it. Veterinary nutrition guidance commonly caps treats and toppers at about 10 percent of daily calories so the complete food still supplies the nutrients; a single 15 kcal treat is over 6 percent of a small cat's whole day.

Adjust by body condition, not by the bowl

The formula gives a starting point. Your cat's body tells you whether it is right. Alongside weight, use a body-condition check: with light pressure you should feel ribs without pressing hard, see a waist from above, and see a slight belly tuck from the side. WSAVA publishes a 9-point body condition chart for cats, and your veterinary team can show you how to score your own cat in a minute at an appointment.

The practical loop looks like this:

1. Start at the calculated portion, weighed in grams. A kitchen scale beats any scoop; scoops routinely over-deliver by 10 to 20 percent.
2. Weigh your cat every 2 to 4 weeks on the same scale. Our weighing routine guide covers how to get consistent numbers at home.
3. If weight drifts up over a month or two in a cat that should be stable, reduce the daily portion by roughly 5 to 10 percent and re-check. Same in reverse for unwanted loss.
4. Change one thing at a time. If you switch foods, recalculate from the new label before judging the portion.

Split the day's total across however many meals suit your household; two is a common default, and many cats do well with more, smaller meals. The daily total is what controls weight, not the meal count.

When the formula is not enough

Some situations need a veterinarian's numbers rather than a calculator's:

• Weight-loss plans. Restricting calories too aggressively is dangerous for cats; rapid weight loss can trigger hepatic lipidosis, a serious liver condition. A vet will set a safe rate and a supervised calorie target.
• Pregnancy and nursing. Energy needs rise far beyond maintenance and change week to week.
• Medical conditions. Diabetes, kidney disease, hyperthyroidism, and gastrointestinal disease all change both how much and what a cat should eat.
• A cat that stops eating. A cat refusing food for more than a day or two is a medical issue, not a pickiness issue; call your clinic rather than waiting it out.

Common portion mistakes

Feeding the bag's chart without reading the fine print. Feeding guides on packaging often describe intact, active cats and skew generous. Treat them as an upper bound and start from a calculated target instead.

Refilling whenever the bowl is empty. Free feeding works for a minority of self-regulating cats and quietly overfeeds the rest. If your cat's weight is stable at a healthy condition, fine; if not, measured meals are the fix.

Judging portions by eye after a food switch. A new food with 15 percent more energy per gram at the same scoop size is a stealth calorie increase.

Forgetting the other feeders. Multi-person households routinely double-feed. A shared log, even a note on the fridge, prevents the most common "mystery weight gain" there is.

Feeding the right amount is not a one-time calculation; it is a small feedback loop of portion, weight, and body condition. Get the starting number right, weigh the food instead of guessing, and let the trend tell you when to adjust.

Sources

1. WSAVA — Global Nutrition Guidelines and Toolkit
2. FEDIAF — Nutritional Guidelines for Complete and Complementary Pet Food
3. AAHA/AAFP — Feline Life Stage Guidelines
4. WSAVA — Body Condition Score for Cats
5. Cornell Feline Health Center — Feeding Your Cat