we should feed our cats the exact number of calories necessary
to support healthy weight and normal bodily functions.
hey friends it's jess and jericho here to teach you how to feed your cat better.
so the first step in determining how much to feed your cat
is to check your cat's body condition score.
we do this by using a body condition score card.
so this is what the body condition score card looks like.
in this section to the left we have under ideal.
so you'll be able to clearly see the ribs, clearly see the bones, and the spine on the cat.
and then ideal you'll be able to see a clear
indication of the ribs and waist but not so bony and sticking out.
and then over ideal there's no indication of the waste. there's no indication of the ribs.
there's a lot of fat surrounding all of these areas of the body.
and then obese is this last one over here on the right where it's just basically all fat.
big round cat and on the bottom there's no clear tuck.
we use this body condition score card to look at our cat but also feel around on our cat.
and this will give you a good indication if your cat is underweight, ideal, or overweight.
every cat is an individual so it's difficult to
just say "here's the weight that your cat should weigh" and that's that.
the body condition score card really comes in handy for every cat's individual needs.
some breeds are much larger and some breeds are much smaller.
so again the body condition score card is more important than saying
"this is how much your cat should weigh" and that's that.
so take a look at your cat from above.
and you're gonna look for the noticeable indent right around the waist.
and then also take a look at your cat from the side so right here you can see.
you can see jericho had a little bit a little extra padding on his pouch.
so here's jericho's little pouch i have a food a toy distracting him so i can show you.
so you'll notice a little bump here. and the primordial pouch
is a little extra padding and fat.
and that helps protect the cat's sensitive organs.
so when the cat bunny kicks on prey or toys uh that extra padding there will help protect the
cat's stomach and all of his organs.
the primordial pouch can also store food and you know energy that the cat might need later.
but typically the primordial pouch is where fat starts accumulating first.
so that's definitely your first indication to see
if your cat is overweight and needs to lose some weight check for that little pouch right there.
overweight cats should not lose
too much weight too quickly. they're at a much higher risk for fatty liver disease.
so you definitely need a proper weight loss plan if your cat is overweight.
check the pinned comments for my cat weight loss plan.
so use the body condition score card to see where your cat
is at in terms of under ideal, ideal, or over ideal.
then you can weigh your cat to get to put a number on it.
that way you can see what your cat's at now and then you can determine
how much to feed to lose weight or gain weight depending on what your cat needs.
so to weigh jericho i use this digital scale. i also use this to weigh his food.
this one can weigh up to 12 pounds. so i'm gonna put it on the floor.
tare it out to zero. it's set on pounds.
and i'm gonna take jericho and put him on top.
so this is an easy way to weigh your cat.
cats love boxes. jericho actually just jumped into this one by himself.
so this will tell you your cat's weight including the box's weight. so wait for it to stop.
well as your cat moves around the number's going to move around as well.
so he's about 10.6 and that's including the weight of the box.
so now we're going to take jericho down and kindly get him out of the box.
take the weight of the box. so it's 0.38 and change.
and then subtract that from his previous total.
so the previous weight with jericho and the box was about 10.6.
the box weighs about 0.3 or so.
so he weigh jericho weighs about 10.3 pounds.
so you'll use the body condition score card as well as the
cat's numerical weight to determine how much to feed your cat.
if your cat needs to lose weight or if your cat needs to gain weight.
next you'll have to determine the number of calories that you're currently feeding your cat.
so take your cat's normal daily food intake.
include all treats, all supplements, everything that you feed your cat for the entire day.
weigh it out and look at the cat food label or the nutrition label
or the treat label to see how many calories your cat's consuming right now.
dr karen becker has a formula on her website to determine how many calories to feed your cat.
in this example she states for 10 pounds the necessary
calories to maintain that weight would be 166.
however if you go to the national research council's your cat's nutritional needs
and search for calories they say that an adult cat weighing nine pounds would consume
250 calories to maintain that weight.
so there's really no clear instructions on how many calories to feed
and what your cats should weigh.
every cat food is different so you're going to have to look at your cat's specific food label
to determine how many calories they're consuming based on the weight of food that you're feeding.
is your cat eating more or less than what he should be eating?
now jericho eats whole carcass ground mouse.
and when we look at the label there's no indication of
how many calories equals this or that.
if you're feeding raw the general consensus is to feed between
two and four percent of your cat's ideal weight.
i don't know why we do it this way but raw food is more nutritious so maybe that's why.
i use this raw food feeding calculator.
you can put your cat's weight in pounds or you can switch to kilograms.
then you can choose down here the percentage to feed
and it'll tell you how many ounces per day to feed your cat.
jericho's about 10.3 pounds right now and i'm working towards a weight of 10.
currently he's eating four ounces of food per day.
and he's losing a little bit of weight at the right pace.
so i think four ounces is good for him.
but if i was to go with this calculator two percent is three point two ounces
three percent of that weight is four point eight ounces.
so you really have to judge based on your cat's individual needs.
jericho is insanely active so i think feeding a little bit
more will help him maintain his ideal weight.
if you're not sure where to start just start with
three percent and then you can go up or down based on your cat's needs.
i recommend weighing your cat weekly and using the body condition score card that way you know
where your cat's at on a regular basis.
because cats don't gain weight or lose weight overnight.
a common theme among cat parents is feeling bad that they're under feeding their cat.
or they think that their cat is starving because the cat begs for food.
but cats have us trained very well. especially when it comes to food.
so for example they meow at us to communicate with us they don't meow at each other.
they only meow with humans to replicate the sounds that we make.
so they meow at us, they get more food, they know that it works so next time when they want
more food they meow at us, we give them more food, and they continue that because that's what works.
but we shouldn't associate more food with love.
we should instead feed good quality food and then our cats won't beg for
food because they have the nutrition that they need.
check out the best cat food brands in this video right over meow.
thanks for watching!