In FelineSense
Your cat’s exact portion, in the app
- Daily calories from your cat’s weight, breed, age, neuter status and activity
- Turned into grams, cups or cans of your food, from the numbers on the label
- Treats carved out of the day’s total, so the bowl shrinks to match
- Set for the ideal weight once a body condition score says your cat is carrying extra
- After three days of logged play, the measured activity takes over from your guess
Launching first on iPhone and iPad, with Android and Amazon soon after.
The method
How many calories does a cat need a day?
How the number is worked out
Two steps, both from published veterinary nutrition sources rather than a rule of thumb.
1. Resting energy requirement (RER). What your cat burns doing nothing at all: 70 × weight(kg)0.75. The exponent matters: energy needs do not rise in a straight line with weight, so a 6 kg cat does not need one and a half times what a 4 kg cat needs.
2. A life-stage factor. RER is multiplied by a factor for life stage, neuter status and activity: neutered adult 1.2, intact adult 1.4, senior (over 10 years) 1.2, growing kitten (under a year) 2.5. A very active cat adds 0.4; an indoor cat that sleeps most of the day is capped at 1.0. Cats from 1 to 10 years are fed as adults.
A worked example. A 4 kg neutered adult: RER is about 198 kcal, × 1.2 = about 238 kcal a day. The same cat unneutered needs about 277 kcal.
Inside the app a few breed tendencies adjust this too: easy-gaining breeds such as the British Shorthair and Persian are capped at 1.1, and lean, busy breeds such as the Siamese and Bengal get +0.2 until the play log measures them. After three days of logged play in a week, the measured activity replaces your guess. If you are not sure whether your cat is neutered, the app uses the neutered factor, the safer error for a mostly indoor cat.
Source: NRC 2006 · WSAVA Global Nutrition Guidelines 2011 · Merck Veterinary Manual · AAHA Nutrition and Weight Management Guidelines 2021
Why treats come out of the total, not on top
WSAVA and AAHA both cap treats at 10 % of daily calories. Above that you start diluting a diet that was formulated to be complete. So FelineSense carves the treat allowance out of the day’s total and reduces the food in the bowl to match. It does this for every total: the formula, a weight-loss plan, and a number your vet gave you. Treats always count.
For the 4 kg cat above, 10 % is only about 24 kcal, which leaves 214 kcal for the bowl. That is a few small treats a day, not a handful.
Source: WSAVA 2011 · AAHA Nutrition and Weight Management Guidelines 2021
How much wet food or dry food? Read the label
The calories are the same whatever you feed; the amount in the bowl is not. Wet food is about 75–80 % water and dry food about 10 %, so gram for gram dry food carries several times the calories. 214 kcal of a wet food at 100 kcal per 100 g is about 214 g a day; the same calories of a dry food at 380 kcal per 100 g is about 56 g.
In the US, cat food labels state calories as kcal per kg and per cup or can. Divide kcal/kg by 10 for kcal per 100 g. In FelineSense you enter what your label gives (kcal per cup with grams per cup, kcal per can with grams per can, or kcal per 100 g) and the guide turns the day’s food calories into grams per meal, and into cups or cans of that food, to the nearest quarter. Weigh it on a kitchen scale; cups drift.
Source: AAFCO calorie content labeling · NRC 2006
How many meals a day?
Cats evolved to eat many small meals, one mouse at a time. Most adult cats do well on at least two meals a day; more, smaller meals are fine and closer to how cats eat. Putting part of the day’s food in a puzzle feeder slows a fast eater and gives an indoor cat something to hunt. The daily total is what matters for weight; the split changes comfort and routine, not calories.
In the app you set meals per day, and the grams per meal follow. Play is logged in the care calendar against a daily target, and that log is what measures activity for the feeding guide.
Source: AAFP Feline Feeding Consensus Statement 2018 · AAFP/ISFM Feline Environmental Needs Guidelines 2013
Feed an overweight cat for the weight it should be, slowly
If your adult cat is already overweight, calculating from today’s weight just maintains the problem. WSAVA’s guidance is to feed to the ideal weight. Score your cat first, using the 1–9 body condition chart. When a score is saved, the FelineSense feeding guide sets calories for the ideal weight it gives.
A weight-loss plan goes lower: 0.8 × RER of the ideal weight. A 6 kg cat scoring 7 has an ideal weight of about 5 kg, which gives about 187 kcal a day, treats included. Cats must lose slowly, about 0.5–1 % of body weight a week (30–60 g for that cat), never more than about 1.5 %, and a cat must eat every day. A cat that stops eating can develop fatty liver disease (hepatic lipidosis). A calorie target from your vet always beats any formula.
Source: WSAVA 2011 · AAHA Weight Management Guidelines 2014 · Cornell Feline Health Center
Kittens are fed for growth
Growing kittens are fed at 2.5 × RER on their current weight, in several small meals a day, and are never trimmed toward an “ideal” weight. Young kittens may need even more; ask your vet to check body condition at each kitten visit. In FelineSense the weight-loss plan stays off for kittens unless your vet has ordered a diet, and then it uses your vet’s daily calories rather than the adult formula.
Source: Merck Veterinary Manual · AAHA Nutrition and Weight Management Guidelines 2021
Questions
Frequently asked
How many calories does a cat need per day?
Does wet or dry cat food have more calories?
How much should I feed a kitten?
How many times a day should I feed my cat?
Is it OK to free feed my cat?
My cat has not eaten for a day. Is that serious?
FelineSense works this out for your own cat from the latest weigh-in, the body condition score and the play log, and recalculates as they change.
See the app