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With feline obesity becoming a growing problem, it is becoming increasingly important for us to monitor how many calories our cats are consuming. Much like humans, cats have a recommended daily calorie intake, which is dependent on their life stage and their ideal weight. Use the feline calorie calculator below to calculate how many calories your cat needs and how many calories they should be consuming if they need to lose weight.
You will need to know your cat’s ideal weight, which you can find out from your vet, although for an average adult cat, an ideal weight is typically 4-5kg or 8-10lbs.
See below for some tips on safe weight loss.
Not working? View the feline calorie calculator in a separate window
About the Feline Calorie Calculator
The feline calorie calculator uses a basic formula to determine the resting energy requirements (RER) of felines. The result is a good estimate of how many calories per day you should feed your cat in order to maintain body weight (calorie requirements). To safely lose weight, it is recommended that you feed your cat 80% of their RER, which is shown in the calculator as ‘Calorie Requirements for Weight Loss’.
Neutered cats require fewer calories per day to maintain body weight than intact cats. Kittens also have a much higher calorie requirement. This is reflected in the results. See Pet Obesity Prevention for more details.
If you have any questions or recommendations for the calculator, you can get in touch here.
Safe Feline Weight Loss Tips
Below are some tips for helping your cat to lose weight safely:
- A safe weight loss goal is around 0.5kg (~1lb) a month
- Avoid rapid weight loss as this can cause additional problems
- Switch to a ‘light’ diet manufactured by a reputable manufacturer
- Don’t give human food as treats (although boiled fish or boneless chicken may be given as a special treat very occasionally)
- Give specially formulated feline treats that are low in calories
- Put down multiple small meals as opposed to a couple of big meals
- Carefully monitor calorie consumption – including main meals, treats or any additional meals
- Consider keeping a calorie journal
- Offer fresh water if your cat is begging for food, often this alternative will be enough to satisfy them
- If your cat continues to beg, offer a very small food portion
- In multi-cat households, ensure cats are fed individually so you can be sure of what each cat has eaten
- Try introducing some extra play time (10-15 minutes a day) to get your cat moving and burning some calories
Hi,my beloved cat has become over weight. I was given the Royal Canin obesity wet and dry food for her. I am a little confused trying to understand the portions on the packets. She is 5 kg . So on the back of the wet food it stated for 5 kg 2 + 3/4. Does that mean 2 packets of wet and 3/4 of dry food? And if I feed her twice a day I just half the quantity? Thanks Kris
Hi kris,
My wee fur baby weighed in at 5.5kg and her target weight is to get to around 4kg. I have been feeding royal canin satiety support for 10weeks, she gets 40g per day of dry food, I don’t use wet stuff.
In this time she has lost around 500g so far and it’s really starting to show.
Hope this helps, and keep up with the diet you’ll both be a lot happier in the long run.
^ also I wouldn’t use this calculator as a guide as get calorie intake is 122 from what I feed and this says she should be on around 200, which is probably were her problems as a sedate house cat have began x
I feed my cat 1/2 cup total every day. She gets 1/4 cup in the morning and the same at 7 pm. She is now 6.8 kg. The thing is, her food is only totaling 221 calories for the amount I’m giving her. Her sister, who I feed the same amount to, is skinny. They are both very very active playful cats. What’s the problem? I’d like to ideally get her to the 5-6 kg weight.
if your cat goes out it could be finding food of it own…either by catching and killing their food or sneaking into houses and gardens for it. We have the same problem but the more you cut her food down the less she will start coming home.
can anyone give me any advice, i have two cats 1 is a healthy 4kg the other is a chubby 6kg, i need to get some weight off her but they feed together and i am at work all day, any advice will be welcome.
Our vet suggested a skinny cat box. We bought a good sized plastic tote. We cut half dollar or a little larger holes in all sides and top. On one of the long ends we cut a small door that only the smaller cat can get inside. She goes in and eats and the larger cat cannot fit. However it does not keep the skinny cat from eating the larger one’s food. Another problem for a different day.
I bought a $20.00 timed feeder for early morning feedings and when I ‘m grocery shopping and not home , it ‘s working Great!
Food puzzles are another option, and so are “hidden” food stations in different places around the house. You can divide up the daily food ration into small portions and “hide” them or position them around your home for your cats to “hunt” and find. This gives them mental stimulation and encourages them to move around a little bit, too. Just don’t hide them TOO well, or you might forget where you put them. You want to make it somewhat easy for the cats to find, but also a little unpredictable, so that they have to look around a little bit. So, maybe put a snack on their favorite windowsill one day, in the kitchen the next day, in your bedroom another day, and vary it up. With food puzzles… these are like toys that dispense food when your cat plays with them, or they can be like a box with paw sized holes and slots where they can reach in and snag a treat or a bite to eat. They can be a ball that drops out some kibble when the cat plays with it. Even a toilet paper roller with holes and such can make a puzzle. If your cats are new to this, make the puzzles really easy at first, and as they get more skilled, then up the challenge a little bit. These are supposed to be fun and rewarding, not frustrating. The extra activity and work that your cats put into getting their snacks will also help burn a few calories. Puzzles and “hunting” are a PART of the feeding routine. Remember that cats also like “routine”, so you can still have a regular feeding time for breakfast or supper, but also sub out one “mealtime” with puzzles and hunting. There are also collar-activated feeding stations that open up when they get a signal from a collar transponder. Only the cat that has the right “signal” can activate the station and get in to eat the food. Some newer models work with your cat’s microchip. They are able to read the RFID code from your cat’s chip and only open for that specific cat. These aren’t cheap, but they’re a clever way to ensure that only one cat gets that food. This is a great idea for cats that are on prescription or weight loss diets, or to keep dogs out of the cat food (or vice versa!)
I seem to be having the opposite problem from everyone else. My kitty has kidney disease and is not eating even with an appetite stimulant from the vet. I need to find a way to put weight on him and used the calculator to figure out how many calories a day he needs to maintain 7 pounds. Right now the only thing he will touch is baby food and then he only licks it off my fingers. I am really worried about him.
Had issues with both dogs .. Too picky..Never would eat dry food.. Wouldn’t eat so I started cooking for them .. Bad idea.. Weight gain..smallish dogs someone just dropped off on dirt road ;(… Anyway, a PetSmart employee had same issue.. Dogs not eating..listless..eyes were dull ..I tried everything. ..was spending abt. $60.00 per week .. So I tried her suggestion …mix one TEASPOON of melted coconut oil in dry food
( I use BLUE Buffalo )….they woof it down ..even the senior girl… I’m so happy with this .. And yes they have their vet visits !!
Jenny, my cat also is very skinny due to CRF. He will eat cat food, but eats so little of that that he is starving. So, I now feed him baby food supplemented with vitamins and use a phosphorous binder. He is eating more than just licking if off of my finger. Is your cat receiving subcutaneous fluids? Do you give him Pepcid AC? If he felt better, he might eat better. Some people feed their cats with a feeding tube or with a syringe.
Have you looked into the health benefits of bone broth.It may give your baby the little push to wake up his appetite.and want to eat more .it’s very simple to make if you have a stock pot or slow cooker. Dr Karen Becker on Dr Mercola.Com has a video telling how to make it. She has been a vet over 20 years.It’s very good for people too.
Here us a link to high calorie food supplement. You mught also try Blue Buffalo wet food. Cats love it. I hope this helps your baby https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=l&ai=CAb7R89VRVp3zB8z0hASF1YbYAdP3-eFCs_CX-5UBvozBu7MBCAQQASDt0IAbKANgydawh9yj3BCgAd2yw8wDyAEHqgQnT9ANZJGVIeqVtmzE_xsYcPr6_ErUCJfhB3cvl2e6zY-7COMeFLtDgAWz-P4YwAUFoAYm2AYEgAeLzbwziAcBkAcCqAemvhvYBwHgErezrN2ix8ij8QE&sig=AOD64_0NsANKN95q68JYlL1umGUV1wljng&ctype=5&clui=7&q=&ved=0ahUKEwiFzvG2o6TJAhUCbz4KHfKNAYcQwg8IGw&adurl=http://www.chewy.com/cat/tomlyn-nutri-cal-high-calorie/dp/57188%3Futm_source%3Dgoogle-product%26utm_medium%3Dcpc%26utm_campaign%3Dhg%26utm_content%3DTomlyn%26utm_term%3D
Jenny, I would recommend asking about getting an esophageal tube put in. It’s an easy surgical procedure, and can save your cat’s life. Not eating enough can lead to pancreatitis and death very quickly. The etube saved my cat. I’m so glad I asked my vet to do it. I was easily able to syringe high calorie food right into his stomach. The other option was force feeding. There was no way that was going to work. Good luck!
Not pancreatitis… hepatic lipidosis, aka “fatty liver disease”.
I’m a retired RVT and we’ve placed LOTS of e-tubes and g-tubes in kitties that won’t eat. They do fine with it, and several have had these tubes long-term, weeks to months. They can be lifesavers, and a cat with a feeding tube is NOT a cat that’s on his/her way out. Many tube kitties transition back to regular feeding in time, and it’s possible for a tube kitty to eat like a regular cat if he/she feels like doing so. As the kitty starts to feel better, they may start to eat more on their own. This is a good sign to report to your vet so that you can work together to ensure that the kitty is eating and taking in the right amount and getting the proper balance of nutrients via “combo feeding”. Once the cat is eating well unassisted for a week, it’s time for you and your vet to look into removing the tube if everything else is good.
I currently have an elderly cat (16) with severe stomatitis. Eating is painful for him. At the moment, he’s being fed by oral syringe and he’s getting plenty to eat. He loves the “recipe” that I prepare for him and willingly accepts his syringe with no fuss at all most of the time. But I wouldn’t hesitate to get him fixed up with an e-tube if that changes, just to have the option for days when he’s not feeling so great or as a supplement to the oral syringe and self-feeding. He has an appetite for sure, but the pain on eating makes him leery to eat by himself. Since oral surgery to extract his teeth isn’t an option, this is how we manage, and we’ve done so for 6 years! We wouldn’t hang in this long if it was intolerable for either of us. He hasn’t had any fatty liver disease, but I’m very careful not to let his daily intake drop below a specific caloric value. I allow him the opportunity to try to eat on his own, and make up the difference by syringe., and I keep track of how much he’s eaten at every meal.
Hi. My cat weighs 22lbs. I feed him half a can of Friskies twice a day. He gets Purina Healthy Weight. I don’t know the calorie count. I keep the food constantly filled. I also give him treats at 1.7 calories each. About 10 per day. The lowest I was able to keep him was around 18lbs. He has now gained 4 lbs to be 22 pounds. He is two and half years old
Do you think your cat is overweight or are you happy with his weight?
What weight does the vet want your cat to be? Get a lid for that can and only give him half in the morning. Put the rest in the fridge. Give him whatever amount of dry food at the same time. Before bed give some to cover the bottom of the bowl, just a bit no more than a quarter of a cup. Make sure that you aren’t going over the total amount for the day. Whichever food gives your cat satisfaction should be the primary food. My fat cat likes dry. The other cat likes moist. So I don’t overfeed either cat. You are feeding your cat with your appetite. Stop it. Carefull that you don’t starve your cat.
Stewart Cohen, your cat is WAY too large and you are giving too much food (calories) during the day. The only thing he will continue to do at this rate is gain weight Study up on calories for cats, and weight loss plans, what they need to lose, and stick to it. You need to get with your vet and come up with a plan. I’m presently battling a problem with my cat being overweight. I am trying to watch the calories he gets each day and have him on a special food that the vet recommended. Good luck and I hope you will be successful.
As long as you are feeding a “weight management” or low calorie food, and measuring out the allowed food per day, you should start to see weight drop 🙂
Rachael, LVT.
Thanks for this calculator. My cat was just diagnosed with cancer a couple months ago and I didn’t realize ’til they weighed her that she had gone from 19 to 14 lbs without me restricting her diet. She is getting pickier and pickier about what she eats. Now she won’t eat chunk wet food or dry food, it has to be shredded meat in broth or gravy. What brands make the best shredded wet food? I found pouches of “side dishes” by Wellness Core that are just shredded chicken in broth and she loves it so far. And of course she likes the “junk” cat foods like Friskies and Meow Mix but I don’t want to give her that regularly.
Your cat probably needs to be fed on a schedule such as 3 times a day with total daily calorie intake being no more than 300 calories a day so each feeding would consist of 100 calories. Use food with low carb and low fat content. It will take some research to come up with a meal plan that will be right for your cat but right now she/he is likely getting more than twice the amount needed. Has your vet checked for diabetes?
I have a rescue cat. Homemade special diet. She has mouth sore and the vet is working with her. He tells me it may never heal. I feed other cat dry fook and of course she has trouble eating that. So I set up a hospital cage (large dog cage holds food, water, an 18inchX 30 inch pet bed and a litter box. We bent and wired the divider into a shelf she can get up on). She weights 4.4 lbs. and she should be at least 7-8 lbs. Vet said feed her anything she will eat. because she is starving to death. So i made a mix. I cook oat meal til it is like a paste (fiber), I give her beaten egg with vanilla whey powder (30 gr protien), then thin it with organic bone broth, dry milk (Nido) and a pat of butter. I then beat a little wet cat food into it. She loves the creamy cat broth but i can’t afford that daily. I also put a can of wet cat food in a dish. Depending on what she is eating, I put her pills in that food. If she eats everything, I give her more canned cat food. She also gets a can of Kitten food (it will help put weight on her). I don’t know if what I make is balance nutrition for cats but I took nutrition in college and it is high in basic nutrients for people. I give between 1 cup and 1 1/2 cups a day. I am lucky, she is eating my mix first and then canned cat food. She is gaining weight now. I watch her bowel movements and no diarrhea. Milk can cause that. I could not find a wet cat food she would eat but she would drink so i tried a mix that was liquid and it is helping her from what I see. Ran all this past my Vet. He didn’t think anything I was using to be dangerous for her. Her blood work is fine. No kidney or liver failures or infections except for her mouth. X-rays were fine. She was semi feral but now from private attention, she is a very loving girl. She is now good with my grown daughters as well as the vet and me. I could be wrong but it is working for me. If anyone has a idea that is better than mine, speak up. I don’t mind beiing corrected as I want what is safe for her. But if you research this and talk to your vet, perhaps this could help some other cat. I am not a professional nor educated in cat nutrition. This could be bad for your cat and changes would need to be made if bowel movements change or there is any other problem with a cat (kidney failure, heart or any other vet diagonsed problem). This was a last ditch effort. She has had these sores for a long time. It gets better, then flares and we start over. She is alive, gaining weight and energy. She loves the liquid mix. I maybe just lucky. I have stopped my liquid occassionally to see if she is willing to eat just wet canned food, by giving wet cat first and waiting. She waits for the home made liquid. I also buy salmon and mash it fine and offer her that ocassionally. She hates tuna(weird). I buy these foods for me so it is not an additionsl expence for me except I buy a little more for her. I still buy canned and dry cat food for my other cats.
Try softening the dry food by adding chicken broth (sodium free) to the dry food. This will entice her t eat, and you will not need to buy any other form of food that is more expensive. you can also try feeding boiled chicken and rice to sort of “reset” the tummy. Hope your kitty did well!
Rachael, LVT.
Bizarre… Does it not make sense to people for over/normal/underweight cats to be on raw diet?
Just learn to deal with it in no-parasites way that’s all. Im quite shocked and upset, reading all the comments of dry food, unhappy cats, wet where % of meat is less that 96%
I have no idea what my cat weighs. She’s a former-feral, and picking her up isn’t something she permits! I’ve looked at the “body profile” charts, and it looks like she’s a little overweight. All I can figure is she’s close to 11-12 pounds. I’ve been feeding her kibble that I always measure out every day. But looking at how many grams of kibble she get’s each day, I appear to be feeding her barely 150 kcals, and that can’t be right…
I have no idea how to figure this out.