Feeding & Nutrition

Feeding questions almost always start with how much, and the honest answer is that portion size is personal. A healthy adult cat typically lands between 200 and 250 calories a day, but an indoor cat that sleeps most of the afternoon often needs less, and the only reliable way to find your cat's number is to feed a fixed amount, watch body condition for two to three weeks, and adjust by about ten percent in whichever direction the ribs suggest. Scoops are a poor unit — they vary by brand and by how the kibble settles — so weigh food on a kitchen scale until you can judge portions by eye.

Wet food, dry food or a mix can all meet a cat's needs when the label says complete and balanced for the right life stage. The practical differences matter more than the nutritional ones. Wet food adds water, which helps cats that drink little, and its stronger smell tempts picky or older appetites. Dry food is convenient and works well in puzzle feeders, which slow eating down and give an indoor cat something to do. Many owners land on a combination: one or two wet meals plus a measured amount of dry.

Then there are the persistent myths. Cats are lactose intolerant as adults, so the saucer of milk in cartoons usually ends in loose stool — plain water is the drink. Eating grass is normal and often harmless, though it can point to boredom or help move hairballs along; what matters is whether the grass has been treated with anything. And a short list of human foods is genuinely dangerous rather than merely rich: onion and garlic in any form, chocolate, alcohol, anything sweetened with xylitol, and grapes or raisins. Keep those out of reach and the rest of the kitchen becomes far less stressful.