Hi Helen,

Thanks for your question.

You get many different opinions on what is a good or bad food to feed a cat. In fact, I have always maintained that a food is good if your cat eats it, has good solid stools, does not become itchy, doesn’t vomit, and maintains an ideal body condition. As long as the food isn’t creating symptoms then it can be given in moderation. Regular wellness visits with your veterinarian are a good idea to make sure that your cat is generally healthy with the diet you have chosen. Most practitioners recommend feeding cats a mix of dry and wet food to get the coarse tooth-scraping effect of the dry food and the high moisture content of the wet food. You can consider a combination of wet and dry food to gain these benefits.

To determine how much to feed your cat, you can ask your veterinarian or a registered veterinary technician to calculate her daily caloric needs based on her weight and body condition score. Once you know that, you can calculate the amount of food to give by looking at the label of your food and getting the calories per can, then feed the amount that corresponds to her needs. This will maintain an ideal body weight.

Thanks and good luck.

Dr. Clayton Greenway