Wet cat food feeding calculator
How many cans of wet food should my cat eat a day?
Enter your cat’s weight, age and the can you feed. You’ll get a daily amount rounded to the nearest quarter can, and how much dry food to add if you feed both.
Daily amount
—cans a day
- Calories a day
- —
- From wet food
- —
- Dry food
- —
A starting point, not a prescription. Weigh your cat every two to four weeks and adjust by about 10% if they gain or lose. Pregnant cats and cats with health conditions need a plan from your vet.
Daily wet food chart by cat weight
For a spayed or neutered adult eating only wet food, using a typical 3 oz can (79 kcal) and a typical 5.5 oz can (159 kcal) from the cans we compare.
| Cat weight | Calories a day | 3 oz cans | 5.5 oz cans |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 lb (2.3 kg) | 155 | 2 | 1 |
| 6 lb (2.7 kg) | 178 | 2¼ | 1 |
| 7 lb (3.2 kg) | 200 | 2½ | 1¼ |
| 8 lb (3.6 kg) | 221 | 2¾ | 1½ |
| 9 lb (4.1 kg) | 241 | 3 | 1½ |
| 10 lb (4.5 kg) | 261 | 3¼ | 1¾ |
| 11 lb (5 kg) | 280 | 3½ | 1¾ |
| 12 lb (5.4 kg) | 299 | 3¾ | 2 |
| 13 lb (5.9 kg) | 318 | 4 | 2 |
| 14 lb (6.4 kg) | 336 | 4¼ | 2 |
| 15 lb (6.8 kg) | 354 | 4½ | 2¼ |
| 16 lb (7.3 kg) | 371 | 4¾ | 2¼ |
How this feeding calculator works
We start from your cat’s resting energy need, the number of calories needed just to stay alive at rest. Vets work it out as 70 × body weight in kilograms raised to the power of 0.75. A 10 lb cat comes to about 218 calories.
That number is then scaled for life stage: about 1.2× for a spayed or neutered adult, 1.4× for an intact adult, 2× to 3× for a growing kitten, and less for weight loss. Divide by the calories in your can and you have cans per day.
Questions about feeding wet cat food
How many cans of wet food should a cat eat a day?
A typical 10 lb spayed or neutered adult needs about 261 calories a day. That is roughly 3¼ of a typical 3 oz can (79 kcal) or 1¾ of a typical 5.5 oz can (159 kcal), if wet food is all it eats.
Is one can of wet food a day enough for a cat?
Usually not, if wet food is the only food. A 3 oz can has roughly 50 to 120 calories, while a 6 to 14 lb adult cat needs about 180 to 340 a day. One can a day works as part of a mixed wet and dry diet.
How much wet food should a kitten eat?
Kittens need two to three times as many calories as an adult of the same weight. Choose “Kitten” in the calculator and use a food labeled for growth or all life stages.
How do I split wet and dry food?
Move the “Share from wet food” slider to the part of daily calories you want from wet food. The calculator shows the cans for that share and the cups of dry food for the rest.
How often should I feed my cat wet food?
Two to four meals a day suits most cats. The calculator divides the daily amount by the number of meals you choose.