Cat Feeding Schedule by Age: Kittens, Adults and Seniors

Cats are natural grazers. Left to their own devices, a cat may eat ten or more tiny meals a day, which is very different from the one or two big bowls most households serve. How often you should feed depends on age: a growing kitten needs frequent meals, a healthy adult does well on a couple of measured meals, and a senior cat often does best with small portions spread through the day.

This guide covers a typical feeding schedule for each life stage, roughly how many calories a cat needs, and the points where it is worth asking your vet for advice. As always, treat it as a starting point and adjust for your own cat.

Cat feeding schedule by age at a glance

These are typical patterns, not rules. Some adult cats thrive on three small meals, and some seniors need more frequent feeding because they struggle to eat much at once.

Kittens: frequent meals for fast growth

Kittens grow quickly and have small stomachs, so they need several meals a day of a diet formulated for growth. Look for a food labelled as meeting AAFCO nutrient standards for growth or all life stages. The AAFCO nutrient profiles used on many pet food labels include separate requirements for growth and reproduction and for adult maintenance. Adult food does not meet a kitten's needs.

Kittens under about four weeks old depend on their mother's milk or a kitten milk replacer, and orphaned kittens need veterinary guidance. Cow's milk is not a suitable substitute. From around four weeks, kittens start to explore solid food, and by about eight weeks most are eating it reliably.

As a rough guide, growing kittens use about two and a half times their resting energy, which is a higher multiple than any other life stage. Because kittens differ and the multiplier shrinks as they mature, this is an estimate you should check against weekly weigh-ins and your vet's growth checks.

Most cats are ready to move to an adult diet at around 12 months. Some larger breeds, such as the Maine Coon, keep growing for longer and may need a growth diet well beyond a year. Your vet can tell you when to switch. When you do, change the food gradually over a week or more, as described in our guide to switching foods safely (the same principle applies to cats).

Young adult cats: the neutering effect

Between roughly six and twelve months, most cats are neutered or spayed. Neutering lowers energy needs while often increasing appetite, and this is one of the most common times for cats to start gaining weight. The usual multiplier for a neutered adult cat is about 1.2 times resting energy, compared with about 1.4 for an intact adult.

Adult cats: two measured meals, or several small ones

For a healthy adult, two meals a day, roughly 12 hours apart, works well for many households and fits a routine. What matters more than the number of meals is the total amount. Free feeding a bowl of dry food all day is convenient but makes overeating easy, and indoor cats are particularly prone to weight gain.

Here is what the formula gives for adult cats (RER = 70 x weight in kg to the power of 0.75), rounded to the nearest 1 kcal so they match the feeding calculator exactly. Starting point, not veterinary advice.

To convert calories into a portion, divide by the calories in your cat's food, which you will find on the label or the manufacturer's website. A 4 kg neutered cat needs about 238 kcal a day. Starting point, not veterinary advice. That is roughly 280 g of a wet food with 85 kcal per 100 g, or about 64 g of a dry food at 370 kcal per 100 g. The feeding calculator does the conversion for you, and splits it across the meals you choose.

If your cat needs to lose weight, enter their current weight and choose the weight-loss goal (kittens use their growth number instead). For a weight-loss target, ask your vet. Cats that lose weight too quickly, or stop eating, can develop a serious liver condition, so weight loss in cats should be gradual and supervised.

Senior cats: small, appetising meals

Cats are considered seniors once they are over 10 years old (the AAHA/AAFP life stage guidelines). At this stage some cats lose weight and muscle, while others keep gaining. Dental disease, kidney disease, hyperthyroidism and arthritis are all common and can change appetite and how much a cat can eat comfortably.

Offer smaller, more frequent meals, warm wet food slightly to bring out the aroma, and make sure water and food are easy to reach. The energy multiplier for seniors is approximate and varies widely, around 1.2 times resting energy for a typical healthy senior, which is why regular weigh-ins matter more than any formula. A sudden change in appetite, thirst or weight is a reason to see your vet rather than to change the food yourself. The Cornell Feline Health Center has helpful articles on feline nutrition and senior cat care.

Wet food, dry food and water

Cats have a low natural thirst drive and evolved to get much of their water from prey. Wet food contains far more water than dry, which is one reason many vets like to include some wet food, though dry food can also be part of a good diet. If you feed dry food, make fresh water available in more than one spot, and consider a fountain if your cat likes to drink from moving water.

Tips that make any schedule work

• Weigh your cat every month or two, and keep a record.
• Measure food rather than guessing; a kitchen scale beats a scoop.
• Count treats toward the daily total, keeping them to about 10 percent of calories.
• Use puzzle feeders or scatter feeding to give indoor cats something to hunt for.
• In multi-cat homes, feed separately so that each cat eats their own portion.
• Keep a consistent routine; cats like predictability.

Keeping track without the guesswork

A schedule only works if it is followed, and in busy households the common problem is not knowing whether someone has already fed the cat. PetKira sends feeding reminders, lets everyone in your household log meals, and builds meal plans around your cat's weight and real eating history. You can download PetKira for Android with a free trial and no credit card, and iPhone is coming soon.