How Much Wet Food to Feed a Cat

Dry kibble is far more calorie-dense than wet food — often 300–400 kcal per cup versus under 100 kcal per wet pouch — so a correct dry portion is usually a small fraction of a cup, not a heaping scoop. Use the same daily-kcal number from the calculator above and divide by your bag's kcal-per-cup figure, which is on the feeding-guide panel of the bag.

A lot more per pound than an adult cat. AAHA/AAFP's guidelines put a 10-week-old kitten's need at around 200 kcal per kg of body weight per day, tapering to about 80 kcal/kg by 10 months as growth slows. Pick "Kitten" and set the age slider above — the calculator interpolates between those two published points.

All three are workable, and the right call usually comes down to your cat's hydration, weight trend, and what they'll actually eat — that's a conversation for your vet, not something this page decides for you. If you do split wet and dry, the "Mixed" option above lets you set what share of the day's calories comes from each, so the two portions add up to the same daily total instead of silently overfeeding.

Because a cup or a can isn't a fixed amount of energy — a 5.5 oz pâté can and a 5.5 oz pouch of gravy-based food can differ by 100+ kcal, and dry foods vary just as much by brand. The kcal figure on your label (sometimes called "metabolizable energy") is what actually determines portion size, which is why the math has to start there instead of from a generic chart.