How Much Raw Food Should I Feed My Cat per Day? Grams by Body Weight, Bone Ratio Targets and Portioning for Multi-Cat Homes

Short answer: Most adult cats eat 2–4% of their body weight in raw food per day, which works out to roughly 20–30 g per kilogram of body weight. A 5 kg (11 lb) adult cat typically needs 100–150 g daily, split into two meals. Kittens need 6–10%. Weigh portions on a kitchen scale — cups guess badly with frozen raw.

Key takeaway: Start a healthy adult cat at 2.5% of body weight per day, then adjust up or down by 10–15% every two weeks based on body condition rather than appetite. Keep total bone content near 8–10% of the diet so calcium and phosphorus stay balanced, and in multi-cat homes portion each cat separately on a gram scale instead of free-feeding a shared bowl. You can shop raw cat food in North York in frozen medallions, nuggets and tubs that make gram-level portioning simple.

How much raw food to feed a cat per day, in grams by body weight

A healthy adult cat needs 2–4% of its body weight in fresh raw food daily, with 2.5% being the most common maintenance starting point for a neutered indoor cat. That means about 25 g of food per kilogram of cat. Highly active, young, or underweight cats sit closer to 3.5–4%; sedentary seniors often do well at 2%.

Here's how that translates in practice, using a 2.5% starting point with a range on either side:

• 3 kg (6.6 lb) small adult cat — 60–90 g per day, roughly 30–45 g per meal twice daily
• 4 kg (8.8 lb) adult cat — 80–120 g per day
• 5 kg (11 lb) average adult cat — 100–150 g per day
• 6 kg (13.2 lb) large adult cat — 120–180 g per day
• 7 kg (15.4 lb) big-framed cat, e.g. Maine Coon — 140–210 g per day
• Kitten, 8–20 weeks — 6–10% of current body weight, fed across 3–4 meals

Cross-check those grams against calories. Most frozen raw cat formulas run 1.3–1.8 kcal per gram, so 125 g of a 1.5 kcal/g food delivers about 188 kcal. An average 5 kg indoor cat needs roughly 180–220 kcal per day for maintenance — the resting energy requirement formula used widely in veterinary nutrition (70 × body weight in kg^0.75) puts a 5 kg cat's resting needs near 234 kcal before an activity factor is applied, and neutered indoor cats are usually fed below that figure. The American Veterinary Medical Association notes that raw diets carry handling and pathogen considerations, so talk to your veterinarian before switching, especially if anyone in the household is immunocompromised.

Nutrient adequacy matters just as much as portion size. AAFCO nutrient profiles set the minimum for adult cat maintenance at 26% protein and 9% fat on a dry-matter basis, with 30% protein for growth and reproduction. Taurine minimums sit at 0.10% dry matter for extruded foods and 0.20% for wet or raw formats, because moist processing increases taurine loss. Any raw food you buy should carry a guaranteed analysis and a statement of nutritional adequacy — the 2026 AAFCO model regulation updates continue to require that labelling language for complete diets.

How much frozen raw does a 5 kg cat need per day?

A 5 kg cat needs about 125 g of frozen raw per day at a 2.5% feeding rate, with a working range of 100–150 g. If your brand uses 1 oz (28 g) medallions, that's roughly 4–5 medallions daily. With 100 g pucks, feed one and a quarter. Thaw only 24–48 hours' worth at a time in the fridge.

Precision here is worth the effort. Frozen raw is dense and irregular, so a scoop that looks like "half a cup" can vary by 40 g between servings. Our team recommends a flat digital kitchen scale with 1 g increments — set the thawed container on it, tare, and remove food until the display reads the negative of your target. Pet owners tell us this single habit fixed slow weight creep they'd been fighting for months.

What bone ratio should a raw cat diet have?

A complete raw cat diet typically follows an 80/10/5/5 framework: 80% muscle meat, 10% raw edible bone, 5% liver and 5% other secreting organ. That bone fraction supplies calcium, and the goal is a calcium-to-phosphorus ratio between roughly 1:1 and 1.3:1 — the balance range cited in feline nutrition literature indexed on NCBI/PubMed.

Cats are less tolerant of bone excess than dogs. Push edible bone above about 12–15% of the diet and you'll often see hard, pale, crumbly stools and straining; drop below roughly 6% and calcium runs short unless a mineral premix or eggshell calcium fills the gap. Ground formulas from Canadian producers usually target 8–10% bone precisely to sit in the comfortable middle.

Reading labels for bone content is easier than most people expect:

• Complete or "balanced" grinds — bone is already included at a set ratio; feed as-is, no supplementation needed
• Boneless or "meat only" grinds — these are toppers or base mixes and need added calcium plus organ, or they should stay under 20% of total intake
• Calcium in the guaranteed analysis — a complete adult cat food should show roughly 0.6–1.2% calcium on an as-fed basis for a 70%-moisture raw product
• Stool feedback — well-formed, slightly firmer-than-kibble stools that don't crumble into white powder indicate the bone level suits your cat

Two Canadian raw lines we stock take slightly different approaches, which matters when you're matching a cat to a format:

Is there a reliable raw cat food portion calculator for Canada?

You don't need an app — the arithmetic is one line. Multiply your cat's weight in kilograms by 25 to get grams per day at a 2.5% feeding rate, then divide by the number of meals. A 4.6 kg cat: 4.6 × 25 = 115 g per day, or about 58 g twice daily. Use 20 for sedentary seniors and 30–35 for active young adults.

If you prefer pounds, multiply body weight in pounds by 0.4 to get ounces per day at roughly 2.5%. An 11 lb cat lands at about 4.4 oz. Whichever unit you use, the number is a starting estimate, not a prescription. Weigh your cat every two weeks on the same scale and score body condition with the nine-point chart published by the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association and other veterinary bodies; a cat at 5/9 has a visible waist and easily felt ribs with light fat cover.

How do I portion raw food in a multi-cat household?

Feed multi-cat homes in separate, measured portions — never a shared communal bowl of raw. Weigh each cat's daily target individually, plate them in different rooms or at least two metres apart, and pick up bowls after 20–30 minutes. Raw shouldn't sit at room temperature longer than that, and separation is the only way to know who ate what.

In our store we see the same pattern constantly: a two-cat household where one cat is 6.8 kg and the other is 3.9 kg, both eating from one bowl, and the heavier cat is stealing 60% of the food. Splitting them solved it within eight weeks. A few practical tactics that work in small Toronto condos:

1. Batch-thaw by cat. Portion two days of food into labelled lidded containers per cat, so morning feeding is grab-and-plate.
2. Use height. Feed the lean cat on a cat tree shelf or counter and the heavier cat on the floor — vertical separation works when floor space is tight.
3. Stagger timing by 10 minutes if one cat eats slowly, and stay in the room until bowls are clear.
4. Track total household consumption weekly. If you bought 3 kg of raw and three cats should be eating 2.8 kg, the difference tells you something.

Should kittens and senior cats get different raw portions?

Yes. Kittens under six months eat 6–10% of body weight daily across 3–4 meals, tapering to about 4% by ten months and adult maintenance around 2.5–3% by twelve months. Seniors over eleven often need 2–2.5%, but lean senior cats losing muscle may need more food, not less. Never restrict a growing kitten.

A 1.5 kg twelve-week-old kitten eating 8% needs roughly 120 g per day — nearly as much as a 5 kg adult, which surprises new owners every time. Growth also demands the higher AAFCO growth profile: 30% protein dry matter minimum, plus adequate DHA for neural development. Choose a formula labelled for growth or all life stages, and browse our full cat food range if you need a kitten-appropriate option. For senior cats, added joint support with glucosamine and omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil can complement the diet — our cat health and wellness selection covers those, and the cat wellness needs guide breaks down what suits each life stage.

Practical next steps: tools, formats and transition timing

Switching to raw works best over 7–14 days, replacing 25% of the previous diet every three to four days while monitoring stool quality. Cats are neophobic about texture, so mixing a small amount of freeze-dried raw into current food is often a gentler entry point than going straight to frozen.

What to have ready before your first bag:

• A 1 g-increment digital scale — the single most useful raw-feeding tool
• Two sets of shallow ceramic or stainless bowls per cat, so one set is always clean; our bowls and feeders selection includes wide, whisker-friendly shapes
• Freezer-safe portion containers for batch thawing
• A freeze-dried transition food — shop freeze-dried cat food from Stella & Chewy's, Primal or Instinct Raw to bridge the texture gap
• Probiotics or a digestive supplement if your cat has a sensitive gut, plus a plan to check in with your vet

Our nutrition experts at the North York store walk through this math with customers most weekends — bring your cat's current weight and we'll calculate portions and show you which formats fit your freezer. When someone comes in with three cats and one bowl, that's the conversation we have first. You'll find us at 1111A Finch Ave W, Unit 2, North York, ON M3J 2P7 (open 7 AM to 11 PM daily); most GTA addresses can get same-day delivery through SkipTheDishes or a similar app.

One local reality worth planning for: during a January cold snap, indoor cats in GTA apartments with dry forced-air heat drink less and often benefit from the 65–75% moisture content raw naturally provides. That's part of why customers who switched for weight reasons stay for hydration. If you'd rather ease in with moisture from cans first, browse wet cat food, and see our food for specific needs guide for weight-management and sensitive-stomach options.