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Cat Calorie & Feeding Calculator
Daily calories from AAHA’s formula, turned into cups of dry or cans of wet food, plus the water your cat needs.
Ideal weight if your cat needs to lose weight.
Turn calories into cups and cans (optional)
Labels list calories per cup, per can or per kg.
Only used to estimate water from the food.
Enter your cat’s weight and status, then press Calculate. You get a daily calorie range and the water a cat needs. Open the optional box to turn calories into cups and cans.
- Free, no sign-up
- AAHA 2021 formula
- Cups, cans and water
- Maine Coon sizes
A neutered adult cat needs about 1.2 to 1.4 times its resting energy, which is 70 x (weight in kg)^0.75 calories a day. That is 261 to 305 kcal for a 10 lb cat and 354 to 413 kcal for a 15 lb cat, and it is a starting point: AAHA’s 2021 guidelines call the factors general guidelines and say to adjust by monitoring body weight and body condition.
How the calorie number is worked out
AAHA’s 2021 nutrition guidelines give two steps. First, resting energy requirement: RER = body weight in kg to the power 0.75, times 70. Second, daily energy = RER times a life stage factor. The feline factors are below; the calculator uses exactly these.
| Life stage or status (cat) | Factor times RER |
|---|---|
| Neutered adult | 1.2 to 1.4 |
| Intact adult | 1.4 to 1.6 |
| Inactive or prone to obesity | 1 |
| Weight loss (on ideal weight) | 0.8 |
| Growing kitten | 2.5 |
| Pregnant (gestation) | 1.6 to 2 |
| Nursing (lactation) | 2 to 6 |
AAHA 2021 Nutrition and Weight Management Guidelines, Box 1. The guidelines add that sedentary and indoor pets may need less than these factors give. For weight loss, base the calculation on the ideal weight.
How much water does a cat need?
Hill’s Pet Nutrition puts a healthy cat’s water need at around 50 mL per kg of body weight per day. Water in food counts toward it, and food matters: Cornell’s Feline Health Center says canned cat food has a moisture content of at least 75 percent while dry food contains between six and 10 percent water. So a cat on wet food gets a large share of its water from the dish, and a cat on dry food has to drink almost all of it.
Maine Coon sizes
Because the formula scales with weight to the power 0.75, a bigger cat needs more food but not in proportion to its weight. For a neutered adult, a 10 lb cat works out at 261 to 305 kcal, a 15 lb cat at 354 to 413 kcal and a 20 lb cat at 439 to 512 kcal. The Cat Fanciers’ Association says a mature male Maine Coon is not unusual at 20 pounds or more, and the breed can take up to three years to reach full growth, so a young Maine Coon is still on the kitten factor of 2.5 for part of that time and your vet will say when to move on. For a heavy cat that needs to lose weight, use the ideal weight in the box above, not the current weight.
Reading the food label
Look for kcal per cup on dry food and kcal per can on wet food (some labels give kcal per kg instead; divide by about 2.2 for kcal per pound). Enter those in the optional box and the calculator turns your daily range into cups and cans. When you feed both, it splits calories by the share you choose (50 percent if you leave it blank). Treats should stay under 10 to 15 percent of daily calories, according to Cornell.
Questions
How much should I feed my cat a day?
For a neutered adult it is about 1.2 to 1.4 times the resting energy of 70 x kg^0.75 calories (AAHA 2021). A 10 lb cat is roughly 261 to 305 kcal. Adjust by body condition.
How much wet food should I feed my cat?
Enter the kcal per can from the label in the optional box. The calculator divides your cat’s daily calories by it. Our longer guide covers portion rules: see how much wet food to feed a cat.
How much water should a cat drink?
Around 50 mL per kg per day in total, including the water in food. A 10 lb cat is about 227 mL, roughly 7.7 fl oz. Wet food supplies much of that.
Do kittens need more food?
Per kilogram, yes. AAHA uses a growth factor of 2.5 times RER for kittens, against 1.2 to 1.4 for neutered adults. Your vet will tell you when to change.
More cat calculators
Related guides
- How much wet food to feed a cat
- Dry cat food vs wet cat food
- Best food for a Maine Coon
- Best diet plans for Maine Coon cats
Sources
- AAHA 2021 Nutrition and Weight Management Guidelines, Box 1 “Energy Requirement Calculations” (RER, feline life stage factors), read 27 October 2026.
- Cornell University Feline Health Center, “Feeding Your Cat” (moisture of canned and dry food; treat limit), read 27 October 2026.
- Hill’s Pet Nutrition, water page (“around 50 ml per kg bodyweight per day”), read 27 October 2026. Hill’s sells pet food.
- Cat Fanciers’ Association, Maine Coon breed page (size and maturity), read 27 October 2026.
General information, not veterinary advice. Cats with medical conditions, and pregnant or nursing cats, need a plan from a vet.