Help Feeding My Cats

Hello All.

I have two 9 month old cats, one boy, one girl, both are 13 pounds. Snarf (the boy) is in very good shape because he's a fair bit larger than Peekaboo (the girl). Peekaboo weighs as much as Snarf does and definatley carrying some extra weight. I would really like to help her get down to a better weight, but am unsure of how to do this.

They are on a diet of Raw Instinct dry (just finished switching them over to it), and then some wet additionally at night for dinner. Obviously there are feeding guidelines, but I'm really not sure of the quantity since they eat both wet and dry.

Can someone suggest a possible diet regimen that will help her get back to a more target weight?

We need to know a few more facts first. Are they still being fed twice a day? as kittens up to 12 months need 2 meals per day. If you're not I would give perhaps the wet food in the morning - 1/2 the recommended, & the dry at nite - 1/2 the rec. If you want to give both together give 1/4 wet/dry at each meal. Are they the same brand? Some pet foods give guidelines for feeding wet/dry together & appropriate amounts. Does she sneek his food? If so feed separately & remove any food not eaten.

I see that you are feeding them Raw Instinct dry food. I'm not sure what brand that you are feeing in wet (or if the wet is Raw), but if you go to the Nature's Variety website, they have a useful feeding guidelines calculator that may help you in answering this question. The link is below:

http://www.naturesvariety.com/ifc.lasso?r=1739647

Hope that helps!

They are fed two times a day.

In the morning, they each get a half cup of dry.
When I get home from work, they each get another half cup of dry, and they split a 6oz can of wet.

For the most part the dry is always pretty much gone both times before each refill. As far as the wet is concerned, I leave it out for about an hour at night (They won't touch it if it sits out any longer than that), and the both of them bearly eat half of it.

So I guess I feel like I'm not overfeeding them especially since they never eat all their wet, so I'm really not sure why she's pudgy at all.

They are young, but given their size I think they are ready for more of an "adult" portion, rather than the xtra large "kitten" portions. I think 1 cup of Raw Instinct per day per cat is too much. Yes, they finish it...but cats generally lean on dry if it is available. Wet is better for them...but kibble just tastes so darn good they can't resist.

With the feeding calculator that linus4lola linked to, an "active" 13lb cat has a recommended daily ration of 3/4c Raw Instict, if that is the only food they get.

If you want to go 50/50 dry and wet, then it's less...more like 3/8c per day plus 4-5oz wet (assuming your using NVP canned or something of similar caloric content)

If you want to go 75/25 dry and wet, then it's 5/8c per day plus 2-3 oz wet. That seems like maybe a good place to start. They can still split the can at night, but just put less dry out for them...almost half as much. To get them more enthused about the wet food, I would suggest giving them their dry breakfast (full daily amount)...then when you get home give them the wet food. Or in the morning give them MOST of their dry, then wet when you get home, then they could have the small remaining bit of dry before bed or something. Just an idea.

When you use the calculator, enter your females "target" weight, instead of her current weight...to help determine an appropriate amount for her. It's just a guide, but one of the better ones I've seen. Not every cat is the same so there may be some adjustment needed.

Her metabolism is probably slower than the boy, plus she's getting a lot of a high quality, high calorie food. It's great food, but I would serve less of it. She may be eating some of the boy's food too.

That sounds great, I think I'll start doing the 5/8 each a day as far as the dry is concerned.

Only problem is this. Tonight for example, I put out the wet and they basically just nibbled at it a few times. It's been out for over an hour and they haven't really touched much of it (and they won't at this point). I feel like if I don't give them a little more dry, they will basically go hungry now.

How can I transition them over to eating more of the wet food?

Beandip gave you lots of good information. I really have nothing to add. Here is a link to a great web site with good information about cat nutrition in general plus tips for transitioning cats from dry to wet food.

http://www.catinfo.org/

Good luck finding an appropriate diet to help your kitties maintain a good weight.