Confused about cat's weight

kittiei

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I posted here a couple of weeks ago about switching my cats to a mostly wet food diet. Thank you for everybody's replies. I have two cats, when I started them on this new diet, Tulip weighed 16 pounds and Pansy was 13. I've been giving them Iams wet food, 1/4 can each twice a day and some weight control dry food from the vet's office, 1/3 of a cup each per day (1/2 of that in the morning and 1/2 before I go to bed). Well I just weighed Tulip and she now weighs 18 pounds.

Is it normal for them to gain some weight before they start losing? Or is this diet not working? Tulip seems to have more energy, she's running around more but she's clearly over-weight. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
 

cloud_shade

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Was Tulip weighed on the same scale? Sometimes different scales will give different readings (particularly if you're doing the at home method of weighing yourself plus the cat and subtracting your weight). Also, is there a possibility that Tulip could be sneaking into Pansy's bowl?
 
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kittiei

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Weight control foods add pounds?? That's crazy. Is there a different dry food you would recommend then? She was weighed on the same scale but it's quite possible that it's off by a couple of pounds (I've always found the scale a bit suspect when weighing myself
) but that would just mean that she hasn't lost any weight at all.

It's also likely that she's sneaking some dry food from Pansy's bowl but not much. I sit and watch them eat the wet food and if Pansy doesn't finish, I take it away. Since I'm gone during the day, and can't come home for lunch, I didn't really want to take away their dry food all day as well (though I'm sure they finish it before lunch anyways).
 

greenvillegal

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I used a weight control food from the vet for the longest time too, and my cat just put on pounds and put on pounds. Finally I said "screw this, this expensive prescription only food isn't working," and I just switched them to a regular dry. Now I'm on a wet diet.

Weight control foods beef up their food with a lot of carbs, which is why your cat gained weight. Cats only need about 3% carbs in their diet. They get their energy from meat. Wet food has a lot of water that fills them up and has a lot less carbs in it. I have seen a lot of people talk about Evo and Wellness, two dry foods that I am going to supplement a wet diet with. For wet, try something like Meow Mix.
 
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kittiei

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Thanks so much for the information. I'd like to try switching to EVO dry food, does anyone know where I might buy it in Canada (Lethbridge, Alberta to be specific - only about 2 hours from Calgary if that helps)? Would you say that Meow Mix is a better wet food than Iams? My kitties love the Iams (the entrees, not chunks with gravy) and I've read that the first ingredient on the label should be meat and that's what Iams has.
 
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kittiei

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Yes, we had that pet food scare as well. But the contaminated food was only the chunks and gravy stuff and since my cats won't eat that anyways, they were safe
 

greenvillegal

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Yeah. I liked the Iams dry until I found out it was filled with carbohydrates. I may check out the wet myself and see how it compares price wise.

What I usually do is go to a food's website and see if they have nutritional information listed. If they don't, I'll email them and ask them about carbohydrates. Meow Mix just sent me a couple coupons and a ton of printouts showing detailed carb info. All of the cups and pouches had low carbs. I might actually switch to the pouches because they are a little cheaper (cheaper to package probably than those fancy cups) and they had lower carbs overall.
 

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My cats gained a lot of weight on EVO because it's high in calories. I have the same struggle. Right now my cats are on a mix of various wet foods and Royal Canin Beauty and Fit and during summer season I mix in intense hairball because of their hairball issues. Beauty and Fit has calorie control and 37% protein and 15% fat and it's very rare to find that in a dry food for weight control so that's what I'm using. I figure the higher the protein percentage the lower the carbs. But dry food is not the best option for weight control. Wet food is more effective and so is exercise and be patient because it takes time. You might try limiting their dry food to 1/4 of a cup per cat and if you can get your cats to eat more wet you can reduce the dry even further so they actually share 1/4 of a cup of dry so 1/8 of a cup per cat. It's hard with my cats because my fattest cat prefers dry and picks at his wet.
 

kitytize

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I actually have the same problem with one of my cats. Cala my obese cat was 17lbs. and can't clean her rear end. I put her on wet 3 times a day but she hardly eats. She eats 1 ounce or less. So I give her a 1/4 cup of dry at night. The first month she lost one pound. So I continued on this routine but the second month she did not lose but did not gain either.

Now I am feeding her wet 2 times a day and she still barely eats it. Then she cries at night for her dry food. I am currently giving her California Dry but I am wanting to switch her to a lower carb dry. Here is a link where you can compare dry foods, they give Protein, fat, carbs and calories. This info is from as fed so is more accurate than the guaranteed analysis.

http://www.geocities.com/jmpeerson/dryfood.html?200717
 
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kittiei

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Thanks so much, that's an excellent link. From what I can see the Natura California Natural Chicken and Rice looks like the best. Lower calories and carbs. So maybe I'll give that a try.

I only give my cats a bit of dry food so that they have a bit to munch on while I'm at work all day and then during the night. Tulip whines all the time for food, but she did before I changed her diet anyways. She'll pretty much eat anything, Pansy is the picky one. I think I'll cut them back to 1/4 cup of dry food each and maybe give them a bit more wet food, like 3/4 of a can each/day instead of 1/2 a can each?

This is all very confusing but I think I'm getting it. Thanks again!
 

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That sounds like a good plan. Odo is my chubby boy and he gets half a can of food in the morning and the other half at night. When I remember, I give him a very small amount of dry (about 1/8 of a cup) on a plate before bedtime. That way he has to eat the dry more slowly so he has a chance to feel full, and he doesn't wake up quite so early in the morning. During the day, he doesn't get any snacks. I bought a postal scale to weigh him on, and this routine has him maintaining his weight.
 

ladycat

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my friends cat lost 3 lbs just doing wet food and a few crunchies as a snack. I saw on some website not to long ago about Iams doing animal testing and not in the does you cat or dog enjoy it type way. I was terrible, someone had gone undercover with a camera.
 

moggiegirl

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Originally Posted by ladycat

this isn't that same site that I remembered but
http://www.uncaged.co.uk/iams.htm
I reccommend looking at both sides of the story. www.iamstruth.com If this was totally true I don't think they would have the ASPCA's support. Even undercover camera stories can be twisted to look like something else if it was taken from a lab not linked to Iams studies.
 
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