Consulted the vet already... not a big help

greenvillegal

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My vet is very nice and does seem to genuinely care for her patients (she called me personally to talk about my cat and she's also called my boyfriend to check on his cat after he was sick), but I don't think they have a good knowledge of food there.

After some suggestions from here (thanks sharky) to consult with my vet about a diet change to try to get my biggest guy to lose some weight, I did call the vet. I had a tech call me back and suggest that I try their prescription food. (Hill's of course) She said that they had lots of animals have success on it, and that it was healthy, blah blah blah. I told her that I was thinking about switching to wet food and she told me that it's not as healthy because they will get bad plaque/tartar build up on their teeth and the fat content was too high. I told her I was going to put a premium dry food in the mix. She said to go ahead and try it, but if it doesn't work we should put them on prescription.

I just feel like she contradicted everything I had learned here. I am feeding each cat 1 pouch of Meow Mix in the am and one pouch in the pm, and about 1/4-1/2 cup of Blue Spa dry goes in their bowls each day for in between and at night. If anyone wants to provide feedback on this plan, I'd really appreciate it!
 

kitytize

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I wish you luck. I have been unsuccessful getting my obese cat to lose weight on canned diet. I really do not know what else to do.
 

mschauer

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Originally Posted by greenvillegal

I just feel like she contradicted everything I had learned here. I am feeding each cat 1 pouch of Meow Mix in the am and one pouch in the pm, and about 1/4-1/2 cup of Blue Spa dry goes in their bowls each day for in between and at night. If anyone wants to provide feedback on this plan, I'd really appreciate it!
I could well be wrong but that sounds like a bit too much food per cat to me. I would think cut out 1 of the wet meals and cut back the amount of dry. How much do your cats weight now and what are their target weights?

For each of my 3 average size kitties 3 oz of wet and 1/4 cup of dry per day is sufficient.

Oh yeah, and I wouldn't ever leave food down all day if you are trying to get one to lose weight. He will just keep nibbling on all day and overeat.
 

diego

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Originally Posted by mschauer

I could well be wrong but that sounds like a bit too much food per cat to me. I would think cut out 1 of the wet meals and cut back the amount of dry. How much do your cats weight now and what are their target weights?

For each of my 3 average size kitties 3 oz of wet and 1/4 cup of dry per day is sufficient.

Oh yeah, and I wouldn't ever leave food down all day if you are trying to get one to lose weight. He will just keep nibbling on all day and overeat.
Quality dry food, they only need 3 Tablespoons per meal, 2 meals a day = 6 Tablespoons. I only ever feed more than that if they are severely underweight, such as Ryu was. Now he is on his 3T meals.
 

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I feed my cats 1/4 can, thats right, only 1/4 can each in the am.
Noon they get 3 tablespoons of dry.
Night they get the other 1/4 can each-one can a day for two cats.
Evening snack some dry mixed with human tuna.

Basically that's the rule, I sometimes change it.

They were getting stomachs that were hanging, I was feeding them way too much previously because they were bored and always wanted food.

A cat's stomach is the size of a quarter, they really don't need much.

They don't need to eat much if they are getting the proper nutrients too, a quality food would be sufficient. If they are on a diet of meat by-products, they will ALWAYS be hungry.
 

mschauer

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Originally Posted by DIEGO

Quality dry food, they only need 3 Tablespoons per meal, 2 meals a day = 6 Tablespoons. I only ever feed more than that if they are severely underweight, such as Ryu was. Now he is on his 3T meals.
That sounds about the same as what I am feeding. I'm guessing 3 T dry would equal about 1/4 cup. And I should have said I feed a "sparse 1/4 cup".
 
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greenvillegal

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Oh wow... thanks for the input! I am now going to throw a teaspoon measuring spoon into my dry food container to replace the huge 1.5 cup one that came with the container! Holy cow!

Also, I am probably going to switch to by nature's wet food, either the cans or the packs, which probably have more nutrients than Meow Mix and will hopefully fill them up. I will give this a try.

Thanks for everyone's inputs.
 

mschauer

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Originally Posted by greenvillegal

Oh wow... thanks for the input! I am now going to throw a teaspoon measuring spoon into my dry food container to replace the huge 1.5 cup one that came with the container! Holy cow!
Tablespoon not teaspoon! Poor dears would certainly lose weight on only a few teaspoons of food.
 
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greenvillegal

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Oh crap! Right! Tablespoon! That's what I meant to type. Now that I see how much people feed in those terms, it really shows that my cats are overeating. I need to get them used to this new feeding schedule asap!
 

4meezers3kids

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It has always been my experience that the prescription diet manufacturers tell you about double what you need to feed.

Mine (non-IBD) get 2 cans of grain-free per day, divided 3 ways ... and 2 TBS of dry per day. So, like 2/3 of a 5.5 oz can.

IBD boy gets 2 - 3 cans of Fancy Feast -- they are 3 oz each. He is 13 and only 7 lb ... low metabolism.
 
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greenvillegal

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Oh I think the non-prescription manufacturers overestimate how much you should feed too. If I fed my cats what Meow Mix recommends, for example, there's no way they would even be hungry enough to eat it all. Ok, so I'm going to try:

1 pouch by Nature in AM
1.5 tbsp. Blue Spa for during the day
1 pouch by Nature in PM
1.5 tbsp. Blue Spa for during the night

After a month I will weigh in and see how they're doing. I may take off the PM pouch if no results in 4 weeks.
 

sharky

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quick GENERAL rule of thumb...

one/half to one ounce per lb of wet .. typically 10lb cats eat about 6-8 oz if wet only

1/2 cup dry for a 10lb cat

so a combo 1/4 cup dry and 3oz wet per day... A HEAPING tablespoon is about one ounce of wet ... dry a 1/4 cup = about an oz of most premiums as most are 4-5 oz per std cup

use there IDEAL wts when figuring
 

jen

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Just a quick FYI to the OP, vets rarely have any knowledge about pet foods. Majority of them just push the crap that they sell in their store which is usually Science Diet and Iams. I would touch that stuff with a 10 foot pole. Vets are not nutritionists. I would never ask them for their opinion or recommendations on food.
 

ddcats

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Originally Posted by mschauer

What size can are you talking about here?
Between two cats, they get 1/4 can each in morn and 1/4 can at night. I guess 1/4 can is equal to two level tablespoons. If I give them more (I learned my lesson) they will vomit. I have cheated and given them more so I wouldn't have to feed them so soon at their next feeding and one of them will vomit.

One cat weighs 12 lbs. and the other 13.5 lbs.

Gee, how much can a cat eat? A dog can eat like garbage disposal and never vomit.
 

ddcats

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Originally Posted by Jen

Just a quick FYI to the OP, vets rarely have any knowledge about pet foods. Majority of them just push the crap that they sell in their store which is usually Science Diet and Iams. I would touch that stuff with a 10 foot pole. Vets are not nutritionists. I would never ask them for their opinion or recommendations on food.
Right! They know nothing about food, they are not nutritionists. I won't mention the brand of dog food my vet told me to use when I was dumb at one time about food. It had all sorts of food color in it.
 
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greenvillegal

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Originally Posted by sharky

quick GENERAL rule of thumb...

one/half to one ounce per lb of wet .. typically 10lb cats eat about 6-8 oz if wet only

1/2 cup dry for a 10lb cat

so a combo 1/4 cup dry and 3oz wet per day... A HEAPING tablespoon is about one ounce of wet ... dry a 1/4 cup = about an oz of most premiums as most are 4-5 oz per std cup

use there IDEAL wts when figuring
Now I've got it! Thanks, that really puts it in perspective! I just need to be convinced that they won't starve! Would 3oz of wet equal like one by Nature pouch or Meow Mix pouch?
 
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