calories versus carbohydrates in dry food

moggiegirl

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Is it better to feed a fat cat a weight control or indoor cat food that has fewer calories per cup but more carbohydrates or a regular cat food that has more calories per cup but fewer carbohydrates?

I know the best solution is wet food only but I'm talking about a cat who eats limited amounts of wet. It's frustrating because I try so hard not to feed too much and he continues to gain weight. He's about 17 pounds now.
 

kittys mom

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IMHO, It's better to feed less of a regular food than more of a lite food.

The regular food is more satisfying to your cat.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by Kittys Mom

IMHO, It's better to feed less of a regular food than more of a lite food.

The regular food is more satisfying to your cat.
I agree... also add that canned is about 1/3 to 1/2 fewer calories for the same amount... to eat more wet

If you want to try a light/ indoor use one with L carnitine as this will aid in fat burning...

I take it he is gaining on the adult NC ??

I think the only one you havent tried would be like the human ZONE where protein fat and carbs are near =.... i do know of a few foods meeting that
 
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moggiegirl

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I'll try anything. But I think I still need to give it time since they haven't been on Nutro for very long. Right now I'm mixing the regular Nutro Natural Choice with the Indoor Nutro which contains L-carnitine because I don't know which formula would be better for him and feeding as much wet as he's willing to eat. I'm also trying to train him to walk on a leash for exercise. I've always had a problem with him being overweight but funny thing is when I adopted him from the shelter he was of normal weight with coarse fur. Now his fur is soft and shiny but his body is overweight and I don't even feed that much and I keep trying to reduce but without reducing too much food and I'm not successful.
 

littleraven7726

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Stimpy, my big guy, does better on regular food. I started trying senior and lite foods this year at the vets recommendation and I'm hoping he didn't gain weight since March.
I'm cutting the senior food I have left with reg adult of the same brand and pro plan senior 11+ (which is high calorie and 43% protein). He seems to have stopped obsessing at the food bowl and is eating less dry again. HE seems like he's always hungry on low cal foods. When I run out of Nutro Max adult I'm going to add Natural Balance Ultra back into the mix. There was much less barfing on it. I'm going to have to mix Nutro max senior for some time as I bought a big bag.


He also gets about 50% of his diet from canned food. I recently discovered he prefers NB and Nutro canned, so I'm buying him his own canned now.
The other 2 only want FF type canned foods. Hopefully by giving him his own canned food I can get him back to the amount I want him eating. Stimpy was eating a lot of dry this summer when I was having problems getting Raven to eat anything at all.

ETA: Stimpy is 17 lbs, and has been pretty steady at that weight for 4 years or so.
 

icklemiss21

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Mine have done better on weight loss on a low carb higher calorie food, as less of the food provides all the energy they need and they don't 'store' protein the same as carbs.
 
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