Higher quality food making cats thinner?

I HAD been feeding my cats strictly Purina Cat Chow Advanced Nutrition. First five ingredients being POULTRY BY-PRODUCT MEAL, CORN MEAL, CORN GLUTEN MEAL, GROUND WHOLE WHEAT, BREWERS RICE. Yes, I do realize this is not the BEST food choice, but better then some by far. My cats all did well on this. Healthy, good weight, silky soft coat and most importantly, they were happy.

THEN... I started to mix a bag of Nutrience Adult Original Maintenance Cat Food in with a bag of Purina Cat Chow Advanced Nutrition.

Nutrience Adult Original Maintenance Cat Food's first five ingredients are CHICKEN MEAL, GROUND CORN, CHICKEN FAT, BREWERS RICE, DRIED BEET PULP. From what I have read this is a good quality cat food (again- not the best!) and my vet and other people (including a few breeders) have also agreed that it is a good food.

I figured that by mixing the two that my cats would get some more good out of what they were eating. I was originally going to completely stop the Purina Cat Chow but when I saw that they were picking around the Nutrience I decided to continue mixing them in the hopes they would atleast pick at the Nutrience by accident. This was four months ago and since then they have been eating both the Nutrience and Purina and don't seem to "mind it" but they still try to leave the Nutrience to last. HOWEVER, I have noticed that my cats are loseing weight. Not unhealthy by any means but definately not what I would call adequate. My cats are healthy, regularly vet checked and vaccinated and are parasite/worm free. Their activity levels have increased and other then being what I would call a little thin they are fine.

Could their weight loss have to do with eating the Nurtience cat food?? At first I was wondering if maybe it "looked" like they were loseing weight because more hair is coming out now that it is spring. But I can feel the difference in weight when I pick them up and by just looking at them I can tell they are thinner.

Should I be concerned about this??

BTW- I do free feed. I only put out the amount each cat should be getting daily plus a little extra so I do not over feed. At the end of the day they still have a small amount of food left over.

Thanks in advance

can you give the% protein of each food?? fat% and total calories??
my suggestion would be to weigh the kittys and compare it to what is known.... it could be shedding

increased activity may = need a bit more food

Thanks for your reply
I was thinking that maybe because of the increased energy that they may need more food as well but there is always food left over at the end of the day and I never leave their bowl empty any ways as I believe that they should get to eat if they are hungry (just as I would, lol).

Purina
% crude protein min= 34
% crude fat min= 13

Nutrience
% crude protein min= 30
% crude fat min= 20

Thanks again

well looking at this I actually think the new food likesly has a bit higher calorie level and it may just be a increase need

It's good to get away from anything with "by-product" in it. By-product pretty much means they put the entire animal in a blender, fleathers, hooves, and all. Sounds pretty sick doesn't it?!

My cats lost weight as soon as I put them on Nutro. They eat less too!

Originally Posted by EnzoLeya

By-product pretty much means they put the entire animal in a blender, fleathers, hooves, and all. Sounds pretty sick doesn't it?!

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As long as the animal is not spoiled or a downer, it should be fine. It only sounds disgusting if the person mistakenly thinks his cat to be a fellow human.

Originally Posted by yiplong

As long as the animal is not spoiled or a downer, it should be fine. It only sounds disgusting if the person mistakenly thinks his cat to be a fellow human.

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You will find MANY on here HAVE done LOTS of RESEARCH and will disagree with you....

Originally Posted by sharky

You will find MANY on here HAVE done LOTS of RESEARCH and will disagree with you....

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May I ask which laboratory or university do they work for? Anecdotes, hearsays, and believing byproducts are bad for one's cats are not research.

Originally Posted by yiplong

May I ask which laboratory or university do they work for? Anecdotes, hearsays, and believing byproducts are bad for one's cats are not research.

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RESEARCH... Lots of it out there will pt you in a direction ... ie can you tell me how by products arrive at a pet food company?? I can ... Do you know where it came from ( ie a chicken that was freshly parted>>??)... I have done this kind of stuff for over a decade many on here have a few decades on me ... by products= mystery meat ... some companies do tell EXACTLY what is in their s but 99% dont or cant... DO a search on this site and youll see many opinions

Back to OP ...

does the bag a calorie level ??