Switched to 100% Wet Food- Love the Results!

I converted my adult cat who used to NEVER touch wet food to 100% wet and the results have been awesome! My Kara was a cat who was abandoned when her owners moved so she was outside for a month or so when I took her in.

She's a petite cat and was at a healthy weight of 7 lbs. I thought Science Diet dry food was the best (the vet sells it so it must be good ) so I was feeding her that and she ballooned up to 9.5 lbs! She looked so round.

I found this website and I slowly switched her to Wellness canned food-- now she's at one feeding at 6am, 2nd feeding at 6pm. She has a super soft shiny coat and I weighed her today...... 7.5 lbs! yay!

I am a wet food convert and lovin' it! lol

Boy do people nee to see these posts. congrats on your success and thanks for rescuing!

That's such a great story! I feed Wellness canned and grain free dry at the same time. My cats have amazing coats, and the 19 year old is like an 11 year old, you would never know her age!

SweetKara-
Just an upfront note - What I'm about to say is not meant to lessen the great news you've shared. As optionken said, more people need to read - and seriously consider - your success. If they would, I'd bet that 75% of the posts on health problems here would disappear.

What I want to post is a caution about rapid weight loss in cats. Among all mamals, cats seem to be unique - when a cat's liver is forced to turn to body fat for "food", it "bites off more than it can chew"...it takes in more fat than it can process and absorbs the fat...this is the life-threatening condition called Hepatic Lipidosis. In this forum, we've just witnessed the loss of bran01's Punky to this.

So, for anyone intent on - or in the process of -reducing a cat's weight, Dr. Lisa Pierson, a Veterinarian and Feline nutrition expert gives some guidelines for safe weight loss on her website - she even suggests the use (purchase) of a baby scale to closely monitor the cat's weight, and the emphasis is on s - l - o - w and careful.

There are two sections on this...here and here.

Now, I have not done the math on your cat's weight loss - I'll leave that to you. It just appears to very fast...now, what's done is done, but, if it were I, I would be monitoring her weight carefully over the next while.

I have to tell you that I'm concerned about the (only) two meals a day - I have a feeling that may have been the major contributor to her weight loss. If it were I, (in your shoes, that is) I would "up" the number of meals.

There's a secondary reason for providing several small meals in a 24 hour period. Research indicates that small cats (as opposed to large cats, i.e. lions/tigers) not only do, but must eat several small meals over a 24 hour period. I say "must" because of how their systems are designed. Science has found that, when cats eat, their urine, which tends to be acidic, becomes more alkaline...this has been called the "post-prandial alkaline tide", and this natural occurrence helps to balance out the urine ph. If a cat is eating less frequently, the urine will acidify excessively...therein lies a lesson for those of us who only feed twice daily. We may very well be risking the development of struvite crystals. Free-feeding (of feline-appropriate foods) or frequent small meal feeding is more in line with a small cat's natural disposition and ensures our cats' "urinary health".

I have to tell you that I'm concerned about the (only) two meals a day - I have a feeling that may have been the major contributor to her weight loss. If it were I, (in your shoes, that is) I would "up" the number of meals.

How would you propose feeding a cat several smaller meals a day when most of us work outside the home, and usually have to leave around 7am, and not get back home till 6pm? The cat would still have to go about 11 hours without a meal....we could feed the cat when we got home, and then again around 11pm, but we'd still be in the same boat on the work days.
Even when one is retired or at home all day, there are days when one is out and about most of the day.
Don't you think it would be better to get the cat used to one eating pattern, then to feed it several meals during the day only when one is there to do it...then have to change the eating pattern when one has to leave the house for an all day adventure.
It is a conundrum, for sure!

Originally Posted by MAXCAT08

I have to tell you that I'm concerned about the (only) two meals a day - I have a feeling that may have been the major contributor to her weight loss. If it were I, (in your shoes, that is) I would "up" the number of meals.

How would you propose feeding a cat several smaller meals a day when most of us work outside the home, and usually have to leave around 7am, and not get back home till 6pm? The cat would still have to go about 11 hours without a meal....we could feed the cat when we got home, and then again around 11pm, but we'd still be in the same boat on the work days.
Even when one is retired or at home all day, there are days when one is out and about most of the day.
Don't you think it would be better to get the cat used to one eating pattern, then to feed it several meals during the day only when one is there to do it...then have to change the eating pattern when one has to leave the house for an all day adventure.
It is a conundrum, for sure!

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When I leave for work in the morning I put a whole can of food in my cats bowl. He eats it through out the day at his leisure and then when I get home I rinse out his bowl and give him fresh food. So it is possible to feed a cat more than twice a day if you are working.

Originally Posted by MAXCAT08

...How would you propose feeding a cat several smaller meals a day when most of us work outside the home, and usually have to leave around 7am, and not get back home till 6pm?.....

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I'm trying to train myself against proposing anything on here anymore...a slippery slope towards arguments for their own sake, I've learned

I can tell you what I've been doing for a long time, and I can point you in the direction of a Veterinarian who's a recognized feline nutrition expert for her solutions and suggestions (from both her personal experience and her science education base).

I leave wet food "out/down" for about 12 hours. It's Wellness grain free and Eagle Pack Holistic. I add about 1/8 cup water to a 5.5 oz can, so I create a soupy/slurry mixture. I serve it around 9PM and, in the AM, if there is any balance other than crumbs, it is still moist. The temperature here is moderate. My cats do prefer the wetter version. They're still munching as I'm picking up the plates. (If you're concerned about leaving food out, keep reading!)

Dr. Lisa Pierson, a Veterinarian and highly regarded expert in feline nutrition, regularly leaves her cats' wet food out for extended periods and believes (and has experienced) that this is not at all a problem. You can read her comments and suggestions on her website... it's in the 3rd paragraph from the bottom...it begins "An added note about leaving canned food out." .

That's great information, Blaise. I just didn't know the logistics of doing that. I previously read that wet food goes 'bad' after about an hour of being left out.....that's why I asked.

I, too have left out wet food, in previous years, without thinking that it would go 'bad'!! It looks a little gross when it get dried up....but it didn't get moldy or anything

I too believe in several, small meals a day......so I'm going to try your suggestion.

Although I suspect that I now have a little piggy in the group. Hard to say...he's all of 2.9 pounds, up from 2.4 lbs on Tuesday....and he seems to want to eat all the time.....I can't stand at the sink without his being there thinking that it's eating time again...LOL
I know he's busy, and growing and only 2 months old...but he's been neutered already (from the Humane Society), so I want to watch his weight very closely.

I'm going to try your method and see how it works out.

Thank you for the explanation!!! Sorry if I sounded like I was being confrontational...but I certainly wasn't..far from it. I just needed to know how to work it out...I'll go read the link now

Oh- I didn't mean for it to sound like an overnight weight loss. I switched her over in a sloooow process- took about 4 months and I carefully weighed her. I honestly think the Science Diet made her bloated.

I have a kitten who free feeds on Wellness Core and gets little meals of wet food throughout the day--- so Kara gets snacks and never goes hungry. Her main meals are wet food though. I also leave the wet food out. My cats usually scarf like 90% of it down and then come back within 30 minutes and eat the last little bit.

We sometimes go away overnight and since my cats are little piggies and will eat a day's worth of food in one sitting , we invested in automatic feeders and they are wonderful. We have 2 kinds, one that has 2 compartments and can be set to open separately for any time up to 48 hours, they sell them at Petsmart:

http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...ductId=2751313

The other type that has 6 compartments and can open at 6, 12 or 24 hour intervals. It also has an ice pack on the bottom so that you can keep wet food cold. We picked it up on sale at The Source (aka Radio Shack) for $10 (I see now it's down to $6!!! Maybe I'll get another one!!)

http://www.thesource.ca/estore/Produ...roduct=6310993

Originally Posted by spookzilla

We sometimes go away overnight and since my cats are little piggies and will eat a day's worth of food in one sitting

, we invested in automatic feeders and they are wonderful. We have 2 kinds, one that has 2 compartments and can be set to open separately for any time up to 48 hours, they sell them at Petsmart:

http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...ductId=2751313

The other type that has 6 compartments and can open at 6, 12 or 24 hour intervals. It also has an ice pack on the bottom so that you can keep wet food cold. We picked it up on sale at The Source (aka Radio Shack) for $10 (I see now it's down to $6!!! Maybe I'll get another one!!)

http://www.thesource.ca/estore/Produ...roduct=6310993

Click to expand...

those are a easy way to give multiple meals and keep fresh ...

Originally Posted by spookzilla

We sometimes go away overnight and since my cats are little piggies and will eat a day's worth of food in one sitting

, we invested in automatic feeders and they are wonderful. We have 2 kinds, one that has 2 compartments and can be set to open separately for any time up to 48 hours, they sell them at Petsmart:

http://www.petsmart.com/product/inde...ductId=2751313

The other type that has 6 compartments and can open at 6, 12 or 24 hour intervals. It also has an ice pack on the bottom so that you can keep wet food cold. We picked it up on sale at The Source (aka Radio Shack) for $10 (I see now it's down to $6!!! Maybe I'll get another one!!)

http://www.thesource.ca/estore/Produ...roduct=6310993

Click to expand...

Cool, I might get one

Originally Posted by BLAISE

I'm trying to train myself against proposing anything on here anymore...a slippery slope towards arguments for their own sake, I've learned

I can tell you what I've been doing for a long time, and I can point you in the direction of a Veterinarian who's a recognized feline nutrition expert for her solutions and suggestions (from both her personal experience and her science education base).

I leave wet food "out/down" for about 12 hours. It's Wellness grain free and Eagle Pack Holistic. I add about 1/8 cup water to a 5.5 oz can, so I create a soupy/slurry mixture. I serve it around 9PM and, in the AM, if there is any balance other than crumbs, it is still moist. The temperature here is moderate. My cats do prefer the wetter version. They're still munching as I'm picking up the plates. (If you're concerned about leaving food out, keep reading!)

Dr. Lisa Pierson, a Veterinarian and highly regarded expert in feline nutrition, regularly leaves her cats' wet food out for extended periods and believes (and has experienced) that this is not at all a problem. You can read her comments and suggestions on her website... it's in the 3rd paragraph from the bottom...it begins "An added note about leaving canned food out." .

Click to expand...

Blaise, I also add water to Popsie's canned food to keep it moist longer. I started a new job a few weeks ago and was worried about feeding him. He used to not eat food if it was left out for a few hours. I found however, when I'm away at work, he'll eat what I set down in the morning. I guess he figures it's either eat it or go hungry until I get home.

Originally Posted by luvmycat1

...He used to not eat food if it was left out for a few hours...

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cuz he knew someone would take pity and put down something else!

...I guess he figures it's either eat it or go hungry until I get home.

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