I took Tiny, my 19-pound Tabby, to the vet yesterday to have a cyst on her back looked at. The cyst turned out to be nothing (just a sebaceous adenoma), but afterward the vet and I spoke about Tiny's weight. I told her that I have just recently started Tiny on a diet that included a high-protein, low-carb wet food (50% of the time right now). I told her I thought Tiny was the perfect candidate for that type of diet because, despite her weight, she really doesn't eat all that much.
After I told my vet about the wet food, she told me that they were putting together a list of wet foods that she recommended. I told her that, sure, I would be interested in seeing it. I was pretty excited, thinking it would be nice to be able to use the vet's list for ideas of good food for Tiny, and maybe some other brands to look for food that I haven't tried yet. Unfortunately, that was not what I got. When she came back in, she told me that the list wasn't finished, but she would prescribe some canned r/d food for Tiny instead.
I thanked her and told her I'd consider it, but I'm going to try it my way first. From what I've seen over on Binky's site, the r/d gets somewhere ~40% of it's calories from carbs and it contains ~5 g of fiber -- 10x as much as the typical canned food. That sounds like what I would get by mixing corn husks in with regular dry food.
It's a shame because I really do like my vet. She really seems to care what's going on with my cats and takes the time to answer my questions. What I'm hoping is that Tiny will respond well to the high-protein / low-carb canned food and drop 2-3 pounds by the time I go back for her annual exam in December. That would allow me to open a good dialogue, explain how I got her to lose the weight, and discuss the issue from an informed viewpoint. Right now, I'm a bit skeptical about the wet food = weight loss business because, although it sounds quite logical, it really sounds too good to be true.
I just bought a good pet/baby scale that's accurate to 0.5 ounces, so I should be able to see results within a few weeks if it's working.
After I told my vet about the wet food, she told me that they were putting together a list of wet foods that she recommended. I told her that, sure, I would be interested in seeing it. I was pretty excited, thinking it would be nice to be able to use the vet's list for ideas of good food for Tiny, and maybe some other brands to look for food that I haven't tried yet. Unfortunately, that was not what I got. When she came back in, she told me that the list wasn't finished, but she would prescribe some canned r/d food for Tiny instead.
It's a shame because I really do like my vet. She really seems to care what's going on with my cats and takes the time to answer my questions. What I'm hoping is that Tiny will respond well to the high-protein / low-carb canned food and drop 2-3 pounds by the time I go back for her annual exam in December. That would allow me to open a good dialogue, explain how I got her to lose the weight, and discuss the issue from an informed viewpoint. Right now, I'm a bit skeptical about the wet food = weight loss business because, although it sounds quite logical, it really sounds too good to be true.