TheCatSite.com › Forums › Our Feline Companions › Cat Nutrition › Switching from dry to canned food
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Switching from dry to canned food

post #1 of 10
8/1/10 at 6:19pm
Thread Starter 
Today i put my foot down and told my boyfriend i wanted to feed the cats a canned food diet and not a dry food. He always wanted to feed them dry food. I told him my reason why and even showed the ingridents on a back on a dry food package. He was fine. So now they will start eating canned only. How much canned should i give for two 1 year old cats? And any other advice will helpful. Thanks.
Reply
post #2 of 10
8/1/10 at 7:08pm
how much do they weigh? how active are they? how much dry did they eat? and what brand or brands are you feeding?
Reply
post #3 of 10
8/1/10 at 8:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sharky View Post
how much do they weigh? how active are they? how much dry did they eat? and what brand or brands are you feeding?


Yay! Glad to hear it. Do the transition gradually and use a probiotic while switching to help prevent tummy and intestinal upset.
Reply
post #4 of 10
8/2/10 at 1:45pm
It should tell you right on the can how much is recommended.

Good for you feeding wet!!!!!
Reply
post #5 of 10
8/2/10 at 4:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by KittyKatt23 View Post
Today i put my foot down and told my boyfriend i wanted to feed the cats a canned food diet and not a dry food...So now they will start eating canned only. How much canned should i give for two 1 year old cats? And any other advice will helpful. Thanks.
Totally awesome, KittyKatt!!! You're cats will definitely be the better for it.

When I still fed commercial, I generally fed one can per cat per day, split into three different meals. Good luck with the transition!!!
Reply
post #6 of 10
8/2/10 at 6:17pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Auntie Crazy View Post
Totally awesome, KittyKatt!!! You're cats will definitely be the better for it.

When I still fed commercial, I generally fed one can per cat per day, split into three different meals. Good luck with the transition!!!
Are you talking about 5.5 oz cans?

Cat foods vary quite a bit in caloric content. What is enough in one brand may be too much or not enough in another.

Plus of course the activity level and metabolism of each cat has to be taken into consideration.

It may take some time to figure out the right amount for each cat, but it is totally worth it. .
Reply
post #7 of 10
8/3/10 at 3:18pm
Yes, 5.5 or 6 ounce cans. That's just a good starting reference point; one can adjust up or down as needed from there.

As for calories, counting calories as a way of determining how much volume of whatever to feed a cat is an inefficient method of establishing proper meal sizes.

Calories from animal-based protein are converted into energy; calories from anything else are wasted and either end up in the litter box or converted into and stored as fat (this is why kibble-fed cats so often become obese).

As an example of how meaningless it is to measure calories - a cat can be switched to a HIGHER calorie diet and LOSE weight if the calories in the new diet are derived from animal-based protein.

That's what being an obligate carnivore means, really.

Neither the TCS Article, Raw-Feeding-for-Cats, nor Dr. Pierson's site, "Cat Info.org" reference calories directly, however, they both go into detail reference the biological value of animal-derived proteins versus plant-based proteins. Calories are just one part of the protein's nutrient composition.

KittyKat - I'd read labels for ingredients and wouldn't worry about caloric count. Try to find high animal-based protein, no grains, veggies, & fruits (no more than 3 - 5% carbs) foods, pick a starting amount that you're comfortable with, then just adjust per your cats' needs. Easy! :-)

Regards!
Reply
post #8 of 10
8/3/10 at 3:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by otto View Post
Are you talking about 5.5 oz cans?

Cat foods vary quite a bit in caloric content. What is enough in one brand may be too much or not enough in another.

Plus of course the activity level and metabolism of each cat has to be taken into consideration.

It may take some time to figure out the right amount for each cat, but it is totally worth it. .
Hope is 10lbs and she eats one can a day for her prescription Z/D - she is not hungry at all, and tends to leave a little behind.
Bugsy is 18lbs and eats 1 can a day Z/D, and a tiny bit of dry... he is now almost fully out of dry now, reason why he has already lost a pond!
Reply
post #9 of 10
8/3/10 at 10:55pm
Calories for a Commercial fed cat.. roughly 15-30 calories per lb... so a ave 10 lb cat 150-300 calories on ave 150-200 cals = 5-6 oz of canned or 1/3-1/2 cup of premium cat food
Reply
post #10 of 10
8/4/10 at 6:45am
All three of my cats are on different diets. However, they each consume about 180 calories a day on these diets.

Tolly, who eats Innova Flex Chicken and Brown Rice Stew, (plus a tablespoonful of Hill's prescription c/d as a snack) actually probably gets about 200 cal, so a little more than the other two. He is lean and muscualr but tends to thinness, which always causes worry.

Jennie eats Wellness canned grain free chicken exclusively. She gets 180 calories a day, (1 1/2 of three ounce cans)and still acts starved, but is already overweight on the 180 calories of pure protein. She maintained a healthy weight on ONE can (120 calories a day) of the wellness grain free chicken but was acting so starved all the time my vet recommended I up it to one and a half cans, in spite of the ensuing weight gain.

Mazy is on Hills Prescription c/d kibble, and gets 5 tablespoons a day, which totals about 180 calories. She is not overweight, but not skinny either. She is the most active cat in the house.

When feeding a high quality diet, calories do indeed have some impact, but, as I said, each individual cat has different requirements, there is no on size fits all diet.
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Cat Nutrition
TheCatSite.com › Forums › Our Feline Companions › Cat Nutrition › Switching from dry to canned food