FAT cat ALWAYS eating! Not even a YEAR OLD!

His food does need to be restricted. Is it possible to switch your cats to eating on a meal schedule? That way you can be sure that he's not eating the other cats' food. Ask your vet how many calories he should be getting per day, if he gets too few calories he can go into liver failure very easily.

If possible, switch him to canned food only. It's higher in meat protein (to help him build lean muscle and burn fat), and the moisture helps to fill him up.

Normally I would suggest running bloodwork on a cat who eats like that. It still wouldn't be a bad idea. But considering his age and history (he's always been like this), I'd say it's more likely that he's just one of those cats who doesn't know when to stop.

I second the above!! I have a cat that would eat himself to death if I left food out. All of my cats eat on a schedule and they all have learned to finish up their food at each feeding. I feel three times a day and a light snack before bed. So they get smaller more frequent meals which also helps them finish up the whole serving at once.

I would also suggest the blood work too, might shed more light on his weight issue.

Wesley will eat what you give him too, and sometimes puke if too much is put down at once.

With five cats, portioning is going to be a problem. What someone else suggested before w/ a bunch of cats was to just put a whole bunch of food down only once or twice a day. Their tummy size would then limit how much food they were getting.

As long as you are very consistent with feeding times, eventually kitty learns its hopeless to get excited about food outside those times and won't beg.

The wet is not a bad idea, but if you aren't home all the time, I don't know how you could pull that off for five cats consistently.

I would try to run a panel to see if there is anything medically backed. I dont know if that seems to be enough food-I feed 2 cats a 5.5 oz a piece and then some or one gets one-1 1/2 and the fatter gets 1 1/2 cups dry depending on the day -one is 13(always gets canned-diabetic in food controlled remission) and one is aiming to hit 18lb(or less) but at 21 now. the fat one is medically fine (as of coming on a year ago so will hit him with another panel after I clear up some more pressing issues @ vet. just was not fed right early on and made up for it at my moms then came to live with me due to his hair mats to easily and she cant carry him(severe back issues)

Depends if your feeding friskies or something REAL top of the line then maybe ok and if they are smaller...Are they due or could you call vet based on what weight they were at what theyd need to eat

Hi Cemetarysiren! I have a Maine Coon/Siamese mix named Swiffer. I had a similar problem with her when she was a kitten. She would eat continuously and since restricting her feeding times was not a practical solution; I turned to the vet. She was about 8 months old at the time. He told me to go ahead and convert her to an indoor adult formula and take her off the kitten food. I have never used Royal Canin but have always used Nutro Max or Nutro Natural Choice. I took her off the NM kitten and put her on the Nutro Natural Choice Indoor Complete Care adult. She has done quite well with it. She is a big girl but not too overweight. I would suggest trying to regulate her eating times and not free feed Seamus if at all possible. If it's not possible, you might want to talk to your vet about putting him on adult if he is not already on it. You might want to give the NC Indoor Complete Care a try. Seems to keep all 4 of mine at the right weight.

Cut back on the amount you feed him and feed a better, more nutritious food, one with no corn (especially corn gluten), no wheat and no soy and no menadione. Good cat foods with no "junk" are Orijen, Blue Buffalo, Wellness and By Nature. The better known brands, Science Diet, Nutro, Iams, and Eukanuba are full of corn, wheat and soy, the cheapest ingredients with little or no nutrition and they are sorely lacking in the all important Omega 3 fatty acids.

Hi maquignon! While I can't address your post regarding the other brands you listed above; I can certainly help with the Nutro brand if you need information about it. Nutro does not use corn meal, or ground yellow corn in any of it's products. The vegetable corn, is used as a carb source by many other brands. Nutro does use corn gluten meal in some of it's products because corn gluten meal is a nutrient packed protein source which actually helps maintain the proper calcium:phosphorous ratios. When corn is milled, it is separated into protein, starch, oil and bran. The protein part is corn gluten meal. Corn gluten meal is unique because it has protein levels upwards of 60% while the original vegetable (corn) has about 10%. Corn gluten meal is much higher in palatability and digestibility than corn, and is a natural source of lutein. Lutein is an antioxidant that helps build the immune system.

Corn gluten meal has an excellent amino acid profile and includes methionine, a sulphur containing amino acid. When combined with cystine, methionine helps deliver healthy skin and coat.

Corn gluten meal is a vegetable protein and delivers a much lower mineral content than meat based proteins. When combined with a meat protein such as chicken, a high protein food is available without excessive 'ash' being added to the product.

Unlike some of the brands you mentioned above; Nutro makes their own food in their own manufacturing plants. All products are tested before production as well as before the food leaves our manufacturing plants. I hope this information is helpful to youhttp://www.thecatsite.com/forums/images/smilies/smile.gif

Hmmm, that goes against what I have read from nutrition experts though. Quality meat should be lower in ash content (in part simply because there is less bone processed in), and meat protein is more complete than plant sources. Corn gluten, a byproduct of corn syrup thats put into everything these days, is a common allergen in cats, and from what I have read is just used as an inexpensive protein filler and IIRC it was rather high on the ingredient list on their dry so amounts to quite a bit.

Zelda has issues with overeating. After seeing a vet about it, we couldn't find any medical reason. We think it's a dominance/control thing with her. When we first got here she actually lost some weight after being in a cage for 6 months and no exercise. She was very active. Her and Vivi never got along. So, Zelda started guarding the food bowl, and put on a lot of weight. I put out several food bowls so each of the cats could have their own in different spots, but Zelda would rush around like a mad-woman and try to eat all the food and then she'd puke from eating too much.

Now I confine her during meal time. She still goes to Vivi's spot after meal time and just lays there.

My 5 cats are all confined separately for their canned food meal. They have 30 minutes to eat it, then any remainder is thrown out. Claudio, my fat boy, eats low calorie canned food. They all eat 1 oz. or less of canned food a day.

They also get 1-1/4 cups of low calorie dry food (Wellness Healthy Weight ) 2 times a day in 5 bowls. There are many hours day and night when they have no food. They do eat out of any of these bowls.

I figured out the right amount by trial and error. I have a baby scale to check their weight once a month to make sure we stay on track.


Robin

Considering "nutromike" works for nutro, of course he's going to say corn is just a wonderful thing to have in a carnivores diet. Corn Gluten Meal-the crap that's left over, it's cheaper than meat! No thanks, you want your cat to eat less and lose weight, you have to manage his diet and starving them out on "diet" foods is not the answer IMO. Feed a high quality diet that's meat based, without grains, canned or raw is your best bet and cut down on the amount slowly to get him to the desired weight. A cat doesn't need food out 24/7, they get used to snacking all the time and fatten right up. 3 meals a day, you can go to two later if you like. Get him some exercise, laser pointer, feather toys, make him active as well!

The food Nutromike suggested, NC indoor complete cat ingrediants. Yes, full of dried veggies, grains, sawdust? Lovely, one quality ingrediant in the first 5 real impressive there. Here I thought cats were carnivores.

Chicken Meal, Corn Gluten Meal, Ground Rice, Wheat Flour, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Powdered Cellulose, Dried Plain Beet Pulp, Natural Flavors, Sunflower Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Soybean Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Herring Meal, Oat Fiber, Dried Yeast, Potassium Chloride, Calcium Carbonate, Dried Vegetable Fiber (Carrots, Celery, Beets, Parsley, Lettuce, Water Cress, Spinach), Soy Protein Concentrate, Tomato Pomace, Choline Chloride, Fish Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Cranberry Powder, Taurine, Salt, DL-Methionine, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Inositol, L-Carnitine, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), Yucca Schidigera Extract, Dried Chicory Root, Niacin Supplement, Manganous Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Riboflavin Supplement (source of Vitamin B2), Potassium Iodide, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of Vitamin B6), Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate (source of Vitamin B1), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of Vitamin K activity), Beta Carotene, Folic Acid.

Hi ducman69! It is my understanding that meat meal and chicken meal are different types of protein sources. When using chicken meal something is needed to balance the acid levels and keep the ph level where it is supposed to be. When using chicken meal as a primary protein source, Nutro will add the corn gluten meal as an additional protein source which actually helps balance the ph levels.

Hi GoingPostal! What was your first guess that I work for Nutro? My name, or the fact that I identified myself in my profile? Yes, I do work for Nutro.

We all have different opinions on pet food. Each and every one of us can copy and paste an ingredient list with the intent of picking it apart. I can do this with any number of competitors, but that is not my style. I am fortunate enough to have the science of The Watham Center for Pet Nutrition at my disposal for research purposes because they endorse Nutro products.

I have been using Nutro products since I was a child. And that was a long time ago. Back then, Nutro was the only dog food my parents would buy because of the benefits the food afforded our canine pals. As an adult I bought Nutro because my veterinarian recommended it. All of my animals have thrived with Nutro products. Now I am employed by Nutro. I would not work for the company if I did not truly believe in the benefits of their products. Why? Because I am fortunate enough to not to *have* to work for Nutro. I choose to. The well being of an animal is what I'm all about.

Is there any update on the cat? What did the vet say?

I'm going to guess part of the problem is exercise if the others are healthy weights. Generally if a person was overfeeding their cats more than one would be over weight. You've got to make a cat like this exercise. Make him work for any treats, then then make sure you're using a low calorie treats. Make him chase toys and jump around- get a da bird.

The other part of the problem may be that he's a food thief. That's harder to combat and means supervised meal times or that he needs to be separated.

What food(s) are used and what are all of the cats ages?


As for corn… I have one stuck on C/D, thankfully he's the cat with no GI issues. I have one that can't have corn in any form, another that seems the same way, and a third who can't have chicken.
The one time I tried canned Nutro years ago it gave my cats diarrhea that needed vet treatment, the vet said she seen that from Nutro foods a lot recently.
Mars changed things, which can't be helped.

Btw, did anyone know that there's an open advertising/PR job that has brand obsession in the job title? I can't remember the exact name or which Mars plant it's at, but it's a Nutro job.

There isn't any need for different opinions on pet food, sure everyone can feed whatever they like, but they aren't going to change the fact that cats are indeed obligate carnivores. Now if the options are grocery store crud, or science diet, I would recommend Nutro over those anyday, because it does contain meat as a first ingredient and not a by-product or mystery meat. That doesn't make it a good diet, it just makes it better than crap.

Here's the thing, my mom and I got my cat when I was 14, I had no say in what she ate, I didn't buy it. And she puked. And puked. Went to the vet countless times, she spent 6 years eating SD sensitive stomach, hairball formula, etc. We took the advice of our vet as well, not realizing that most vets really don't know squat about nutrition and what they do is given by pet food companies. We just thought the cat was some sickly thing. I moved out with the cat and soon won a year's worth of free Nutro. Didn't figure it would work since I had this defective cat who needed special vet food but gave it a try and she went from puking 5-6 times a week to only 2-3. By this time we had gotten ferrets, I started researching and found out they need meat, just meat! I felt so dumb. Realized the reason she did better on Nutro was because it contained meat, rather than only grains and by-products. Dumped the Nutro, bought her grain free kibble which she only tosses back up if she eats too fast, then switched to canned and raw and now I have a cat who never throws up from her food, who doesn't shed all over the place and who doesn't stink up her litter pan anymore. On kibble I had to spread her food out into tiny little feedings so her stomach didn't rebel. On raw and wet I can give her however much she wants, she's happier and healthier and my only regret is I blindly trusted the vet and pet food companies rather than do my own research and my cat suffered for years. Kibble is far from an ideal diet for a cat, but there are plenty out there without so many fillers, dried products and grains.

Every forum I've been on has a Nutro "plant" as a member. Most of them are reasonably involved members, which is better than I can say about most company plants. And they all have "Nutro" in their names, so at least you know what you're getting into, not like they're hiding it. . .. All in all, I think it's quite intelligent of the company, but also sort of annoying.

The following quote is from your own Nutro site advertising your new grain free dog food (the best thing Nutro has ever made but inferior to every other grain free on the market). Nutro finally tells the truth!!

Completely gluten free – the grain component that’s hardest to digest.

LOL! Too funny. I love it Actually I'm not a "plant" in the sense you might think. I think it best to represent myself in an honest light so I chose to put Nutro in my name. I'm not here to sell my product. I will share experiences, answer questions and hopefully learn new things from all the fine folks participating in the forums. Sure, I might offer suggestions just like the rest of the people do, and I will also share my experiences. That said, and my company stresses that the needs and health of the pet are the top priority. Something that I am all about myself. If Nutro does not have what your pet needs, I will go well out of my way to help you find what the pet needs, regardless of the name on the package.

LOL! So which is it? It's hard to digest for dogs, who can actually utilize plant proteins, but really digestible for an obligate carnivore? Interesting logic there.

PH levels can be balanced with better plant sources though (rice and potatoes and the like are often used which is less of an allergen for cats), and don't have to make up a major protein replacement for meat from what I've read, that IMO just helps artificially boost the protein % on the package.

Chicken meal is a type of meat meal btw.

It just means that its chicken meat with skin that usually has some amount of bone processed in from rendering. The better the quality, typically the less bone, and thus less ash is present in the processed chicken meal.

When you see "meat meal", that just means that its unidentified various "mystery meat" sources processed into meal. In practice, that means 4D animals which includes various diseased, dying, decayed, and already dead animals... yummy roadkill.

So "meat meal" and "meat byproduct" are definitely not great ingredients, and an instant disqualification for my own pets food.

Mars (who owns Nutro) does not use 4D or roadkill as meat sources…

I've went through where and what is used in past threads, so will not be doing that yet again here. But in short, misc meat is the bits and pieces not used in our processed meats. It's not dieased, it's just not good enough for hot dogs…


Maybe 20+ years ago it happened, but now most pet foods are made by companies that make a lot of human foods and have a lot in stake with their brand names, plus the FDA has tightened regulations.

I didn't see meat meal in the Nutro ingredients, and didn't mean to imply Nutro uses 4D animals so sorry if I was vague.

I was just pointing out what meat meal is vs chicken meal, and that current AAFCO standards allow for 4D animal meat under mystery 'meat meal' and 'meat byproduct meal' ingredient definition, so IMO its a red flag. So thats why you'd want "chicken meal" over say "poultry byproduct meal" which would usually mean poor protein sources like necks/feet/intestines of 4D animals (lowest waste from human chicken farming).

Use some logic here… it would be more expensive to seek out 4D animals than to use cast offs from meat processing. Thats what the local plant does. They get their meals from the same processing/packing plant that sells meat to the local grocery store. By product and non-by product meal comes from the same plant. There's more than enough leftovers from human food processing for the millions of tons of petfood made each day. Americans don't eat a lot of meat that other countries/cultures do.

Anymore 4D goes for making other products in the US.

And if anyone is wondering "what do they do with diseased poultry?". Look up composting. Due to fear of spreading disease, especially in recent years with bird flu, west nile, and other pontentially deadly to livestock and humans viruses, they don’t ship this stuff out for processing. Processing plants that make meals wouldn't want it on their equipment, let alone premises.

They don't have to "seek out" 4D, its natural waste protein available from various sources from human food manufacture that isn't suitable for human consumption and purchased at greatly reduced costs accordingly. Healthy cattle go for a grand or so a head, but a dead/diseased cow I'm sure sells for pennies on the dollar.

Watch season 4 episode 14 of Dirty Jobs. Episode is called animal rendering, and its 4D cows that are "recycled".

First they haul up the long since dead cow cooking under the sun and bloated, bring it to get the hide, then they render the meat and separate the fat which is used for cosmetics, and the meat is used in pet food. Very yuck, and no, it doesn't look hygienic (and I highly doubt that plant processes higher grade meat if you watch the episode), but supposedly the high temps kills any bacteria... and I suppose it is better than waste, but myself and my pets sure aren't going to eat it.

That would be for animal digests in cheaper foods and product sent out of the US. Not meal. Rendering doesn't necessarily mean it's ending up as a food product either.
Do you want to know one of the producers of meal? Corgill. Look them up. There's a very high likelihood you eat their meats.

If you want to use Dirty Jobs as your example. Reference the turkey farming episode, where they compost their dead birds. Or the more recent one with the mobile butcher. He dropped some meat that he shouldn't have and it had to go into the "trash" bucket vs send out. And the trash literally was that. Quite a bit of waste going on from that butcher.

My cats eat a combination of wet and dry. If you have a Costco nearby, their Kirkland brand has very good ingredients - no corn and no wheat. They also have a lower calorie version. The best part is the price - less than $16 for 25 lbs.!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bakko/2803358728/

Could very well be, but I'm just going by what the FDA/AAFCO literature and online sources were saying for unnamed "meat meal", "meat by-product meal" and "meat and bone meal":
http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/care/ren...tscatsdogs.htm
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index....badingredients
http://cats.about.com/od/catfoodglossary/g/meatmeal.htm
http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/art...ng-labels.html
etc...

I could be wrong, but everything I've read has advised to caution against unnamed meat sources, by-products, digest, corn, wheat gluten, soy, and artificial coloring. I feel safer recommending named meats w/ most of the protein coming from meat rather than corn.

You're wrong about the 4D part those sites have old information and are bias. You should look up various medical info, the massive amount of bias sites and alternative med sites with old to even harmful info is comparable.
Perpetuating false info does no good. You end up with people who refuse to use the prescribed diets because people take info from some random person online and from those sites as the absolute truth.

By products aren't good in in dry foods, but aren't as bad in wet food. And as pointed out, corn isn't some great evil, it serves it purpose and does balance pH. Ask your vet. Should it make up a large proportion of the food? No. Corn gluten is processed and digestable, though.
I have a cat that can't have chicken, though you don't see me claiming it's terrible for all cats. Like wise I hve one that can't have corn- not all cats have that problem.

Soy, wheat (which is in Nutro foods), and artificial additives are bad.

Thank you for clarifying Ducman69. I do know what meat meal vs chicken meal is Like you, any "byproduct meal" would be a red flag for me when considering a pet food purchase. Nutro contains no head, feet, intestines etc which you are probably aware of already.