weight management dry food vs grain-free dry food

Hi.  I'm new to this site but thought I would give it a try since most people on here seem pretty knowledgeable.  I have 2 kitties--1 is a healthy weight but the other is overweight and needs to lose a few pounds.  Right now, I currently feed them some Wellness wet twice daily as well as Taste of the wild dry twice daily.  Unfortunately I travel a lot for work so when I go out of town, I leave them lots of dry food and water.  According to the website, Taste of the Wild has 390 kcal/cup of dry food.  I've been researching weight management foods and have noticed that the science diet foods have much fewer calories.  The weight management formulas of Blue Buffalo and Wellness have much more calories than Science diet and they also have more calories than what I'm currently feeding.  So my big question is, do I just feed less of Taste of the Wild, cave in and feed the super low cal Science diet until the weight comes off to an acceptable level, or go with the higher calorie Blue Buffalo/Wellness weight management variety?  I'm not even sure if the Blue Buffalo/Wellness weight management would work since my cat can't even lose weight on the lower cal food he's currently on.  Also, I've been comparing different foods and I notice that all of them have ME kcal/kg values and only some have kcal/cup values.  What's the difference and what is more reliable to use when doing research on pet food?  I've noticed that the Science Diet has the lowest kcal/cup numbers but not the lowest kcal/kg numbers which is very confusing to me.  Any suggestions or knowledge in this area would be appreciated.  Thanks in advance.

I believe you feed less of the grain free. I would stay away from Science Diet as it is full of corn and not real meat. Taste of the Wild and Blue Buffalo's Blue Wilderness are better choices, in my opinion.

I am sure others will give you more advice.

Fewer carbs and more exercise are the key to kitties losing weight.  Grain-free dry has more protein in it and no fillers (like grains) so you shouldn't need to feed as much dry food as before.  My Hannah gets only 1/8 of a cup of dry food (TOTW) daily in addition to her 2 servings of wet food (grain free as well).  I can't free feed or both she and my other kitty would be as big as a house, so it's measured and given throughout the day.

So stick with what I've been feeding but just don't feed as much dry food?  Unfortunately as far as calories go, grain-free or even "lite" dry food can't compete calorie wise with the low cal options from Science Diet.

Yes, just feed less.  Figure out a portion size and feed only that amount per day.  Be prepared for complaining from your kitty!!  LOL  Since you're feeding wet food twice a day, the amount you need to feed of dry will be significantly less than recommended on the bag.  Also, because grain-free has more useable ingredients to your cat, you can feed less wet food.  Grains and fillers are not useable to cats and therefore, kitties on those types of foods have to eat more to get the same amount of nutrition as feeding grain-free.  (I hope that makes sense.)

I cannot free-feed either. I have TWO pigs in my house who would gorge all day long Pipsqueak and Wendall. Wendall is a small cat and he weighs as much as the other's. . My cats get three small meals a day. About 1/8 dry of Grain-free Felidae mixed in with some wet grain-free. I only use Weruva and BFF now for canned foods. Sometimes Wellness canned too. My cats each get about 3-4 oz. of wet food a day along with the 1/8 dry per day. They are all in good weight, maybe a little over

theresag556 said:

 I've noticed that the Science Diet has the lowest kcal/cup numbers but not the lowest kcal/kg numbers which is very confusing to me.

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I'd guess that this has to do with the density of the food--Science Diet kibble probably weighs less than the other brands per cup.

Calories are not as bad for cats as carbs.

Cats do not require carbs, and get fat from them.

For a solution to your travelling and feeding, get a timed measured feeder Ducman has one I believe.

Some types can be programmed for up to 4 feedings a day.

Well, I just weighed my cat tonight and he weighed in at 16 pounds.  A year and a half ago he weighed about 14 pounds and the vet wanted him to get down to 12 pounds so now I have even more work ahead of me  Thanks for all the replies and good answers.  The one difference I noticed with the lite foods is that they seem to have more fiber.  I don't want the let the weight get even more out of hand than it already is so what are your thoughts on Blue Buffalo weight management food even though it's higher calorie than what I'm currently feeding but it does have more fiber?  Interestingly, it has less kcal/kg than what I'm currently feeding.  The hard part about all this is that I can't really control what my cat eats when I'm gone especially since I have two of them and the chubby one loves to finish off the other cat's food when I'm home so I feed the skinny cat up on the countertop because chubby can't jump that high.  When I leave, I feed them both in the same spot because I don't want the skinny one to eat too much of chubby's food and chubby not get enough food while I'm gone.  Skinny likes to eat in the same place as chubby--NOT on the countertop.

What many weight loss foods do is add fiber so cats feel fuller. But. The other posters are correct. Feed grain free and.less of it. many grain free foods have higher protein and calories so you don't need to feed as much. I feed go! And only give my one cat 1/8 cup of it. I would prefer to give all wet though. Ideally, an all wet diet would help with weight loss but it does cost more and you can't really leave it if you're gone for more than a day.


I would get the automatic feeder. That way you know they are getting food at regular intervals and not pigging out and then going hungry.

When you are at home, throw the.kibble up and down the stairs so your cats have to Chase it. Or put bits of food all around the house so they have to search for it. You can also get those treat balls and feed them their dry food that way. If you Google 'senses cat toys' they have a feeding dish.which requires them to do something to get the Kiri ble to drop down. Use a laser pointer to get them running around and use their hunting instincts.

If I didn't meal feed and watch my kitties, they would surely be as big as pigs I'm sure.

The funny part about those treat balls is I use to do that but skinny cat would do all the work and roll the ball around tog get the food to drop out while chubby cat would follow behind her and eat all the food.  Talk about a raw deal for the skinny cat doing all the work while chubby reaps all the rewards