Any suggestions?

My boyfriend has 2 adult cats, and we just adopted a kitten for me about a week ago. He had his girls on some cheap indoor food, and allowed them to free feed. Due to this they are incredibly overweight. They range in ages 3-5 years. Our new kitten is only 10 weeks, and has a healthy appetite. In years past I had always fed my cats Innova and had great success. When he and I went to get Innova to switch his girls, and gradually switch the new kitten as well, we realized the food had gone from about $30 for a 16 lb bag, to around $55. We would rather not spend this much but still buy quality. At our local pet store we found Avoderm and Blue Buffalo are similar in cost, and less than Innova. Does anyone have any suggestions for a multi cat household with 2 obese adults?

At this point I have minimized their intake to approx 1 cup each for the adults daily. They graze on it throughout the day and hardly finish by the end of the day. The kitten is on free feed as he is under weight and we supplement with canned food per our vet.

Has anyone compared these foods? I want to feed them as healthy as I can afford to without going broke. Thanks guys!

If someone is at home during the day, I'd switch the kitten and cats to scheduled meals now (the kitten getting more frequent meals.)  If you are gone all day, it is probably best to leave out food (or put the kitten in its own room with food) until the kitten is a bit older.  Actually, the kitten would be better off with kitten food, which has too many calories for the adults so separate feeding arrangements would  be good. But I'd stop free feeding asap.  One cup per cat sounds like too much (just my gut speaking....we feed canned only.)  Use the package directions as a general guideline, but if the cats are fat using those amounts do decrease them. 

Canned food has more of the meaty nutrition cats need and can help a cat whose gotten fat on dry food lose weight.  Many believe that even the cheap brands of canned food are a better choice than the most expensive dry foods.  We do scheduled canned feedings at our house and have 3 cats who are healthy, happy, and an ideal weight.  (And they don't need as much food as the labels suggest, and still are satisfied and don't act starved.)  Good luck with the kitties.

Thanks for the info. The kitten is on kitten food, in talking about switching him, I only meant brands. We free feed him as our vet suggested, but he stressed canned as well but wants dry food to supplement. We are not able to feed on a schedule because it's rare that someone is always home.

I only recently started the girls on one cup dry adult food because they were on free feed and my plan was to wean them down (they are obnoxiously vocal if they don't get enough food) so I'm trying to do all this gradually so I receive few-er kitty complaints.

I tell you what I use and seems to have done the trick. Purina One(dry).. It is very well balanced food and has straightened out all my cats throws ups and weight problems.. Maybe check it it..

One of the best dry foods around is the Costco Kirkland food.  But a wet food, given in meals, would be the best bet if you want your fat cats to lose weight.  Mind you, it has to be done slowly, or the cats can get liver or kidney damage.

You can put a higher-fat-and-protein food somewhere only the kitten can get to.

The Kirkland food is 33% carbs - NOT a good choice for overweight cats (not a good choice for any cat - just way too many carbs).

I just did an analysis of how much it costs to feed 48 different brands of dry food, 40 different brands of canned, and 15 different brands of commercial raw food. The results of the dry food analysis are in this post: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/242562/dry-food-brands-help/30#post_3191927 One of the most important lessons in the exercise, for me, was that you have to look at how much it will cost to FEED the cats, not how much the food itself costs. The amount you have to feed them has a big impact on the overall cost. :nod:

My suggestion, if you're going to feed dry, is to look for the lowest carb option you can afford. As the spreadsheet I put together was priced at petfooddirect.com, you'll likely find the options cheaper in stores locally, if available. But put that list together, then go to the manufacturer website links, and look for the highest quality ingredients. If there's an option that doesn't include by-products or fish products, go with that. :nod:

But IMO, transitioning them to timed meals and an all wet diet will work wonders for their overall health. They can be fed 2 or 3 meals a day. There will be complaining at first, but with a higher quality food, they're more satisfied, so they end up both eating less (higher nutritional quality) and complaining less.

After reading the thread so far I'd have to say to schedule the meals and control how much dry you are giving them.  Waltham Center for Pet Nutrition recommends an 80% wet to 20% dry diet.  If you are going to use an all dry diet, definitely measure and do scheduled feedings if at all possible.  Cats naturally hydrate themselves via their food so on an all kibble diet make sure the cats are drinking enough water.  If they are not drinking enough water, all types of health issues can occur.  Feeding an all dry diet is okay if you control how much of it they eat and they are drinking water.  Kibble is carb and calorie dense and can lead to obesity if the diet is not controlled.  One major health concern with an overweight cat is diabetes.  Good luck with your babies!

And for the benefit of those reading this thread

LDG said:

FYI for others reading the thread, the Waltham Center for Pet Nutrition is owned by Mars, Inc., and does research for the Pet Food Industry. They're not looking for species-appropriate foods or diets. It is a well-respected research center, no question. But Mars also owns Royal Canin and the brand Mike works for, Nutro Natural Choice (and Whiskas, and all of these: http://www.waltham.com/brands.htm ). I would definitely take their recommendation with a grain of salt...

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And I think when Mike said that "Cats naturally hydrate themselves via their food.." he meant that our domestic cat is a descendant of the African Wildcat. They are desert animals, and have no natural drive to drink water, as they are "designed" to receive their required moisture from the food they eat. Kibble provides NO moisture, so unless your cat(s) drink water when eating kibble, they will be chronically dehydrated.