Food Sprays/Toppings - Flavor Enhancers

Hi Folks -

Josephine's vet has put her on a diet.

Her vet has switched her from the Science Diet Senior pellets to the Science Diet r/d pellets.

Needless to say, Josephine isn't liking it very much.

I wondered if anyone knows about whether there exist [safe] flavor-enhancing products I can spray onto her food?

I came across this one product: http://www.wag.com/cat/p/vita-gravy-lip-lickin-chicken-8-oz-113456, but I'm not sure if this would be the right kind of stuff that I would use.

It's imperative that I get her down to a manageable weight. She's around 14.4 lbs now, and she needs to drop to around 10.5-11 lbs.

Any thoughts, inputs, and guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Cheetah

Will she eat canned food at all? Canned food is much superior to dry food for weight loss. Most dry foods, and especially "weight loss", "light", "senior", and "indoor" dry foods, are super high in carbs, and carbs are what make cats fat.

In the raw section, you can find a lot of info about "toppers"--stuff you can put on your cat's food to make her want to eat it. But so far everyone is using them on canned food and raw food. I don't think they'd work as well on kibble.

I second what Willowy said - carbs are the culprit for cats! They will do better with more protein and less fibre too.
As for toppers, I think you will get more ideas in the raw forum, but for what it's worth I have to entice one of my cats to eat his wet (we feed him more wet food and cut down his kibble intake as the vet wanted him to lose weight). I top his food with a powder additive for raw food (sorry, I forget the name of it) and sometimes I crush up treats and sprinkle them on top. The key is just a little of the "fairy dust" to get him smelling it and eating. Once he starts he usually finishes it all. Obviously you don't want to use something that will make up for the less calories in the wet food!

pushylady said:

I second what Willowy said - carbs are the culprit for cats! They will do better with more protein and less fibre too.
As for toppers, I think you will get more ideas in the raw forum, but for what it's worth I have to entice one of my cats to eat his wet (we feed him more wet food and cut down his kibble intake as the vet wanted him to lose weight). I top his food with a powder additive for raw food (sorry, I forget the name of it) and sometimes I crush up treats and sprinkle them on top. The key is just a little of the "fairy dust" to get him smelling it and eating. Once he starts he usually finishes it all. Obviously you don't want to use something that will make up for the less calories in the wet food!

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I agree with both Pushy and Willowy. Stay away from those food toppers and stick with a wet food or if you can find something in the raw forum your cat will eat use it.  Or a combination.  I've never liked those food toppers for either my cats or dogs.  I've never had the problem with my cats but my senior dog had it a few years back.  She died a couple of years ago but made it until she was 19.  She had a good life.  I used a Nutro product (of course) in wet food called Nutro Ultra.  It's a chunk like super premium dog food with gravy.  I'm thinking if you can maybe find something like that for cats maybe she will eat her script diet.  Good luck with this

Here is supporting information for the above statements.

Why it's best not to use a fiber-based food to help a cat lose weight: http://healthypets.mercola.com/site.../02/fiber-rich-diets-for-overweight-cats.aspx

A study indicating that cats eating wet food eat fewer calories (the study was conducted using the same food: the dry food was simply a dehydrated version of the wet food, so the nutrition was identical): http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21728852 Summary: the cats eating the diet with water (WW), ate on average about 275 KJ/day (I don't know if that's calories or needs to be converted to calories, but doesn't matter. What matters is the relative amount of food eaten). The cats that ate the exact same diet with low-water (LW) ate on average 346 KJ/day. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21728852

Best to put your kitty on a high-protein, low-carb (and grain-free) wet-food only diet, and you'll both probably be happier!

I would try a wet food and use fortiflora as a temptation.  I have gotten cats to lose weight on any food if its controlled for the cats activity level.  Wet is easier.

Has she ever eaten wet food?
 

Just adding my two cents.  My Darko needs to lose weight, and we tried different foods, including prescription diet food.  Nothing worked until we stopped feeding dry food.  At least not in our household.  Now he is starting to lose his weight, and he's in the same boat our your Josephine...needs to lose about 4 lbs!

Do you have more than one cat?  Are you free feeding?  Is she getting any food elsewhere?  I actually do feed treats occasionally, but now I feed Wholelife freeze dried treats (nothing but pure meat), and I always break them into small pieces and throw them down the hall and make all the cats run for them so they get exercise, and they really like doing it!  It's a win, win situation

Thanks folks for everyone's kind responses to my enquiry.

All sound like great tips.

I tried pulling her dry food, and instead tried feeding her wet for several days; She wouldn't touch it.  It does make sense that studies show that intake for wet food would be less, given its water content and thus increased volume.

I am unaware as to whether she ever had wet food.  I adopted her from the pound back in March, and she had been fed dry while she was there for 9 months.  I continued feeding her the same formula they were feeding her.

I've been able to get her eating the Science Diet weight loss formula, as long as its mixed in with a ratio of about 20% of her regular dry Science Diet.  I have a feeling she's a bit set in her ways, given she's over 7 years old.

With all that said, I'm happy she's at least eating the 20/80 ratio.  Her caloric intake is at least reduced.

Thanks again,

Cheetah

My cat takes meds 2x a day. When I come back from vacation she does not eat much. I feed her Nature's Variety Instict Limited Ingredient Rabbit canned. First I am going to try an appetite stimulant. If that doesn't work buy a spray. Last resort, a different can. I haven't tried a spray but one brand I saw on Amazon is Stuart. She has craved the rabbit food for a year. Maybe Petco has a spray