making the jump t all wet food.......how much to feed, and which brands are free of corn gluten?

Ok so Matt has grown and grown and grown and...well you get the point lol. he's 14lbs now, and i'd like to bring him back to 12lbs. I started him on dry when I got him,  because that's what i know....added wet at beginning of summer to increase his fluid intake....He's doing well on wet and i know it's better for him, so i'm not planning on buying any more dry. But he's getting finicky with the wet, so I need to add more variety....also know how much to feed him if he's not eating dry too. I know i've fed him too much, so i want to fix this before he goes from pudgy to fat....and wet food confuses me trying to figure out how much to feed. 

Also i need to know what foods -grocery store and good brands to get for him, because he's getting bored of the 3brands i have him on and isn't eating it well. he gets the runs if he has dry foods with corn gluten, and threw up once when he had whiskas chicken flavoured pouch-I checked the label and it had vegetable oil in it maybe that did it? he likes fancy feast, special kitty and wellness but is going off of evo and hollistic select

Just get as much variety as you can. Keep track of what flavors and textures he likes, and try to maintain a rotation of at least 5-6 different kinds. As far as grocery store brands go, Friskies Classic Paté flavors aren't too bad, and Fancy Feast Classics. Certain Special Kitty flavors aren't awful (I'll get Super Supper and Chunky Chicken & Tuna Dinner (which is a paté, oddly) now and then), but avoid the shreds and the flaked tuna flavor (has some nasty additives). Some 9 Lives flavors are OK, some are worse. Always check the label.

I've never seen a canned food with corn gluten, though some (usually shreds/chunks) have wheat gluten. Some of the Friskies Indoor flavors have corn oil, so keep an eye out for things like that.

Have you noticed any pattern to what flavors/textures he likes? Maybee some others will have more suggestions when it comes to the better brands.

he doesn't mind a pate as long as I add some water to soften it up. i'm not sure what texture  these special kitty select are, but they're bits of ish in a gravy/broth and he's plowing through them! he likes real tuna when I use it to make a sandwich and give him the leftover with a little of the water. Friskies original is BAD...he choked on it    I can't feed him anything too cheap...though I wouldn't want to anyway. Oh and wellness is Ice cream to him! i only buy it as a super treat.  He's not opposed to veggies in his food either, which is good

If I have to use a store brand, i like to use a fish flavour, as I've noticed they seem to have less in them

Unfortunately, some kitties have problems with fish (allergies and intolerances), and it seems the mineral levels in fish can contribute to urinary issues . Plus the potential for too much mercury. So, especially with a male, you might want to try to minimize fish flavors.

Which Friskies did you try? There are a LOT of flavors so maybe it was just that one. Some good human-quality foods are Weruva and BFF, but I guess they're fairly expensive. But maybe now and then .

It was the friskies beef flavour he choked on...the cheap stuff. he is ok at room temp, but after it's been refridgerated it gets hard spots that need to be mashed out with warm water. I don't mind mixing higher brands in there....to a max price of 2buck/5oz or 4/13oz. I usually pay about 2.79/13oz as it is,  though people are saying that 5-7oz/day might be enough...so if it is I'll get the smaller cans. easier then to track what he eats and switch up the flavours.. I'm having trouble tracking what he eats with the 13oz cans, so i want to be able to see the bottom of the can. pretty sure i've been overfeeding him at half a large can and half his daily dry(the logic seemed sound but the calories don't add up)  so if i only feed him one thing i might have better luck

Most adult cats who are on all canned food eat about 6 ounces of canned food a day, depending on the calories. If he's still young he may need a bit more. So, yeah, 6 1/2 ounces of canned food AND some dry food would really pack on the pounds! Since he's young and active and not a small cat, maybe start with 8 ounces a day or so, then if he gains weight or doesn't get back down to 12 pounds, cut it back to 7 ounces a day, then 6 if you have to.

With that budget, you can get almost any of the high-quality foods. Have your tried By Nature? I heard it's good. And Nature's Variety Instinct. Weruva (

Before deciding he is overweight, look into condition scoring.  There are plenty of links if you google it.  Also consider a raw chicken wing (if he will eat them) a few times a week.  Cats that like them do lots of chewing, crunching and knawing and it keeps their teeth in tip-top order.  In the UK cheap packs are available and I freeze the ones that won't get eaten soon enough.

All three of my cats are fed Fancy Feast Classic Beef and FF Classic Turkey and Giblets which have no corn / wheat gluten. They are pate style but I just chop them into several pieces with the edge of a spoon. Each cat is fed two 3-ounce cans / day. The not quite 2 year old boys also get 2 Tablespoons of dry food each - after they have finished their canned food. I feed 4 times day so that's 1/2 can at each feeding.

I'm not clear why you say " He's not opposed to veggies in his food either, which is good " Cats don't need vegetables.

The average cat needs around 5-6oz per day. So that makes it really easy; you can give two small (3oz) cans or 1 large (5.5 or 6oz) can per day. Keep an eye on his weight and if he doesn't lose enough you can cut down even more. Just give him plenty of exercise too, if you don't already have one, get a string on a stick toy and let the chasing begin!

OrientalSlave said:

Before deciding he is overweight, look into condition scoring.  There are plenty of links if you google it.  Also consider a raw chicken wing (if he will eat them) a few times a week.  Cats that like them do lots of chewing, crunching and knawing and it keeps their teeth in tip-top order.  In the UK cheap packs are available and I freeze the ones that won't get eaten soon enough.

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He's not Overweight per se....more on his way. my concern is that I've had him since February and in that time he's gone from a skinny 8lb stray....passed his ideal 11.6lbs(vet said keep him there) and weighed in at 13.86lb on August 20th...since then i have had to loosen his collar...which i bought that day on the way home from the vet. at this rate he'll be fat by age 4. I want him to stop Gaining  weight...and hopefully go back to his ideal 11-12lbs   

As for the chicken...he won't eat anything he has to chew since i introduced wet food...he even stopped eating his mice

Catapault said:

All three of my cats are fed Fancy Feast Classic Beef and FF Classic Turkey and Giblets which have no corn / wheat gluten. They are pate style but I just chop them into several pieces with the edge of a spoon. Each cat is fed two 3-ounce cans / day. The not quite 2 year old boys also get 2 Tablespoons of dry food each - after they have finished their canned food. I feed 4 times day so that's 1/2 can at each feeding.

I'm not clear why you say " He's not opposed to veggies in his food either, which is good " Cats don't need vegetables.

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Matt likes fancy feast too, and digest it well. The reason i mentioned vegetables is because brands like Merrik and Wellness have vegetables in them. 

I have my guys on Before Grain pate style canned chicken, turkey, and a quail mix (need to get more of this in, think it's a quail/chicken blend).  It's not totally perfect, but it doesn't upset Dee and he's had real gi issues, so anything that he does well on, I like

I think they sell that where i by my food. I'll try matt on it this week

Matts mom said:

He's not Overweight per se....more on his way. my concern is that I've had him since February and in that time he's gone from a skinny 8lb stray....passed his ideal 11.6lbs(vet said keep him there) and weighed in at 13.86lb on August 20th...since then i have had to loosen his collar...which i bought that day on the way home from the vet. at this rate he'll be fat by age 4. I want him to stop Gaining  weight...and hopefully go back to his ideal 11-12lbs   

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You may not want to hear it, but being 2lbs over ideal makes your cat overweight. It's easier to understand when you do weight comparisons. 1lb on a cat is equal to 15lbs of fat on a person.
It's not a time to be upset about, just time to take action! You've already given him a wonderful home and just by recognizing that he's put on weight is a great start. We should start a TCS Fat Cats Diet Club!

Minka said:

You may not want to hear it, but being 2lbs over ideal makes your cat overweight. It's easier to understand when you do weight comparisons. 1lb on a cat is equal to 15lbs of fat on a person.
It's not a time to be upset about, just time to take action! You've already given him a wonderful home and just by recognizing that he's put on weight is a great start. We should start a TCS Fat Cats Diet Club!

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You know what.....that's a GREAT idea, Minka!!!! :lol3: Cookie would definitely have to join!

We have a raw sub-thread, why not one for cats on a diet? :-)

I would definitely join that thread. /M?y aim s to get matt back down to 12lbs......but my first aim is to stop him from gaiing and get himo a feeding schedule that works. On dry /i put  down the correct amount of food split in half...morning and night. But wet food doesn't hold him and he's always begging for his next meal. he eats about 4-5 times a day and I am trying to figure out how to limit his food intake without starving him. his day starts with a 4am feeding, then he wants breakfast at8/(which is the time I always fed his dry....lunch 12-1 supper 7   and something at bedtme 10pm to hold him for the night. I have him on a 5.5oz can per day and less than 1/4 cup of dry.....which is about 300calories/day down from I think about 350/day