Kitty joined our home as a feral kitten abandoned in the yard. Weighed less than one pound. Got healthy and gained weight quickly. Eating fancy feast can twice per day (not the gravy kind) and dry food as she wished. We also gave her treats and still do.
Fast-forward about six years and she weighed almost 14 pounds. Vet said she should lose weight, should be about 11 pounds, so I started mixing Premium Edge Healthy Weight dry food in with Friskies dry so the latter is about 1/3. How much dry food does she eat each day? I'd estimate 1/4 cup.
Recently, she was having trouble jumping up on the bed. Took her to vet. No injuries. Blood work came back normal (thank God). She had worms and we applied de-worm stuff. And NOW she weighs almost 17 pounds! Being overweight is certainly an issue with jumping and I know she's not cleaning herself as well.
She does go outside and may be fed elsewhere...but it's doubtful given our neighbors. So here are the questions.
According to the Fancy Feast site an 11 pound cat should get 3.67 cans per day. (If we fed her as per her actual 16 pounds that would be 5 cans.) Since we've fed her one can twice a day for years this means she has not been getting "too much" wet food at all! And since she rarely eats all of the wet food, she has not acted hungry.
But is it probable that the high percentage of "empty" calories in FF is the culprit? If I change the wet food to raw (like Primal pet food) would that probably help her lose in a healthy way?
If we do not leave dry food out at all and not feed it to her, would that help, too?
My honey is balking at the idea of changing FF for raw. He thinks that is changing too much, too quickly. I explained that the raw would be phased in slowly but he is adamant that we should just take the dry food away and then see how much she weighs in three months. Do you think that is sound or not?
I also could not seem to succeed with explaining that raw wet has better nutritional value than what she has been eating. If I'm on the right track here, can you suggest sites that explain this?
By the way...had already bought sampler and mixed a little raw in with FF. She gobbled it right up.
I worry that waiting 3 months for a change is too long. Along those lines: Honey also blew up at the vet's recommendation that the goal is for kitty to lose 1 pound per month. He was equating it to humans losing x percentage, threw some math at me and I could not follow it at all. What I DO get is he does not want her to be hungry or have ill effects.
What is a reasonable rate for loss?
Thank you so much for your input on the above!
Fast-forward about six years and she weighed almost 14 pounds. Vet said she should lose weight, should be about 11 pounds, so I started mixing Premium Edge Healthy Weight dry food in with Friskies dry so the latter is about 1/3. How much dry food does she eat each day? I'd estimate 1/4 cup.
Recently, she was having trouble jumping up on the bed. Took her to vet. No injuries. Blood work came back normal (thank God). She had worms and we applied de-worm stuff. And NOW she weighs almost 17 pounds! Being overweight is certainly an issue with jumping and I know she's not cleaning herself as well.
She does go outside and may be fed elsewhere...but it's doubtful given our neighbors. So here are the questions.
According to the Fancy Feast site an 11 pound cat should get 3.67 cans per day. (If we fed her as per her actual 16 pounds that would be 5 cans.) Since we've fed her one can twice a day for years this means she has not been getting "too much" wet food at all! And since she rarely eats all of the wet food, she has not acted hungry.
But is it probable that the high percentage of "empty" calories in FF is the culprit? If I change the wet food to raw (like Primal pet food) would that probably help her lose in a healthy way?
If we do not leave dry food out at all and not feed it to her, would that help, too?
My honey is balking at the idea of changing FF for raw. He thinks that is changing too much, too quickly. I explained that the raw would be phased in slowly but he is adamant that we should just take the dry food away and then see how much she weighs in three months. Do you think that is sound or not?
I also could not seem to succeed with explaining that raw wet has better nutritional value than what she has been eating. If I'm on the right track here, can you suggest sites that explain this?
By the way...had already bought sampler and mixed a little raw in with FF. She gobbled it right up.
I worry that waiting 3 months for a change is too long. Along those lines: Honey also blew up at the vet's recommendation that the goal is for kitty to lose 1 pound per month. He was equating it to humans losing x percentage, threw some math at me and I could not follow it at all. What I DO get is he does not want her to be hungry or have ill effects.
What is a reasonable rate for loss?
Thank you so much for your input on the above!
Go by calories, not by the can. 15-20 calories per pound per day is usual. Most adult cats need 5-6 ounces of canned food a day, depending on the brand.
