Overweight 7 month Kitten?

My brown tabby cat Louie is about 8-9 pounds. I have not weighed him in a little while but he definitly has a belly that hangs down. He is about 7 months and I feel that he is getting overweight. I am feeding him Purina One Kitten. I was not measuring his food but started giving him a half of a cup in the morning and a half a cup at night. Is this enough and normal?

One cup of dry food is a lot of food/calories, 512 calories per cup.  (You could feed him three small cans of wet food, and it would be less calories.  (Not saying you should, just for sake of comparison)).

I would start reducing the amount of dry food you leave out.  Continue to measure--that is a good thing.  And consider seriously wet food--that is an even better thing.  Here is an article about nutrition for cats and a thread about wet versus dry food.

He will not eat the wet food. All he wants to eat is greenies (only a few a day) and his dry. I will try your advice and make a slow decrease.

There are some tips for changing to a canned diet here:
Transitioning Dry Food Addicts to Canned Food
Wet Food Vs. Dry Food For Cats

[VIDEO][/VIDEO]

I just called my vet and she said he can go to regular cat food at 7 months. I was thinking a quarter cup of dry cat food mixing with a little of the kitten for the transition. Also, trying to incorporate the wet. I do have a 10 week old kitten who will eat the wet. Any idea how much I should be feeding her? I have been leaving the dry kitten food out for her to graze. I think I will need to feed them seperate!!

There are a couple things you can do to help your 7 moth old kitten lose some weight.  First, you can increase play time which gets him more active. You can also regulate that weight with high quality food.  Natural choice cat food is very nutrient dense with a reduced ingredient panel which means what they put in the food serves a purpose and has a benefit for the cat.  The Natural Choice Kitten food has 36% protein and 19% fat whereas the adult food has 33% protein and 14% fat.  So you can see there isn't much difference.  Where you will see a difference from what your cat currently eats is your cat will get full on less kibble.  You can also incorporate wet food into the mix which will help ensure the cat stays hydrated and wet food will stay with them longer which means they come back to the food bowl less.

I free feed my cats as they care capable of regulating themselves.  Since you would be looking to introduce something new, you might want to feed according to the guidelines below until you get the weight off.

Hope this helps.

Nutro Bricca

These are the recommended feeding amounts based on the ideal body condition for indoor adult cats of various weights. Individual cats’ energy requirements may differ. Adjust the amount fed to obtain or maintain your cat’s optimum weight. If feeding NUTRO[emoji]174[/emoji]  NATURAL CHOICE[emoji]174[/emoji]  Cat Food for the first time, we suggest you blend increasing amounts of NUTRO[emoji]174[/emoji]  NATURAL CHOICE[emoji]174[/emoji]  INDOOR Adult Cat Chicken & Whole Brown Rice Formula Cat Food with your old food for six days. Keep fresh drinking water available at all times, provide plenty of exercise and see your veterinarian regularly. Serve dry or lightly moistened. To help maintain freshness, we recommend sealing the bag tightly and storing it in a cool, dry location.

Suggested Amounts to Feed Per Day (Cups)†


†  Use a standard 8-oz. measuring cup, which holds 3.64 oz. of NUTRO[emoji]174[/emoji]  NATURAL CHOICE[emoji]174[/emoji]  INDOOR Adult Cat Chicken & Whole Brown Rice Formula Cat Food.

NUTRO[emoji]174[/emoji]  Cat Food Body Chart

While I agree that a high quality food is helpful for weight loss, that means a high animal protein/moderate fat/low carb food, NOT the high carb Nutro foods mentioned above. I would also cut out all dry if you can. Wet food is so much better for cats. Please go to www.catinfo.org to learn more.

What canned varieties have you tried?