Please Help - New Dieter!

I had a wake-up call after reading Lisa Pierson's article on dry vs. wet food. My cat is considered 'obese' and I've made the decision to transition to a wet diet. But now that I've made the switch, he isn't getting his full caloric need and I'm afraid of not feeding him enough.

Some additional details:

My cat is 24lbs. The vet said he should be 14lbs. I'm thinking closer to 17 - he's extremely large boned and "stocky". He's an indoor cat, 8 years old, and yes, lazy (although I'm engaging him to be more active now).

Going by Dr. Pierson's article, she said she's never seen a cat develop hepatic lipidosis when consuming at least 15 calories per pound per day. This is figured on lean body weight, not fat weight. So 15 x 17 (ideal weight) = 255 calories/day.

The problem is, my cat just doesn't eat that much. He never has. He's happy with a 5.5 oz. can/day, and of the ones he's "approved", none are more than 150 calories or so. Even getting him to eat three 3oz. cans is a stretch.

I am in the transition phase between free feeding and "meal times". Right now, I'll set the bowl down 3 times per day. Whatever he doesn't eat within 30 min. or so, I take up. But I worry he isn't getting enough calories. Trying to bridge the gap, I've been putting out 1/4 cup dry food at night (100 calories), which he never finishes.

Again, the above isn't indicative of any changes in eating habits. It's just the way he is. He's always been a "picker" (my fault for free feeding him, but that's why I'm changing it). But even when he free fed, he never ate more than 3/4 cups of dry food (300 calories) per day.

I too got my wake-up from catinfo.org but for FLUTD, not obesity. Amazing how many health problems can be attributed to dry food. Can you do feedings 4 or even 5 times a day to start. I found with my cat who is also a grazer, that she couldn't/wouldn't eat enough at any one sitting for me to go to 3 feedings a day.

We've had some recent discussions about number of calories needed for very obese cats, and we've been theorizing that at some point, those numbers stop making sense because that's a lot of calories for a cat to consume. So, if he's never eaten more than 300 calories a day, I would feed him as much canned as you can and monitor his weight. As long as he is not losing more than 2% each week, I think it's safe.

Plus, the higher animal protein/lower carb composition of the canned will make him feel more satiated, so it's natural that he will eat less. Good luck and please keep us posted on his weight loss. If you want to read up on a weight loss journey similar to your starting point, please search for mschauer's Mickey weight loss thread.

And congrats for putting your kitty on a diet! :rub:

Question: is he acting like he's hungry?

And to be clear - is he eating the kibble you're putting out at night? If so, he's getting that 150 - 180 calories from the wet food, plus the 100 from the kibble, no? :dk: Which puts him on target for where you want him to be, I think. Though really, you just need to keep track that he's not losing too fast, as vball91 points out.

FYI, when I switched my cats from free feeding to eating timed meals, I had to feed them a number of small meals throughout the day. I did NOT leave the food down for them, because my plan was to get them eating AT meal time. I wanted to end the "grazing" behavior. They had 10 minutes. I also put a measured amount of kibble out overnight, and picked it up in the morning. After a few weeks, I stopped putting any kibble out. And then each week I would drop one meal a day, and gradually increase the amount of wet food I offered them at the other meals. I wanted them eating 3 meals a day (before work, after work, and before bed). We got there, and they know "dinner!" means meal time - and they eat all of their food in a few minutes.

If I had it to do over again, I would have done everything more slowly. I probably would have pulled the "overnight" kibble after a month, and I would have taken more time getting them down to three meals a day.

There's another member, Carolina, that had an obese kitty. Her vet thought 14 pounds would be a healthy weight, and he weighed around 20 or so. She thought 17 would be appropriate because of his frame. Well - 1.5 years later, he's down to 13.5 pounds, looks great, and is still very slowly losing a little weight! Cats on their own are naturally very lean animals. :nod: Their bodies aren't built to use fat stores as energy. They can, but their livers don't really support it, so excess fat is really just a risk for them. I know they're more cuddly when they're pudgy - but they're healthier and more energetic when they're lean.

Feeding him a diet that is high in animal protein and low carb will be best for him - but in the end, it's the calories that count. Here is a thread you may find helpful: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/245236/mickey-my-27-lbs-foster-and-his-journey-back-to-a-healthy-weight

LDG said:

And congrats for putting your kitty on a diet!

Question: is he acting like he's hungry?

And to be clear - is he eating the kibble you're putting out at night? If so, he's getting that 150 - 180 calories from the wet food, plus the 100 from the kibble, no?

Which puts him on target for where you want him to be, I think. Though really, you just need to keep track that he's not losing too fast, as vball91 points out.

FYI, when I switched my cats from free feeding to eating timed meals, I had to feed them a number of small meals throughout the day. I did NOT leave the food down for them, because my plan was to get them eating AT meal time. I wanted to end the "grazing" behavior. They had 10 minutes. I also put a measured amount of kibble out overnight, and picked it up in the morning. After a few weeks, I stopped putting any kibble out. And then each week I would drop one meal a day, and gradually increase the amount of wet food I offered them at the other meals. I wanted them eating 3 meals a day (before work, after work, and before bed). We got there, and they know "dinner!" means meal time - and they eat all of their food in a few minutes.

If I had it to do over again, I would have done everything more slowly. I probably would have pulled the "overnight" kibble after a month, and I would have taken more time getting them down to three meals a day.

There's another member, Carolina, that had an obese kitty. Her vet thought 14 pounds would be a healthy weight, and he weighed around 20 or so. She thought 17 would be appropriate because of his frame. Well - 1.5 years later, he's down to 13.5 pounds, looks great, and is still very slowly losing a little weight! Cats on their own are naturally very lean animals.

Their bodies aren't built to use fat stores as energy. They can, but their livers don't really support it, so excess fat is really just a risk for them. I know they're more cuddly when they're pudgy - but they're healthier and more energetic when they're lean.

Feeding him a diet that is high in animal protein and low carb will be best for him - but in the end, it's the calories that count. Here is a thread you may find helpful: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/245236/mickey-my-27-lbs-foster-and-his-journey-back-to-a-healthy-weight

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Thank you! To answer your questions:

Does he act like he's starving? Not at all. He's so calm it's more like, "Oh OK. Here's some food. Let me eat some." LOL.

Is he eating the kibble I put out for him? Yes, but barely. I put 1/4 cup down (100 calories) at night and he eats MAYBE half of it. That's 50 calories right there, and if he eats ALL his wet food, that's exactly where I want to be. The problem is he generally doesn't. Take Spot's Stew for example. He licks the bowl clean and leaves all the veggies! Since the veggies account for a chunk of those calories (which he doesn't need anyway, according to all the research I've done), he may only get 70 calories of a 90 calorie can. He's also a "pate cat". Give him chunks in gravy, he'll lick the gravy and leave the chunks.

I guess, bottom line after watching his eating habits the past week, is that I'm pushing to get 200/day, when he should be closer to 250. Right now, yes - I'm in a position where I can do smaller meals more frequently. Your approach seems pretty sound and obviously worked wonders - thank you for sharing it!

thecaptain said:

He licks the bowl clean and leaves all the veggies! He's also a "pate cat". Give him chunks in gravy, he'll lick the gravy and leave the chunks.

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LOL. He's a smart cat! He doesn't need the veggies, and in general the pate styles are healthier (higher animal protein/lower carbs). The licking of the gravy is pretty common, and the chunks/shreds often times contain wheat gluten, another thing your cat doesn't need. So, if he likes pate, feed him pate. There are a lot of pate options out there. I like Hound & Gatos, but there's also Nature's Variety Instinct, EVO, By Nature, Before Grain, and many others. For lower cost options to rotate into the mix, the Fancy Feast classics and Friskies pates are not too bad (all pates as well).

Oh! I totally forgot to mention: my cats did NOT like pate foods very much - but they did like gravy. So to feed them canned food, since all the best foods for our cats are pate style, I would mix them with some warm water and turn them INTO gravy. The extra water is good for them anyway. Over time, they got used to the taste, and I added less water, so they got used to the texture.

Cats can be so particular! I howled when I saw his dish after giving him the Spot's Stew. No pate left whatsoever, but pushed off to the corner were one pea, one carrot, and two green beans. I learned right away not to buy anything chunked, though I do add water to the pate depending on the texture or whether it spent time in the refrigerator. Spot's Stew is the exception so far - what I like most about it is that it's almost a "whipped" consistency.

Thanks for your advice earlier as well - I'm reading through Mickey's story tonight.