Help with foods and calories?

EXCELLENT!!

Shipped today so it should be here by the 26th or 3rd. Gave a few treats with his lunch today and he wasn't acting like a starved gull by supper. He still meowed once or twice but didn't wind between my legs begging on the way to the fridge. Also mixed in more water than usual with his lunch, not sure if that affects a cat's fullness or not like it does with people.

Got the scale today. Put him in an empty drawer with a treat to stay occupied and his new weight is 23 pounds and 7 ounces. Depending on how accurate last week's weighing was this is still fast so I'm going to try increasing his food a little this week and see if it helps.

With the addition of a few treats he no longer seems as hungry between meals and I'm hoping for a weight of 23 pounds next friday.

A 7 ounce loss in one week is way too fast. It took him along time to get this size, so I would feed him more, and slowly decrease depending on his loss/not every few days or so.

Just gotta be super careful of him getting hepatic lipidosis.

If his food intake is too low his body will start absorbing it's stored fat, which causes a liver overload that it is unable to process and is life threatening.

Yeah, going to increase his food to one and a half cans a day instead of just one. Weigh more often too now that the scale is here.

He doesn't seem sick, except for the vet trip for a possible uti a while ago, and is just as active(if you can call it that) as before.
 

No, that is why it's so important to be sure and give him enough calories daily, because he will seem totally normal, and suddenly he is down. His liver fails, then it is life threatening.

Please be careful.

You can't even know if his liver is working too hard already, but feeding him more now, it will have a chance to 'catch up' if he has enough calories to support him.

It's an accumilation of fat his body pulls and digests that was stored that causes this. It is unable to process so quickly when the cat is continuously fed too little and has to survive/maintain from this stored fat.

Sounds good, he will def. be losing, but the liver is not going to keep up.

So 7 ounces in one week is waaay too fast, okay?

Used the calculation for body weight and found that for him 2% would have been half a pound at the start. I know cats should only loose between 1 and 2% of their weight a week but am having a little trouble finding out a good amount to feed him. Would like for him to be loosing slower so I'm also trying a few diffrent treats to give a few more calories.

Wasn't aware that fatty liver was so silent. Thought there were more symptoms leading up to it. Did know that it's caused by loosing too much too fast though.

So recaulculating using the formula on catinfo just hurt my brain....

It says,

For example, if your cat weighs 20 pounds, he can safely lose up to ~6 ounces per week. (20 pounds X16 ounces/pound = 320 ounces.  2% of 320 = ~ 6 ounces.)

1% would be 3 ounces per week - or 3/4 pound/month.

Click to expand...

So that would be 23.44 x 16 is 375.04

And 2% of that would be 7.5008.... but that would still be 7 and a half ounces?

That still sounds fast to me, as he would be loosing abouut 2 pounds a month? I am now officially confused =S

Your cat is adorable.  I apologize that I did not read through all the posts so forgive me if I state somethingh that was already mentioned.  Oreo looks like he might have some  Maine Coon in him by his appearance.  I have a tuxedo Maine Coon and he could be Oreo's cousin 

I feed my cat Natural Choice.  They have a couple of varieties like Indoor, hairball, finicky, and weight loss.  The weight loss formula has 28 percent less fat and 14 percent fewer calories to help manage weight.   I copied this from the web site because it's nice to know.  You can also use their wet foods to help Oreo drop weight.  All the Natural Choice cat food cans are grain free and come if 4 distinct textures (chunky loaf, minced, sliced, and soft loaf) plus a variety of flavors so the cat's never bored.  My Main Coon went from about 26 pounds down to 18 so far using this formula.

Calorie Content

Metabolizable energy 3,250 kcal/kg; 281 kcal/cup (calculated)

Suggested Amounts to Feed Per Day (Cups)<sup>†


†</sup> Use a standard 8-oz. measuring cup, which holds 3.05 oz. of NUTRO^{[emoji]174[/emoji]} NATURAL CHOICE^{[emoji]174[/emoji]} WEIGHT LOSS Adult Cat Chicken & Whole Brown Rice Formula Cat Food.

http://www.nutro.com/natural-cat-fo...ood/dry/diet-cat-food-chicken-brown-rice.aspx

Hope this helps,

NutroBricca

Nutro Pet Nutrition Specialist

Hi NutroBricca. Oreo thanks you for saying he's cute.

I'd love to feed him a high quality grain free wet food but just can't afford it at the moment. As for the dry food, I've tried multiple brands both low and high end, grain free and weight control and he only gained while on them. It looked like it was working for a bit and then he would just gain more weight =(

Would love to see a few pictures of your kitties =)

@NutroBricca - Every "weight loss formula" I have seen is way too high in carbs, NOT what an obese cat needs. Protein and fat are what provide satiation for cats, not high fiber/carbs.

@Fuzz - I think you're doing a good job getting him on all/mostly all canned. It doesn't need to be high end or super expensive. Fancy Feast classic pates, Sheba pates, even some of the Friskies pates are fine. Keep his calories a little over 200 and adjust as necessary. You're doing great.

Agreed with everything vball91 said. Especially about weight loss formulations.

Check out grocery store versions of the same foods vball91 mentioned. My old Grey girl actually preferred the Winn Dixie version of Fancy Feast classics over the brand name. I watched for sales too. Maybe Dollar stores might save you some cash too.

I did some research into the food at our petsmart before the diet started and the best food for my budget turned out to be the authority brand. Has no by-products wich I like but it does have rice. Takes about 85 cents a day to feed Oreo, but it's on sale at the moment wich saves a few extra dollars.

Right now it looks like is loosing the entire 2% a week, but I'd like for it to be closer to 1.5 or so just incase anything happens.

Not sure if this is due to the diet or not but last night Oreo swatted at a fly for the first time in a couple of years =)

Diet realted, there are now less failed attempts to jump onto the bed Kitty seems to be getting his cat like abilities back.

That is great news!!!! Just joining the crowd cheering you on - I think you're doing great! And sounds like Oreo is too. :rub:

...and those PureBites are GREAT treats! Sounds like the perfect solution for between meals. :nod:

And the meat-based canned foods are perfect for weight loss, actually. There are studies indicating the the high protein diet is the best way to manage weight loss, because not only do they start burning more calories as they develop more lean mass, they keep the weight off better when compared to using fiber as a diet component to fill them up as the weight loss strategy. :nod:

Thank you =)  Oreo used to be a mischevious little critter, getting everywhere and on top of doors. Can't wait to see him like that again and sure he'll enjoy it even more.

Ok, whoever delivers to Petsmart better get a move on. The shelves were bare today of Authority food, at 4 ish when I went to buy the weeks food. Today is supposed to be their delivery day but it hasn't shown up yet.... I've never seen the Lamb food there either despite it having a label on the shelf.

Picked up some Fancy Feast turkey and Giblets instead, he's had it before and it has no carrageenan or wheat/rice so it will be a nice change for him for a bit. The calories are a little lower than the Authority though so two 3 oz cans will keep him at 204 calories for the day, plus treats for an extra ten or so calories.

Lol, he just wolfed down a can and is contentedly licking his chops waiting for an after supper treat.