How many cans of wet food a day combined with...

daisy707 · Nov 28, 2013

Hi all,

I've recently posted about my kitty's first issue with a UTI and struvite crystals (read here): http://www.thecatsite.com/t/268415/kitty-has-his-first-uti-what-to-do-from-here

And also posted on what the best canned food would be (read here): http://www.thecatsite.com/t/268561/best-canned-food-for-preventing-struvite-crystals

I have read the catinfo.org site and also know the argument of how dry food isn't good for them, but at the same time I want to go with what I feel is best for him at least at the moment. I am going to keep him on the dry Hills c/d food the vet recommended (he has always eaten dry the 10 years he's been alive and hasn't had any issues before) so I don't want to completely eliminate it at least for now since he is used to it, maybe a few months down the line but we will see. I have however, incorporated canned food.

I purchased different styles and flavors of the small fancy feast cans. He seems to like most of them, but what I have gathered from this site so far is that the "classic" is the best type. I add in a teaspoon of water with it to moisten it a bit and it doesn't seem to bother him any taste wise. He also seems to like the classic kind better rather than the grilled or mixed varieties (chicken and cheese lol).

But my question is since he has never been on a wet diet, how many cans should he get a day? I am keeping the dry food out for him to munch on as we have always free fed him, but with the cans I have been giving him one of the small cans in the a.m. and one in the p.m. Is this enough food? He doesn't act like he's starving and of course the dry food is there in case he does get super hungry. But I don't know whether or not to switch brands of wet food yet, since I just introduced him to it and he seems to like it (he's pretty picky) and I have tried other canned foods in the past as "treats" and he didn't want anything to do with them.

So what do you feed your kitties and how many times a day? How many should I do if I am doing a half dry/wet diet?

And I just want to add that I'm glad I joined this site! Everyone has been very welcoming and helpful so far! Thanks to everyone who has posted!!

Daisy

cprcheetah · Nov 28, 2013

There is a good formula on Catinfo http://catinfo.org/?link=felineobesity on how much to feed. The daily calorie intake is 13.6x optimal lean body weight in pounds + 70 It will be hard to determine exactly how much to feed if you are free feeding as there will be no way to tell how much dry he will be eating (unless you measure out a certain amount each day). I feed my cats about one 5.5oz can per day (they weigh about 7# up to 16#), my 7# doesn't always finish the entire can in a day. My older kitty is now getting 1 & 1/2 to 2 of them as she needs to gain weight. I have one though who refuses wet food altogether (I think it's because she has cerebral hypoplasia which makes her unsteady as she eats so she doesn't like bobbing in the wet food), she gets 1/4 cup of dry per day. None of my other cats get any dry food.

laralove · Nov 28, 2013

I've got a kitten that was eating dry at his foster home. I feed him Fancy Feast and have stopped putting dry out during the day, this way he lets me know when he's hungry. He seems to be good with 1/2 can four times a day. Then he nibbles at some of the dry at night, though he seems to be eating less and less of it.

Dry seems to be really bad for them in the long-term, as you seem to be experiencing. If he's taking to the wet food well, perhaps consider phasing the dry food out, starting with taking it away during the day to give him the opportunity to let you know when he's hungry, then feed him more wet.

--2 cents from the new cat owner

cprcheetah · Nov 28, 2013

Forgot to add, my cats were all used to being free fed prior to making the switch to canned, they now know when breakfast & dinner time is (and believe me they will hound me if I am late lol). I didn't switch my oldest (14 years old) to canned until she was about 10 years old. She has battled interstitial cystitis (chronic inflammation of the bladder) her entire life, she has not had a flare up for 4 years (since we switched to canned)....knocking on wood.

daisy707 · Nov 28, 2013

cprcheetah:

There is a good formula on Catinfo http://catinfo.org/?link=felineobesity on how much to feed. The daily calorie intake is 13.6x optimal lean body weight in pounds + 70 It will be hard to determine exactly how much to feed if you are free feeding as there will be no way to tell how much dry he will be eating (unless you measure out a certain amount each day). I feed my cats about one 5.5oz can per day (they weigh about 7# up to 16#), my 7# doesn't always finish the entire can in a day. My older kitty is now getting 1 & 1/2 to 2 of them as she needs to gain weight. I have one though who refuses wet food altogether (I think it's because she has cerebral hypoplasia which makes her unsteady as she eats so she doesn't like bobbing in the wet food), she gets 1/4 cup of dry per day. None of my other cats get any dry food.

Forgot to add, my cats were all used to being free fed prior to making the switch to canned, they now know when breakfast & dinner time is (and believe me they will hound me if I am late lol). I didn't switch my oldest (14 years old) to canned until she was about 10 years old. She has battled interstitial cystitis (chronic inflammation of the bladder) her entire life, she has not had a flare up for 4 years (since we switched to canned)....knocking on wood.

Thanks for the info! I have already checked out the catinfo site and it seems as though with his weight (12lbs) what I'm doing now is enough (2 of the small 3 oz. cans) I think. I will look over it again just to make sure. He seems to eat about half of the first can, it sits there for about an hour then he eats the rest. From what I've read on the forums so far, leaving it out that long isn't bad, at least I hope so.

And yes! knock on wood for your kitty!

(close enough right? lol) As for switching to all canned, we will see. Since he's gone through so much stress already I don't want to change too much yet. I want to give the dry food time to work, see what the vet says, but I know I wanted to incorporate wet food though because I wanted him to pee! I was terrified of him not peeing again and having to take him back to the vet, esp. with Thanksgiving being yesterday, so I know the extra water in the canned stuff would keep him more hydrated.

daisy707 · Nov 28, 2013

LaraLove:

I've got a kitten that was eating dry at his foster home. I feed him Fancy Feast and have stopped putting dry out during the day, this way he lets me know when he's hungry. He seems to be good with 1/2 can four times a day. Then he nibbles at some of the dry at night, though he seems to be eating less and less of it.

Dry seems to be really bad for them in the long-term, as you seem to be experiencing. If he's taking to the wet food well, perhaps consider phasing the dry food out, starting with taking it away during the day to give him the opportunity to let you know when he's hungry, then feed him more wet.

--2 cents from the new cat owner

That's what I plan on doing; possibly phasing it out in the future, but like I have said since this UTI and crystals just started, I want to give it time. He has been eating less of the dry though since he is eating the wet for a morning and dinner meal, but I still hear him crunch away in between. He's also gotten his freeze fried chicken treats which he seems to like (not love) but I'm not sure what else to give him. He's still kinda depressed that he doesn't get his favorite treats anymore though

ldg · Nov 29, 2013

I used to free-feed dry food. I had three male kitties block within a short period of time, and we switched to the Hill's c/d dry, but I started adding wet. I fed it at "meal times," but I didn't worry about how much of it they ate - I did add water to it.

But over time, several didn't self-regulate and got fat. Then we rescued a kitty with food allergies, so diet changes HAD to happen.

As stress influences bladder health, I do think a slow transition is a good idea. I transitioned to all wet by picking up the kibble during the day and leaving a measured amount out at night.

For us, the hardest part was getting them to eat enough at meal times. In the end, I fed multiple small meals a day (but I was working from home by then, so had that luxury), then slowly started dropping the number of meals, and increasing the amount of food at each meal.

Most cats do best with three meals a day: before work, after work, and before bed (or the equivalent thereof). Some obviously do fine on two, but just keep in mind that for a number of cats, they really need it broken into three meals or they vomit bile due to stomach acid build-up.

For us, the main thing was establishing the concept of "meal time." A meal is here, at this time, at this place, for this amount of time... because the first wet meal I ever introduced was "Dinner," now every meal is "Dinner." :lol3: But they know the call, and they know their eating spot. I don't let them play musical bowls so I can keep track of each cat's individual diet and how much each one eats. (One of my kitties developed a massive cancerous mass in his stomach, and he lost a lot of weight. Because I was free feeding, I didn't know how much each cat was eating, and I didn't notice the weight loss until it was pretty significant.

That won't ever happen again this way).

sweetthangtx · Nov 29, 2013

I feed a colony of outside cats dry kiblble as wet food for about 20 cats is just too expensive.

I agree that wet would be better I have two colony cats with stomatitis and I feed them each two cans a day of wet food. They gave done so much better on the wet. They are feeling good enough that they eat kibble too.

I think that the extra money for these two is still less than constant vet visits and shots

The hardest part is trying to explain to the other cats why they have to wait until Thai and Pounce finish to get what us left over.

daisy707 · Nov 29, 2013

LDG: I only have one kitty, so it's pretty easy to see how much he's eating. He also seems to just eat a little at a time, he doesn't overindulge. I thought that because he liked the wet food he's getting now he would start eating it all at once because he's excited to get it, but not really. lol He just waits for me to open it after I call him, doesn't meow, sniffs it and will either eats it then or waits a little while. I'm hoping I won't have to worry about him gaining weight since we haven't had any issues yet but he is VERY active, he runs around like a maniac most of the day lol

sweetthangtx: I agree! Even though for us, the prescription dry + wet canned food is more expensive than his old routine, plus his new treats that are almost $5 for a small bag, it is definitely a lot less than frequent vet bills, and of course less stressful on him as well! Hoping that this diet works out and that we don't have any issues, fingers crossed!

ldg · Nov 29, 2013

Daisy707 said:
LDG: I only have one kitty, so it's pretty easy to see how much he's eating.

:lol3: Yep, it would be!

I hope this works out for both of you too.

How many cans of wet food a day combined with...

daisy707

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cprcheetah

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laralove

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daisy707

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daisy707

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ldg

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sweetthangtx

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