She seems so hungry!

cranberry · Feb 14, 2014

My kitty is 12 pounds (actually 11.8) and the vet would like to see her down to 10 pounds. I measure her food so that she's getting four meals each day of approximately 40 calories per meal (so 160 per day.) I was giving her a small serving dry food to tide her over between meals, but stopped that about a week ago. So now it's just wet food, about 40 calories each meal with occasional dry dental treats.

Just this week, we started switching from Wellness Grain Free poultry canned food to Wellness GF mixed with Wellness Core and Dave's 95% meat. She is psyched and loves this new food. She cleans her plate at almost every meal. (Eventually, I'll be phasing out the regular Wellness, but I don't want to switch her too quickly.)

The problem is - she always seems hungry! Meow ,meow, meow. Am I giving her too little? (I thought the rule of thumb for a dieting cat was 15 calories for every pound of ideal weight and I'm actually doing 16.) Could her individual metabolism require more? Or is she just pushing my buttons? I try to distract her with play time and hugs and that helps a little, but before long, she's back to her meow-fest.

Also, could cats require more calories in the morning? That's when she seems to be the hungriest.

Thanks so much!

scubacat · Feb 14, 2014

Well, you also do not want her to lose weight too fast. You would be hungry too if you drastically reduced your daily intake! You ought to decrease calories as she loses weight...not overnight feed her the "ideal weight" calories. I believe the guideline is she should not lose more than 2% of her weight a week...more can be very dangerous.

What she needs also does depend on activity. My kitty weighs 8 lbs and she gets 180 calories a day to maintain, but she is pretty active for an indoor kitty.

Here, you might find this helpful. It gives a couple different methods to calculate caloric needs for weight loss, and it discusses how to ensure SAFE weight loss:

http://www.catinfo.org/?link=felineobesity#Implementing_a_Safe_Weight-Loss_Program

First method:

The most accurate way is to calculate how many calories your cat is currently eating to maintain his not-so-svelte figure. Then take 80% of those calories as a starting point.

....

Second method:

Since most people free-feed dry food, the amount of calories consumed in a day is not known. In this case, figure out what you think your cat *should* weigh and plug that number into this formula:

Required calories per day = [13.6 X optimal lean body weight in pounds] + 70

Most female cats should weigh a nice, lean 10 -11 pounds. Most male cats should fall into the 11 -13 pound range.

Using an optimal body weight of 12 pounds as an example, we come up with 233 calories/day as a starting point.

[13.6 X 12 pounds] + 70 = 233

This formula provides a very generous starting point (usually far too generous) so be aware that some (most) cats will not lose weight when eating the number of calories generated by this formula. I would suggest feeding according to this formula for 2 weeks and then re-evaluating the caloric needs based on the cat's weight loss, or lack thereof. Of course, if during that period of time your cat is losing weight too rapidly, you will need to increase his calorie intake immediately.

If he is maintaining his weight on the number of calories provided by the above formula, reduce the amount by 20%.

cranberry · Feb 15, 2014

Thanks, ScubaCat

To clarify, I haven't drastically reduced her calorie intake overnight. It's been a gradual process. I was just concerned because she seemed so extra hungry.

Interestingly, her hungry behavior happens more when I give her the Dave's 95% meat brand. When she has Wellness Core, she seems more satisfied. Perhaps there's something about the Core type that keeps her feeling full for a longer period of time. She does seem to like it better.

She seems so hungry!

cranberry

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scubacat

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cranberry

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