What to feed my kitty

mommytobuck · Apr 10, 2014

Ok so my 8 year old cat Buckwheat started out eating only Iams dry. But at the age of three he had a violent vomiting thing and when I took him to the vet his blood tests came back looking like he had kidney damage. I didn't believe that at 3. Plus I once had a cat with Kidney problems and he was nothing like him. The cat with kidney issues was small, grumpy, and not healthy looking. This cat was large, muscular and energetic. The vet put him on prescription food and I was happy. But, the cat gained like 3 lbs. And went from a reasonable 16 lbs to 19.

At this point (around 5) he seemed to return to normal on all tests. But was very overweight. Another vet suggested we take him off the KD and give him wet only food to get him to lose weight. I couldn't get him to eat anything but this thing called "earthborn" which he loved. He had amazing results. Amazing coat, amazing energy and I didn't hear too many hairballs. But he lost no weight. About this time he started refusing to allow them to take blood from him. The vet wanted to put him out to get it but I refused. Also, he seemed to be having issues that worried me... that could mean kidney problems. So I asked the vet what to do and she said, try urine analysis... she noted that the results may be skued. If he was hydrated the specific gravity could back showing a problem when there wasn't any. But I figured it could rule things out. The specific gravity came back diluted and showing there could be an issue. So the vet suggested we switch back to the KD.

Though I give my cat wet KD... he hates it and won't eat it. SO usually it is dry kd and one or two earthborn per week to get him wet food. With the kd hairballs (or asthma) has increased. I think he gets good water because he really enjoys drinking out of the sink and I let him drink what he wants.

But he has still gained weight. Now I think about 20 to 21 lbs.

This Thursday I have a vet appointment with my vet where I think I will authorize putting him out for a number of reasons (his teeth reek as well) and so we can find out what is going on... But it doesn't stop the problem that even if he has kidney issues I don't know what I can do to get him to lose weight.

Notthing seems to work. I went from a small apartment 600 square feet to 1200 square feet with stairs and he loves running up them, but, so far no dent in the weight.

As for what I feed him.. I think I do decently. Wet food is always a 3 oz can with lots of water and I have a automatic feeder that I put 1/2 cup of food in the 5 compartments.

Any thoughts?

oneandahalfcats · Apr 11, 2014

Mommytobuck said:
Ok so my 8 year old cat Buckwheat started out eating only Iams dry. But at the age of three he had a violent vomiting thing and when I took him to the vet his blood tests came back looking like he had kidney damage. I didn't believe that at 3. Plus I once had a cat with Kidney problems and he was nothing like him. The cat with kidney issues was small, grumpy, and not healthy looking. This cat was large, muscular and energetic. The vet put him on prescription food and I was happy. But, the cat gained like 3 lbs. And went from a reasonable 16 lbs to 19.

At this point (around 5) he seemed to return to normal on all tests. But was very overweight. Another vet suggested we take him off the KD and give him wet only food to get him to lose weight. I couldn't get him to eat anything but this thing called "earthborn" which he loved. He had amazing results. Amazing coat, amazing energy and I didn't hear too many hairballs. But he lost no weight. About this time he started refusing to allow them to take blood from him. The vet wanted to put him out to get it but I refused. Also, he seemed to be having issues that worried me... that could mean kidney problems. So I asked the vet what to do and she said, try urine analysis... she noted that the results may be skued. If he was hydrated the specific gravity could back showing a problem when there wasn't any. But I figured it could rule things out. The specific gravity came back diluted and showing there could be an issue. So the vet suggested we switch back to the KD.

Though I give my cat wet KD... he hates it and won't eat it. SO usually it is dry kd and one or two earthborn per week to get him wet food. With the kd hairballs (or asthma) has increased. I think he gets good water because he really enjoys drinking out of the sink and I let him drink what he wants.

But he has still gained weight. Now I think about 20 to 21 lbs.

This Thursday I have a vet appointment with my vet where I think I will authorize putting him out for a number of reasons (his teeth reek as well) and so we can find out what is going on... But it doesn't stop the problem that even if he has kidney issues I don't know what I can do to get him to lose weight.

Notthing seems to work. I went from a small apartment 600 square feet to 1200 square feet with stairs and he loves running up them, but, so far no dent in the weight.

As for what I feed him.. I think I do decently. Wet food is always a 3 oz can with lots of water and I have a automatic feeder that I put 1/2 cup of food in the 5 compartments.

Any thoughts?

How often are you feeding the wet canned and are you putting a 1/2 cup of dry into EACH automatic feeder compartment, or splitting a half cup of dry between compartments?

The diluted urine sample can sometimes be an indicator of diabetes or problems with the kidneys. You would want to re-check the urine and have a blood panel done to check for sugar and look at creatine, BUN and GFR levels in blood to check kidney function.

My recommendation is if you can get Buck onto an exclusive wet canned diet, this will be much healthier for him and you will have better success in getting the weight off. Dry food, especially the prescription stuff is usually full of grains such as corn, wheat which are not readily digestible in cats.

Let us know how things go with the vet visit.

mommytobuck · Apr 12, 2014

I give him about 1/2 cup divided in the 5 feeders. So 1/2 cup total. I am just going to have to take him in and get blood tests and find out what is going on. Oh well.

mommytobuck · Apr 16, 2014

Good news... my cat got on the scale today (one day before the pet visit) and it said 18.6. That is a two lb loss. I am excited. I think this came about due to the move and also due to the fact that he now has stairs to run up and down and I believe this is a ton more exercise for him than before. I also think the stress from the move made him eat very little for a few weeks.

I was a little concerned about diabetes but I did happen to notice the urinalysis test he did last December had negative glucose in the urine... that at least points in the non diabetes direction.

One of the cutest things about how my cat has adjusted here is that every time I start up the stairs he runs after me and MUST beat me. He is a little slower coming down the stairs. But if I really want to work him out I go up the stairs and then back down -- then up -- then down.

oneandahalfcats · Apr 17, 2014

Great news!

Running up and down the stairs together sounds like fun, and good exercise all rolled into one.

cranberry · Apr 18, 2014

My cat does the same thing! She HAS to beat me to the top of the stairs. It's the cutest thing. Good luck with Buckwheat!

mommytobuck · Apr 19, 2014

So great news. The vet just e-mailed and Buckwheat has normal kidney values. The vet is going to send the actual results later today. Depending on the results (how normal is normal) I am considering taking him off the prescription KD food. I think the KD food is actually formulated to put weight on because many cats with kidney issues lose weight. I am pretty confident that he doesn't have kidney issues because for the last two weeks I have been increasing the non -kidney food so that I wouldn't worry that the kidney values were normal due to the food.

He likes the earthborn but that is sort of problematic because I think that has a ton of calories (seems packed in a lot of oil) but I want to work on wet and getting his weight down to 16 lbs.

Has anyone had any particular luck with anything?

I love that Buckwheat loves to run up the stairs. He really seems to LOVE doing that.. I wonder if it is really easy for him. I have a basement that I need to get redone but once I do that will be another area for him.

The vet didn't report on diabetes ... I asked in a follow up.. I had asked for that to be tested. I assume if it was tested all is well. I just feel like it is because that urinalysis a few months ago had no glucose in the urine.

oneandahalfcats · Apr 23, 2014

Mommytobuck said:
So great news. The vet just e-mailed and Buckwheat has normal kidney values. The vet is going to send the actual results later today. Depending on the results (how normal is normal) I am considering taking him off the prescription KD food. I think the KD food is actually formulated to put weight on because many cats with kidney issues lose weight. I am pretty confident that he doesn't have kidney issues because for the last two weeks I have been increasing the non -kidney food so that I wouldn't worry that the kidney values were normal due to the food.

He likes the earthborn but that is sort of problematic because I think that has a ton of calories (seems packed in a lot of oil) but I want to work on wet and getting his weight down to 16 lbs.

Has anyone had any particular luck with anything?

I love that Buckwheat loves to run up the stairs. He really seems to LOVE doing that.. I wonder if it is really easy for him. I have a basement that I need to get redone but once I do that will be another area for him.

The vet didn't report on diabetes ... I asked in a follow up.. I had asked for that to be tested. I assume if it was tested all is well. I just feel like it is because that urinalysis a few months ago had no glucose in the urine.

I saw your post a little while back and meant to respond to say, yes, what great news indeed regarding the kidney values

You must have been relieved! .. Did the vet give the all-clear about the kidneys or will you need to do followup blood work to keep an eye on this?

I think the important thing going forward is to continue working on the weight loss, ensuring that he gets plenty of water or foods high in moisture, good protein and low carbs. Cats with healthy kidneys can usually process phosphorus well, but kitties who may have issues generally need to be on diets that are low in phosphorus. The following link is to Tanya's CRF site which is wealth of information regarding CRF but also covers diet, diagnostics and management : http://www.felinecrf.org/

mommytobuck · May 29, 2014

Just seeing this now. The vet feels that my cat does not have kidney issues so he gave me the all clear to go back to regular food. I am dismayed that he weighed in at 20 lbs at the ER this weekend. I have decided to get serious about this.

I bought the Royal Canin dry food (low cal) and I plan on putting that into a cup for every day. I will take the cup out and that is all he will get. I have a automatic feeder so will fill that every day with the one cup.

I may give wet food going forward but I really don't know the calorie count in the food he likes. So far it doesn't seem to be making a dent. For me, I am not sure the wet food is working.

I have seen that a big risk factor in asthma is obesity so I have to seriously get that down.

oneandahalfcats · May 29, 2014

Did your vet recommend the RC Low-Calorie food? Personally, I would advise against feeding this due to the ingredients. There are things like corn, wheat in most RC foods which are not good, digestible healthy ingredients. I fed my cats an RC food for a bit at the suggestion of one vet to address a constipation issue in my male cat, and he gained a fair amount of weight and got very bloated on this food. It too contained corn, wheat.

You will have better success with the weight loss if you can feed more wet canned. If you need to feed dry food, this should be high in protein, low carb and free of things like corn and wheat.

If you need help figuring out the calories of the wet food, just post details of the name of the food and size of the can.

mommytobuck · May 29, 2014

3 oz earthborn wet . Any kind.

I didn't discuss with the vet and she suggested what you did, wet food of any kind. But honestly I am not sure... he isn't losing and he has been eating mostly wet for a few months. I went to a pet store that gave me a dry brand that wasn't RC but was non grain and 360 cals. That just didn't seem to be low enough. A few calculators I have seen say my cat should have no more than 300 cals per day. So I think that is necessary.

I am just not getting results on the wet. I also give him wellness and that doesn't seem to work either.

catpack · May 29, 2014

For the grain-free food...are you saying there are 360 cals per cup?

If he requires 300 cals per day, then he would need 5/6 of a cup of that particular dry daily.

Are you looking for a food that specifically has 300 calories per cup?

mommytobuck · May 29, 2014

Yes on the grain free it is 360 per cup.

On the royal canin there is 260 per cup (but that has grain)

It doesn't need to be 300 per cup but I feel like that is the max calories I can give him per day.

oneandahalfcats · May 29, 2014

Mommytobuck said:
3 oz earthborn wet . Any kind.

I didn't discuss with the vet and she suggested what you did, wet food of any kind. But honestly I am not sure... he isn't losing and he has been eating mostly wet for a few months. I went to a pet store that gave me a dry brand that wasn't RC but was non grain and 360 cals. That just didn't seem to be low enough. A few calculators I have seen say my cat should have no more than 300 cals per day. So I think that is necessary.

I am just not getting results on the wet. I also give him wellness and that doesn't seem to work either.

Okay. Here are a couple of thoughts in response ...

One, Wellness, while a decent high protein canned, is high in fat due to the liver content, so this might not be a good choice for wet food. The Earthborn on the other hand, is fairly high protein and low in calories, so a better choice, but you would need to feed enough of this if feeding alone.

Two, a reasonable daily caloric intake for cats is based on 15 calories per pound. When starting a weight loss schedule, a good method is to take 80% of your cat's current weight and base his calorie intake on this as a starting point, rather than his actual current weight. So in your case, your kitty weighs 20 pounds, and 80% of this would be 16 pounds. If you multiply 15 calories times 16 pounds, you get 240 calories per day which I think is a more appropriate caloric amount than the 300 calories. Slow wins the race so you will want to decrease calories slowly. Your kitty can safely lose up to up to 1-2% of his current weight per week.

If feeding exclusively dry, then 360 calories would be way too much. If feeding both wet and dry, you would need to factor calories for both to arrive at the total calories per day of 240. The earthborn appears to be about 55 calories (for the Chicken Cacciatore as an example) per 3 ounce can. So, you could do 3 cans which would give you 165 calories, and the rest could be a bit of dry to make up the rest. I think if you follow this plan, you should start to see some results.

mommytobuck · May 29, 2014

oneandahalfcats said:
The earthborn appears to be about 55 calories (for the Chicken Cacciatore as an example) per 3 ounce can. So, you could do 3 cans which would give you 165 calories, and the rest could be a bit of dry to make up the rest. I think if you follow this plan, you should start to see some results.

I don't know if I buy that. I have been giving him two 3 oz cans per day and in theory that is 100 cals? Plus the Chicken Cacciatore had a ton of oil and I feel certain they aren't factoring that stuff in. I am just not sure about the calore count.. my cat loves it too much for it to be that little calories.

oneandahalfcats · May 29, 2014

Well, okay then, how about Weruva, which is a very similar food for ingredients and calories, but would actually be a bit better quality than the earthborn. Here is the breakdown for guaranteed analysis and calories per 3 ounce and 5.5 ounce for all formulas : http://www.weruva.com/weruva-cat-cuisine-nutrition.php

What to feed my kitty

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