A while ago I realized one of my cats was obese so I read up on nutrition and portioning food. I ditched the self feeder and are giving them one bowl of food a day at about the same time every morning. Their issue is they want to eat more and are getting angry and clawing at the cabinets and yowling until I cave in and feed them more. I made sure the bowls werent too small and I also make sure they only eat from their bowl so no one is getting food taken. I gave them smaller portions over the span of a month trying to make sure they wouldnt get stressed about the sudden change. How do yall deal with the portioning issue with gluttonous cats?
-
Too many ads? Join our community of cat lovers now to reduce ads by 90%! Click here to join for free!
My cats arent liking the diet
- Thread starter crazycatlady19
- Start Date
I don't think anyone likes a diet.
Are you only putting down the one bowl a day? Is it wet or dry food? Wet food will be more filling because it tends to be higher protein, and it has the water content that can satiate appetites better (but it won't stay "good" as long as dry, especially if it dries out). Instead of putting one giant day-long meal down once, I would suggest getting them used to meal feedings so at least even when they don't eat all of their food in one sitting, it gets taken away, but they have the frequency of receiving "fresh" food.
It's also easier to control how much each cat is eating when they're being fed in meals, especially since it relies on you putting the meals down for each of them. They may be good and eat from their own bowls when you're present, but when you walk away or when they're alone, they very well could be sampling out of each others' bowls. Most animals can't resist when food is just "there", and some return multiple times to eat in small increments throughout the day. Unless you have a foolproof way of guaranteeing X cat is eating only their food and Y isn't getting into it, like putting it in a hiding spot where ONLY X cat can fit (and no others!), I would say trusting them to be good about leaving others' food alone is ineffective.
For what it's worth, I really like using calorie and carb calculators for my cats' food instead of the directions on the bag/can because the suggestions on the bag or can tend to be a) too general, and b) too much. If your food is high carb, I would suggest looking into other foods. Wet food tends to be something like 2% carbs, whereas some dry foods can have as much as 35% carbs (though some better foods would have less than 20%). If you haven't done so yet, you can talk with your vet about your cats' weights and see what their ideal weights would be. This will give you a specific goal, rather than waiting for pounds to fall off here and there, all while your cat is less than happy about the change. If you need help transitioning your cats to a different kind or brand of food, this article may help.
If you haven't yet, please give Dr. Pierson's obesity page a read. It helps by giving a general guideline for calories and helps with implementing appropriate changes without shocking your cats' systems or routine: http://www.catinfo.org/?link=felineobesity
Her formula is 13.6 * ideal body weight in lbs + 70 for the total number of calories a cat should be consuming, and you can adjust as needed for weight gain or loss.
Are you only putting down the one bowl a day? Is it wet or dry food? Wet food will be more filling because it tends to be higher protein, and it has the water content that can satiate appetites better (but it won't stay "good" as long as dry, especially if it dries out). Instead of putting one giant day-long meal down once, I would suggest getting them used to meal feedings so at least even when they don't eat all of their food in one sitting, it gets taken away, but they have the frequency of receiving "fresh" food.
It's also easier to control how much each cat is eating when they're being fed in meals, especially since it relies on you putting the meals down for each of them. They may be good and eat from their own bowls when you're present, but when you walk away or when they're alone, they very well could be sampling out of each others' bowls. Most animals can't resist when food is just "there", and some return multiple times to eat in small increments throughout the day. Unless you have a foolproof way of guaranteeing X cat is eating only their food and Y isn't getting into it, like putting it in a hiding spot where ONLY X cat can fit (and no others!), I would say trusting them to be good about leaving others' food alone is ineffective.
For what it's worth, I really like using calorie and carb calculators for my cats' food instead of the directions on the bag/can because the suggestions on the bag or can tend to be a) too general, and b) too much. If your food is high carb, I would suggest looking into other foods. Wet food tends to be something like 2% carbs, whereas some dry foods can have as much as 35% carbs (though some better foods would have less than 20%). If you haven't done so yet, you can talk with your vet about your cats' weights and see what their ideal weights would be. This will give you a specific goal, rather than waiting for pounds to fall off here and there, all while your cat is less than happy about the change. If you need help transitioning your cats to a different kind or brand of food, this article may help.
If you haven't yet, please give Dr. Pierson's obesity page a read. It helps by giving a general guideline for calories and helps with implementing appropriate changes without shocking your cats' systems or routine: http://www.catinfo.org/?link=felineobesity
Her formula is 13.6 * ideal body weight in lbs + 70 for the total number of calories a cat should be consuming, and you can adjust as needed for weight gain or loss.
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2013
- Messages
- 1,437
- Purraise
- 179
I have a somewhat different opinion of dry food versus wet food as far as satiety. As dry food is higher in calories, cats tend to feel more satisfied with this than wet food, initially, especially if they have been on dry food for awhile. This is not to say that cats cannot learn to be satisfied with a wet food diet, but that for some cats, wet food may not be enough. Cats are obligate carnivores meaning that they require high protein in their diet, and its best that the protein come from some, or all if this is your preference, wet food. My cats get two feedings of high protein wet food, but also get a bit of high quality dry food later in the day.
Free-feeding of dry food often leads to overweight cats, and so it is best to have several smaller meals through the day but in a total amount for the day that is in keeping with your cat's ideal weight. As pinkdagger pointed out, you can calculate the total calories for each cat using the formula she mentioned, but this results in quite generous portions which may not be appropriate if either of your cats need to lose some weight. There is another method which is to calculate 15 calories per pound, based on their ideal weight.
If your cats are eating the one bowl per day in one go, then this leaves nothing left for the balance of the day, especially if they are at all active, and they will certainly feel the effects of this resulting in crying and clawing for more. So, if you know what they should weight, you can calculate how many calories they need per day, and split their feedings into small separate meals which I think they will be happier with. That said, quality of food ingredients also plays a part, and so you want to feed food that provides a sufficient amount of protein. You can usually find the calorie content on the bag or can of food, and if not, let us know what brand you are feeding, and we can help you figure it out.
Free-feeding of dry food often leads to overweight cats, and so it is best to have several smaller meals through the day but in a total amount for the day that is in keeping with your cat's ideal weight. As pinkdagger pointed out, you can calculate the total calories for each cat using the formula she mentioned, but this results in quite generous portions which may not be appropriate if either of your cats need to lose some weight. There is another method which is to calculate 15 calories per pound, based on their ideal weight.
If your cats are eating the one bowl per day in one go, then this leaves nothing left for the balance of the day, especially if they are at all active, and they will certainly feel the effects of this resulting in crying and clawing for more. So, if you know what they should weight, you can calculate how many calories they need per day, and split their feedings into small separate meals which I think they will be happier with. That said, quality of food ingredients also plays a part, and so you want to feed food that provides a sufficient amount of protein. You can usually find the calorie content on the bag or can of food, and if not, let us know what brand you are feeding, and we can help you figure it out.
Last edited:
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #4
They always leave enough to eat about 6am when I feed them until 6pm at night and its not small bowls either this is why I dont understand why they are freaking out so much between about 9pm-6am. But I tried both types of food and they were worse with wet food and wet food is alot more costly than the dry food we get. Being on a fixed income we only have $20 a month for their food but a bag lasts them a week at $3.88
Is it possible something like the "cat food bowl logic" is making them picky?
As much as our older cat loves food and as opportunistic as he is to eat what's given to him, sometimes as food gets pushed to the edges he can't be bothered to smear his face in to get the food along the sides. Even when I feed large portions on flat saucers, our cat will still go for the smaller portion on the saucer. It's been easier to feed him multiple times regularly with smaller portions on a shallower plate or bowl where he doesn't have to get his whiskers pressed against the sides of the bowl or stick his face half way into a dark and cramped surface. This is something that they understandably find uncomfortable.
As much as our older cat loves food and as opportunistic as he is to eat what's given to him, sometimes as food gets pushed to the edges he can't be bothered to smear his face in to get the food along the sides. Even when I feed large portions on flat saucers, our cat will still go for the smaller portion on the saucer. It's been easier to feed him multiple times regularly with smaller portions on a shallower plate or bowl where he doesn't have to get his whiskers pressed against the sides of the bowl or stick his face half way into a dark and cramped surface. This is something that they understandably find uncomfortable.
Last edited:
