Rad Cat vs Felines Pride questions

You can read all about my problems with FP in another thread in this forum. FP went downhill quick and my cat would barely touch it and actually got pretty sick from it so I sought out alternatives. I found RadCat. My cat didn't take to it at first but after a few days started devouring it.

So my cat has been eating RadCat for a bit over a month now. The RadCat is similarly priced to FP when I take shipping into account. I buy the RadCat locally. 

Here's the problem. My cat is eating the RadCat so much that she is begging for more food at times. With FP she would eat maybe 1/2 to 3/4 of what I give her at each meal and never beg for food. Now, she eats every last bit and asks for more, hours before I normally feed her. So I started giving her bigger portions of RadCat but she STILL asks for it earlier. I actually gave her double the amount one day and she ate it all.

I'm wondering if she just likes the RadCat that much or if RadCat is not as filling or using more water or something? I do notice the radcat comes out soupier when thawed. So needless to say I am spending a lot more money now than I used to on FP. 

Anyone have any comments or can add any experience they may have?

I don't feed either of these brands, but I would determine how much to feed her based on her weight, not how much she would like to eat. Is she gaining or losing on the radcat? If I fed my little girl as much as she wanted, she'd be an egg on legs by now.

Rad Cat is a lot lower in calories than FP, about 37 calories per ounce vs about 115 calories per ounce. So you'd need to feed more Rad Cat to meet your cat's needs.

According to this, Rad Cat is the most expensive commerical raw food out there: http://catcentric.org/nutrition-and...y-cat-or-i-can-afford-to-feed-commercial-raw/

LTS3 said:

 
Rad Cat is a lot lower in calories than FP, about 37 calories per ounce vs about 115 calories per ounce. So you'd need to feed more Rad Cat to meet your cat's needs.

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I assume you got that 115 calories from the FP chicken web page which is where I found it. They don't specify what quantity of the food contains that many calories. It's highly unlikely that 1 oz would be 115 calories. That is astronomical. More likely that is a per serving value but they don't say how big a serving is.  Probably 3 or 4 oz.

mschauer said:

 
I assume you got that 115 calories from the FP chicken web page which is where I found it. They don't specify what quantity of the food contains that many calories. It's highly unlikely that 1 oz would be 115 calories. That is astronomical. More likely that is a per serving value but they don't say how big a serving is.  Probably 3 or 4 oz.

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I agree, that doesn't sound right.  Some freeze dried foods are that dense per ounce (or more, the Primal freeze dried pork I have right now is 147 calories per ounce), but then you are measuring with all water removed, which is not the same thing as water is pretty heavy.

If you look at the Feline's Pride feeding tips page, it says to feed 5-6 ounces per day divided into 2 meals.  Not too many cats would need over 500 calories per day, so another reason the 115 is probably not per ounce.

For the OP, rather than comparing the two foods, I would just start with your cat's ideal weight and rough activity level, and the calorie density of RadCat, and come up with an amount per day.  Guidelines are typically somewhere between 20-30 calories per pound (ideal weight) per day; you can go looking for sources and find some variation in the levels, plus individual cats will differ somewhat.  If you calculate that out and she's getting enough calorie intake even at the high end of that, then maybe she's simply loving the food too much.  Otherwise you might want to adjust the amount upward a bit to see if it helps.

Hi Dude - I am back to feeding mine Rad Cat, also. My cats definitely don't enjoy it as much as FP but end up eating about the same amount. Both of mine have always tried to talk anyone in the kitchen into feeding them, all day. That is no different on RC.

I also have notic d that the RC is very soupy, once thawed.

Sorry, I'm no help.

I've never fed FP but i do sometimes feed RC. RC was how i started my cats on raw and then i started buying meat from HT and making my own. My cats actually like the stuff i make better than RC so i don't feed it as much anymore but they ate more RC than homemade raw, for whatever reason. 

Thanks for the replies everyone. I did the math and she is getting enough. She is 9.5lbs so she needs about 190 calories per day or so and she currently eats 6oz of redcat per day or 222 calories. She is just being greedy!

I'm just so not used to seeing her want to eat that it caught me off guard. She is 4 and has been eating FP her whole life and has never liked it this much.