food for big cat

My male cat is approx 5yr old. I rescued him 1 year ago.
He was big when I hot him. He loved food, he was a stray for a while, and I think it made him want it more!
He can go outside, but generally isn't too bothered about going far.
Currently eats royal canin neutered male as direcred by vet. He is getting bigger/fatter despite not going above daily amount.
I'm wondering can anyone recommend food regime/product - wet/dry that will satisfy him and help lose wight too.
would be much appreciated. Dint feel royal canin satisfies, wondering if wtt food would, but also he need to slim down!!
Thanks

Wet food is generally much better for weight loss plans because they get a bigger serving (ok, a lot of its water, but they need to get water from their food). I'd say go for high meat, low carb, and if possible grain free wet food.

Kibble like Royal Canin has vegetable protein in addition to meet protein. Cats lack the digestive enzymes necessary to access the vegetable protein, so feel less satisfied and overeat. By feeding a high meat low carb wet diet, you're giving him food he's designed to eat (remember cats are obligate carnivores) so he'll feel more satisfied after meals.

The other way to go is raw feeding. I know a lot of people here have had great success with raw food weight loss regimes. It doesn't have to be scary - there are several commercial ready made raw food brands out there now - both freeze dried and frozen. Raw no longer means grinding your own

The other important factor for weight loss is exercise. Play with your cat. Getting him moving every day will really help with his diet.

Lastly, get yourself a baby scale. That way you can track his weight in between vet visits. Always good to know if your hard work is paying off!

Thanks so much.
I'm in the UK, where is the raw food available?
If I was to feed wet fod is there a brand and amount per day you would recommend?
I'm coming to the end of a royal canin bag so it's an ideal time to do a gradual change over. He had some wet food when I first got him and he did seem more satifield. He isn't picky though, he will eat anything!
I'm worried about him.don't want him to get bigger and end up a poorly old cat

I'm in the uk too. Raw food is mostly online, unless you're lucky enough to have a shop that stocks it locally. Here are a few sites to look at:-
http://www.naturesmenu.co.uk
http://purrform.co.uk
http://www.naturalinstinct.com
http://www.nutriment.co/cat-food/
http://www.finerbynature.co.uk (due to supply Oma's Pride freeze dried cat food rebranded as 'Purr'. They're going through the final stages of DEFRA aproval at the moment)

There are lots of other sites that supply frozen mince (with or without bone), chunks and even prey model raw meats, but I find ready made is easiest to start with. I currently feed a mix of high quality wet and freeze dried raw (nature's menu freeze dried 'treats' are a complete food if rehydrated - they're just an extortionate price!)

Of the raw brands, I would chose nature's menu or purrform, but only because they come in portion sizes (so I don't have to defrost a big block, portion it, then refreeze). The only reason I don't feed them now is that I'm living at home (health issues) and my dad's a germaphobe with raw meat. I'm using freeze dried to break him in gently :cross:

In terms of wet food, I like Feringa, Catz Finefood, Nature's Menu pouches, Lily's Kitchen, Thrive Complete, Terra Faelis, and I'm interested in trying Forthglade, but my usual suppliers don't stock it, so I haven't got around to it yet. Animonda Carny also looks good. I'm restricted in what I can feed because Asha doesn't digest beef well. That makes me wary of pork and lamb too, so even within some of the brands listed, I'm picky about flavours.

Sadly, my old boy is a bit of a junk food junkie, so he gets whiskas, gourmet and sheba some of the time, as well as a little royal canin urinary s/o kibble. He's 13 and set in his ways (though Asha's being a surprisingly good influence on his eating habits). I feed these foods, but I don't have to like it :lol3:

I mostly buy in bulk from http://www.zooplus.co.uk. They have the best prices generally, as well as brands that are harder to get round here. Sign up to their newsletter for 5% off. It's not obvious, but if you spend over £75 enter the code STOCK-UP at the checkout for another 5% off. It's worth joining http://www.topcashback.co.uk too, as if you go through them you get an extra 4.04% cashback. Every little helps

Ok...as to how much to feed. My basic rule of thumb with any animal is to work out what weight they should be, and feed the correct amount of food for their goal weight. If he's really hungry, a little plain poached skinless chicken or turkey breast makes a low calorie snack.

Hope some of this helps. Feel free to keep asking questions if you need to

Thanks!
I was wondering Wether to try feeding a light version of a dry food. And maybe a pouch of wet a day. Then he is getting something more interesting than just dry food. Was going to look at the recommended amount and then reduce it slightly?

I strongly recommend that you go 100% wet or raw (or a mix of the two). It's the easiest and healthiest way to get a cat to lose weight imo.

In terms of how much to feed - work out (or ask your vet) what your cat's ideal weight is. Then see how much food a cat of his ideal weight should get. Feed him the amount recommended for that weight.

(eg. Your cat is 14lbs. His ideal weight is 12lbs. Feed him the amount recommended for a 12lbs cat. I'm just plucking numbers out of the air here to better explain what I mean )

monty84 said:

Thanks!
I was wondering Wether to try feeding a light version of a dry food. And maybe a pouch of wet a day. Then he is getting something more interesting than just dry food. Was going to look at the recommended amount and then reduce it slightly?

Click to expand...

I agree with Columbine about feeding wet, raw, or a combination of the two rather than dry food. Dry food tends to have lots carbohydrate-heavy fillers that cats don't need. Cats need to eat meat-based protein!

My experience feeding dry "light" diet foods to our previous cat was not good: she lost no weight. Apparently some cats can but I think the only reason her weight managed to stabilize was that we started feeding her more wet food.

Good luck, I know this is difficult!

What about 'light' wet food?

monty84 said:

What about 'light' wet food?

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I'm not sure I've ever noticed light wet food! Then again, we have two young, active cats who don't need to lose weight. I did just look up some light cat foods, though, and the two I looked at had fillers I wouldn't feed: carby vegetables and grains that cats don't need.

Ideally, a cat should eat foods with meat protein that don't have grains or caloric vegetables like potato, peas, or carrots.

I really think the best thing you can do is choose a high meat/low carb regular wet food. That should leave your boy feeling more satisfied after meals than he does with his current kibble diet. You can also try a feeding dish designed to slow down his eating. Just like us, if a cat takes longer to eat then he'll be happier with a smaller portion.

Alongside the food change, get him moving with plenty of interactive play. The two together will get his weight down in time...and remember - fast weight loss is really bad for cats. Slow and steady is what you're aiming for.