best Meal Plan for my 9 year old Fat Cat

hi,   this is Cat....she is about to turn 9 years old next month.  She has always been on the porky side, and i have been trying to get her to drop a few pounds without any luck

i have fed her 50/50 dry/wet food most of her life. I only get the natural ingredient brands though like Halo or Natural Balance

when she was a baby i fed her boiled chicken exclusively for about a year because there was a pet food scare...

in the last few years i have also fed her primarily raw chicken and beef, but she never slimmed down so i stopped feeding it to her

recently, i have begun giving her a can of sardines packed in water about once a week....although i dont know what to do about the bones....i usually remove them but i have also been told they are fine for her....although one person told me the bones can build up in her system

what is the best diet combination for my Cat if i give her dry food, wet food, boiled chicken, raw chicken, and canned sardines??

Hi, I urge you to check out catinfo.org where you will find everything you need to know to help your girl live a long and healthy life. There is so much you need to know and rather than me doing an inadequate job of paraphrasing, please review for yourself. I've discovered that for the last 10 years I unknowingly have been feeding my 13 year-old girl a very detrimental diet of Wellness Tuna and free feed on taste of the Wild kibble. She has now developed hyperthyroidism... I wish you and your girl the best.

I would slowly reduce kibble until you are just on a good grain free wet food preferably not Fish or foods with wheat gluten(grains) which makes gravy. You should whittle her slowly down to 6 oz day of wet, no dry for best weight loss results (too many carbs)

rick2781 said:

 
i have fed her 50/50 dry/wet food most of her life. I only get the natural ingredient brands though like Halo or Natural Balance

when she was a baby i fed her boiled chicken exclusively for about a year because there was a pet food scare...

in the last few years i have also fed her primarily raw chicken and beef, but she never slimmed down so i stopped feeding it to her

recently, i have begun giving her a can of sardines packed in water about once a week....although i dont know what to do about the bones....i usually remove them but i have also been told they are fine for her....although one person told me the bones can build up in her system

what is the best diet combination for my Cat if i give her dry food, wet food, boiled chicken, raw chicken, and canned sardines??

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Only boiled chicken for a year? Boiled chicken with no added essential vitamins and supplemlents is not a complete balance diet for a cat and shouldn't be fed long term because nutritional deficiencies can develop, especially eye problems from a lack of taurine. I'm surprised your cat is still healthy.

A raw diet is great but, like with boiled chicken, a bowl of raw meat with nothing else is not a complete diet either. Supplements in the form of powdered viamins and minerals or in the form of raw organs and bones are needed as well.

The occasional treat of raw or cooked meat is fine but they're definitely not complete diets on their own.

Canned sardines and other fish are fine but they are also treats-only for cats, not meals. I would remove the bones from the sardines since they are cooked and can potentially injure a cat. The one exception is cooked salmon bone which is very soft to the point of being almost mushy and won't cause any problem. To much bone in the diet (more than 10% or so) can cause constipation but if the sardines are just treats you dont' need to worry. Fisn in genereal shouldn't be fed every day anyways. Some people feel that fish can cause urinary issues. Cats can get addicted to eating fish and may refuse to eat anything else.

If you can eliminate all the dry food, that would help. Dry foods are very calorie dense, sometimes having way too much calories per cup for any cat to need daily (like 600 calories per cup. No cat needs that many calories daily). Canned foods and a properly done raw or home cooke diet can help with weight loss. Catinfo.org is a great place to start reading.

The general rule of thumb is 20 to 25 calories per pound of ideal body weight. So an average 10 pound cat may need 200 to 250 calories per day. Some cats may need more and others may  need less. Factors such as breed, age, gender, and activity level need to be considered when determining approximate calorie intake. It's best to start with a conservative amount of calories and then reduce as needed to prevent fattyliver disease. Do you know how much your cat currently weighs and what her ideal weight should be? Are you sure she's fat and not just big-boned? Here's a chart to gauge your cat's body condition:
 http://irvinevetservicescom.c.presscdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Pet_Measure.jpg

Here's a chart that lists nutritional info with calorie content of many brands of canned food: http://catinfo.org/docs/FoodChartPublic9-22-12.pdf It's a few years out of date but still useful. Here's another list: http://www.petobesityprevention.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Cat_Canned_Pouch_Foods.pdf

A mix of canned and dry is still good if you can't completely elminate the dry. Some peope like to  have some dry out for the cat to snack on. 50/50 is good but personally I feel more canned and less dry would be better (say 90/10). A healthier alternative to regular dry food is freeze dried raw food.

If you want to do mainly raw or home cooked diet or include these as more than 10% of your cat's diet, please see the raw forum for more info on how to do these diets properly: http://www.thecatsite.com/f/65/raw-amp-home-cooked-cat-food

Keep the canned fish as occasional treats, not part of the main diet.Small pieces of raw and boiled chicken are ok as treats, too.