HELP with my Fat Feral...

Hello !!

I've been feeding, wet in the AM & dry A & PM, 1 feral cat...Shadow for 3 yrs. now.  He is now TOO FAT!!

So... the more I read vet comments the more I find that I probably should give him only wet food or at least minimal dry & more wet.  The formula I've been seeing is: protine= >45%, fat= <45% and carbs= <10%.

So.....anyone else have success trimming down your cat??  What canned food seems better for them??  Your thoughts??

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What brand of food are you feeding? Wet and dry? You just need to figure out how many calories you're feeding him vs how many he needs. One of my strays is a little chubby, but i feed multiple cats so I can't really limit his food intake, but i feed only wet to avoid the excess carbs. 

Thank you for the quick response.

I'm feeding him "Blue".  1/4 can wet in AM with 1/2C dry ( Weight Control) and 1/2 C dry PM (which some is left over after both meals).  Ive recently transitioned to Blue's Healthy Gourmet wet.

Calorie Content:

The wet food says:   925 Kcals/kg. 144 Kcals/can.

The dry food says:   3,272 Kcals/kg.  329 Kcals/cup

So...Is it the "calories" , carbs, or fatI I should be worried about ???   UGH !!  So confusing.....

Your Thoughts...Please HELP !!!

secabeach said:

 
Thank you for the quick response.

I'm feeding him "Blue".  1/4 can wet in AM with 1/2C dry ( Weight Control) and 1/2 C dry PM (which some is left over after both meals).  Ive recently transitioned to Blue's Healthy Gourmet wet.

Calorie Content:

The wet food says:   925 Kcals/kg. 144 Kcals/can.

The dry food says:   3,272 Kcals/kg.  329 Kcals/cup

So...Is it the "calories" , carbs, or fatI I should be worried about ???   UGH !!  So confusing.....

Your Thoughts...Please HELP !!!

Click to expand...

It looks like you're probably overfeeding. Cats in general need anywhere from "20-35 calories per pound of weight" to maintain their current weight. That's a big range, and I think 35 is way too high unless you have a really active outdoor cat or kitten, but since yours is a little fat he's probably not that active. Most people go with 20/cal per pound or a little more for indoor cats, but they say that outdoor cats need more calories than indoor cats. I'd probably just cut back on the amount of kibble you're feeding because kibble is really the culprit, as you can see it contains a lot of calories in 1 cup. And if he's not eating it all no reason to waste it. You could go with 1/4 cup in the AM with his wet and stay with 1/2 cup kibble in PM and see what that does. Every cat is different based on activity level and age, so you sort of have to see what they do. You could also just transition to feeding feed 100% wet. Which in some ways is easier because kibble is harder to manage. 

Thanks...

Yesterday I started giving him....both A & PM... 1/2 can wet & 1/4 dry.

Don't believe its too much wet, since the dry is drasticly reduced....your thought?  Yes, would like to transition to all wet .  Am concerned about winters arrival and the need for more protine/cals (even though he's a chubby fur baby). 

So..... think I should stay with the "diet based" wet food or go regular adult...maybe grain free??? 

Too many choices & how to choose the best one...UGH so confusing !!!