Am I feeding my cat enough?

Hi everyone

Been trying to transition my cat (Ollie) from free-feeding dry food to a mixture of wet/dry on a set meal schedule. My husband and I have ran into some hiccups about this along the way (diarrhea which may be a parasite, waiting on test results) but at the moment Ollie is on 4 small meals a day. He's 1 year, 3 months old, and an American Curl. So, a cat that should be fully grown and a breed that's average sized.

The problem is Ollie is munging between meals, going up to his dishes and sniffing/licking them for scraps (he doesn't meow at us for food unless we're already getting/preparing it for him). His recent weigh-in at the vets put him at 4.4kg (~9.7lb) and by from what I've seen he should be getting ~190kcal to ~240kcal a day (based on info I've found about cats needing 20 to 25kcal per pound of body weight). He's an indoor cat in a 662 sq ft/61 sq m apartment so I am aiming for the lower end of the scale in terms of calorie content because he doesn't have that big a territory to roam around in. He is moderately active (and gets the zoomies -- dashes around -- a couple of times a day).

He's currently on 1 tray of Sheba (66kcal) and 30g Royal Canin (120kcal). He also alternates between getting a few freeze-dried treats and about 10 dreamies a day in addition -- so about an extra 20kcal on top of his meals (putting him at a little over 200kcal a day). However...well, see above. My husband sees him munging and feels guilty, that we should be feeding him more. I disagree, and think this munging is because Ollie's not used to having set scheduled meals and is feeling hungry.

Thoughts/advice?

I'm not a calorie counter at all so base most of our cats' feeding on how hungry they seem/sound and how their bodies look. Is Ollie svelte or chunky for his weight? If he's svelte, I'd probably try feeding him just a tiny bit more per wet meal, particularly since he's so young and, apparently, active. Cats do still eat a lot at his age. I'd go for more of the wet food over the dry food since it's more protein-intensive and contains zero-calorie water, which is good for him. It certainly is possible that he misses his all-day buffet.

We have a cat who likes to munge (great word), too: she sniffs all around her feeding area for dried bits of food (the cats only get wet foods) and scarfs up anything she finds. She's not overweight but she's the chunkier of our two, so we have to watch her intake I do sometimes give her a small spoonful of food between meals. (Our cats get five meals a day: this is all rather complex because the munger has stomach issues so we can't let her stomach get too empty.)

Finally, is Ollie a rescue cat? They're sometimes more insecure about their food than cats that weren't strays or weren't in hoarding situations -- our cats came from a too-many-cats situation and I'm convinced that's affected their eating patterns.

I'm not sure how helpful any of this is: as I said, I'm not good with calorie numbers! Personally, I think trial and error, observation, and intuition are the keys to making a feeding plan work, particularly since our three-year-old cats' activity and appetites seem to vary a lot from day to day. Good luck with the feeding and the test results!

Ollie's a semi-longhaired cat so it's a little difficult to see what his body shape is (itty bitty fluff ball). Based on my knowledge I'd say he's rather svelte -- definitely not chunky. I may be a little worried/paranoid about his health though

I picked up munge from my aunt -- she used to have a cat that would kind of sulk around and look for food even though she wasn't always particularly hungry.

Ollie's not a rescue cat -- we picked him up from a breeder. She had been intending to try breeding American Curls, changed her mind (for whatever reason) and he needed a new home. He had his own little space (with a Turkish Van next door neighbour who seemed a little insulted we weren't there to see him) and all the dried food he could want.

I did get my husband to put down the full tray of Sheba this morning to see if that changed anything for lunch -- nope, Ollie's still as hungry as anything. I'll see if an extra half tray of Sheba this evening helps him any.

I just had to put my kitty on a diet, but she's almost 14 years old and huge (no doubts - will get her official weight later today once the new scale thaws). We free feed but have had to make it so she can't, and she's not happy about it. She's giving me this "Why are you starving me?" look all the time. She's getting between 220-230 calories a day between wet and dry. And it's all measured out. Well, I am iffy on whether I'm measuring the dry correctly since I'm using a regular spoon to measure at the moment, waiting on my measuring cups to get here.

I think in both of our cases, it's more the removal of the free-feeding that is upsetting, rather than a true lack of sustenance. Now that I have a scale I can keep an eye on her weight loss to make sure she's not losing weight too fast.

Yeah, I'm holding firm to the belief that it's the removal of the free-feeding (and also switching to exact measured amounts). We did start to weigh him a few weeks back (due another weigh-in on Sunday along with myself) mainly because I was starting to worry that we were feeding him way too much. I'm hoping that once we get his digestive issues sorted I can switch his diet towards a dry that's less grain-filled (and maybe eat up some of the huge amount of non-Royal Canin dried we have in storage) and also get a good portion of wet added in to the mix. Hopefully that mix will mean he feels a lot more satisfied with what he's getting

He's perfectly content 90% of the time, it's just at feeding time (or when he hears a crinkly packet and thinks it's his dried) that he starts meowing just to make sure you're not forgetting to feed him too. My husband's also a little concerned that Ollie seems to gobble up all his food as soon as we put it down -- I just see it like a little child eating up their dinner because they haven't filled themselves up beforehand.

(In case it isn't obvious, this is the first time my husband's really owned a cat He helped look after my last cat but she was 7 when he met her and already set into a routine so he never really had the whole 'settling in' period until now.)

Well, it's been a few days and he's been getting worse at mealtimes, meowing rather a lot and also expecting food whenever we go into the cupboards where his food is kept (we keep a whole range of different things there, so us going in doesn't always mean he's getting food). We weighed him on Sunday and he was still a 4.4kg, so even if he has lost some weight it's not enough to display on the scales.

He's still munging and has started to wander over and lick up the scraps leftover in his bowl (hint: there are none). We have suddenly gone into a cold snap and from what I've seen some people are saying that their cat eats/needs more food in winter. So, we're upping his food amount and we're going to keep an eye on him to make sure we're not going too far in the other direction.

Ovetia said:

He's still munging and has started to wander over and lick up the scraps leftover in his bowl (hint: there are none). We have suddenly gone into a cold snap and from what I've seen some people are saying that their cat eats/needs more food in winter. So, we're upping his food amount and we're going to keep an eye on him to make sure we're not going too far in the other direction.

Click to expand...

I think that's a good idea. You'd said he's more on the svelte side, plus he's still pretty young and young cats need lots of calories. For a cat like him, a little more--particularly if it's the lower-calorie canned food instead of the higher-calorie dry food--shouldn't be a problem. Good luck!

He's been bumped up to 2 Sheba trays and staying on his 30g Royal Canin dried (in two meals). That puts him at 252kcal plus however much he gets from treats. If he gains weight I'll probably knock back his dried (considering 15g of that is almost as calorifas 1 Sheba tray) and see how that goes.

I'm turning into a real panicky owner here With Cleo (my last cat) she got some food during the day and spent most of her time outside and we never really had trouble with her weight until she became hyperthyroidic. With Ollie, I'm worried about him turning into a little chubby kitty as he's indoor-only and has nowhere near the amount of roaming space Cleo had.

Ovetia said:

He's been bumped up to 2 Sheba trays and staying on his 30g Royal Canin dried (in two meals). That puts him at 252kcal plus however much he gets from treats. If he gains weight I'll probably knock back his dried (considering 15g of that is almost as calorifas 1 Sheba tray) and see how that goes.

I'm turning into a real panicky owner here :lol3: With Cleo (my last cat) she got some food during the day and spent most of her time outside and we never really had trouble with her weight until she became hyperthyroidic. With Ollie, I'm worried about him turning into a little chubby kitty as he's indoor-only and has nowhere near the amount of roaming space Cleo had.

Click to expand...

I have a multi-tab spreadsheet going just for cat food - I get the panicky part :lol3:

I'm not gonna start restricting food for my boys until I know they are done growing. Oliver is a little hoover (I love that term, forget who started that) and a bit on the chubby side. But I can already see he's in a growth spurt again. So I let him have his eats for now

Now Maple, my 14 year old big girl, she's on a diet. I've learned that she is so much happier if I replace her bit of afternoon dry food with 1.5 oz of wet food. It's fewer calories but it makes her happier, which is a plus-plus in my book. 1/16 of a cup of food was NOT making her happy. She still gets a little bit of dry at night just to tide her over.

I think we all know the panicky part for various aspects of cat care! I get nervous about weight, too, after our previous cat gained and then couldn't lose her weight (because we didn't know anything at all about cat food then!) until she was elderly and very sick. As for spreadsheets, I used to constantly check the food charts on catinfo.org when I bought cat food for Brooksie a few years ago, wandering the aisles looking at the device: I found that the employees of one of the stores loved the charts, too!

Ovetia, I'm glad you're increasing Ollie's food! If it turns out to be two much, you can just taper it back.

I agree with Donutte about growth: our cats kept growing, not a lot but some, until they were almost two. Maybe even a little older? We kept thinking they were done but they kept surprising us! They weren't so much getting taller or longer as filling out, in healthy ways, even though we'd thought they were already full-grown. They ate as if they were bottomless pits. The continued growth can apparently vary by breed and cats are often considered "junior cats" until they're two. In any case, there's a thread that mentions members' various observations here. Now that our cats are almost three, I have to watch our munger more carefully but even so, I find that feeding only wet foods makes it relatively difficult to overfeed a cat by much.

Happy feeding everyone!

Quote:

LisaHE said:

 
Ovetia, I'm glad you're increasing Ollie's food! If it turns out to be two much, you can just taper it back.

Click to expand...

Yes, exactly. Ollie's been scheduled in to the weekly weigh-in with us and he's got his own section on our spreadsheet so we can keep an eye on him. Our scales only measure to the nearest 0.1kg but it'll be enough to keep track if he's gaining or losing weight.

I checked and as Ollie's an American Curl the expected weight is about 10lbs/4.5kg. Ollie's last weigh-in was at 4.4kg so he's about right, but apparently male American Curls can be up to 12lbs/5.4kg as a healthy weight.

I'm half-hoping that we get test results confirming that we think he's got a parasite and get him treated, and that knocks his want for food down a little. Even if his appetite doesn't change I am planning on trialling him on various types of wet food and getting him mostly onto that -- though we might keep the meal schedule as giving him a bit of dried when we have lunch and dinner keeps him quiet and stops him even thinking about begging for human food

Ovetia said:

he's got his own section on our spreadsheet so we can keep an eye on him.

Click to expand...

This makes me not feel so weird for having Sara and Maple tabs on my spreadsheet! They have their own separate feeding schedules also :lol3:

Hah, I'm trying to lose weight and my husband needs to keep an eye on his weight (for medical issues) so it was all too easy to slot Ollie in next to us

So, some good news: we finally got test results back from the vets, and Ollie has Giardia. Okay, maybe news on him having a parasite wouldn't usually be classed as 'good' but he's now on medication and hopefully he'll stop having bowel problems.

Bad news: He had his weekly weigh-in and he's at 4.3kg He doesn't seem to be eating all his food in one big rush any more which I'd normally take as a good sign (he's getting used to set meals) but even splitting his breakfast in half (meaning he got half a Sheba tray at ~6 and the other half ~10) he still left bits. I think I'm going to be upping his dried by 5g each meal (10g total, or an increase of a third). That means his daily intake would be:

• 2 x 85g Sheba trays (66kcal each, total 132kcal)
• 2 x 20g Royal Canin (40kcal per 10g, total 160kcal)
• Overall total: 292kcal

That seems like an awful lot, especially as everything I'm seeing is still putting Ollie in at the needing 200-220kcal a day. It does look like I may have underestimated Ollie's activity level, and he might also have a higher metabolism (at least at this age) that needs to be accounted for This makes it all the more confusing if I want to try and switch to different food, especially as I made up a chart yesterday (our household motto: when in doubt, spreadsheet) to calculate the calorie amounts they recommended -- if I followed guidelines, I could be feeding Ollie anywhere between 139 and 387 calories a day simply depending on what food I'd be giving him that day! It also complicates when some manufacturers put calorie amounts on and others I have to work from nutritional analysis.

Anyway, this week's task: give Ollie a bit more dried and see how his weigh-in goes next week.

For what it's worth, my 17+ lb cat is on a diet right now, and I started off by feeding her 220 calories a day. At the point where it ranges between 195-210 per day now, averaging about 200/day for the whole week. Are you weighing him at home? I got a baby scale so I can keep tabs on Maple's weight to make sure I'm not under-feeding her, and also to make sure that she is indeed losing weight.

Also, I get that having a diagnosis is a good thing, even if the diagnosis itself is not good necessarily Knowing what is wrong vs not knowing is almost always better.

Fortunately giardia is pretty common, so it shouldn't be too difficult to resolve.

It sounds like you're doing everything right! Gaining/losing weight isn't always an exact science, so it's very helpful that you're weighing him every week. Perhaps being sick has consumed some extra calories. Giardia is a parasite after all. 

When I'm trying to sort out a medical issue I always err on the side of too much food while things are getting sorted out just to be safe. I've also learned to stick with the foods I've been giving, even if I'm not sure they're the best option, until I'm done treating for the illness so I don't change too many variables at once. It just makes it easier for me to keep track of everything.

It sounds like he's a good eater, and at this point leaving some food behind is probably just because he's still adjusting to having more of it. If his appetite did start to decline significantly, there are things you can try to entice him to eat, but it sounds like he's just fine right now.

Donutte, yup, weighing him at home. It's a regular people scale, not a baby scale, so I can't see to the same detail. Either myself or my husband weigh ourselves and then we grab Ollie and stand on the scales with him.

Lunch & dinner Ollie got his 20g of food/an extra 40kcal for the day, and he'll be getting the last of his food (plus his giardia medication) in about an hour or so. He didn't make a fuss about having the medication in his food yesterday (we quickly learned that Ollie is pretty much a "eats anything" kitty...so long as the wet food is pate or terrine and not in jelly or sauce ).

I'm definitely holding off on any new food introduction for a good few days -- Ollie had a bit of a messy litterbox (from the medication, we presume) so he's staying on sheba + royal canin until we can be sure that he's not got any more ill effects. I just don't want to go too far into feeding him too much, as from what I've seen it's easier to have a kitty maintain a good weight than it is to try and get them on a little kitty diet.

You're so lucky you can just feed him the giardia medication in the food!

And, like @Molly92 said, it's quite possible the giardia was affecting Ollie's appetite: with the litter box issues, he probably hasn't been processing his food (and the nutrients) properly and that might have made him hungrier. (Though young active cats can be a real surprise in terms of food and calorie intake, I still can't believe ours...) It's great to hear that you increased his food and he didn't feel compelled to finish every little crumb. That sounds like amazing progress for him in terms of self-regulation during mealtime! I wish our little munger could be a little more consistent on that score! 

Here's hoping the medication goes well and all the rest sorts itself out. Good luck!

I can't recall what the other option for the medication was (my husband took the call) but he said "Ollie eats wet food, so we can take the granules". Thankfully, Ollie's been fuss-free about eating it all up (though he did throw up a little last night, poor thing).

Strangely, he's been leaving little bits of his wet food again, despite not changing the amount we give him -- even in the mornings when he's gone ~10hrs without eating he's leaving some little bits around. I'll have to see what he does with his dried for lunch (my husband commented about dropping his dried back down to 15g, but I replied that with Ollie losing a bit of weight I'd like to bump him back up).

He was free-fed at the breeder's before we got him, and Americal Curls are reported to maintain their weight well given enough exercise, so maybe he is learning how much he should/needs to be eating.

Originally Posted by Ovetia  
 

Strangely, he's been leaving little bits of his wet food again, despite not changing the amount we give him -- even in the mornings when he's gone ~10hrs without eating he's leaving some little bits around. I'll have to see what he does with his dried for lunch (my husband commented about dropping his dried back down to 15g, but I replied that with Ollie losing a bit of weight I'd like to bump him back up).

He was free-fed at the breeder's before we got him, and Americal Curls are reported to maintain their weight well given enough exercise, so maybe he is learning how much he should/needs to be eating.

Click to expand...

It really does sound like he's self-regulating on the food, which is a very good thing. I think our Edwina could learn a few things from your Ollie! Our cats' weights tend to go up and down a little, something our vet says is perfectly normal. I even remember her saying something like, "mine does, too!"

Not yet got to the weekly weigh-in, but Ollie did great while on his medication, and now is right back to where he was before with bowel trouble. My husband just called up the vet to explain, and apparently they had been intending to call us to get an update. We're now getting more giardia medication and a whole mess of advice on what to do next (which includes seeing how he gets on with this second round of medication, putting him on some specific Royal Canin gastro dried [which I was apparenly prescient about as I'd put some on our next bulk order yesterday, knowing that he didn't get on with the wet and hoping that it would help], and a whole mess of medical stuff ending with an endoscopy and biopsy). Thanks to my spreadsheet I can put in how much the average/estimated daily food is and instantly see how many calories are in it and if it needs to be adjusted up/down any for Ollie's calorie needs.