Wet & dry diet help

luna tuna

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Feb 1, 2016
Messages
132
Purraise
15
Location
Kansas
I feed my cat both wet and dry food because it's too expensive to feed her exclusively wet food. Doing this means I'm splitting the serving sizes so she gets the right amount of calories (calculated by my vet). My only worry is that she may not be getting the right amount of nutrition. My vet and I discussed feeding her less than recommended serving sizes since she's overweight, and my vet said I need to make sure she isn't taking in too many calories but also that she is taking in enough nutrients. Does anybody know how I can ensure she is? Thanks!
 

Kat0121

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Feb 23, 2014
Messages
15,036
Purraise
20,362
Location
Sunny Florida
I feed my cat both wet and dry food because it's too expensive to feed her exclusively wet food. Doing this means I'm splitting the serving sizes so she gets the right amount of calories (calculated by my vet). My only worry is that she may not be getting the right amount of nutrition. My vet and I discussed feeding her less than recommended serving sizes since she's overweight, and my vet said I need to make sure she isn't taking in too many calories but also that she is taking in enough nutrients. Does anybody know how I can ensure she is? Thanks!
You say she's overweight. Do you know how much she weighs?? How old is she? Is she otherwise healthy?  Her current weight will be a factor in how many calories she should be taking in. Her general health will be a factor in how active she should/can be.

What brands of food is she currently eating? What types of wet food? Pates? Shreds, minced? 

How active is she? Does she like to play? Is she a picky eater? Does she have any kind of allergies to any certain ingredients or proteins that you know of? 

That is a lot of questions to weed through but these things will help determine not only how much she should be eating but what types of foods. It is also good to help her become more active unless there is a reason medically or physically that she cannot be. 

As far as food is concerned, cats are obligate carnivores. This means that they require a diet that is high in protein and low in carbohydrates. Most dry food does not fit this bill. It is better to keep the ratio of wet food at a maximum as much as possible and the dry to a minimum especially if weight loss is desired. Pates are in general better than other types as they have less carbs due to less gravies and fillers. The general rule of thumb for someone who feeds both is that it is better to have a cheaper wet and a more expensive dry than the other way around. There are good inexpensive wet foods out there. The cheap dry foods are garbage. 

 My suggestion to you is to buy one can of many kinds until you find a rotation of foods that she will eat and you can afford. THAT is the best food for her. The highest quality, most expensive food is useless if it ends up in the trash or the garbage disposal. Once you find foods that fit the bill, you can save money by buying in bulk from online retailers like Chewy.com and Amazon.com. Both of these retailers offer auto ship and subscribe and save options that save you money. Amazon ships S&S orders for free. Chewy has an order minimum of $49. Both of them have outstanding customer service. 

You are in the US so I can recommend some wet foods. I have 3 very picky eaters so we have tried MANY, MANY kinds of wet foods and these are our tried and true.

Here you go:

Friskies pates- These are better than you may think IF you stick to the pates. Many cats really like these. My cats like them a lot. I stick to the poultry based pates. You can get a case of 32 cans of these flavors from Wal Mart for about $15.00

Fancy Feast pates

Tractor Supply Company's house brand 4Health. They have a grain free line that is quite good and not much more expensive than Friskies

Pride by Instinct duck, lamb, chicken and rabbit. These come in minced and flaked varieties. These are found at Petco in limited varities

Nature's Variety Instinct chicken and LID turkey- both pates as is the entire NVI line

Nutro Natural Choice- this is a good line to try different kinds as they have pates, chunks pates, minced and sliced varieties

Soulistic- this is Petco's house brand. It is made by Weruva and very good. The main line is shreds in a broth like gravy but they also have foods in gelee (mine don't like these- the gelee has a rubber ball like consistency and they wont eat it). They have a newer line which is a pate and shreds hybrid with gelee  BUT the gelee is softer. It has more of a pate like consistency that mine like. Petco has these varieties on sale right now. The original line is low in calories. If you want to try this brand out, I recommend you get the Good Karma. It's in the green can and is shredded white meat chicken in a broth like gravy. 

Weruva- This line is lower in calories than many others and high quality. It is also pricey and harder to find as big box pet stores do not carry it so you'd have to go to a specialty pet store to find it- or you can go to Petco and get Soulistic. I have put the Soulistic Good karma and Weruva's Paw Lickin Chicken side by side and they are virtually indistinguishable. 

Merrick pates- these are available at Petco and come in a nice variety of proteins and they have a good LID line as well

Wellness- mine like the cubed, minced and sliced chicken and turkey varieties

This a good place to start. Here is a link that has some good information regarding assisting a cat with weight loss

http://www.vcahospitals.com/main/pe...creating-a-weight-reduction-plan-for-cats/391

Encouraging her to move around more if she can helps too. Wand toys such as Da Bird are irresistible to most cats as are laser pointers. She will have fun while exercising and not even know it
  You can also see if she will wear a harness and leash and if she will, you can take her for walks. 

A good middle of the road grain free dry is Merrick Purrfect Bistro chicken https://www.chewy.com/merrick-purrfect-bistro-grain-free/dp/49263

Taste of the Wild is also a good choice (this is also available at Tractor Supply Company) https://www.chewy.com/taste-wild-canyon-river-dry-cat-

food/dp/34261

These are just 2 examples. Read the labels and look for one that is grain free and as high in protein and low in carbs as possible. 

Good luck!! You may already know some of this but I listed it just in case.  The canned foods I mentioned are a mix of lower to higher priced but there is nothing wrong with say, sticking to just the Friskies pates for example- but I would keep a variety of flavors on hand so she does not get bored. 
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3

luna tuna

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Feb 1, 2016
Messages
132
Purraise
15
Location
Kansas
I give her fancy feast chicken pates and chicken soup for the soul dry food. She isn't a picky eater and the large packs of friskies here all contain beef, which I'm not going to feed to a cat. She's 10 and healthy other than osteoarthritis, which is being pretty well managed by supplements. We play fetch every night. I know how many calories she needs as I've been over it in detail with my vet.
Here's what I'm actually worried about: does the combination of wet and dry food that gives her the right amount of nutrients?
I.e, I could eat far too many calories but if the only thing I'm eating is broccoli, I'd be incredibly malnourished.

(I order dry food on Amazon but only recently started giving her wet food. I'm not really sure what changed but she was fine on dry food for about seven months, and then I started seeing signs of minor dehydration, so I added the wet food. I adopted her in Jamuary.)
 

Kat0121

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Feb 23, 2014
Messages
15,036
Purraise
20,362
Location
Sunny Florida
This is the variety pack of Friskies that I was referring to: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Friskies-Poultry-Classic-Pate-5.5-oz-32-Count-Variety-Pack/39263624

This pack of Friskies seems harder to find than others. I don't know why. Target and Petco do not carry it. Petsmart does but they charge more than WM. 

Yes. the food that you are feeding is nutritionally complete and balanced. That's very good that you discussed her caloric needs with the vet. If her caloric needs are being met with foods that are complete and balanced and she is getting some exercise, she should start to trim down. I'd give her more wet than dry. My cats only eat dry as an occasional topper to the wet or as a snack- also only occasionally. 

The weight gain could be due to a (now formerly) mostly dry diet. The dry food contains ingredients that cats don't need- even the better brands.
 

catpack

TCS Veteran
Kitten
Joined
Aug 13, 2013
Messages
3,271
Purraise
646
Location
Southeastern USA
I think what your vet means is that she is being fed a high quality meat-based diet vs a diet high in carbs/fruits/veggies and the like.

I think as long as the food you are feeding contain a high amount of animal proteins (preferably named meat sources) and few carbs and additives (corn, wheat, soy, rice, potato, pea, other fruits/veggies) she should be ok.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #6

luna tuna

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Feb 1, 2016
Messages
132
Purraise
15
Location
Kansas
She was overweight when I adopted her, and she began losing weight before I added wet food, at a rate that my vet said was very good.

Thanks!
 

Kat0121

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Feb 23, 2014
Messages
15,036
Purraise
20,362
Location
Sunny Florida
She was overweight when I adopted her, and she began losing weight before I added wet food, at a rate that my vet said was very good.

Thanks!
Then you are already on the right path!!! Excellent! You are doing a great job with her and she is very lucky to have you!! 
 
Top