Daily energy supply

Hi all!

My elder cat Lola has a mouth cancer and can't eat on her own anymore. I'm syringe feeding her with special canned food, namely Royal Canin Recovery that comes in 195 grams cans.

The label states that this has 1,200 kcal/kg.

My cat weighs around 2,700 kg, she was much heavier one year ago, but she went through a terrible year since last February and due to this she lost weight never to regain it.

One of the doctor she went to told me that the daily energy requirement for a cat can be calculated with the following formula

kcal = (30 x kg) + 70

where kg is the weight of the cat.

In my case the formula gives kcal = (30 x 2,7) + 70 = 151

First, is this formula correct? I checked on the web and found several sites with different tables but with similar results.

In order to give my cat at least 150-155 kcal a day I should feed her with 125 g of Recovery.

I thought to boost the energy supply with a supplement by Virbac called Nutriplus Gel. Its label says 3770 kcal/kg.

So I thought to add this supplement to Recovery, 30 g each can. This way each gram of food supplies 1.53 kcal and I can give her less food for the same energy.

I can only feed her three times a day on the weekdays and four times on the weekends.

Second question, is the energy supplied stated on the labels the same that the cat will methabolize? This is important because in the case it isn't I should need to correct the amount of daily food.

Any advice is welcome!

Thanks!

The calorie intake looks about right to me :bigthumb:

As for the foods, the calories listed are the metabolised amounts. Look for ME by the calorie content if you're unsure (or occasionally DE). That stands for metabolisible (or digestible) energy I believe its the metabolisible energy content to be listed in all animal foods.

Do talk to your vet about adding that supplement in though. The recovery food is so nutrtionally dense that you could be creating imbalances. I have heard of other members here using KMR (kitten milk replacement) to thin food for syringing instead of water. This adds in the much desired extra calories, but in a safer way

I'm so sorry your girl is so sick I really really hate to say this, but if she can no longer eat on her own (assuming that the cancer isn't operable), it might be time to start thinking about the end. I've had to syringe feed animals in the past, and its not pleasant for either of us...no matter how willing the patient. Persistent inability to eat by themselves always makes me ask 'that question'. Its the only reason I'm bringing it up [article="29662"][/article]

Thanks Columbine!

The vets adviced me to add this supplement to the recovery food, but didn't told me for how long this can be done, and the supplement sheet doesn't say anything in regard.

I wouldn't need to thin the food in the syringe, because it's currently fluid enough. If it was more liquid in could run out of the cat's mouth rather than going down her mouth.

The cancer isn't operable, it has been treated with chemo and radiation. I know that this kind of feeding isn't pleasant for my cat, but she's otherwise lively and happy to be with me and do her usual things. There are some bad days, but the good days are in higher number.

I'm getting ready for thta final day, I've been getting ready for months, but in my opinion (and others')  the time hasn't come yet.

Most of her story is in this thread

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/335085/im-going-to-say-goodbye-to-my-cat

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

Great that the vet suggested the supplement Always best to be sure

Funny that you don't need to thin the food - I was using the same one for my greyhound a little while ago, and I had to thin it for his syringe! So much better when you don't have to though

I totally understand the balancing act of quite when to make that decision. Pix was sick for a long time before we finally came to that point. I'm very glad that your girl is doing well at the moment. My heart goes out to you both

I'm keeping feeding the same amount of food to my Lola. Sometimes it seems she's having enough and doesn't want any more food, but last time I weighed her she had lost a bit.

I have found this article from a vet journal, unfortunately for most of you it's in Italian

http://www.vetjournal.it/item/1864-nutrire-il-paziente-in-terapia-intensiva.html

and in a passage it says what we already knew, the daily energy intake is calculated with the formula

kcal = (30 x kg) + 70

for cats above 2 kg of weight.

It says that it's necessary to give at least 50% of the daily needed energy.

What does that mean? Can a cat live on half their daily energy requirements? And what consequences could this give?

50% will keep the cat from developing hepatic lipidosis but not good regularly