For losing weight wellness or evo help please

I would like to do a mixture of dry and wet. They need to lose some weight - which do you guys suggest? The Wellness or Evo - confused on all the reading. Will try to eventually do all wet but for now I would like to do the mixture as a change over. Any advice on these would help - thank you

Hi,

I have an inactive, overweight cat (14lbs), too, who is currently on 1/2 cup of Innova EVO dry food per day. I can tell you, she has remained overweight since I switched her to it a year ago. There are 612kcal/cup, so this dry food is not good for weight loss, since you would have to feed her too little food in order for your cat to lose weight.

On the other hand, the canned EVO is much less in calories--217kcal per 5.5oz can. Feeding the canned wet food would help with the weight loss. From my recent readings on the internet, 1/2 can am and 1/2 can pm of a 5.5oz can would facilitate weight loss if your cat weighs close to mine.

I also had her on the Wellness dry food, and she lost no weight on that either; I believe it has 449kcal/cup. I've tried Newman's Own dry cat food with the same result.

Years ago, I also tried a grainless raw diet and that did not work either.

I am either going to try the Innova Cat Lite or Cat dry food, the Evo, Cat, or Cat Lite wet food, and/or a combo of the dry & wet. I'm still researching the best way to get her calories, without overloading on the fiber/grains. I read somewhere that overweight cats should only get 100-150 kcal per day to lose weight, and then they should be switched to a maintenance diet once they reach their optimum weight level. It seems like the Cat Lite would be the way to go (as long as your cat has no issues with rice & barley), since you would still be able to feed your cat an acceptable volume of food.

There is a lot of confusing and contradicting info out there on cat nutrition. Some people suggest cats should only be on all wet food because cats need water in their diet via food, and to justify this claim, they suggest that cats naturally, rarely drink water, which I find to be a ridiculous statement; cats must drink water to survive, too. I can see that if you have an inactive, indoor cat that does not drink enough water (I'm sure living in a temperate-regulated environment can be a causative factor, too), you should seriously consider the possibility of feeding an all wet diet. My cat actually drinks quite a bit of water, and loves to drink from her petmate fresh flow water fountain, so I don't have to worry about her getting enough water via her food.

Anyway, I like to take the common-sense approach: feed a high-quality product with high quality ingredients and feed it in a way that meets your cat's specific needs. I adopted an older dog from a shelter a year ago, who was probably on Pedigree or some other similar food, and her coat was very dull and she had tons of dandruff. For the last year, I have had her on Innova Adult dry and her coat improved tons.

Best of luck!

EVO is kitty Atkins... for those that dont over eat ( ie kitty is 10lbs and eats half a cup of "regular" food yet gains and is fairly active)

Wellness is Jenny Craig lots of carbs hoping to fill up with some meat...

I personally would look for the highest protein with moderate fat and carbs ... I need to search my research before giving names ... but Solid gold seems to be in my head

Adding wet food is a good idea not just for the water ... Which has been proven in multiple studies .. but as a means of filling the tummy without lots of calories ..

Wellness is not really "high" carb I would not say, of course it is higher than EVO but EVO is grain-free.
I have been using Wellness Lite for my overweight kitty and she has lost over 2 lbs, since we adopted her. Very good as they should lose weight slowly. She went from 16 point something pounds to 14 pounds.
I mostly feed her the dry food, but I give a little bit of the canned Wellness as well.

California Natural dry food only has 393 calories per cup and is 36% protein and 16% fat. That can be fed as a supplement to a canned food. Of course cats can gain weight on any dry food if they eat too much of it. But I like that you can calculate calories easily. Just round this number off to 400, If a cat eats 1/4 of a cup of California Natural per day she is getting a little under 100 calories per day from dry cat food and you can use wet food to make up the rest of your cat's calorie needs. And if you're really successful with the switch to wet food, you can give 1/8 of a cup of California Natural as a treat and your cat would only be getting under 50 calories a day from dry food.

This food is best for my indoor cats for a dry food because I don't know of any dry food as high quality as this, that has a high meat content without being excessively high in calories. For a dry food, it's pretty good and my cats love it. It's extremely palatable.

Originally Posted by moggiegirl

California Natural dry food only has 393 calories per cup and is 36% protein and 16% fat. That can be fed as a supplement to a canned food. Of course cats can gain weight on any dry food if they eat too much of it. But I like that you can calculate calories easily. Just round this number off to 400, If a cat eats 1/4 of a cup of California Natural per day she is getting a little under 100 calories per day from dry cat food and you can use wet food to make up the rest of your cat's calorie needs. And if you're really successful with the switch to wet food, you can give 1/8 of a cup of California Natural as a treat and your cat would only be getting under 50 calories a day from dry food.

This food is best for my indoor cats for a dry food because I don't know of any dry food as high quality as this, that has a high meat content without being excessively high in calories. For a dry food, it's pretty good and my cats love it. It's extremely palatable.

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I agree thou there are several foods in this class ... SIMPLE but Good

Originally Posted by itekks

I would like to do a mixture of dry and wet. They need to lose some weight - which do you guys suggest? The Wellness or Evo

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Evo for sure. Look at the carbohydrate contents of the foods:

Wellness Super5Mix Adult - 25% calories from carbs
Wellness Super5Mix Light - 42% calories from carbs
Wellness Super5Mix Kitten - 25% calories from carbs
Wellness Super5Mix Salmon - 25% calories from carbs
Wellness Super5Mix Senior - 33% calories from carbs

Innova EVO Cat & Kitten - 6% calories from carbs

[Source - http://www.geocities.com/jmpeerson/dryfood.html]

The latest research says the majority of cat obesity springs from free feeding dry, carbohydrate laden foods. [Source - http://www.thepetcenter.com/imtop/catweight.html] Cats do not need and can not process carbohydrates well, so the carbs end up stored as excess fat on the body, in addition to effecting blood glucose levels, leading to diabetes.

Evo is extremely high in calories, so you will want to feed much less than any other dry food. Although your cat will eat smaller amounts of it, they will stay full longer, since the food is so very rich. The only other dry food on the market similar to Evo, carbohydrate wise, is Nature's Variety Raw Instinct, which is also grain-free, while being 7% carbs. It also has less calories than Evo, but not much less.

I am using Evo to free feed overnight only, leaving 3 level tablespoons out each night. I only feed high quality, low carbohydrate wet foods during the day. It has taken alot of research to learn which wet foods do not contain grain, or very low levels of grain. I believe low carb is the best way to get cats to lose weight and most closely matches their natural diet.

Additionally, everything you have heard is true regarding cats needing wet foods. Cats originated in Africa on the desert plains. They have evolved to absorb moisture from the foods they eat. I refuse to try to fight nature or the thousands years of evolution in the feline digestive system.

I would advice reading the labels as that chart at a glace is out of date for many food s and for others is just the label not the actual....

Originally Posted by sharky

I would advice reading the labels as that chart at a glace is out of date for many food s and for others is just the label not the actual....

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For carbohydrate levels, you must contact the manufacturer directly, since they are not required to list the carb contents on the labels, at least, not in the US.

Originally Posted by Catitudes

Evo is extremely high in calories, so you will want to feed much less than any other dry food. Although your cat will eat smaller amounts of it, they will stay full longer, since the food is so very rich. The only other dry food on the market similar to Evo, carbohydrate wise, is Nature's Variety Raw Instinct, which is also grain-free, while being 7% carbs. It also has less calories than Evo, but not much less.

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Don't forget about Timberwolf Organics Serengeit. That is also a high protien, no grain food. I tried it, but my gang wasn't terribly impressed with the flavor. It seems like someone mentioned another fairly new food out there of the same caliber, but I don't remember who or what or even if I imagined it.

Scully has lost 10lbs on Evo so I do suggest that, but if you do not feed it currently your cat may have trouble switching to it as it is rich tasting and higher in cals so they may bug you expecting to get more food.

The wet food will help in most cases, but you also need to make the effort to spend time playing with your kitty so they lose weight and tone up

EVO dry and Wellness wet (but the EVO wet is excellent as well!)

EVO dry would be substantially better than Wellness for weight loss (if used correctly), and both Wellness and EVO canned are grain free. Wet is important for weight loss, it really should be included if you can.

Small hyjack but is Flaxseed is a grain?? How does Wellness call it grain free??

Flax is not a grain. It's a seed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flax
And though seeds are not a natural part of a cats diet, it is an Excellent source of EFA's.

I should note though, from my original comment, there are 3 flavours of Wellness wet food that are not grain free. They've recently added ground brown rice to: Salmon & Trout, Sardine Shrimp & Crab, and Chicken & Lobster.

Kinda off-topic sorry, but is the EVO dry/wet good for a skinny kitten as well? (needs putting weight on...) Or should I feed something else?

Originally Posted by Nekochan

Kinda off-topic sorry, but is the EVO dry/wet good for a skinny kitten as well? (needs putting weight on...) Or should I feed something else?

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At 217 calories per 5.5 oz. can, Evo's pretty high in calories. Innova (who makes Evo) canned cat food is also high at 207 calories per 5.5 oz can. Wellness Turkey flavor has 218 calories per 5.5 ox. can. The Wellness Chicken has a whopping 220 calories per 5.5 oz. can. If you want weight gain, stay away from Merrick Surf & Turf or Turducken, with their paltry 160 & 162 calories per 5.5 oz can, respectively.

The Evo dry has a whopping 542 calories per cup, while the Innova dry has 537 calories per cup. The Innova dry might be a better choice for weight though, since Innova has carbs in the forms of barley, rice, apples & carrots.

Of course, the cynic in me says if you want a kitten to gain weight feed Friskies, Deli-Cat, Purina One, etc, as the 40% or greater carb level will definitely put the weight on. Or perhaps any weight-loss dry food with greater than 45% percent carbohydrate level would work extremely well for weight gain. However, the health costs of risking diabetes or obesity simply isn't worth it. Cat's don't eat corn in nature, ya know?