2 overweight cats

[jr70895]

I have 2 male cats 4 years old and both overweight 15.5 lbs. Both indoor with very little outdoor activity. I've tried just about every cat food know to mankind. They hate and refuse to eat wet cat food no matter what I do. About the most I can hope for is they lick the juice only. They only eat dry food and lick the wet.

I've been feeding them Blue Buffalo Wilderness dry cat food but they just keep putting on the weight. I've changed to their Weight Management without any noticeable changes.

My vet suggested and I tried Hill's prescription diet weight reduction dry and they really hated it.
I've looked into Dr Elsey's Chicken and Wysong Epigen 90 both very low carbs but high in calories.

They eat 3/4 cup dry between the 2, lick 2 cans wet and a couple of treats per day/.....Currently they are eating about 300 total calories per day each. I've read where they should get on the low end 20 calories per pound to maintain their weight 20 x 15.5 = 310 lbs per day.

Is any of the 2 cat foods I mentioned above good for weight loss?

If you're going to preach about dry food please don't bother to respond. I've tried everything and they refuse wet cat food other than licking the juices.

I wish I had all the money back that I've wasted on these two trying to get them to eat wet cat food.

 

[verna davies]

Have you tried mixing a little wet food with the dry, just a spoonful. If they eat it, gradually increase the wet and reduce the dry.

 

[di and bob]

Mine are maintaining on Science Hill weight management. If yours don't like that, look into the grain-free kibble that is out there, it SHOULD be lower in carbs and thus may help with weight. Blue Buffalo weight management was rated the BEST in overall nutrition and weight management, you might keep them on it longer, like 6 months, and see if it helps. It only has 10% fat and 30% protein. i think I will give that a try next time I need to get more, it is at my local Tractor supply.

 

[Ellis75]

With getting cats to lose weight, it's more about the calories and nutrients than necessarily having a special food, although weight loss foods can be super helpful. You'll want to use a food that's fairly low in calories, so they can get fewer calories without feeling like they're starving. Do you know what their ideal weights should be? Since 310 calories is the requirement to maintain their current weight, you'll actually want to feed them quite a bit below that amount. The typical approach is to feed them the calories for their ideal weight rather than their current weight. For example, if their ideal weight is 10 pounds, the goal should be to feed them around 215 calories each. You can do it incrementally, like make an initial goal for them to get to 13.5 pounds and feed them for that weight, and decrease it from there. I would check with your vet first to make sure that's ok or see if they have any other suggestions, since the ideal is for them to lose weight at a slow and steady pace.

Has your vet told you at all what their ideal weights are, or their body condition scores?

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Wysong Epigen 90 is a super food, but if you have picky cats, even when it comes to kibble, they probably won't like it. I would say it's like eating McDonalds vs an actual healthy meal. (the Wysong being the healthy meal) I bought a bag once to have as a back-up in case we needed a neighbor to feed our cats, and none of our four would touch it (but I have to add that ours all ate wet food normally)

As far as Dr. Elsey's, are you talking about their Clean Protein? I've heard great things about it, but it's pricey to buy if they don't like it. If you could get a free small sample that might be good.

But dieting cats is the same is dieting a human, cut back on the calories and they should lose weight. Plus try to get them to exercise more. If nothing else, have them follow you around the house while carrying a bowl of their food. You can walk all around, up and down stairs if you have them, and do that for several minutes at every meal. This will get them a pretty good workout if you walk at a pretty fast pace. And the above poster is correct, you want to base the calories on their ideal weight, not their current weight. And you must count their gravy lickings and treat calories as part of the daily total. It's best if the calories are mainly protein and not so much carbs, which is easier with canned food, that's why we suggest going with wet food. If you can't do that, then you can't. Just slowly cut back on the amount of kibble you're feeding them so they don't feel too hungry all at once.