EVO and California Natural Q's for feeding kittens and overweight cat?

[artgecko]

Here's the link to their feeding calculator: http://www.evopet.com/tools/feeding.asp
It has options for activity level and I selected weight loss and 14lbs and still got 0.5 cup.

For my kittens (8lbs) it suggested 0.7 cups.

Something tells me the calculator must be a bit off.... Seeing as I'm currently feeding Toby (the adult) ~ 2/3 C Natural Choice weight loss and the kittens ~2/3 C nutro kitten along with some wet.

Art

 

[sharky]

Originally Posted by artgecko

Here's the link to their feeding calculator: http://www.evopet.com/tools/feeding.asp
It has options for activity level and I selected weight loss and 14lbs and still got 0.5 cup.

For my kittens (8lbs) it suggested 0.7 cups.

Something tells me the calculator must be a bit off.... Seeing as I'm currently feeding Toby (the adult) ~ 2/3 C Natural Choice weight loss and the kittens ~2/3 C nutro kitten along with some wet.

Art

.5 =1/2 cup

.75 - 3/4 cup

 

[icklemiss21]

Originally Posted by artgecko

Here's the link to their feeding calculator: http://www.evopet.com/tools/feeding.asp
It has options for activity level and I selected weight loss and 14lbs and still got 0.5 cup.

For my kittens (8lbs) it suggested 0.7 cups.

Something tells me the calculator must be a bit off.... Seeing as I'm currently feeding Toby (the adult) ~ 2/3 C Natural Choice weight loss and the kittens ~2/3 C nutro kitten along with some wet.

Art

I used the calculator too and my vet looked at me like I was crazy

she said they would all be huge if I fed them as much as it said to, but yours may do well on recommended amounts. Mine are lazy and don't need the extra calories they won't use.

I give them just under 2 cups of Orijen, which is slightly lower in calories, between 5 of them.

 

[artgecko]

Well, I recieved my 2lb bag of EVO and the 4lb bag of Cal. Natural on Thursday... So far, so good...

I gave them about 3-5 pieces each on Thursday evening (of the EVO) to see if they liked it and they did eat it.

Starting on Friday, I began to integrate a little bit of the EVO into their regular dry food (while slightly reducing the amount of nutro kitten they got in the mix).

I did the same today, adding just a little bit more EVO into the mix, and so far, no horrible gas, no throwing up, and I haven't noticed any extremely stinky poo either.

I've also started integrating it into Toby's diet and he seems less "hungry" than before... He's also leaving more food behind in the bowl than before (so maybe he's getting fuller, faster on the EVO?). I just have my finger's crossed that it is the carbs putting weight on him and not the fat/protien.

They will probably all be on EVO only (for their dry food) by the end or middle of next week, so we'll see how the digestive issues go then. I won't be able to tell about Toby's weight gain or loss until probably 3 weeks or so, so we'll see.

I think that I will start the kittens off on 1/3-1/2 cup of EVO a day plus their wet food (I can only get them to eat about 1.5 ounces of wet at a time, if I'm lucky). The kittens seem to be pretty good about stopping when they're full, so I will reduce the amount of food they get per meal to what they will consume at one time. They may end up getting 1/3 to 1/4 cup EVO. BTW, the kittens weighed ~8.4lbs each a couple of days ago when I weighed them.

I will start Toby off on 1/3 cup EVO along with the wet food and we'll go from there... I figure that any nutrients he will lack from eating the small amount of EVO can be made up from the wet food. Toby weighed ~14.3lbs when I weighed him this week.

I have not opened the Cal Natural yet (although the kittens were plenty interested in the bag). I think I will wait to integrate some of it until the kittens have been on all EVO for a week or two. I think that I will start mixing some in on a regular basis if they can't handle the all EVO dry diet.
And, if EVO ends up not being tolerated at all, then I will hopefully be able to switch them to Cal Natural instead of Nutro kitten.

Thanks for your help and I will keep you posted on how the EVO is working out.

Art

 

[dogrunner]

Grain in cat food (and dog food, for that matter) is just filler. In general, the less filler, the less food it takes for the kitty to be full. (I know that there is nutritional value in grain, but remember that cats are carnivores and don't need grain to have a balanced diet). Tink was 6 pounds overweight when I switched him from Hills prescription diet to Wellness canned. Even though the wellness has more calories and fat, he's lost the 6 extra pounds and his coat is awesome, he sheds less, plays more and in general, is just plain more healthy. (no more uti's, no constipation, no muscle spasms) I would bet you'll see a similiar result with the EVO. Good luck!

 

[artgecko]

Thanks!

Another update- I might have encountered some of the "gas" that folks were mentioning...It's not horrible (yet) and has only occured a couple of times since they have been switched over.

Art