Food for weight loss: protein, fat, carbs

[motorcurl]

My cat Pixie is overweight. She's currently 13 lbs and ideally should be 9-10 lbs. A couple of years ago I switched her to an all wet diet and she ate Wellness CORE turkey/duck pate and Merrick's chicken pate (both grain free). No weight loss.  Last year I switched her to Tiki Cat Puka Puka Luau (shredded chicken). She eats one 6 oz can per day, divided into two meals. Each meal is doled out in small portions over a couple of hours because if I don't do that, she wolfs down what I set out for her, then sneaks into the other cats' bowls and steals their food. She's pretty sure that if another cat is eating, she should be eating too. And still no weight loss.

Pixie just went to the vet this week and had a complete blood work up and got good results for kidney, liver, thyroid, etc. She's playful and alert. Her heart is good (recently had an ultrasound), reflexes all good. Other than being very overweight, she appears to be in good health.

I know that feline physiology is different from humans, but I wonder if the zero carb food is stalling weight loss. The Tiki Cat is all protein and fat (more P than F), and no carbs.  The Wellness and Merrick's are both higher fat than protein, with a small amount of non grain carbs (per Dr. Lisa Pierson's charts). I know in humans that balance is necessary for the metabolism to work properly; I just don't know if the same holds true for cats.  

Any ideas as to whether adding back some carbs would help get Pixie's weight down some?  Would a little bit of carbs make her feel fuller so she doesn't eat so much? Calorie count for a full can of each food is similar: 182 for the Tiki Cat (6 oz can), 185 for Merrick and 188 for Wellness (5.5 oz cans).

BTW, when I asked for the vet's assistance with weight loss for Pixie, all they could do is recommend one of the prescription diets (for diabetic cats, I believe). I'm not willing to go there...that's awful stuff.

 

[2bcat]

It's really all about the amount of food/calorie intake. Having extra carbs won't do anything useful. Cats can't even really process large amounts of carbs well. There are many lower calorie foods that are bulked up with carbs along the idea that a cat will be satisfied at a given volume amount of the food, but there's no real evidence this works that I know of. I fed one of my old cats those foods (back when I didn't know any better) and she would still eat too much. The only thing that helped was actually restricting the food intake enough to reverse the weight.

Let's start simple though. I'm pretty familiar with Puka Puka, as I feed it every day right now. The currently stated calorie count in that can is 221 calories, not 182. So she is possibly getting 39 calories more than what you thought, which is significant. http://www.petropics.com/puka_puka_luau/ So, knowing that, the simplest thing to do would be to dial back the amount of that food to 200 and then to the 180 you thought it was. Most cats should be good on about 20 calories per pound of ideal weight so 180-200 is not a wrong target. But this can vary and if she was getting 180 before and not losing, I'm not sure. The catch might be how much she was getting out of the others' bowls.

So that's the key, just getting her intake right for slow weight loss. Make sure it's not TOO low. you want to be able to monitor the loss too with weighing weekly (although if you're having trouble getting her to deal with a scale at home, you're not alone!) It may be that the only thing wrong at this point is that she's getting almost 40 more calories a day than you thought!

 

[momto3cats]

I agree with the above post. Cats really don't need carbs. The one thing I want to add is that some cats, if they aren't active, only need around 15 calories per pound per day, so maybe a slight reduction in the amount you aim for would help. Just go slowly and see how she reacts. Would it be possible to feed her more than twice a day, so she never has to go too many hours without a meal? That might help her feel more satisfied.

 

[motorcurl]

I didn't realize that the Puka Puka had 221 calories - that is significant!  I will start to reduce the amount she's eating. I have five other cats who eat four different foods (dang picky eaters!). Pixie will eat all of them if I don't snatch the bowls away from her before she gets in.

Here's how I feed Pixie:

Breakfast starts between 5 and 5:30 a.m.  She gets about a half a tablespoon of Puka Puka. She gobbles that up and then she gets another small serving. I spread the shredded chicken around the bowl so she has to work harder and take longer to eat it.  She gets one more small serving, then we wait for about 30-45 minutes.  When the other cats are asking for their second round of food (all get small servings), Pixie gets another small serving, then the rest of the breakfast portion gets doled out in small increments until around 9:00 a.m.  She gets half a can of the Puka Puka in the morning, and half in the evening.  Same type of food distribution at night, starting with a starter bite around 3:30 or 4:00, then the rest of it doled out between 5:00 and  8:00 p.m. She occasionally gets a treat (Weruva freeze dried chicken treats) at night before bed. 

If I feed her the whole portion in one serving, she gobbles it down then goes looking for more in the other cats' bowls.  And howls like she's starving to death if she doesn't get it. I wish someone made a Slow Bowl for wet cat food. I've seen them for dry, but they won't work for wet.

Also, I do have a scale at home. She is easily weighed, because she knows she gets a treat if she gets on the scale (the Weruva chicken). I was weighing her every few days and gave up because she wasn't losing anything.  I'll start again. 

Thanks for the advice!