Food problems

[specialk]

I've read some of the food posts, but I'd still like any input I can get. This might get kind of long and maybe confusing, sorry about that.

We currently have 6 adult cats (Merlin, Sexxy, Ripple, Gray, Cleo, Sissy) and one 4 month old kitten (Rezzie). We originally fed Science Diet w/d (for 5 years), but Sexxy, Ripple, & Gray are overweight, well obese. Gray is especially, he weighs 18 pounds. So, since the w/d obviously wasn't working & the vet kept telling me that my cats needed to lose weight, we switched to Innova Lite in June. The cats ate some of it, but usually ate the kitten food that we were feeding Rezzie. Cleo began eating the kitten food too, despite our physically removing her from it. Cleo is on Science Diet i/d. She has an ulcer and since eating the junky kitten food, she has been pulling chunks of her fur out. (She has a vet appt today for this) Ripple has been eating the kitten food too, but it has been wonderful for her. She had a problem with loose stool on the w/d and we were taking her monthly for grooming since she can't clean back there. She's gone almost 3 months without any problems since eating the junky kitten food. Since feeding the Innova, Merlin has also lost weight and it's beginning to concern me. He doesn't need to lose any weight. He has decided that he doesn't like the Innova anymore and won't eat much of it. The bowls have been full since Friday. There is a little missing, but not a lot. Sissy & Rezzie both refuse to eat the Innova despite the many attempts of slowly switching the food from kitten to the Innova.

So, I thought I might try regular Innova, but the vet tech I spoke with this morning says that they will gain weight on the regular & that I should try another light food such as Nutro. Any thoughts? I really need help on this. I've done some research on the types of foods, but there's so much to choose from. I feel a bit overwhelmed.

 

[semiferal]

Regular Innova is a great food and it definitely won't hurt to try. One helpful thing to do is add canned food to their diet. You can feed light canned food to the chunky monkeys and "all life stages" canned food (Innova makes both) to the kitten and the normal weight adults.

You definitely did the right thing by switching from w/d. Hill's and other prescription foods are the only realistic solution for some health problems (advanced kidney disease, for instance) but their foods are full of artificial and scary ingredients. For a problem like obesity, there are definitely better quality foods that will have the same effect.

One thing a lot of people I know do is keep the overweight or special needs cat's food on the floor and put the other cats' food somewhere the other cat doesn't go. If your fat cats aren't climbers and your smaller cats are, the top of the refrigerator might be a good place to put their food. The non-special needs cats will probably eat some of the I/D and light cat food but it certainly won't hurt them. Then they have access to "their" food in their special place.

Or if you or someone in your house is handy with a hammer and nails, I have known some people to make little "dinner houses" for their kittens or normal weight cats. You make a smallish wooden box with a door that's big enough for the small cat to get through but too small for the fat cat to fit through. You can nail a piece of screen on top instead of another board so it's not pitch dark inside. This is kind of a crazy solution but I've seen people use it very successfully.

 

[sharky]

Well written..