My rescue girl can't Lucky I've had a little over a year now has gotten quite heavy. I've kept lowering the amount I'm feeding her. She was first starting at 3/4 of a cup of dry food then 2/3 and now one half of a cup. The one half cup is 302 calories and she's been on the one half cup for a little over 3 months now and she actually looks larger. She's peeing and pooing normal and nothing looks out of the ordinary. She is due for her vaccinations in late May and I know that my vet is going to be furious because of her weight and I don't blame her. at one point when I called my vets office and told them I had her on a half of a cup they made like a cringing sound on the phone and said, well she's allowed to have three quarters of a cup and I said that wasn't doing any good because she blew up on that and then I lowered her to 2/3 I said and now I half a cup and they still seemed like that was too little but this is what she's been on and she still just as heavy as ever. The food that she is on is 605 calories a cup and this is the food she was on when I had gotten her from the sanctuary which my regular vet had actually prescribed her because she treated my previous cat that I had. I don't know if people feed cats by calories because my vet office said that they go by the amount but I noticed that some foods are 200 calories less for a cup of food. I remember looking at this one food and I think it was by wellness and it was a couple hundred calories less than Lucky's food she's eating now. I guess I'm just going to have to wait until May and see what my vet thinks about all of this. They can't see me any sooner because they're booked !
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My cat is quite heavy.
- Thread starter PaulaNina
- Start Date
Hi
Is she spayed? How old is she?
Your vet is correct, you can't keep decreasing the quantity of food. However, canned food will provide just as much if not more nutritional value without the carb load she's getting from the kibble.
Are you giving her lots of exercise?
How Much Food Should I Feed My Cat? – TheCatSite Articles
Is Your Cat Overweight? – TheCatSite Articles
Is she spayed? How old is she?
Your vet is correct, you can't keep decreasing the quantity of food. However, canned food will provide just as much if not more nutritional value without the carb load she's getting from the kibble.
Are you giving her lots of exercise?
How Much Food Should I Feed My Cat? – TheCatSite Articles
Is Your Cat Overweight? – TheCatSite Articles
Yes, indeed. If you can transition her from kibble to wet food, the wet food is not nearly so calorie-laden. Not every cat will transition, but many successfully do.
It's ok to disagree with a vet on things but it's not ok for a vet to get angry at a client because the client refuses to follow a suggestion / recommendation. Pet owners and vets should both work together and have a good client-vet relationship to ensure the pet gets the best care possible. Are there other vets in your area you can try? Check reviews and ask around for recommendations.
You can't feed by amount of food because every single cat food out there has a different amount of calories for the same volume. One cup of dry food brand X may have 300 calories while one cup of dry food brand Meow Meow Yummy may have 600 calories. Same goes with cans of food. 3 oz of brand X might have 70 calories while 3 oz of brand ABC has 90 calories.
The general rule of thumb is to feed roughly 20 to 25 calories per pound of ideal body weight daily. For overweight cats, calorie reduction from the current amount must be done very very slowly over weeks to months until the cat reaches and maintains the healthy weight.
Kind of like eating splitting a super dense 1000 calorie fast food burger into quarters and eating one single quarter for an entire day. Sure, you get plenty of calories from that one quarter but you'll still be very hungry.
