Dry food recommendations for overweight senior?

[kaitie09]

Hi all,

I have an 11yr old that needs to lose weight and will only eat dry. I've had her on Dr. Eisley's and Diamond Care weight management and she just keeps gaining, about 1/4 lb every few months. She's close to 13lbs and should be around 8-9 per the vet. The vet thinks she might be more sensitive to higher-fat and high-carb foods now based on the fact she's still gaining with a lower calorie diet. We've done a complete workup and everything is fine internally. I've tried switching her to wet and at most, she will eat almost 3 oz a day (and that was splitting it up 2x a day). She currently getting 1/2c of Diamond Care per day, and 1.5oz of wet (with her fluoxetine meds), plus a couple of salmon treats, for a total of 201 calories per day. She's definitely hungry when dinner time rolls around.

Just wondering if anyone has any other ideas for good dry food that is low fat/low carb? Seems like most that are low fat are high in carbs, or the other way around.

 

[suzeanna]

Hello! I adopted an 8 y/o last August who was 18.5 lbs at her vet visit in October 2020, and 15 lbs at her vet visit a month ago. We still have 3-4 lbs to go, according to her vet.

In order to manage her weight loss, wet food and precise food measurements (calorie-counting!) have been crucial.

As for wet food -- in addition to being more nutritious, it keeps cats fuller longer than dry food, so I definitely recommend trying to incorporate it as much as possible. (This helps mitigate a hangry kitty 30-60 minutes before mealtime!)

I recommend getting a small kitchen scale to measure out dry food. That way, you can figure out how much dry food she's actually eating. "1/2 cup" can vary and isn't precise enough for calorie tracking/calculations. A small kitchen scale that can tell you how many actual ounces/grams of dry food is being served helps track/manage calories much better.

You can look up the number of calories per gram for the wet and dry foods, then create a simple spreadsheet to make a "meal plan" and plan the number of calories she should consume each day. If weight loss does not occur (or weight increases) after a couple weeks, try lowering the daily intake by 10 calories (continuing to cut down dry food, if possible).

It is a time-consuming and iterative process -- don't give up! Your cat's metabolism also might be a bit slower than the general metabolism assumed on cat food packaging. That's okay. Mine currently consumes ~120 calories/day and loses weight slowly (.1 lbs each week, maybe). The calorie-lowering process was very gradual, too (she used to eat ~250 calories when we first started).

Edit: it helps to weigh weekly, and also track any typical treats in the "meal plan", too!

 

[Babypaws]

Hello! I adopted an 8 y/o last August who was 18.5 lbs at her vet visit in October 2020, and 15 lbs at her vet visit a month ago. We still have 3-4 lbs to go, according to her vet.

In order to manage her weight loss, wet food and precise food measurements (calorie-counting!) have been crucial.

As for wet food -- in addition to being more nutritious, it keeps cats fuller longer than dry food, so I definitely recommend trying to incorporate it as much as possible. (This helps mitigate a hangry kitty 30-60 minutes before mealtime!)

I recommend getting a small kitchen scale to measure out dry food. That way, you can figure out how much dry food she's actually eating. "1/2 cup" can vary and isn't precise enough for calorie tracking/calculations. A small kitchen scale that can tell you how many actual ounces/grams of dry food is being served helps track/manage calories much better.

You can look up the number of calories per gram for the wet and dry foods, then create a simple spreadsheet to make a "meal plan" and plan the number of calories she should consume each day. If weight loss does not occur (or weight increases) after a couple weeks, try lowering the daily intake by 10 calories (continuing to cut down dry food, if possible).

It is a time-consuming and iterative process -- don't give up! Your cat's metabolism also might be a bit slower than the general metabolism assumed on cat food packaging. That's okay. Mine currently consumes ~120 calories/day and loses weight slowly (.1 lbs each week, maybe). The calorie-lowering process was very gradual, too (she used to eat ~250 calories when we first started).

What dry food if any are you feeding your cat?

 

[suzeanna]

Susan is fed moderate calorie Royal Canin Urinary SO kibble -- 4 grams per day, which equates to ~20 kibble. 15 go into her overnight feeder as a 2 a.m. snack, and the other handful are as treats throughout the day. Other than that, she only eats wet food for meals.

Edit: decreasing dry food and increasing wet food also was a gradual change -- she used to get almost 50 grams a day. We went by what the adoption agency told us and what the foster had been feeding her, but it was definitely too many calories (and dry food) for this specific cat.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

K kaitie09 , is your 11 year old very active? If not, then I'm thinking 201 calories per day seems high to me if her ideal weight is 8 - 9 pounds. You want to feed her 20 - 25 calories per pound of her IDEAL weight, so lets say thats 8.5 pounds. If she's not really active, let's use 20 calories. That would be 20 times 8.5 which is 170 calories per day. And your Vet is correct in that those calories should be high protein, low carb, for sure. In my opinion, the best food matching that description is Wysong Epigen 90. There is also Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein (which I've heard is in short supply) and Young Again. These are the only dry foods I personally know of that are very low in carbs.

But I totally agree that if you can get her to eat more wet food, that would be better at helping her feel more full. That's the way we got our little pudge to lose his excess weight.

 

[kaitie09]

Thanks All,

She's not active, besides running down the stairs for dinner Not a fan of playing with much besides a feather wand, and even then she just swats at it. Basically just wants to sleep and cuddle.

She was on Dr. Elsey's and gained weight (1/3 cup), the vet thought the fat content might be too high for her. I also was constantly dealing with shortages, and I can't buy it in any local stores. I chose 201 calories because at 13lbs, she would need to eat 260 to maintain and I didn't really want to drastically cut out her food.

It does look like the Wysong might work (lower fat than Dr Elseys and lower carbs than what she is on now). I'll give it a shot!