Food for a very overweight cat

Felines are superior

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One of my cats (feral cat) is so overweight, she has arthritis, and the vet says it's only because she is so heavy. She's about seven, likes to play.

I give her dry cats food metabolic from Hill's prescription, that's for overweight cats, and she's still very overweight.

What kind of food can I give her that will make her lose weight better than metabolic for weight loss, but also tasts good, because she's very spoiled
 

Raul-7

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One of my cats (feral cat) is so overweight, she has arthritis, and the vet says it's only because she is so heavy. She's about seven, likes to play.

I give her dry cats food metabolic from Hill's prescription, that's for overweight cats, and she's still very overweight.

What kind of food can I give her that will make her lose weight better than metabolic for weight loss, but also tasts good, because she's very spoiled
Therein lies the problem; look at the ingredients: Chicken Meal, Brewers Rice, Pea Fiber, Whole Grain Corn, Corn Gluten Meal, Flaxseed, Soybean Mill Run.

This food is loaded with carbohydrates and very little protein [only 23%]. And a lot of harmful ingredients that will giver her diabetes. [Yes, I know - your vet said it's healthy, etc.] Vets recieve very little nutrition training and most of it is paid by Hill's, Royal Canin, IAMS, etc. All brands that produce trash for food for our beloved pets.

You need a high protein, low carbohydrate diet. Wysong Epigen 90 or Dr. Elsey's Cleanprotein Chicken. OR even better try to get her onto wet food. Her kidneys will thank you. Cats are prone to kidney disease.

Feed her only on a schedule; NO free-feeding!

Good luck.
 

Caspers Human

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Soybean Mill Run
That's the hulls of soybeans after they've been cracked open and processed for food... Leftover soybean hulls are usually fed to cows.

"Soybean Mill Run" = "Cattle Fodder!"

What brains trust ever got the bright idea to feed cattle fodder to cats? :doh:

Peas, soy, rice, corn and flax seed... All empty calories! Cats only need to eat the smallest amounts of those things.

BTW: Don't forget that even though your cat is feral and comes to your for food, you can't always assume that you are her ONLY source of food. Somebody else might be feeding her. She might be mooching food from somebody else's back porch when they aren't looking. She might even be eating from garbage cans!

I think you need to consider that when you plan a feral cat's diet.
 

CindyH66

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aw, I battled this issue with my cat Bella for years !! bags of cat food have the calorie count listed on it. My vet said a cat only needs 200 calories a day. most food has twice that and we give them probably 2x what they should eat. My kitty gets half a cup a day .. and it seems like so little food ! My vet said give either DRY of WET not both. those kitties end up obese ..get way too many calories. Bella was given Rx diet food.. it was loaded with calories ..like 400 calories ! so she could only have 1/4 cup a day. seriously ?? she was begging to eat all the time ! C mon. .. so I tossed it and got Iams .. found an indoor cat formula .. much more reasonable. both in price and how much she could have. worked well. .. voila !she did great ... I measured out portions and put on a feeding schedule . once she got used to it , she was fine :)* she had to have a little wet food to put meds in , so she continued to battle weight, but she did start losing !! :)
 

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I’ve spent hours trying to find a decent wet and dry food but every time someone here suggested what they feed their cats and I look it up on the site catfooddb.com the food suggested does not look so great. They have a lot of questionable ingredients or a lot of corn and grains or useless “fillers”….
Ive seen some that have more carbs than average along with less proteins..
But I will still contin my search..
I have a question, what is the most important thing to check, guaranteed Analysis OR the dry Analysis?
 

LTS3

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How much does your cat currently weight and what does the vet say the ideal weight is?

What kind of food can I give her that will make her lose weight better than metabolic for weight loss, but also tasts good, because she's very spoiled
Only canned / wet food if possible. Dry foods are so calorie dense, even weigh control ones, that it's impossible for a cat to lose any weight. Reducing the amount of food may seem like a solution but then you wind up with a hangry cat with behavior issues. A half cup or less of food daily isn't enough to satisfy a cat's tummy.

Prescription foods are just expensive junk with poor ingredients. It's ok to not feed what the vet recommends. Many vets have no clue about proper nutrition.

Take a read though these:

 

Raul-7

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I’ve spent hours trying to find a decent wet and dry food but every time someone here suggested what they feed their cats and I look it up on the site catfooddb.com the food suggested does not look so great. They have a lot of questionable ingredients or a lot of corn and grains or useless “fillers”….
Ive seen some that have more carbs than average along with less proteins..
But I will still contin my search..
I have a question, what is the most important thing to check, guaranteed Analysis OR the dry Analysis?
Wysong Epigen 90, Dr. Elsey's Cleanprotein Chicken or Young Again Zero Carbs.
 

Caspers Human

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[Bella] could only have 1/4 cup a day... she was begging to eat all the time!
That's what eating too many empty calories does. It makes the blood sugar shoot up then the pancreas pumps out insulin to counteract. Blood sugar drops too low and, half an hour later, your cat is hungry again.

The same thing happens when people eat too much Chinese food! ;)

Prescription foods are just expensive junk with poor ingredients. It's ok to not feed what the vet recommends. Many vets have no clue about proper nutrition.
I guess we got a vet who knows her stuff, then. :)
When Casper first got urinary crystals, we tried switching him to prescription food. Our vet asked us what we were feeding and she said, "Bah!" She told us about a study where they had tested different foods for cats with crystals and found that prescription foods weren't worth the price.
 
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Felines are superior

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That's the hulls of soybeans after they've been cracked open and processed for food... Leftover soybean hulls are usually fed to cows.

"Soybean Mill Run" = "Cattle Fodder!"

What brains trust ever got the bright idea to feed cattle fodder to cats? :doh:

Peas, soy, rice, corn and flax seed... All empty calories! Cats only need to eat the smallest amounts of those things.

BTW: Don't forget that even though your cat is feral and comes to your for food, you can't always assume that you are her ONLY source of food. Somebody else might be feeding her. She might be mooching food from somebody else's back porch when they aren't looking. She might even be eating from garbage cans!

I think you need to consider that when you plan a feral cat's diet.
Oh, I'm pretty sure she eats from other sources. There's a lady who feeds feral cats (we have millions of them), and she even told me she gives her a bit sometimes. I need to find her and tell her to please stop, but she's not the only cats feeder. I will start notifing every cats feeder I see, to please not feed my cat.
 
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Felines are superior

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How much does your cat currently weight and what does the vet say the ideal weight is?



Only canned / wet food if possible. Dry foods are so calorie dense, even weigh control ones, that it's impossible for a cat to lose any weight. Reducing the amount of food may seem like a solution but then you wind up with a hangry cat with behavior issues. A half cup or less of food daily isn't enough to satisfy a cat's tummy.

Prescription foods are just expensive junk with poor ingredients. It's ok to not feed what the vet recommends. Many vets have no clue about proper nutrition.

Take a read though these:

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Are wet foods less fulfiling than dry food? Will she be hungry again soon?
 

LTS3

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Are wet foods less fulfiling than dry food? Will she be hungry again soon?

Canned food are actually more filling than dry. Dry food is just empty calories. Many people do schedule feeding with canned food. A few small meals daily works for most cats. There are programmable timed feeders you can use to provide a canned food meal if you are not home. Canned food is a cooked product so it's fine to leave out all day, just like dry food. At the end of the day discard any uneaten food. Adjust the amount of food you leave out to minimize waste.
 

Cat McCannon

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Oh, I'm pretty sure she eats from other sources. There's a lady who feeds feral cats (we have millions of them), and she even told me she gives her a bit sometimes. I need to find her and tell her to please stop, but she's not the only cats feeder. I will start notifing every cats feeder I see, to please not feed my cat.
The only way to keep your cat from eating around the neighbor hood is to keep her indoors.
 
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