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I'd posted a while ago when I first started transitioning my cats to raw about my concerns regarding how much my cat Saipha was eating. I realized that she liked the raw so much that she would happily eat 8+ oz of raw each day. After a few weeks, that tapered off to 6-6.5 oz. I started weighing her to make sure she wasn't gaining too much.
Before I started feeding raw (she was on 9 oz of classic/pate Fancy Feast and Friskies), she was 11 lbs 10 oz. According to the vet, she wasn't overweight, but shouldn't gain any more weight. She was good about self-regulating and would occasionally leave some part of her canned food.
After the first 3 weeks of eating 8+ oz of raw, she went up to 11 lbs 15 oz. During this time, she ate voraciously and would lick her bowl clean.
I started measuring out how much I was feeding her and cut her daily portion down to 5.5 oz. In a week, she lost 3 oz and ended at 11 lbs 11 oz.
In the next two weeks, I got a kitten and stopped portion-controlling Saipha's food as it got hard to keep them from eating from each other's bowls. She jumped up to 12 lbs 2 oz.
I started supervising mealtimes and making sure Saipha only got 5.5 oz. In a week, she dropped to 12 lbs 0 oz.
Today (1 week from the last measurement), she only dropped 1 oz to 11 lbs 15 oz. That might be because I got a fattier mutton mix to help my skinny kitten put on some weight and forgot to decrease the amount I gave Saipha.
I want to stick with raw because I believe it's a lot healthier than commercial food, but I never had to watch Saipha's weight when she was on canned food! She's clearly grumpy about being limited to 5.5 oz, and I have to watch her and the kitten like a hawk during mealtimes to make sure they don't steal each other's food. Saipha has a bit of a waist tuck now when looking at her from above, but I know from experience that that waist will quickly disappear if I don't strictly portion control her. And she's not a big-framed enough cat for her to be over 12 lbs. Is there a better way of doing this? Why is she not feeling satiated on raw when she was doing fine on canned?
Before I started feeding raw (she was on 9 oz of classic/pate Fancy Feast and Friskies), she was 11 lbs 10 oz. According to the vet, she wasn't overweight, but shouldn't gain any more weight. She was good about self-regulating and would occasionally leave some part of her canned food.
After the first 3 weeks of eating 8+ oz of raw, she went up to 11 lbs 15 oz. During this time, she ate voraciously and would lick her bowl clean.
I started measuring out how much I was feeding her and cut her daily portion down to 5.5 oz. In a week, she lost 3 oz and ended at 11 lbs 11 oz.
In the next two weeks, I got a kitten and stopped portion-controlling Saipha's food as it got hard to keep them from eating from each other's bowls. She jumped up to 12 lbs 2 oz.
I started supervising mealtimes and making sure Saipha only got 5.5 oz. In a week, she dropped to 12 lbs 0 oz.
Today (1 week from the last measurement), she only dropped 1 oz to 11 lbs 15 oz. That might be because I got a fattier mutton mix to help my skinny kitten put on some weight and forgot to decrease the amount I gave Saipha.
I want to stick with raw because I believe it's a lot healthier than commercial food, but I never had to watch Saipha's weight when she was on canned food! She's clearly grumpy about being limited to 5.5 oz, and I have to watch her and the kitten like a hawk during mealtimes to make sure they don't steal each other's food. Saipha has a bit of a waist tuck now when looking at her from above, but I know from experience that that waist will quickly disappear if I don't strictly portion control her. And she's not a big-framed enough cat for her to be over 12 lbs. Is there a better way of doing this? Why is she not feeling satiated on raw when she was doing fine on canned?