Help Understanding Calorie Count/cat Lost Weight On New Food

[ty3535]

Hi!

I need some help understanding how calories work and are calculated. My 12 year old neutered male weighed 14.75 pounds about a year ago. Two months ago at his senior visit he weighed 14.2. Today I weighed him and he is 13.8. All of his blood and urine results came back normal.

I switched his food about 6 months ago to Walk About Goat. There are zero fillers, and I have been thinking that the food switch is what contributed to the weight loss. The weight loss hasn’t been sudden and he shows absolutely no symptoms of having a health condition so that, in addition to his normal lab work, leads me to believe it’s the food switch that is causing the loss.

My question is whether it is a healthy loss (14.75 pounds seemed a little heavy) or if I should switch to a higher calorie food. His current food (which is complete and balanced) states the calorie content is 70kcal/100g. Could anyone explain this measurement to me? And in addition can anyone tell me what the recommended calorie intake should be for him (if you could put it in the measurement that is listed on the label, I found the recommended calorie intake for cats is around 240 calories per day but I don’t know how that translates to the numbers on the label).

Is 14.2 to 13.8 in two months too fast for that amount of weight loss? I’m sort of panicking. Thanks for any help.

 

[Furballsmom]

My experience was a bit more of a weight loss in a shorter time when I added frozen raw nuggets to the Big Guys diet, and he's ok. Im working for a few more ounces back on. Bottom line I'm not going by numbers as much as whether I can lightly feel his ribs but not see them. Someone else here can help regarding the calculations, hope this helps!

 

[ty3535]

Furballsmom Thank you! I use the universal chart about healthy body weight as far as what to look for in under/over weight cats. He seems to fall exactly where he should, I can’t see ribs but can feel them slightly if I run my hand along his body. His spine isn’t noticeable. He has a slight waistline, nothing overly pronounced. Thank you for the help!

 

[Furballsmom]

 

[yeva2292]

Are you feeding the 13.2 oz cans or the 3.5 oz? Their labeling is very weird. On chewy, the two different sizes have completely different ingredients with different calorie counts and nutritional values. Is this what you are feeding?

Walk About Grain-Free Goat Recipe Canned Cat Food, 13.2-oz, case of 12
or
Walk About Grain-Free Goat Recipe Canned Cat Food, 3.5-oz, case of 24

For calculating Calories, the process is fairly simple.
1 oz = 28 grams
1 kcal = 1000 calories = 1 Calorie (capital Calorie is distinct from lower case calorie!)

If you want to feed 240 kcal/day (as you have written above), and your cat food is 70 kcal/100 grams, then:

70 kcal/100 grams = 70 kcal/3.5 oz = 20 kcal/oz
240 kcal/day = 20 kcal/oz * 12 oz

You need to be feeding 12 oz per day to feed 240 kcal/day.

 

[yeva2292]

As for how Calories are calculated, this is based on amount of carbohydrates, fat, and protein in the food. The Calories listed on food are based on the amount of energy released when food is metabolized.

Fat: 1 gram = 9 Calories
Protein: 1 gram = 4 Calories
Carbohydrates: 1 gram = 4 Calories

A lot of places will discuss Calories as calories. Unless they are including kcal in their discussion, are talking about thermodynamics, or the calorie values are in the 1000+, you can assume they are using Calorie and calorie interchangeably.

Losing 0.4 lb in 2 months is not worryingly high. However, I am not a vet and definitely don't know anything about your cat's size or health. You should definitely bring up your questions with your vet.

Discuss your cat's age and activity level (try not to over or under-represent activity level). Your vet should be able to determine how much your cat should be eating and what his optimum weight and calorie intake is. If your cat is at the right weight, you will probably be told to feed him an approximate number of calories for weight maintenance. If your cat is overweight, the vet might require you feed him fewer calories to promote weight loss, until your cat reaches the desired weight, upon which you will switch to feeding maintenance. If your cat is underweight, your vet might recommend feeding more calories to promote weight gain, then switching to maintenance.

 

[LAL]

It would help if the manufacturers would label nutrition facts you could read without a magnifier!

 

[yeva2292]

It would help if the manufacturers would label nutrition facts you could read without a magnifier!

I agree!

 

[ty3535]

yeva2292 Thank you SO much! I am feeding the 13.2 ounce can. He doesn’t eat quite a full an daily, but usually pretty close. I think my main worry it that he’s continuing to lose weight, very small amounts and over the span of a year. I’m hoping it’s just the food change. He’s still within his weight range for his breed (Serengeti). The range is 10-15 pounds and he’s 13.8 now. I have also been making more of a consistent effort to get him at least 15 minutes of exercise a day. This was perfect, I can’t thank you enough!!

LAL Agree!! I was feeling like an idiot trying to figure it all out along with the conversions.

 

[lalagimp]

Am I getting it right that the can is about 260 calories? If he's still losing weight and he's not a very large breed, did they do the additional testing on his blood work for thyroid value? His weight loss isn't alarming, as it's not more than 1/2 lb per month, just curious. I believe when Tommy is actively losing weight, we have to bump him up to around 250-260 calories to stop his weight loss. He does lose weight on wet and raw foods with more vigor than being fed on dry. The stuff is better for his metabolism now that he's middle aged. For reference: Tommy's ideal based on body condition and measurements is 13.1 lbs.

 

[yeva2292]

yeva2292 Thank you SO much!

You're welcome!

If he doesn't have any dietary restrictions and you are worried about his weight loss, switching his food to a higher calorie option within the same brand might work. The 3.5 oz can goat recipe is 110 kcal/100 g, the 3.5 oz brushtail is 122 kcal/100 g, and the 13.2 oz brushtail is 118 kcal/100g. If you switched to just the 3.5 oz can of the goat, you could feed him 8 oz/day, which would put you at about 248 kcal. With the volume being less, he might actually be able to eat more and you could try giving him 2.5 cans a day - about 8.75 oz - 271 kcal, to see if his weight goes back up.

Am I getting it right that the can is about 260 calories

Yes, that's right!

 

[ty3535]

From what I’ve read, cats should get 20 calories per pound of weight. Does that sound right? Which would mean he needs 260 calories a day. I am so thankful yeva2292 that you noticed the change in calories per can size with the Walk About. I’m going to order some now. He does have a few restrictions (he has IBD) so no chicken and no carrageenan (which I think personally is a good ingredient for all cats to avoid). Thank you so so much!

Hi lalagimp ! He does need 260 calories a day. They did just test his thyroid in November and 6 months prior to that and it was fine. Which is what has me perplexed! He’s eating, he has an appetite, he’s just not eating enough/consuming enough calories. I’m going to switch to the higher calorie version of the food I’m feeding him that yeva2292 so awesomely found. Thanks so much!

 

[ty3535]

yeva2292 Do you have any thoughts on free feeding or scheduled feeding? Right now his food is out most of the time. I’m wondering if scheduled feeding would be better to get him to eat more?

 

[yeva2292]

yeva2292 Do you have any thoughts on free feeding or scheduled feeding? Right now his food is out most of the time. I’m wondering if scheduled feeding would be better to get him to eat more?

Feeding him on a schedule will definitely allow him to get hungry between feedings and may lead to him eating more of his food. For wet food you really do want to have scheduled feedings. The biggest concern with free feeding wet food is bacterial growth. Ideally, you would like him to eat the wet food within 30 minutes of setting it out, but I usually leave food out for an hour before I consider moving it to the fridge.

Some tricks you could try for transitioning him to a scheduled feeding is start with multiple small feedings - 4 to 6 - in the day. Then slowly you would switch to 2-3 feedings. Maybe you'll see he transitions quickly to a schedule and won't even have to take it slow! The smaller volume will also help, so long as he likes the flavor. The 13.2 oz has the highest moisture content I've seen in any cat food - 87% vs 76% for the 3.5 oz - and that moisture does affect fullness!

I would make sure that clean water is available to him all day.

 

[ty3535]

I am definitely going to switch to the timed feeding. I’m home most of the day so it’ll be easy to spread his meals out over 3-4. I went to chewy and looked at both the Walk About kangaroo and goat in the small can since they have a higher calorie count, but I’m hesitant to switch after seeing some of the ingredients in the smaller can. The larger cans are missing most of the undesirable ingredients in the smaller can. Isn’t that weird that they have such varying ingredients? Do you know if there would be some sort of supplement or treat or anything I could add to make sure he doesn’t continue losing weight?

 

[Yanaka]

It might be tough on your cat to be fed meals instead of having it out there all the time--good luck to him! haha.

Looking at the ingredients, I feel like the smaller can has the best ingredients in the goat variety. It's weird though that it's only organs and not meat? The big one has potato (meh), and its goat is vague. Also broth is the first ingredient: meh.

How was your cat before he lost the weight? Was he a little chubby? Is he more active now?

 

[ty3535]

Haha! He probably won’t be happy with me for a few days. He has actually been eating the goat since 1/14. Prior to that he was eating the large cans of kangaroo which I think he liked more. (Because of his IBD I was hoping to do a rotation diet). What I didn’t like in the small cans of goat was the brewers yeast, Tetrasodium Pyrophosphate, and the use of both gums (guar gum and agar agar). The small can of kangaroo also contains those. Just from a quick internet search the first two seem unfavorable in a some articles I read and I’ve read the gums aren’t as bad as carrageenan but still aren’t great. It’s impossible to find foods without them that he’ll eat so at some point I’ll have to make concessions. Do you have any thoughts on the yeast or tetrasodium pyrophosphate?

 

[yeva2292]

I don't know much about those ingredients, unfortunately. I wouldn't consider them dealbreakers for my girl - very few things are since she's soooo picky and has some weird tummy issues. At most I could say to give it a try and see how your kitty responds.

For maintaining weight, you could try feeding more treats. The only freeze dried treats mine will even look at are Orijen's (and she'll eat your fingers with them too - she is not polite about taking them). The texture is completely different (much softer, easier to break) than other brands. A lot of the treat recipes, like the boar, bison, and lamb are single animal source. For example, the boar's ingredients are:
Wild boar, wild boar liver, mixed tocopherols (natural preservative).

You could go with either the dog or cat treats, they are interchangeable. The dog treats are bigger, and at 5 kcal/treat, by feeding 4 treats your cat will have eaten an extra 20 calories.

 

[ty3535]

I think I’m going to try the smaller cans. I am assuming since nothing crazy came up about the ingredients and Walk About is a well received brand I should be okay. Ah, the elusive treat! I can’t find any that he likes and is able to eat because he has had almost all but his front teeth removed. He was my husbands cat and he fed him dry food (which I never let him hear the end of) Purina protein crunch he can manage because they’re small and he’s got one tooth on the bottom right that he uses, but otherwise I’ve had no luck. His allergy is chicken and it seems to be in basically every cat treat.

 

[yeva2292]

These treats might work for him then! There's no crunch at all and you can break them down in just a second, sprinkle them on food or feed as is. I don't think my girl even chews them to be honest and I break them down if I am using them for training.