How Many Kcals Should Senior Cat Be Eating? - I Think Vet is Wrong

spac

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I asked the tech how many kcals my 22 y/o, inactive, underweight, 5 lb. cat should be eating a day so as not to lose anymore weight. In her youth, her ideal weight would've been between 7.5 to 8.5 lbs. It's been so long I forgot what she used to look like and weigh. Her frame is definitely smaller than the average female cat, she's very petite. Since late 2014 she's lost weight due to IBD. She's been steady at 5 lbs. for a little over a year but now she's not eating well. I'm having to syringe feed her to maintain weight.

I got a call from the tech who said the vet recommends about 210 kcals a day. I can barely get 160 kcals in this cat and I'm supposed to give 210? Is this even right?

I've checked out numerous veterinary sites that provide kcal calculators for cats and I'm not getting that number. I'm getting 130 for an inactive cat, and 156 for an average adult. I don't know if the vet is going by what her ideal weight should be, but at 22 I don't think it should be 8 lbs. I would say that she could stand to gain some weight, but I would think it would be crazy to add on more than 1 lb. So a 6 lb. cat would need 149 - 179 kcals. The 210 the vet recommends would be more appropriate for a 7.5 lb. cat.

Unless she needs more kcals because of IBD, pancreatitis, and kidney disease. I'm really struggling here. I'm only one person. I can't do it all.

Any recommendations on how many kcals she should be getting per day to maintain weight at 5 lbs.?
 

FeebysOwner

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HI. Feeby who is 15+yo and very sedentary seems to be able to maintain her 15.5 - 16 pounds on about 250 calories a day. That turns out to be for her around 15-16 calories per pound. So, using that range a 6 pound cat could theoretically sustain her weight on about 100 calories. The type of food (dry/more carbs, wet/less carbs) also can impact the caloric intake. If she is sustaining her weight on 160 calories per day, at her weight, she sounds like she is more in the 25 calories per pound area.

I don't know if IBD or her other issues can make that big of a difference or not. Hoping other members will come along with some input from that aspect.

How about kitten food (higher in calories), nutritional pastes, to add to her diet to help reduce the need for syringe feedings? Maybe check into these to see if there is any reason they wouldn't be appropriate for her with the conditions she has?
 

mrsgreenjeens

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I agree that that seems like an awful lot of calories for such a teeny cat. My old girl weighed about the same, and we were lucky if we could get her to eat 100 cals in a day. It does seem like your Vet is calculating on a higher weight vs what she weighs now, or what you may think her ideal weight is now for her age. I would say get in whatever you can and call it a day. You certainly don't want to stress her out too much with all her heath issues. Are you just supplementing her eating with the syringe feeding, or doing ALL food that way? My girl also had kidney disease and we never syringe fed her, but did feed 8 - 9 small meals per day. They were often only one Tablespoon at a time, and 3 of them were in the middle of the night, but whatever was needed, that 's what we did. I just kept those last three on an icepak on my nightstand and rotated them off as I fed one so they could come down to room temp for her. Never had to leave the bed as I just fed her right in bed with me. It was a great bonding experience for us.
 
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spac

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I just found the discharge instructions for another cat that had diabetes and had to be PTS last year. Her weight was just under 9 lbs. and the instructions (from the same vet) say to feed her between 220-260 kcals a day for an ideal weight of 10 lbs. Interestingly, that cat's ideal weight was 9 - 9.5 lbs. I don't know where they get this 10 lbs. from. That's like saying every person should weigh 150 lbs. No! Weight should be based on height and frame. Ugh!

So clearly 210 kcals a day is too much.


They don't usually check B12. They did recommend using B12 injections, but I haven't started that yet. I need to get a prescription so I can order it.

This cat is like a yo-yo. Yesterday afternoon (Wednesday), she was doing good and eating on her own. Then in the middle of the night, right after I gave her Cerenia, she vomited and spent most of Thursday sleeping. The vomit smelled like fermenting food. She did not vomit because of the Cerenia though, I recognized that her tummy was upset prior to giving it to her. I guess the taste of the pill combined with the water to wash it down was just too much, but it's the second time she's done that with that pill. She's eating better now (late Thursday night).

I've syringe fed her on two separate days and that seems to kickstart something in her to get her to eat on her own. One night I syringe fed her a big helping before I went to bed and right afterwards she went to her bowl and started gorging on the food I left in there. :confused2: But I think there's something wrong with her cognitively. The other night she was meowing at me to feed her so I got up to get food, but she went to the water bowl and drank. When she was done drinking she went back to her bed to go to sleep and never went over to eat. She's done similar things like this before, usually involving her food, water, and litter box.

She reminds me of my grandmother who had mild dementia. She'd eat a good sized lunch, then 15 minutes after she was finished she'd tell me she was hungry and ask if it was time to eat. I'd tell her she just ate lunch and she had no memory of it. But what was odd is that she was hungry after just having ate. I hear that's not uncommon with dementia. Their brain and body gets things all mixed up and they sometimes don't know what they're feeling. I wonder if that happens with elderly animals?

I feel better knowing that 210 is too much. I think she was probably getting about 135 kcals a day, maybe more before she started having problems recently. I'll aim for 135 at the minimum, but try for 157. When syring feeding, it's obviously easier to have to feed a cat less food. So 135 to 157 is easy.
 

Antonio65

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As far as I know, the energy requrement for a cat can be calculated as follows:

RER [kcal] = (lbs * 14) + 70
RER stands for Resting Energy Requirement, which should meet your situation of an inactive cat.

In your case kcal = (5 * 14) + 70 = 140
 

daftcat75

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Senior cats, IBD cats, and cats with other active disease processes will all need more calories than recommended for healthy cats because their metabolic needs are greater (their disease process is robbing calories) and they aren't processing the calories they do eat like they did in younger, healthier days. I'd aim for that high number as best as you can manage. Definitely get her started with B12 too. It's not that expensive and those shots aren't that hard to give yourself which will save you a lot of time and money not having to take her in to the office for a shot.
 

Antonio65

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Definitely get her started with B12 too. It's not that expensive and those shots aren't that hard to give yourself which will save you a lot of time and money not having to take her in to the office for a shot.
Only a word of notice, B12 shots are very useful but sting a little.
 

daftcat75

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Only a word of notice, B12 shots are very useful but sting a little.
Yep. Getting the needle into Krista isn’t as hard as pushing the plunger all the way down before she jumps at first “taste” (the sting.)
 
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spac

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I thought I'd update this.

We saw another vet at the same clinic and she said to give 170 kcals daily. After several days of syringe feeding the 210 as the other vet suggested, the cat put on about 3.36 oz. I feel that 170 kcals is more appropriate so I will aim for that. I've also ordered some injectible B12, so hopefully that will help. But that's a big difference, 210 vs. 170 kcals. WTH! :confused2:
 

Antonio65

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I might guess that the previous vet, the one that prescribed 210 kcal, wanted your cat to gain weight faster, while the second one just wanted your cat to keep the regular weight or to gain it slower.
I'd say that 170 is much closer to the reality, and is very similar to the 140 I told you.
 
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