The boys were on Nature's Variety raw getting 1 chicken medallion a piece. We move to homemade raw with ground rabbit and chunk turkey, both getting 5 oz each. Well the first batch I made went all out with both 20% skin and all the optional eggs, so I cut that back and went to make a very lean formula instead, once I saw they were gaining weight. Stewart was cut back to 4 oz and Tom was cut back to 4.5 oz. I got them about where they needed to be so I added in a 1/2 oz raw each boy. Stewburger has been getting 4.5 oz and Tommy Gargoyle has been getting 5 oz again. Well this formula is still very lean so when I weighed them today I noticed that Stew has still very slowly been losing weight. He was 12.38 a month or so ago and now he's 12.1, which is ideal so he's going to get bumped up to 5 oz. Tommy, on the other hand, has lost another half lb even still, so he's going up to 5.5 oz. Vet scored him at 13.1 and he's 12.42. He hasn't been acting like he's starving, he's not looking overly chic, he still has tons of energy.
So I get to weigh them in a month again and if Stewy doesn't plateau and Tommy loses even a smidge, I guess the next step would be to add the 20% skin back in, maybe?
How would you go about it? One cat is right where he should be an another cat is 1/2 lb under... would you change the formula or keep playing with the amounts?
It gets stressful. I got them to lose the weight: All of it. It's finding this dance around a maintenance feeding that's making me rethink my parenting. But the boys are great.
Tommy started dieting in Aug 2013 at almost 21 lbs. After three years on prescription not so great ingredients formula which was only allowing him to eat more food of less quality, I pulled him off and started Nature's Variety Healthy Weight and giving him less. The food was more dense but I felt a better quality. We used this brand to lose about the last 1 1/2.
Stewart started dieting around April 2014 on prescription diet food and met his goal within about a year and a half and went onto Nature's Variety Instinct, but the feeding suggestions were wrong and he ended up gaining back a little over a pound. He finished his diet for good on Nature's Variety Healthy Weight.
Tommy was diagnosed with FLUTD December 2016 and quit kibble cold turkey along with Stewart. They started immediately on canned, then commercial raw, then homemade raw and they love it. But it's my job to watch their weight. The ideal body score is very important for Tommy because of his condition, and important to Stewart in managing his asthma.
Will this get easier? Would I be able to find a balance and stick with it or is it always going to be this level of monitoring and tweaking the plan?
So I get to weigh them in a month again and if Stewy doesn't plateau and Tommy loses even a smidge, I guess the next step would be to add the 20% skin back in, maybe?
How would you go about it? One cat is right where he should be an another cat is 1/2 lb under... would you change the formula or keep playing with the amounts?
It gets stressful. I got them to lose the weight: All of it. It's finding this dance around a maintenance feeding that's making me rethink my parenting. But the boys are great.
Tommy started dieting in Aug 2013 at almost 21 lbs. After three years on prescription not so great ingredients formula which was only allowing him to eat more food of less quality, I pulled him off and started Nature's Variety Healthy Weight and giving him less. The food was more dense but I felt a better quality. We used this brand to lose about the last 1 1/2.
Stewart started dieting around April 2014 on prescription diet food and met his goal within about a year and a half and went onto Nature's Variety Instinct, but the feeding suggestions were wrong and he ended up gaining back a little over a pound. He finished his diet for good on Nature's Variety Healthy Weight.
Tommy was diagnosed with FLUTD December 2016 and quit kibble cold turkey along with Stewart. They started immediately on canned, then commercial raw, then homemade raw and they love it. But it's my job to watch their weight. The ideal body score is very important for Tommy because of his condition, and important to Stewart in managing his asthma.
Will this get easier? Would I be able to find a balance and stick with it or is it always going to be this level of monitoring and tweaking the plan?
Right now we're both looking for the same answers for the cats whose weights either see-saw or plateau.
