It's So Hard To Find A Balance

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lalagimp

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Nooo. Darn it, Stew. 13 lb 5 oz
Tommy 13 lb 7.4 oz
 
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lalagimp

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Tommy 13 lb 8 oz
Stew 13 lbs .06 oz

I don't know what's changed but wtg Stewburger.
AH HA. Boyfriend says he's moved Stewart to 4 oz from 4 1/2. Nice Job.
 
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lalagimp

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Burger is 12 lbs 15.2 oz
Tom is 13 lbs 10 oz

This is kind of an estimate for today. I usually pick them up 2 hours after their noon feeding, when they are down for a nap, but I was out today. I just picked them up after their 5 feeding, while they were down for a nap, so they have had a chance to consume more today.
 

orange&white

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Seems like Stewart is holding his own; Tommy keeps climbing back up a bit?
 
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lalagimp

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Maybe. That's why I need to do this consistently. I just sent myself out to watch Jigsaw and pick up milk and a turkey on the way home and the boys were already up when I got back. Then they were loitering while I was prepping chicken yakisoba for dinner.
Even if Tom is creeping, going down to 5 1/2 oz isn't likely to put a dent in his fortitude. He was all over the house today, throwing toys around and playing in a cardboard box fort his father made him, as well as zoomies.
 
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lalagimp

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12 lb 15.8 oz stew
13 lb 8.6 oz tom

They've done nothing. 4 oz with the Stubbs and 6 oz with the Bubs. I'm glad, but I can't feed Stewart any less. I guess he doesn't party like he used to.
 

orange&white

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I think I fed Tangent less 4 oz for maybe one week, before I realized that he couldn't get his protein requirements on that tiny volume of food. That's when I revised his recipes to the leanest cuts of meats: poultry breast, top pork loin, and eye of round beef. That got him passed the plateau and back to losing weight steadily. He's finally in maintenance mode, so I'm adding a little more fat and volume to his diet.
 
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lalagimp

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I haven't weighed them again. They're on a new diet right now so it's kind of bias. With the holiday landing as it did, I couldn't make their regular batch, so we're on Nature's Variety Instinct raw chicken medallions for about two weeks. They eat them, but it's like Chinese food and they're still hungry an hour later.
 
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lalagimp

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See- this. THIS.
Tom is up 4 ounces, and Stew is down three ounces.
Their father insisted that I weigh them because they are so hungry and wanted to make sure this temporary change wasn't killing them. Tom is a much more efficient machine when I make it myself. I'm going to have to cut him back on the next batch til we get him under 13 1/2 again.
I got all their meat in the fridge today to thaw out over the weekend.
 

orange&white

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Awww, that's too bad about Tom's weight gain. Good news for Stew though.

I don't think I could have gotten Tangent down under 15 pounds without putting together the calorie-counter and making my own mixes. It's a cat food mixing weekend for me too.
 
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lalagimp

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Stewart 12 15.2 oz
Tom 13 13.2 oz

I've gotten no where. I told S/O to pull Tom back from 6 oz to 5 1/2. Stewart is still at 4. They just got back on their regular feed yesterday. There is a theory about the weather right now and that they might just stay fat, lazy cats. Or, maybe after being back on rabbit and turkey sans the carbs, I may see some results in 2-3 weeks. If it doesn't really budge in the next month I may end up taking half the skin out.
orange&white orange&white - how large are your batches when you add the gelatin in and you cook it first, right? You don't just put packets into the mix?
I know I can continue to lower Tom's portions, but Stew's dad would not have me lower his any further, so maybe I can take some fat out and replace it so he's still getting enough to eat. He's 1/2 oz 6 am 1/2 oz 9 am 1 oz noon 1 oz 5 1 oz 9.
 

orange&white

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I never counted the gelatin as "food", but it did add weight and visually looked like Tangent was getting larger portions. I just figured it as almost zero-calorie water weight, but it does add a tiny bit of fat-free protein and the "gel" bulked the food more than just adding water.

I was using 2 slightly rounded teaspoons of gelatin powder to 16 ounces of water. The gelatin gets "bloomed" in a little cold water for one minute, then add about 1/2 cup of boiling water to completely dissolve the gelatin by stirring, then add the rest of the water cold. You can refrigerate it for a few hours to set and gel, but it doesn't really stayed gelled solid after freezing and defrosting the food mix.

I was mixing that into 32 ounces of "real" food when Tangent was eating 4 ounces of food every day, so the resulting 48 ounce batch was 8 days of food (2/3rds food, 1/3 gelatin). It may have helped that he was simply drinking an extra 1/4 cup of water a day, whether or not it had the gelatin.

Now that he's on maintenance and eating more food, I've been leaving the gelatin out.
 
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lalagimp

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There is nothing wrong with the new batch of food. Stewart loves it. Tom nibbles on it, and then starts talking in the kitchen as he hears the treat bag. Today, with dad crunches up some freeze dried Vital minnow to get him to finish his food, but he wouldn't lick the bowl. I hopped on Amazon and used bf's account to get some Fortiflora here tomorrow.
He's never been a picky cat. At least Discover Card is doing 5% cash back on Amazon right now. I bought enough for 90 sachets because he eats five times a day. The 30 would only give me less than a week to straighten him out.
 

orange&white

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I thought as an appetite stimulant people only sprinkle a tiny bit from a Fortiflora packet over the food, like salt & pepper, instead using the entire package. So one packet should last a few days. I don't have experience with it myself. Have you used it before?
 

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I don't think you need to use the whole packet of fortiflora if you're not using it as a probiotic. You can use half of the packet and just put the rest in the fridge.
 
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lalagimp

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If that's the case then I am way over-prepared. I paid the extra shipping to get it tomorrow. $3.99 because S.O. is already a Prime member. Worst case scenario, I freeze 2 boxes of it or donate it to the ER or something. The box says 30 grams so each sachet would only be 1 gram?
 

orange&white

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I think if you're using as a probiotic, one packet per day. Only for appetite stimulation, only a little sprinkle on each meal. I'm trying to remember which member here uses it, and said used only for appetite, the expiration date doesn't matter. @mrsgreenjeens maybe? Apparently the powder is primarily animal digest which is the stinky stuff sprayed on kibble that makes cats addicted. It should freeze ok.
 

Neo_23

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I think it's actually written on catinfo.org that the expiration date doesn't matter if used as an appetite stimulant.

I panicked a while ago and bought a huge box because my vet told me to use it as a probiotic. It didn't do any good so I'm left with an expensive box of it.. but at least I have it now in scenarios when my kitten decides to stop eating his food. :dunno:
 
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lalagimp

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He's doing it again. He's snarfing down all his food before the package with the FortiFlora has even arrived. I'm probably going to end up keeping 1 box on hand, and send the other two back, if they'll allow it. I'm glad he's okay. I don't think I overreact and jump to the worst conclusions, but Tom has been a very demanding cat of my patience and energy. He gets sick or injured just about every year, and last year he ran away in the snow. The FortiFlora will just go into my magical box of crap with catnip, activated charcoal, fountain filters, guinea pig shampoo, dental scaler, betadine, syringes, e-collar for a rat, keepsake urns and paw prints, styptic, nail clippers, Tom's e-collar, I used to have a big bag of saline for sub qs, extra Happy Hut for the birds, etc etc etc etc.
 
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