Kitty weight watcher needs some help

[evamilly]

Eva my 11 year old cat is overweight, well obese according to the vet, she's 6.6 kg about 14lb we have been given the aim of 5.5kg or 12lb. The vet prescribed Royal Canin Senior Consult stage 1 dry food 20g twice daily as well as one of her usual wet food pouches divided into two feeds.

Well we got to day 3, she wouldn't eat the dry vet food, only the wet, I tried topping it with wet food and chicken etc she just still ignored the dry food. I then caved in to the sad eyes, head buts ( no excuse I know) and went back to usual food but no treats/extras. However I want her to loose weight and continue to be healthy and not develop diabetes.

I have now swapped her usual wet food to Kattovit overweight canned food, she loves this, and it seems to satisfy her, I'm just worried that it contains more fibre than other foods and has something called L-carnitine for breaking down fat??

I was just wondering if anyone had any advice/thoughts on this food, or any alternatives, success stories for me to follow?

I didn't find the vet that helpful, he didn't tell me how many Kcal per day she should have, he looked at me like I was crazy when I said dry foods are not good for cats ...

I also have another cat (newly adopted stray) who is underweight, I don't want Eva to be so hungry she steels the other ones food (at the mo this hasn't been an issue).

Thank you

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Feeding only canned food is the very best thing you can do for Eva.  That way you can measure out how much you are feeding her and know exactly the amount of food to give.  I think you should be safe to feed her 15 calories per pound that you want her to be, so 15 times 12, or 180 calories.  That's the amount I feed our 13 - 14 lb guy (who's constantly watching his weight and who fluctuates depending on how much I cave in and let him finish his brother's food

)

Extra fiber is good in that in wet food for dieting cats.  Our Vet suggested that we add some canned pumpkin to our guy's food if he didn't seem satisfied.

As far as an alternative food, ANY canned food would be ok, just concentrate on the amount of calories.

Are you going to feed your new cat all wet as well?  That would be a good idea, and to make sure Eva doesn't eat his food, just make sure he is finished before you leave the feeding area.  Since he needs to gain weight, perhaps he should get about 20 calories per lb.  You can achieve that by either feeding him MORE food, or a higher calorie food.

 

[LTS3]

Here's some info on how to help a cat to safely lose weight: http://catinfo.org/?link=felineobesity

It's generally recommended to feed about 20 to 25 calories per pound of body weight (0.2 to 0.25 kcal for every kg of body weight). If your cat needs to lose more than a few pounds, then do the weight loss very slowly to avoid fatty liver disease.

An all canned food diet will help since canned foods are much lower in calories than dry foods. Any commerical canned food will do, not just the ones labeled for weight loss. Here's a recent thread that lists what canned foods UK members feed: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/287640/uk-cat-owners-what-do-you-feed

 

[evamilly]

Hi,

Thank you both for the info, very helpful

With the diet canned food Eva is getting about 250 kcal per day, which is between 15-20 kcal per pound of her actual weight so I will see how she goes with this, I've ordered some weighing scales to make sure she doesn't loose weight too fast. She seems satisfied and isn't after food constantly so the extra fibre must be helping!

I agree wet food is best, I've had Eva since she was a kitten and was told when I got her by the pet shop to continue with dry food as it was best for her teeth so I did this for about a year, then I was told by a vet that wet was best for kidneys etc so I swapped her to wet food then, I just haven't been very good with portion control I think. Also she does like pop into 2 of our neighbours houses (she has a cat flap so she comes in/out during the day) I asked them to stop giving her treats (as I know they do).

My underweight cat (Princess) I feed wet food although I was told by our current vet (the one who prescribed the dry food for Eva) that I should feed princess half wet, half dry!

Any way thanks again

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

When on a diet, I've always been told you need to base their caloric intake on their intended weight, not their currentl weight, so you might want to cut her calories down a bit.  What ou can do if you aren't comforable doing that is do strict portion control, see if she loses anything, and if not, then cut back more.  It's as simple as that. 

I still say for the skinny one, just feed her more caloric food

.  To increase calories, you could  do something as simple as add in an egg yolk every few days.  Some cats love them, some don't.  (or even try lightly scrambling or poaching an entire egg and seeing if she'll eat it.  Just don't feed raw egg white and raw egg yolk together .  They counteract each other in one area, but I can't remember which

(it's probably in that website LTS3 provided)

 

[evamilly]

Hi

thanks for the advice, intended weight rather than actual so 15-20 x her intended weight of 12lb is between 210 and 240 kcal, so yes will need to cut it down a bit, that will please her!! She is quite an active cat she's always chasing things in the garden, and I've been trying to chase the lazer dot toy as well which she loves.

I have been giving the skinny one more calorific food, however she is now very fussy. It's weird when she was stray she would eat any cat food I put out for her, now she often turns her nose up at things! I didn't realise cats could have eggs, I will give that a try.