Looking for Brand suggestions for healthy/weight loss wet and dry food

[Serenityinaz12]

My cat is becoming a chonker and I need him to lose weight. Currently I feed him:

1. 1/4 cup of Purina Beyond Grain Free dry cat food at 8:00 am
2. One 4 oz can of of Luvsome canned cat food at 12:00 pm
3. 1/8 cup of Purina Beyond Grain Free dry cat food at 12:00 am

The dry food is from a timed dispenser and a lot of times he will let the dry food pile up a bit, not eating too much some days and then it builds and he will chomp all of it down on other days.

What do you suggest? I was thinking of changing his morning portion to 1/8 from 1/4 but I don't think that will be enough. Is there a better dry food to give him and also a better canned wet food? He is a big cat, even when he was thin he is very large build.

Please help thank you

 

[Kieka]

Whenever someone asks about weight loss in their cat my first question is what does your cat currently weigh? Followed by, do you have a photo of your cat standing and a straight down photo of your cat. Only because, sometimes people mislabeled a primordial pouch as getting fat and I really think its important to validate that the cat is legitimately overweight. Of course, if your vet said your cat is, they are too.

That said, I wasn't able to find a 4oz Luvsome can. But assuming you meant 3oz and assuming your cat eats the chicken varieties of both foods, your cat is getting 233 calories which is the calories for a 11-12 pound cat assuming low activity which is fairly common with an indoor cat and about average calories per pound of 20 calories per pound to maintain weight. If it is actually a 4 oz can, then assuming similar calories to the 3oz can scaled up your cat is getting 261 calories which is about 13 pounds of cat. Which is helpful to identify what the right food amount is if your cat is above or below the average for the amount you feed.

My first choice would be to increase activity to lose weight. If you aren't already, do 15 minute play sessions before each meal where you really engage your cat. It works with their natural cycle of hunting then eating and will usually trigger a nap right after the meal. But it also increases activity in a fairly easy way which can on its own achieve some light weight loss. But if that didn't work, I would scale back the dry, since dry is fairly calorie dense. I'd probably start by just taking out a few pieces for a week, then take out a few more, and very slowly scale the 1/4 cup back to 1/8 cup over several weeks so your cat adapts. I'd also look into getting some freeze dried chicken to offer as a treat/snack should your cat be hungry between meals. Fairly low calorie plus protein heavy should help with hunger without increasing calories.

Make sure you weigh your cat at the start and pay attention to weight as well as body condition. A cat can safely only lose a half pound a month so you don't want to have a rapid change.