My cats not fat...YET, but getting there.

kookoo4kitties

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My 11 month old cat is starting to get a little on the chubby side. We fill her bowl in the morning and she usually finishes it by the next morning - it holds about 2 1/2 cups. And then she gets 1/2 a packet of moist cat food from a packet or about half a can of fancy feast.

I want to get her on a healthy feeding schedule - the last thing I want is an overweight cat with no energy! Am I giving her too much dry food for the day? Or is it the wet food thats the problem?
 

koolkatz

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How many ounces is the fancy feast can? I'm not very experienced with cats at all but they are supposed to get at least 4 oz a day according to my vet.
 

koolkatz

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Oops, I thought you meant he wasn't eating enough. Ignore my last post. If you're giving him half a whole 5.5 ounce can in addition to the other cat food, it might be too much
 

koolkatz

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@Kat0121  yeah that makes sense. In both dry and wet foods, carbs like corn are usually fillers and have no benefits to cats.
 

andrya

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Agreeing with @Kat0121  . Most people will switch their cats from dry to wet when they need to lose weight (among other health benefits).

Dry food always has more carbs that wet, because of the extrusion process. What kind of pouches are you feeding? The Fancy Feast pates are actually a pretty good choice. Pretty high in meat protein and pretty low in carbs. No grains, corn, wheat gluten etc. 
 
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Kat0121

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My 2 cats came from the Humane Society and they feed all their cats Science Diet dry and recommended that I keep them on it. I bought one bag and fed that to them until I found this site and learned the benefits of wet vs dry food. I have had them 3 months now and they are eating only wet. They did gain weight but they really needed to. Both were about 4.5 pounds when the HS got them from an abandoned house. They are now at about 7 pounds each and their fur is softer and what they leave in the litter box has much less odor. They eat Sheba, Fancy Feast and occasionally Purina One pates. Mostly chicken and turkey with some beef for variety. When I took them to the vet for their first visit, she said they can eat dry IF it is high protein and low carb and they drink a lot of water but they much prefer the wet and they do like to drink from their fountain. 
 
 

chwx

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In this case I HIGHLY disagree that it's "carbs" causing this problem....This cat is being fed too much food, plain and simple. I can agree with saying 'more wet would be better' but too much of that would also result in too much weight. Carbs aren't the sole issue here, they may play a small role but caloric intake is the main problem. What brand are you feeding?
 

oneandahalfcats

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My 11 month old cat is starting to get a little on the chubby side. We fill her bowl in the morning and she usually finishes it by the next morning - it holds about 2 1/2 cups. And then she gets 1/2 a packet of moist cat food from a packet or about half a can of fancy feast.

I want to get her on a healthy feeding schedule - the last thing I want is an overweight cat with no energy! Am I giving her too much dry food for the day? Or is it the wet food thats the problem?
While your kitty is still young and growing, 2 1/2 cups plus the wet food is way too much food if she is eating all that you are putting out. If you continue to feed this much then she will become overweight to the point of obesity, especially as she is getting mostly dry food which is higher in calories than wet food.

I would suggest that you start planning for portion control and scheduled feedings and consider making wet food the majority of her diet. Cats do best with smaller meals spread out during the day. You will want to determine her ideal weight and with this, calculate how many calories she should be getting per day. An average female cat should weigh between 8-10 pounds and an ideal caloric intake for the day should be between 15-20 calories per pound, depending on her energy level.

Depending on which dry food you are feeding, some formulas are either full of grains or too high in carbs, neither of which a cat really needs in their diet, nor do they digest well which is why cats tend to gain weight on dry food. It's okay to feed some dry but this should not make up the majority of the diet. The Fancy Feast pates are a decent budget wet canned. For something that contains less synthetic ingredients and more good quality protein, you may want to take a look at Wellness or Nature's Variety as wet canned that you can rotate with the Fancy Feast.
 
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andrya

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In this case I HIGHLY disagree that it's "carbs" causing this problem....This cat is being fed too much food, plain and simple. I can agree with saying 'more wet would be better' but too much of that would also result in too much weight. Carbs aren't the sole issue here, they may play a small role but caloric intake is the main problem. What brand are you feeding?
While you are feeding a carb-laden food, your cat will feel like she has to eat more of it, just to get her daily nutritional needs met. lf you switch to a high meat protein, moderate fat, low carb wet food, kitty won't need to eat nearly as much volume to get the nutrition she requires. 

My youngest cat was a little chubby at 11 months old, and was fed all the wet and raw he would eat. Now he's as slim as the other two cats, and self-regulates. Each of my three eat a different amount varying from around 4.5 oz to 7oz per day, and they weigh between 8 1/2 and 10lbs, (the lightest most active cat eats the most) so it depends on the cat. l would really recommend switching the food and gauge kitty's volume intake on an all-wet diet rather than adjusting the volume of the dry.
 

koolkatz

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Wait, 2 and a half cups? According to searching up "cups to ounces converter" in google, that's 20 oz... WAY too much if that's what you give them. You probably don't fill the whole bowl up, but that's about 18 oz still, and with the additional food, it goes back up to 20. Most domesticated cats should get at least 4 and at most 10 a day. You should definitely not give her that much a day. You should also give it to her at different times, on a schedule. 
 
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