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- Aug 17, 2010
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This might be a little long and is a bit of a vent.
For the first four years of their lives, my cats were fed all dry. By 4 years old they were 21lbs and 17lbs. I moved them to canned only to increase water intake and help them to lose weight. I started a bit higher but eventually moved them down to one 180 cal can each per day because they weren't at their "ideal weight" yet.
Here we are a bit over 2 years later and Simba is 11.6lbs and Pumpkin is 13lbs. The vet didn't mention anything about their weights at the last appointment. Now, Simba's "ideal weight" is supposed to be between 11-12lbs. Well, recently he's been chewing on plastic a lot so I posted in the behavior forum and was told I was not feeding them enough. Simba has always cried for food but I thought he was just food obsessed because people just said "cat's do that". I looked at a weight graphic chart last night and Simba is clearly "underweight". But I thought his "ideal weight" was 11-12lbs? Something's not right here.
So I'm feeding 1.5 cans each until the small bag of dry food comes in, then I'll be feeding 1.25 cans and 1.5 tbsp of dry. This will add 60-80 more calories per day. It's been two days of 1.5 cans and they are already clearly feeling much better. Simba is so well behaved now.
I feel like the worse cat mom on the planet for not seeing that something was wrong sooner. My babies will be 7 in November and they have never had a good diet until now. Definitely makes you feel like a failure.
My point here is, you can't take what everyone says as absolutely fact in regards to nutrition and feeding and weight. You need to pay attention to your cat's behavior and their body composition. I don't even trust ideal weights anymore, I'm just going to pay attention to my cats and their bodies and do what I feel is right by that.
For the first four years of their lives, my cats were fed all dry. By 4 years old they were 21lbs and 17lbs. I moved them to canned only to increase water intake and help them to lose weight. I started a bit higher but eventually moved them down to one 180 cal can each per day because they weren't at their "ideal weight" yet.
Here we are a bit over 2 years later and Simba is 11.6lbs and Pumpkin is 13lbs. The vet didn't mention anything about their weights at the last appointment. Now, Simba's "ideal weight" is supposed to be between 11-12lbs. Well, recently he's been chewing on plastic a lot so I posted in the behavior forum and was told I was not feeding them enough. Simba has always cried for food but I thought he was just food obsessed because people just said "cat's do that". I looked at a weight graphic chart last night and Simba is clearly "underweight". But I thought his "ideal weight" was 11-12lbs? Something's not right here.
So I'm feeding 1.5 cans each until the small bag of dry food comes in, then I'll be feeding 1.25 cans and 1.5 tbsp of dry. This will add 60-80 more calories per day. It's been two days of 1.5 cans and they are already clearly feeling much better. Simba is so well behaved now.
I feel like the worse cat mom on the planet for not seeing that something was wrong sooner. My babies will be 7 in November and they have never had a good diet until now. Definitely makes you feel like a failure.
My point here is, you can't take what everyone says as absolutely fact in regards to nutrition and feeding and weight. You need to pay attention to your cat's behavior and their body composition. I don't even trust ideal weights anymore, I'm just going to pay attention to my cats and their bodies and do what I feel is right by that.
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