Weight Control Help!

[xisare]

Hello!

We just brought our cats to their annual checkup and I need some urgently help. One of them is borderline diabetic, weighting 18 pounds. I just feel so bad that we did not notice before he has always been a mellow cat and never gorges or eats to much but still, I'm his mom....

The doc said he needed to drop 1 lb a month until he reaches at least 14, ideally 12 lb and recommended weight control food. I've read about how weight control food is just filled with more carbs than a cat needs, so I'm looking for alternatives.

Sadly I cannot switch to raw, and he does not like wet food.... what can I do??

 

[stephanietx]

Go to scheduled feedings and limit the amount of food served. Try switching to a grain-free food if you're not already feeding grain free. When he begs for food, distract with a toy. I would continue to try offering wet food. Try something you've not tried before. It's really like it is with humans, less carbs and more exercise.

 

[xisare]

I limit their food and feed them at certain times, but they eat so slow that is the same as free feeding. Their bowls always have some food on them.

I will check on the grain free food. We went through a rough patch and had to lower a bit the quality of their food. We are feeding them Kirkland natural, I'll see what can I buy that is on our budget. Any recommendations?

 

[stephanietx]

We feed Taste of the Wild dry, but have also fed Wellness Core in the past. What I do for my slow eaters is I put the food down with their amount and allow a certain amount of time for them to finish. After that time, usually 15 mins, I take up the bowls and put them in the cabinet until the next time.

 

[mokapi]

You might look into the grain-free version of ProPac. Not exactly top of the line, but IMO one of the best foods out there for the price. There's a chicken and a fish-- go with the chicken, if you can get your hands on it.

As far as limiting the feeding and them being slow eaters...I say this in the nicest way possible, but don't let them win! My cats were freefed until my younger one started getting pudgy. The older cat was freefed was 8 years and NEVER had a weight problem...then Mr. Fat Boy came along and ruined it for everyone. I slowly weaned them off of being freefed and onto specific mealtimes by really hyping up dinnertime (aka I'd get really excited and shake the bag and act like a crazy person, which made them extremely interested), leaving the bowl out for 20 minutes, then picking it up. The bowl wouldn't go back down until the next scheduled feeding. I made sure "hungry?!" was my cue word, so that they could pick up that me asking that question like a whackadoo, at ridiculous pitches of voice, would remind them that it's time to eat NOW (I switched them both to raw not too long ago, and they think they're starving to death all the time, despite maintaining perfect weights).

My household is nutty. Good luck!

 

[xisare]

I may have to resort to that...

I do remember seeing around this site a formula to see how many calories should a cat eat?? Given that I will need to recalculate his intake month by month I'd rather have in on hand.

 

[jen]

I would try try try a huge variety of wet canned or pouch foods and maybe see if there are a few he ends up liking after a few hours of being hungry. Any wet is better then dry and a diabetic really cannot be on dry food. Fancy Feast Classics are very very low carb canned foods, along with Friskies classics. They are like 60 cents a can or so depending where you go.

 

[xisare]

I know about Friskies, that's what I tried to feed them but he does not really like them. Fancy feast I have not found varieties that do not have wheat gluten in them

 

[Willowy]

Fancy Feast Classics don't have wheat gluten. The other kinds do. The Classics line is the kind that's sort of like paté, not chunky.

 

[orange&white]

I may have to resort to that...

I do remember seeing around this site a formula to see how many calories should a cat eat?? Given that I will need to recalculate his intake month by month I'd rather have in on hand.

The "rule of thumb" is 20 calories per pound of body weight (at your cat's ideal weight...not current weight). That's not working for my fat cat. He weighed 16.5 lbs last September, and he's 14.5 lbs now, a year later. I have very slowly cut back his calories over the last year. Right now he's only eating 130-135 calories per day. If I give him more he either doesn't lose more weight or starts gaining again. Anyway, one more pound and hopefully he can eat a little more when we get to maintenance stage.

I'd start your boy at 20 calories per day for a 14 pound cat and see how he does. (Even better, if you know how many calories he eats per day right now, then just cut 10%.) You'll need to weigh him regularly...at minimum monthly. If he's not losing cut his daily calories back by 10%. If he's losing too fast (which can be dangerous) then raise 5% for a week or two to see if the weight loss levels out to a slower pace. I think your vet suggesting one pound per month is too fast. I'd shoot for 1/2 pound per month.

 

[LTS3]

Here is the list of low carb gluten free Fancy Feast: Wheat gluten free, low carbohydrate Wet Food It's all the Classic / Gourmet varieties.

For other brands of low carb canned foods, use this chart: http://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf Look for foods that have 10% or less carbs. Gravy ands sauced based foods are high in carbs because of the starches used to thicken the liquid.

Have you tried different textures of food? Some cats only like pate and others only like shreds, cuts, minces, etc. Have you tried Weruva or Soulistic or Tiki Cat? Many cats like those. Soulistic can be found at Petco and is basically the exact same food as Weruva, just different variety names (the same company makes both brands).

This is also helpful: Feline Diabetes- treatment and prevention in cats

By changing the diet now, you can prevent diabetes from occuring. How borderline was your cat? Did the vet get the result from the typical blood glucose test included in normal blood work or was a fructosamine done? Was the urine tested for the presence of sugars? Weight alone isn't an indicator that a cat is borderline diabetic.

Dry food really shouldn't be fed to a diabetic or one that is borderline. Dry food needs some kind of starch to hold everything together in that nice kibble shape. There is a dry food that is supposedly zero carbs but it's only sold online and is awfully expensive ($30 for a 4lb bag and the price goes up for larger bag sizes). I know there are people who do feed only dry food to a diabetic cat. I did a quick search on the FelineDiabetes.com board and came up with these dry fooods some people feed:

Epigen™ - High Protein & Starch Free Dry Dog & Cat Food The fish is low carb but feeding fish isn't recommended for cats in general. There is a chicken formula which is slightly higher in carbs.
Instinct Original | Instinct Pet Food
CORE for Cats | Wellness Pet Food

How many calories are in the Kirkland dry food and how much are you feeding every day? The general recommendation is to feed 20 to 25 calories per pound of ideal weight daily. Your 18 lb cat needs to eat roughly 450 calories to maintain his current weight. To weigh12 lbs, he needs to eat closer to 300 calories daily. A reduction in calories needs to be done very very slowly to avoid fatty liver disease. This can take at least a couple of weeks if not a few months to achieve.

Is feeding freeze dried raw or aried dried raw an option? Both are a lot healthier than dry food.