Weight loss attempt for cat - begging for food now driving me insane

[Serenityinaz12]

So my cat is 17 pounds and here is what I was feeding him:

8:00 am - 1/8 cup of dry food
12:00 pm - 3 oz can of wet food
12:00 am - 1/4 cup of dry food

Want him to lose weight and decided to just start by lowering his 1/4 cup to 1/8 cup, to hit about 180-200 calories per day instead of the 230-250. I also adjusted his times to be equal 8 hours apart. So now it's:

4:00 am - 1/8 cup of dry food
12:00 pm - 3 oz can of wet food
8:00 pm - 1/8 cup of dry food

Barely adjusted the amount, but the times did change. Well, he is driving me INSANE from about 9 or 10 am until feeding time of the can at noon. It's about day 5. Will he just adjust after a week or two? I've never tried getting a cat to lose weight and I've never really dealt with adjusting a feeding schedule so I don't know if it's normal for them to throw a fit for a while. Please help

 

[ArtNJ]

Feeding dry at night and wet food in the middle of the day seems like it should be reversed to me. You want to feed the more filling food right before you go to sleep so the cat doesn't wake up you.

4am? Timed feeder?

 

[Serenityinaz12]

Feeding dry at night and wet food in the middle of the day seems like it should be reversed to me. You want to feed the more filling food right before you go to sleep so the cat doesn't wake up you.

4am? Timed feeder?

Yeah timed feeder. That's a good idea thanks

 

[susanm9006]

I would consider switching him to all wet food or at least two meals of wet food. I had my girl on 1/4 cup of dry food and 1.3 ounces of wet and she GAINED on it. I switched her to 2.6 ounces of wet in the morning, 1.6 in the afternoon and a tablespoon of dry as a night time snack and her weight is finally coming down. Some,cats just can’t handle the carbs in dry food.

 

[LTS3]

Want him to lose weight and decided to just start by lowering his 1/4 cup to 1/8 cup, to hit about 180-200 calories per day instead of the 230-250.

That's too drastic of a calorie reduction IMO. Go back to 230 calories or so for a week or so and then retry the calorie reduction. Go very slow, say from 230 calories to 220 caloires for a week or so and then reduce a little bit more. If you can feed more canned food than dry food that would help with the weight loss. Canned foods keep tummies satiated longer than dry foods and it's much easier to control calories.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I would also try to feed at least two of those meals as wet food and only one of dry. AND, I would try to make those wet meals as low carb as possible. Higher protein should make him feel more full.

 

[danteshuman]

Weight doesn’t determine fat per se. for instance a 17 pound main coon would be fine. It is much better to go by body type. Your vet can help you determine how overweight your cat is. There are cat body type charts.

 

[danteshuman]

Make sure the vet calculates the calories your cat needs everyday. A puzzle feeder with the dry food in it might keep your cat distrActed. Or you could try feeding your cat slightly more to see if that helps.

You could try an automatic feeder to see if that gets your cat to quit begging.

 

[mrw5641]

Have you been including 10 minutes 2x a day of play or exercise? My cat is getting approx 180-200 k/cal per day of dry food and about 60 k/cals maybe a bit more or maybe a bit less pending if he eats it all.

By playing with him, I am able to give him the same amount of dry food. Cats are very stationary, so any kind of movement helps :-)

 

[maggie101]

When my cat begs for more food,all she really needs is attention or wants to play. She has a tall tower I put her on then she sits down and starts cleaning. If she comes in the kitchen and I know she's had enough I chase her away and start playing