Weight Management Foods

mrw5641

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Hi. I'm wondering how weight management formula works in cats? It seems it is lower in calories but higher in carbs than the food I am giving him now.


WEIGHT MANAGEMENT LAMB

N&D Quinoa Functional Feline
 

fionasmom

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I am not well versed in weight management cat food, but is the higher fiber something that makes the cat feel more full and therefore causes him to eat less?
 

mrsgreenjeens

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Well, from personal experience, I never had any luck getting my little pudge to lose weight using a weight management food. It might have been because I had three other cats at the same time and was hard to control his portions because of it. But in my mind it goes against everything I've learned about cat nutrition, which is high protein, low carbs :sigh: And the way I got my guy to lose the excess weight was to put him on a very high protein, almost zero carb diet (raw) and make sure he stayed out of everyone elses' bowls.
 

lisahe

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Well, from personal experience, I never had any luck getting my little pudge to lose weight using a weight management food. It might have been because I had three other cats at the same time and was hard to control his portions because of it. But in my mind it goes against everything I've learned about cat nutrition, which is high protein, low carbs :sigh: And the way I got my guy to lose the excess weight was to put him on a very high protein, almost zero carb diet (raw) and make sure he stayed out of everyone elses' bowls.
I completely agree with what mrsgreenjeens mrsgreenjeens says. Lots of protein, minimal carbs, and managed (scheduled, portion controlled) meals are the key. All wet food. (Or mostly, in our case, we feed treat and microsnack amounts of Dr. Elsey's dry chicken food but it has no fillers.) It's protein and fat that will keep a cat sated, not quinoa or peas or potatoes or any other vegetable matter that cats aren't built to process anyway. That's how we feed our cats to keep them at their ideal weights. Unfortunately, we didn't know this years ago with our previous cat, when the vet suggested dry diet food. She just gained more weight.

FWIW, our current vet, who specializes in cats, recommended that a friend feed her overweight cat twice a day, only wet food, as much as he wanted eat. That worked beautifully for her cat. It wouldn't work for our cat who will eat until she barfs (she's still food insecure years after we adopted her) but it apparently works well for many cats.

Good luck!
 

JulietteTruong

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The dry “diet”/weight management/lite foods are often bunk. My kitty used to be heavier, and for a few years I tried all the various “diet” kibbles, with strict portion controlled meals. I was meticulous with measuring out each serving. The weight barely went down, and she was always begging for food. Once I switched over to all wet, still on scheduled meals, she shed the weight! And I didn’t stock to any particular brand or flavor. She’s almost back to her starting weight from when I first got her at age 2!
 

lisahe

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The dry “diet”/weight management/lite foods are often bunk. My kitty used to be heavier, and for a few years I tried all the various “diet” kibbles, with strict portion controlled meals. I was meticulous with measuring out each serving. The weight barely went down, and she was always begging for food. Once I switched over to all wet, still on scheduled meals, she shed the weight! And I didn’t stock to any particular brand or flavor. She’s almost back to her starting weight from when I first got her at age 2!
Yes, some dry diet foods often increase carbs and decrease protein. It's great to hear that managed wet food got your cat's weight back to what it should be!
 
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