Weightloss Recs From Vet?

[mysticotala]

I finally had a chance to take Misha into the vet. He's about 8 years old, about 18.5lbs when we got him and 17.5lbs now, and we've had him about 3 months now. When I asked about his diet and told him what I was feeding him, the vet said I should double it!
He's on a wet food diet and we settled at around 230 calories, he hadn't lost any weight when I was feeding him 250, but I thought the rate he was losing now was healthy. Then the vet said he shouldn't lose more than 1 pound a year? Is that right?! I was slightly suspicious when the vet asked how many ounces I was feeding him when I told him how many calories he was getting. The vet said 1 ounce per pound.(I mean, 1 ounce is different calories for each brand of food, how does this work?) He doesn't eat a lot at once, but he can't leave and come back to it, my other cat will just eat the rest and get fat herself, and I can't feed him 6 times a day. I might have to switch to partial dry in the auto feeder (he has sensitive whiskers so I don't like to use it much)?
I thought I had done plenty of research, but the vet makes me feel like I'm starving the poor guy and going to kill him with fatty liver disease. For one thing, I'm sad I didn't wait for my regular vet, I don't like this guy's manner much, but other than personality issues, Is the vet a quack? Or should I listen to him? He's the professional, not me, right? Are vets just terrible with cats?

 

[orange&white]

Your vet should not give feline nutrition advice, but he is probably competent at diagnosing and treating diseases and injuries. I don't discuss nutrition with my vet.

1/2 pound a month weight loss per month is very safe, some experts will say 1 pound a month is fine. If he is slowly losing weight on 230 calories, keep him at that level. If he plateau's a few weeks down the road and is still overweight, you'll want to decrease his calories by another 20-25. As long as you are weighing him regularly to make sure he isn't losing faster than is safe, then you know a heck of a lot more about cat weight loss than the vet you talked to.

Congrats on helping him get back into shape and keeping him as healthy as possible! I'm happy to be one of his diet cheerleaders!

 

[lalagimp]

One ounce per lb makes zero sense to me, at least how it would apply to my cats. My biggest boy is 13 1/2 lbs. His metabolism just did a shift this year, and he eats homemade food. He gets 6 oz of my mix. My second biggest kitty is 13 lbs and needs to lose a lb, and is on 4 oz of my mix. I only saw him lose just a few ounces, and now he may be stuck because it's winter and he's lazy for the heating vent and the electric blanket.
If you're feeding a canned diet that is not calorie dense, yep, your kitty might require a whole bunch more of it. The cans I feed my girls are 200 calorie, but I see people cans of similar size available that are only offering 140? Eesh.

My biggest, my bub, my Tommy - he was almost 21 lbs. The program we started through the vet took all his measurements and gave me a goal based on his build, and then we worked with 225 calories per day. Stewart, my Burger, my other lub - he was almost 17. Based on his build, we were given a goal and a daily calorie intake of 210.
That's where the diet started. They wanted my 21 lb boy to 13.1 lbs, and my other boy to 11.8 lbs.

Go with the 1/2 lb per month and 20-25 deficit to calories like orange&white said.
Ours was slow and steady. I took 4 years to get Tom back down to a sleek puma. If it's a quarter pound per month instead of a full half, progress is progress.

 

[MeganLLB]

Vets don't know squat about feline nutrition, or really any nutrition. An oz per pound? That's crazy! I don't understand where that vet is getting his info. He definitely must not have any cats of hos own otherwise he would know better.

 

[ailish]

1 oz per pound? That's malpractice! I feed by calories, which means the ounces vary by what food I am feeding, but it doesn't approach an oz. per pound. I go by the 20 calories per pound rule. My 10 lb cat gets around 4.5 ozs a day, which maintains her currently healthy weight. She is two and still pretty active