diet food

There is NO such thing as dry “diet” food for cats. Dry foods are filled with carbs that make your cat fat. You can’t make a dry food without carbs, so there are no dry diet foods.

The proper amount to feed per cat/per day should be about 5.5 ounces of wet (high quality grain free canned or Raw Meat/Bones/Organ) food.

The calories in that amount of food are sufficient for most “normal” sized cats. Of course a highly energetic cat will need more food to keep it healthy, and a lazy cat will need less food to keep it from getting obese. But 5.5 ounces of wet food per day is a good place to start.

Here is a fantastic site that will help you help your cat lose weight!

http://www.catinfo.org/feline_obesity.htm

This is my standard advice for cat weight loss, and it has worked very well for me:

In a nutshell, most cats are fat because they’ve been fed too much (free-feeding or indulging them) and because they’re fed dry food which is NOT appropriate food for them due to the grain/carb/sugar content. Cats are obligate carnivores who need to eat a high meat-based protein diet, which is also high in fats and low in carbs.

Many vets, who are sadly ignorant on the topic of proper cat nutrition, will recommend prescription diet foods (usually dry). Cats are expected to lose weight on a starvation diet of 1/4 or 1/3 cup of food per day. Everyone is miserable in these situations.

The solution is to switch the fat cat (and any others in the household as well) to a good quality canned food. Because these foods are species appropriate, the cat will lose weight at a safe, slow pace (no more than 1 pound per month). Switching foods needs to occur slowly, and if you’re trying to get a kibble junkie to eat canned food, that will happen naturally.

How much should cats eat?
This varies. Average cats may eat between 20-30 calories per pound per day. But note that that is IDEAL pounds. Using 25 calories per day for example, an 8 pound cat could eat 200 calories per day. By the same token, a cat who weighs 20 pounds but should weigh 10 could eat 250 calories per day. You multiply the ideal weight by the calories to arrive at that figure. When working toward weight loss, it’s perhaps best to start at the lower end of the scale (20).

How do I find out how many calories are in cat food? See the link “Values in canned food.” If it’s not listed there, you’d need to contact the manufacturer…..I believe that link provides some help there as well.

That’s it. Easy as pie. Not only will fat cats lose weight, but it and any others in the home will reap many benefits of eating a speciies appropriate diet.

See the links below for detailed information on this topic.

UPDATE: Poppy lost 5 pounds and Sophie lost 2 following this plan (from October to October). Each cat gets one can (5.5oz) of Nature’s Variety Instincts per day. No one is starving or miserable. My vet is happy with her progress and so am I. Only 4 pounds to go!

1. Why cats need canned food: http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library&act=show&item=whycatsneedcannedfood

2. What to feed: http://www.catinfo.org/commercialcannedfoods.htm

3. Obesity links:
http://www.thepetcenter.com/imtop/catweight.html
http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library&act=show&item=016
http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library&act=show&item=therightweightlossprogramforcats

4. Switching foods: http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library&act=show&item=switchingfoods

5. Values in Canned Foods: http://www.geocities.com/jmpeerson/canfood.html

I think that the reason why they are not shedding is because it is not as hot as it was before. If they have 2 flights of stairs to walk they maby are losing wait but little by little, so you could not see it. Also, if they are eating 3 or 4 bites 7 times a day, (what kind of food?, is it dry or wet food?) it could depend on what type of food. I am not possitively sure why they are getting fat but there also could be another reason, they could just still trying to get used to the move. (it also depends on how long ago you changed places, Was it a week, few days, or maby even a years ago?) Hope this helped you. Contact me any time if you need help and i’ll try to answer your problems.

Source Link: Own Experience

my cat is really fat too, but she really doesnt like the diet food and wont eat it. can yall suggest any good diet cats food?

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You could always cut back on what you are giving your cat. If you don't want to do that, if you give your cat wet food you should just try to organic cat food. I think it is also in dry food too. Try to stick with the same brand. Don't switch unless you really think you really need to. Hope this helped. Contact me for any more problems.

By: jerseygir1303   109

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Independent feed stores often have lots of samples.Take every one you can. Try doing taste tests. All of my cats loved Science Diet until they tasted Avoderm. Once cat picked started eating it (not the Alpha) and next they were all eating it. Try mixing a bit of new food in with the old and see what happens. If yours is anything like mine were it'll be finicky but will settle on a food they like. As kittens and young adults I often had out four or five small plates of dry food and they walked from plate to plate. If nothing else it made them think....they'd sniff each plate and sometimes go back and forth between a few before deciding what to eat.

By: maccat06   2

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Thanks, but nobody has answered the question. I agree that dry food carries a lot of carbs which is why I asked if anybody had experience with dry food that carries fewer carbs. From the studies I’ve read a consistent diet of wet food increases the factor for urinary tract infections among males. The rationale that domestic felines need raw meat is bunk. So is the idea that they need to be fed a certain amount a few times a day. In my experience that only leads to gorging and fights over food.

My original question: does anybody have experience with a high quality dry “lite” food that their cat(s) enjoy?

Maccat06, everyone IS answering your question. There is no such thing as light foods. All dry foods and wet foods have carbs in them, and both cannot serve as your complete answer.

It’s a good thing you have extra stairs–that will bring some exercise for them. And you should try and play with them. You can also ask your vet if you can do anything else to help the cats lose weight.

How about feeding them a little less food? My cat, Figaro, used to basically be as fat as a living basketball, so we cut down his food and started feeding him wet food once a month. In the past six months, he’s gone way down.