Advice on cat dieting please

Steel_2 · 20 January 2010 at 7:27PM

They are sooooo cute!

Reminds me of fatty when she was a baby...hard to believe she was that small looking at the size of her now.

I've had some guilty wobbles today...Fatty has staged 3 sit-ins by the food bowl waiting for her grub, the last one was for over two hours. She's tuggng at the old heart strings.

She's due for her last feed at 8pm tonight and she's already now sat next to me on the table with one paw on the laptop.

I'm worried in case I'm feeding her too little?

She's getting 200g of wet food, which is around 240 calories, split into four meals a day at regular intervals. I've stopped the munchies for now until I can get decent higher-protein ones and will be getting some high protein wet food too.

Have I got my figures wrong?

She's not climbing walls or ripping the place apart, just making it clear it's not on. Is this just a reaction to ad lib food being taken away?

Buttonmoons · 20 January 2010 at 7:49PM

200g seems quite little, is that based on her weight now?

I really don't have much of a clue but I feel for ya with the cat protests, my fat cat does that, sits and stares me out gestures with her head, like a C'mere nod when she is after food. I can feel the eyes drilling into my head.

My cat seems quite fat but she weighs 4.1kg, last time she was at the vets (to get neutered) she weighed 3.7kg and was apparently overweight then?? She looked fine back then IMO, she can't help having a saggy belly, she has a hernia thingy on it that drags her belly flab down.

Steel_2 · 20 January 2010 at 8:20PM

Buttonmoons wrote: »

200g seems quite little, is that based on her weight now?...

My cat seems quite fat but she weighs 4.1kg, last time she was at the vets (to get neutered) she weighed 3.7kg and was apparently overweight then?? She looked fine back then IMO, she can't help having a saggy belly, she has a hernia thingy on it that drags her belly flab down.

I think your vet is a bit over zealous. It isn't piles of weight but I guess if she's putting on a little more every time he sees the cat he may think it will get worse so best to mention it to you. Cats can have saggy skin without being overweight. Some cats just do.

I worked everything out from here - it's an American site so some of the food recommendations are not what we have here.

I've pasted just a couple of little bits:

"The average cat should eat 4-6 ounces of canned food per day split between 2-3 meals but this is just a general guideline."

I'm assuming the recommendation above is for a 3.5kg average cat. Fatty is a big cat and my vet suggested she should be between 5 and 5.5kg (12.1lbs), therefore she needs more. Probably 6-8oz.

"If your cat weighs 18 pounds but really should weigh 12 pounds, please make sure that he is consuming at least ~180 calories per day. (12 pounds lean body mass X 15 calories/pound/day = ~180 calories/day)

If you have a small female cat that should only weigh 9 pounds, please make sure that she is consuming at least 135 calories per day.

Canned foods never list the calorie content on the can but many dry foods do list this information on the bag. A rough guideline for the calorie content of most canned foods that are 78% moisture is ~30 calories/ounce but can range from 20 to 40 calories/ounce as shown by the chart located at binkyspage.tripod.com/canfood.html."

I'm aiming for fatty to come down from 6.8kg (15lbs) to 5.5kg (12lb), so she needs to lose 1.3kg which is 3lbs. Slotting the figures into the calculation above:

12 pounds lean body mass X 15 calories/pound/day = ~180 calories/day

I've started her at 240 calories/day, which is less than she eats normally. Using the average figure if 30 calories per ounce of wet food, this equates to 8 ounces (200g) of wet food a day and I'm doing four small meals to soften the blow.

Have I worked this out right? I'm assuming the calories per ounce of wet food don't differ that much between America and the UK...

Buttonmoons · 21 January 2010 at 12:17AM

Was the 1st time she had been to the vets, so not sure why they said that, probably to guilt me into buying the Hills science biscuits :rotfl: My other cat isn't even 1 yet and he weighs more than her, but I think he is underweight as when you look at him from above, he's just a rake! Probably because he is an asbo cat and always climbing a door/boiler/clothes.

I think those figures look right, when you look at it in the bowl it never looks much does it? Guess fatcat thinks the same.....she'll maybe have to go outside and get some exercise and a mouse

Steel_2 · 21 January 2010 at 6:49PM

Buttonmoons wrote: »

I think those figures look right, when you look at it in the bowl it never looks much does it?

That's it exactly!Huuby looked at her bowl and said "oh poor fatty. That's not a lot".In my heart of hearts I know it should be enough (although I higher meat food may help her feel more satisfied for longer).

They only have little tummies really.

Today has been ok. Fatty is settling down and starting to understand when the food will be there and is mostly being a bit more patient. I stayed up for most of last night working so of course the cats were active and running around by 4:30am so I gave them a very small portion of food to reflect the extra length of time they will be up by their last feed tonight.

Normal cat is the one winding me up a bit. He's definitely eating outside the home now - and large quantities. He had less than half of what he should have had yesterday and he left the rest. He NEVER does this. He felt like he had a full belly when he came in yesterday.

I reckon he thinks there's food scarcity again and looking elsewhere. I do hope he's not getting in people's houses....

Steel_2 · 28 January 2010 at 12:26AM

Thought I'd pop back with an update.

The new regime is finally being accepted by the three cats.

Normal cat returns bang on cue for each feed and eats the lot, and Fatty doesn't stir now until about 30 minutes before it's due. I've realised skinny cat is getting thin because she is sleeping in preference to eating, so I go and poke her awake and put a bowl of food right next to her face. I've been doing this 5 or 6 times a day. She is ever so slightly heavier after a week and seems to be much more enthusiastic about meal times now. She comes looking for food sometimes, which she's never really done before.

My local pet shop had very little choice of high-meat foods, but we did manage to find a small packet of Burns. They get their wet food and a very small amount of crunchies with each meal, probably about 10 pieces. I haven't had the time to investigate many other alternative but will do this week

Fatty has stopped demanding we turn the taps on for a drink. I add a little hot water to their food to get it to mouse temperature so with the water bowl and fresh water pools outside they're all well hydrated. Skinny had some dry skin and dandruff which is clearing up and there's a lot less scratching and itching going on from all of them.

Some evenings we don't bother with the last meal and hit the raw stuff - chicken wings all round. Fatty cannot do anything with hers so we sit together and I break it into small pieces for her. The other two just drag their wings into a comfortable spot near the fire and start gnawing.

I tried to weigh them all a couple of days ago, but kept getting different results every time I stepped on the scales so I need a new set of scales.

spike7451 · 28 January 2010 at 12:55AM

Steel,
Try this,get a caserole dish,weigh it,bung some treats into it & pop puss in,weigh it & subtract the weight of the dish.

Fire_Fox · 28 January 2010 at 1:01AM

:j:j:j:j:j I am completely impressed, Steel!

I am presently in denial, I found a tiny section of waist on Noah so convinced myself he is fine OR is full of furballs. He had breakfast late (lazy me) then miaowed really loud for his dinner before normal time, so I gave him some diluted cat milk to put him on. When I was weighing dinner he was climbing the kitchen cupboards with his front feet and ten minutes later the entire 50g of Orijen was gone! :eek: He will wake me crying for breakfast again tomorrow.

He gets weighed at the vets Tuesday so I may have to [STRIKE]leave home[/STRIKE] get tough.

cakey · 28 January 2010 at 4:57PM

hi, i had exactly the same problem, 4 cats, 2 bengals (tiny, 2 moggies 1 normal size and one huge 6.5kg (brother 4kg):) i tried every diet under the sun.. so here is the bad news... he was diagnosed with kidney failure, apparently when he drank water and his kidneys couldn't process it, it seeped into his body, giving him the appearence of being big, when actually it was water retention. Just as a caution get them checked. i lost fluffy 1 year today, his kidney damage was too far along, spent £600 in the vets trying to fix him

don't want anyone else to go through that.

spike7451 · 28 January 2010 at 5:40PM

cakey wrote: »

hi, i had exactly the same problem, 4 cats, 2 bengals (tiny, 2 moggies 1 normal size and one huge 6.5kg (brother 4kg):) i tried every diet under the sun.. so here is the bad news... he was diagnosed with kidney failure, apparently when he drank water and his kidneys couldn't process it, it seeped into his body, giving him the appearence of being big, when actually it was water retention. Just as a caution get them checked. i lost fluffy 1 year today, his kidney damage was too far along, spent £600 in the vets trying to fix him don't want anyone else to go through that.

Orbit was the same,I lost him last Sept & I reckon I spent a good £400.

Advice on cat dieting please

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