Cat food questions - merged

SnowyOwl_2

I agree with Rita-Rabbit (even though she'd be my dinner if I really were a SnowyOwl!) that dry food is the best. Hill's do a "light" version for fatty catties. My lot eat it without screwing their little noses up. Most good pet shops do it - if you ask your regular pet shop they'd probably get some in for you. My vet often has sample packs which he gives away free - he gets them from the Hill's dealer - so if your vet stocks Hill's then they may well have some free packs you could try first.

Didn't your vet offer any advice on how to get your kitty to slim down? Maybe a call back to him/her would be worth a go. They may have a kitty slimming group (these really do exist) or may know of one which you could participate in.

Perhaps it'd be a good idea to invest in a water fountain - again enquire in the pet shop or look online. The idea behind them is to encourage cats to drink more - for some reason a lot of cats prefer moving water - and that should hopefully encourage them to eat less. An increase in water intake can only be good anyway, especially as they are on a dry diet.

frankie55

It's took a year, but I've slimmed down my cuddly 9 yr old boy down to a healthy weight. Previously fed on Felix pouches, a couple a day, and Iams always available. I switched him to James Wellbeloved Senior/light food and half a pouch a day or a teaspoonful of Tuna or Pilchards or Sardines. You don't have to reduce the amount of food offered as they are quite filling anyway and your other cat can still eat the same food. I gave the cat JW Ocean fish and Rice last month and it went down very fast till I caught the dog swiping it down in the middle of the night!! She'd only sniffed at the other flavours, the dog's now put on a kilo.......so I've orderd her some Burns fishy stuff to try. The 'assorted snacks' caught by the cat are not a problem for weight control according to my Vet.

Savvy_Sue

Note on collar to say "Please do not feed this cat"?

Ebony_2

We have 2 cats, one of them is on a diet. The 'fatty' used to be like yours , scoffed down her own food and then moved onto the other cats which resulted in her bringing it back up most of the time.

Our vet put her on a diet a few years ago, she is on a lighter version of the other cats dry food. She has a little card which we take with us everytime we visit the vet, she gets weighed and the weight gets marked down. She got a sticker last time for maintaining a good weight!

I keep a close eye on what she eats, measure the food out every morning and then give her a little amount at different times in the day (normally when the other cat is eating) She used to meow so much during the day, it can get annoying but after a while she seemed to learn that she'd get ignored and stopped doing it as much.

I never leave the other cats food bowl out, when she's done eating i put it on the kitchen counter so its out of reach where fatty cant get it (am i the only one with cats that havent figured out kitchen counters are a great place to get food?) If your cats are clever maybe you could put the bowls in a cupboard?

lowis

mine has been on a diet since June and has lost about 3/4 of a kilo.

he eats Hills Science Plan...I measure out his allowance for the morning, and leave it out for him. usually when i get in from work there is a few morsels left, i then measure out the remainder of his allowance and give him that. seems to be working.

if he gorges everything when you get in in the evening, have you tried dividing his allowance up into say 2 or 3 portions and giving them to him throughout the evening?

the first time i measured out my cat's daily allowance i was quite surprised to see just how little food there was in the bowl...so don't be tempted to top it up!

Nikiya

We have a five+ year old female neutered cat . It is the first time I have a cat and she is adopted, so we got her when she was around a year old. From the beginning, the vets told us she needed "Hill's Oral Care" because she had tartar. We used that food for most of the time but at one point I added one tray of wet food (on the advice of a member of the Cat Protection League) because she kept putting on weight and was hungry all the time. This lady thought that some wet food might help her feel "fuller".
She reached 5.7 Kg and was deemed overweight. She had to be put on a diet, this time with "prescription R/D" --again from Hill's. She is loosing weight, but she is desperately hungry. On the vet's advice we are giving just 40 gr of dry food per day.
Her teeth are worse and we were told she needs cleaning, which costs nearly £200 (I have found a cheaper vet outside London but we would have to travel 2 hours).
Apparently, the problem is that I gave her "wet food".
Now, I have always been suspicious of ALL cat food: What is wrong with giving a cat something more authentic, like beef, fish or chicken? She loves it (I used to complement her diet with a bit of that in the past) and I KNOW what I am giving, contrary to most cat foods that are mostly made with "animal derivatives".
Now back to Hill's.... isn't that a big con??? The labels on the packages are barely readable (printed in like 20 languages and in minuscule writing) and on their site they only give you the nutritional value of their "prescription" and "science plan" foods.
However, I have managed to read that their "r/d diet food" contains 9.2% fat. Their "oral care", 15.2% (although it feels more greasy than that) and the w/d (supposedly specially prepared to maintain weight), more than 17%
http://www.hillspet.com/media/WEURG/product/prodKeyPDF/en/PD_FL_D_d_rd_o_O_n_o_WEURG_prodKey_en.pdf
http://www.hillspet.com/media/WEURG/product/prodKeyPDF/en/PD_FL_C_d_wd_o_O_n_o_WEURG_prodKey_en.pdf
Now I am due to buy a new batch of diet food and I do not know what to do. In the meantime, I am feeding her Oral Care, but do not want her to balloon again.... it is true she lost weight with the R/D, but I believe it is mostly because of the meager amount she's been given than anything else. And why do vets tell you it is BAD to give your cat meat, fish or chicken but good to give them a concoction with a lot more fat? How come felines in the wild do not eat dry food but do not need to have their teeth cleaned?
Thanks a lot for any advice on this matter!!!

simontheiceman

Nikiya wrote: »

why do vets tell you it is BAD to give your cat meat, fish or chicken but good to give them a concoction with a lot more fat? How come felines in the wild do not eat dry food but do not need to have their teeth cleaned?
Thanks a lot for any advice on this matter!!!

How many wild felid mouths have you examined? - dental disease does exist in the "big cats" and wild dogs for that matter.This is a fallacy oft trotted out and bears no close scrutiny.

What we do see in domesticated cats is a result of feeding a largely cereal based diet. As cats are obligate carnivores i can only see this will end in tears and you have now had first hand experience. Although I do not entirely agree with the Raw Meaty Bones brigade, you have to admit that they do have a point. What you must do is look at what animals would eat naturally - for cats this would be small rodents and small birds. A cereal based diet is way too far from this. High fibre diets e.g. RD and Oral care are better but by no means perfect.

For that matter take a look at rabbit food - when did you last see a wild rabbit eating squashed peas and cornflakes. Rabbits eat herbage!

Nikiya

Well, it is true I never had my head inside a lion's mouth.... but never knew they suffered from dental disease either....
Aside from that.... I am not sure you read my whole message.... As I said, I fed my cat first Oral Care, then R/D, on the vet's advice. That is all. They seem to contain some cereal but then, why are they recommended? ... and I forgot to mention, my cat does eat small birds and rodents, since she is an outdoors cat.

geri1965_2

I give my cats Tesco Cat Crunchies - they have had it since they are kittens, they are 11 and 12 now and still very fit and healthy.

They get lots of other treats as well - the occasional pouch of wet food, chicken, bacon, cheese, milk, ham (only small amounts of things that are unhealthy).

Nikiya

Thanks Geri. Are your cats neutered females? Apparently they tend to put on weight....