Low calorie cat food for male cat.

rita-rabbit

cally6008 wrote: »

Back from the vets and said cat needs to lose weight.

I've agreed to cut his food down to twice a day and cut out wet food altogether for him.

Currently fed on Go Cat for Indoor Cats which is now a no-no.

Eukanuba and Iams have been suggested but how can you tell which food has what calories in it ?

Hills food is a no-go area unless it's a last resort because it is so flipping expensive. £30 for a 5kg bag at our vets and they say thats cheaper than buying it from Pets At Home.

Burns is cheaper - but I do buy my moglets JWB or Royal Canine sometimes to treat them. Use a measuring cup or jug

caela_2

cally6008 wrote: »

Back from the vets and said cat needs to lose weight.

I've agreed to cut his food down to twice a day and cut out wet food altogether for him.

Currently fed on Go Cat for Indoor Cats which is now a no-no.

Eukanuba and Iams have been suggested but how can you tell which food has what calories in it ?

Hills food is a no-go area unless it's a last resort because it is so flipping expensive. £30 for a 5kg bag at our vets and they say thats cheaper than buying it from Pets At Home.

To start with, how much weight does your cat need to lose? Is he an indoor or outdoor cat? How much does he weigh, what breed, has he been castrated?

Castrated cats are lazier and their primary focus turns to food. They get bored so play with them; get a lazer pointer, they're amazing! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZfK8ulOIt0 You can get them online (see ebay) or at pets at home for about £5. You can really exercise a cat with them, I use it at night to wear my cat out so he's not flying off the furniture!

If your cat is an indoor cat, consider letting him out (if he is not an exotic breed or you are not on a main road). If you are worried, buy a harness. These can be difficult to use on a cat who is not used to it. They can also struggle free if they are not properly secured, so try it out indoors first. Otherwise, let your cat out during the day and have him in before dark, he should be just fine. Might see him in a few scraps, but cats will be cats and he will be physically and mentally healthier for it.

If you have a special breed of cat, some are meant to weigh more than domestic short hairs. Mine is 8lbs and only two years old, but he wasn't castrated until recently to remove an undescended testicle, so is larger than most cats anyway. Even though he's heavy, he's not fat, so find out the ideal weight for your cat.

How much weight does your cat need to lose? Remember, they are only small, so even 1lb can be quite a lot. You should never go more than 12 hours without feeding a cat, typically, feed them 3 times a day, morning, lunch and dinner, before you eat. Try not to let him sleep just after, as the food will turn to fat. Let his food go down, but then encourage him to play. If my cat gets peckish and is loitering for food, he has a small bowl of skimmed milk. Most vets say cats are lactose intollerant, but I have had cats all my life and none have ever had an aversion to milk. Of course, only do it as a treat and not often or they might get diahorrea.

One rule to a healthy cat is NEVER feed them cat food! I know this sounds raving mad, but cat food has little or no nutritional value. Cats are carnivores. Feed them meat. Only meat. Sounds expensive, but it's not. We buy a tray of free-range chicken drumsticks and thighs for £2.50-£3, feed him 3 pcs a day for 2-3 days, that's roughly £1 a day. That is actually CHEAPER than some pet foods! Of course, if you feed him chicken that is not lean, remove the skin first. Maybe stick to chicken breast, although it's expensive. Don't use battery chicken, they add salt and preservative.
Even cheaper is tinned fish. Be careful for salt content and mercury. Get in 'spring water' if you can, or if you do get brine or sunflower oil by mistake, drain and rinse the fish in a sieve. I feed my cat tuna and pilchards. Pilchards are cheapest, but come in brine, so need a good wash first. You can buy cheap fish like colley and pollock, especially from frozen or Lidl.
Any new food is difficult to integrate to a cats diet, but cut it up really small and give him a tiny piece to taste. Mix in some of the new food with his old food and see if he eats any. You might find he'll pick out the old stuff and leave the new. All cats love ham, it's like a cat law! Wrap new pieces of food in a small piece of ham and some not in ham, the cat might be tricked. Once they taste it, they probably like it. Fussy lil guys!
Ooh, another cheap food is beef. Buy the cheapest you can get, e.g. braising steak and boil it in a little water (maybe a table spoon). You will find the natural juices of the meat and any fat should cook it. Don't use oil or flavouring, just the meat by itself, NEVER use salt! Don't over-cook it, but cook it enough to keep in the fridge for a couple of days. When it is ready, cut into small pieces, the smaller the better (like the size in cat food). Cats like to try small pieces first and are put off by big chunks. Also, cheaper meats have a lot of gristle and tissue that is hard to chew and a cat might choke on it, so cut it small enough and remove any gristle / fat. Also, make sure to serve it at the right temperature, some cats won't eat food that it too cold or too hot. A good rule it to leave it out for a few minutes to acclimatise.

If your cat is eating fish/ meat, it's mostly protein, so he will lose weight, develop muscle with exercise and will be full up compared to cat food that is 95% water (check Whiskas pouches), so you can feed him less (3 small portions a day, 1 portion= 1 drumstick or a handful of beef pieces). Your cat will look and feel healthier and have more energy, which in turn means he'll do more exercise. It also saves you money in the long run from vets bill, many pet problems are caused by a poor diet of pet foods. Iams etc. are just as bad, it's all the cheapest of the cheap and it can't replace or compete with a natural diet. The meat is what they don't use for human consumption, swept off the slaughter house floor or used from cancerous animals. Cats aren't supposed to eat cereals. Only meat. So what is with cat buscuits? Could anything be more removed from their natural diet (mice, birds, fish?) Just look at the colourings they use in Go cat. If you do get a dried food (which is good to keep in store), get 'Joe and Jills' http://www.petskitchen.co.uk/Joe-and-Jills/index.asp it's probably the best and only £5 a bag, a lot cheaper than Hills and readily available in Tescos. Measure out buscuits every time you feed them, or you could be over feeding. Look out for ingedients such as tomato, grapes, raisins, etc. there is a long list of poisonous foods for cats and most cat food proudly advertise them!

Sorry I have written loads, but just wanted to help, don't want to sound condescending or anything and really hope I haven't come across like that, but mostly just conveying what I was shocked myself to find out. Really can't believe what a farce the whole pet food industry is. I would say don't believe it and don't belive everything your vet says, they will say don't feed them red meat, and recommend dry food... like they sell it in the foyer. Some vets generally underestimate the knowledge or dedication of an owner and may think you won't cook the right foods for your pet or feed them too much or whatever, so just say give them pet food, blindly relying on that as the safest option. It's not, it's the worse thing. It's like feeding your kids McDonald's to live off. Your pet can live up to five years longer on a natural diet. My neighbour's cat are 20 years old each. That's 40 years between them on a diet of chicken and rice (rice is just used as a filler, I wouldn't recommnd it, gives my cat the runs!).

One final thing before I give your ears a rest lol is don't let your cat in the kitchen. Mine is magnetised to the kitchen and everytime I go in there, even to make a tea, he thinks he's getting fed and starts acting hungry. It triggers them to think of food. When you make his food, take it to the lound with you and wait a minute so he won't associate the kitchen with feeding. Then produce the food when he's not looking. It might help, I know I need to do it with my cat, he's always under my feet when I'm cooking, grr...!

Good luck and carry on loving your pet the way you do, thanks for starting this thread. x

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

If you're changing a cat's diet, be prepared for lots of blobs of kitty sick if you make the changes too rapidly. You'd feel ill if you changed to exclusive raw foods from a maccyD diet overnight. Oh, and the cat is likely to skulk around looking for stuff to eat, just to annoy you. Things like plastic, string, their tail...

kazwookie

My cat was fat, he is on royal cainn obisety management food, gets 60g per day it works out at 49p per day.

He has 1 kg to go!! and he just 'loves' going to the vets monthly to be weighed!!!

rita-rabbit

interesting comments - I think raw meat is better than cooked - it will also help with their teeth condition

due to comments I have read about dried food being unnatural I do now give ocassional tinned fish (human grade), raw meat - generally heart or sachets (feline fayre - 60% real fish) as treats. I took a decision to stop feeding wet tins & Go cat for the sake of moglets skin/fur condition (basically one had kitty dandruff) & upon discovering it's cheaper in the longrun & less storage needed never looked back & they're are happy enough & more healthy physically & temperamentally.