Dry food (halved) v Dry food light (Cat)

rita-rabbit

Think: diet human food is bulked up with something less healthy/tasty - better off having less of full fat thing ....
Burns is the best for this btw - no additives - if I was trying to diet mine I would feed that with the ocassional raw offal.

~Chameleon~

rita-rabbit wrote: »

Think: diet human food is bulked up with something less healthy/tasty - better off having less of full fat thing ....
Burns is the best for this btw - no additives - if I was trying to diet mine I would feed that with the ocassional raw offal.

Interesting that you praise John Burns's food yet don't think much to Joe Inglis's food as they contain almost the same ingredients, including maize which you frowned upon in your other thread

Burns Cat Chicken & Brown Rice

For Cats of All Ages. Burns Chicken & Brown Rice for cats of all ages is a complete food and perfect for maintaining good health. A complete food with no added wheat, soya, GM ingredients, naturally preserved with vitamin E and Rosemary oil.

Brown Rice
Poultry Meat Meal
Maize
Poultry Fat
Chicken Liver
Seaweed
Minerals & Vitamins

Typical Analysis/100g:

Protein 28.0%
Oil 12.0%
Fibre 2.0%
Ash 7.0%
Vitamin A 15000 iu/kg
Vitamin D3 1200 iu/kg
Vitamin E 70 iu/kg
Moisture 8%
Copper 18mg/kg
Sodium 0.2%
Calcium 2.08%
Phosphorus 1.06%
Magnesium 0.12%
Taurine 500mg/kg
EFA 2.6%

Joe and Jill's Fresh Chicken and Rice Dry

Hypoallergenic & natural
High quality protein from fresh chicken
Omega-3 fatty acids and Prebiotics
Natural vitamins from Brewer’s yeast

• Fresh chicken (min 26%)
• Poultry meat meal
• Rice (min 26%)
• Maize • Chicken fat
• Egg powder
• Fish meal
• Sugar beet pulp
• Yeasts
• Minerals
• Vitamins

Analysis

Crude Protein - 28.00 %
Oil/fat - 16.00 %
Fibre - 2.00 %
Ash - 8.00 %
Vitamin A - 15,500 iu/kg
Vitamin D3 - 1,250 iu/kg
Vitamin E - 80 iu/kg
Copper - 18 mg/kg

PS Very little price difference between the two either

4kg Burns = ~£16
4kg Joe & Jill's = ~£18 (and much less while the offer you posted in the other thread is on )

larmy16

Thanks for all the new replies, particularly Paddypaws which is most interesting. Well he will be seeing the VN tomorrow bless him, so will let you know how he gets on.

The vet himself told me he was better off on a dry food (Hills) as it was so much better for the teeth. You can appreciate therefore that I am wholly confused by anything to do with cat food!!

To the poster who suggested one pouch over two days, I don't think that would be enough to keep him alive. Will see what she says tomorrow.

emlou2009

if he is eating complete dry food, pouches arent necessary at all really though, and it may be those that is keeping him plump! cats dont tend to overeat dry food as much as they do wet cos they dont find it quite as appetising

paddypaws101

A very good point from lostinrates about RDA versus calories.
However I think most of would agree that it is very easy to quite simply feed too much. So the idea would be to reduce portions rather than halve them, and also pay careful considerations to the recommended portion size relative to what the cat's ideal - not present - weight should be.
I am sure the VN will be able to give good advice about portions....but they may not give consideration to the quality/satiety aspect as this is probably a concept not covered in their nutritional training.

paddypaws101

Oh....and as regards the dental health aspect of dry.....I have read that as cats do not have amylase in their saliva, the carbohydrate content of dry food will actually encourage bacterial overgrowth in the mouth which can lead to gum/tooth problems.
Now, chomping on a raw meaty bone on the other hand......
(sorry if I am beginning to sound like a broken record! )
I am certainly not disregarding vet's training, skill and knowledge...but I know my nutritionist will give me different dietary advice than my GP for example.

~Chameleon~

paddypaws101 wrote: »

I am certainly not disregarding vet's training, skill and knowledge...but I know my nutritionist will give me different dietary advice than my GP for example.

Quite, and a VN running an obesity clinic will give different and be far more qualified to give nutritional advice than a vet

~Chameleon~

paddypaws101 wrote: »

Oh....and as regards the dental health aspect of dry.....I have read that as cats do not have amylase in their saliva, the carbohydrate content of dry food will actually encourage bacterial overgrowth in the mouth which can lead to gum/tooth problems.

Could you quote a source for this please? It's all well and good saying you've read something somewhere but without a source it's meaningless. A five year old could have written it on a blackboard for all we know, doesn't mean to say it's true though

larmy16

OK the results are in. She said, yes he is quite overweight. She recommends one pouch and then cut the dry down to 15g and go back and weigh him in two weeks.

We then discussed me using up my pouches, Felix and Nature's Menu and him going on to completely dry. Oddly enough even though I told her the Hills brand he was eating, she wants me to bring in the packet to study the content, even though they had them there in the shop!!

I bought him a new mouse toy which he is scared of! I left it in a jar of cat nip and provided it is static ie. you are not dangling it on its string, he is having a little go at it.

Bless his heart, he seemed to thoroughly enjoy his trip out and would have settled down to sleep in the scales if he could have!!

Will keep you all posted. She agreed with me that 4.5 was a good weight to aim for. Thanks so much for your interest everyone.

lostinrates

paddypaws101 wrote: »

I am certainly not disregarding vet's training, skill and knowledge...but I know my nutritionist will give me different dietary advice than my GP for example.

This for me is the key point.

I have more nutrition training than my vet, I still refer to a animal nutritionist in some cases.

I'm not a fan of dried food for cats BUT I do think that the science is relevant and important. The reason I don't use only raw food ATM is because I know I don't have time to faff about with tiny amounts of things getting it so I would be happy, and I'm reasonably comfortable with my level of attention to detail. For the average pet owner, with a busier life than mine, and less familiarity with details and faith in their vet I can see with no doubt that a balanced dried food is apelaing and not the worst option for all cats/situations.

re teeth: I do get a bit frustrated with this one. My now six year old cats have superb teeth and my own small animal vet, once dubious about raw grudgingly admits he's throwing his own cats the odd chicken wing.

Advicing raw as a sole diet IMO, for the everyday poorly read, time poor owner is as dangerous as suggesting dried food is the best thing out there.

Best is case by case variable.