low fat, low calorie dry cat food

rising_from_the_ashes

antw23uk wrote: »

How sad, poor cats living on horrible dry, dehydrating rubbish cat food

If you want a decent high protien lean meat cat food then go for raw food. I just cannot understand why people want to feed that over cooked/ dry rubbish health hazard food to their beloved cats

Sorry but you're "at it" again ...... everyone has their own opinions on foods etc and whilst advice is appreciated and welcomed - jumping down people's throats and slating what they are doing (when most people are doing the best they can, on the money & time they have available) just isn't helpful .... is it?:mad:

Could you not have tried to put the above in a nicer way? eg "Have you looked into feeding raw?" with maybe some links to useful websites?

Also, not every cat likes wet food and not every owner has the facilities / time to feed raw.

Bettyspag

Do not feed a raw diet to the cat they would not get enough nutrients that the cat needs
What is it that you want the diet to do? low fat low calorie? is it for weight loss

One way to do this is to look at the prescription diets
Royal canin - obesity
or royal canin - gastrointestinal moderate calorie

Hills have similar products too
with the prescription diets you feed less and they use more of the food producing less waste - so over all it is the same cost/cheaper than your gocat

rising_from_the_ashes

Bettyspag wrote: »

Do not feed a raw diet to the cat they would not get enough nutrients that the cat needs

Sorry but that's not true - yes you need to ensure that a varied diet is fed to ensure all the required nutrients are given but it can be a complete & balance diet.

Bettyspag wrote: »

What is it that you want the diet to do? low fat low calorie? is it for weight loss

One way to do this is to look at the prescription diets
Royal canin - obesity
or royal canin - gastrointestinal moderate calorie

Just been looking at these out of interest (I do have an overweight cat - but complicated by having a very skinny one too!):

RC Obesity has the same fat content as Light 40 (which I was a bit surprised at!) however the GMC does have a very low fat content (2.7%) but the protein levels are tiny too (7%) which would concern me a bit as a long term food.

penny_pincha

Cats get their energy from protein as well as using it for growth. I always look for food which have a high protein content. I feed both dry and wet food. Dry in the form of compete biscuits (Royal Canin, Hills Professional, James Wellbeloved) and wet in the form of raw wild rabbit, steamed white fish occasionally or tuna.

They are very healthy and do well on it.

Are we talking how to best provide nourishment for our cats here or how best slim an overweight cat?

Sooz00

I'd also change to a higher quality dry food with a higher meat content and less, cereal and grain type fillers. There are so many on the market but when you find one that you're happy with, make sure you make the change gradually by mixing the two together and gradually reducing the go-cat and increasing the new dry food so not to upset their tummies or trigger any food intolerances.

Just my personal opinion but my overweight cat lost weight simply by increasing the amount of wet and drastically reducing the dry. I now feed the dry (we have orijen) as a treat at bedtime rather than a meal. I would try not to worry about fat/oil content too much. As long as the food is complete, your cat should get all the necessary nutrients.

Also, one of the best things you can do for an overweight cat is encourage exercise. Dangly toys such as Da Bird and other toys such as a laser pen will help and be lots of fun for you and your cat. Mine like to chase feathers on sticks up the stairs. I also use the sticks part on the carpet and they love chasing that too. Other things such as making them work for their food (e.g. biscuit balls) will burn calories as they are eating.

antw23uk

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Sorry but you're "at it" again ...... everyone has their own opinions on foods etc and whilst advice is appreciated and welcomed - jumping down people's throats and slating what they are doing (when most people are doing the best they can, on the money & time they have available) just isn't helpful .... is it?:mad:

Could you not have tried to put the above in a nicer way? eg "Have you looked into feeding raw?" with maybe some links to useful websites?

Also, not every cat likes wet food and not every owner has the facilities / time to feed raw.

Get over yourself. :rotfl:

rising_from_the_ashes

antw23uk wrote: »

Get over yourself. :rotfl:

Actually I can't understand why on some threads you're really helpful and provide great advice and on others you ...... aren't (putting it politely)

juliebunny

I agree that we never used to have overweight cats until the advent of these complete dry foods. I now have several overweight cats, addicted to RC - even the light food has proved useless in the fight against the flab.

I've read extensively on the benefits of a raw diet - there are definitely pros and cons - but as a vegetarian unfortunately I struggle with the concept of raw meat. Mine get this as a treat very very rarely but it has to be organic/free range, so that's prohibitely expensive. I would rather buy them ready cooked chicken but that too gets expensive.

Also, as others have said, working for 11 hours a day, opening a bag of biscuits or even a tin of Classic, is about all I can manage...does that make me a bad mummy....:cool:

rising_from_the_ashes

cjmumto2 wrote: »

Burns Cat Food is great and they only need 60g a day. My cat is sleek and slim on it and it is recommended for most medical issues as it is pure. You can email their vets if you have a question

Thanks for that .... I've sent off an email to see if there's something that may help with my 2 (one underweight & one overweight)

penny_pincha

juliebunny wrote: »

I've read extensively on the benefits of a raw diet - there are definitely pros and cons - but as a vegetarian unfortunately I struggle with the concept of raw meat.

It must be difficult to deal with as a vegetarian but evolution made cats carnivores.

juliebunny wrote: »

Mine get this as a treat very very rarely but it has to be organic/free range, so that's prohibitely expensive. I would rather buy them ready cooked chicken but that too gets expensive.

The raw rabbit I feed my lot is wild, so not ever been caged, and probably organic unless the rabbits were nibbling a crop which wasn't. As for expense, I pay £1 for a pound of meat (35% protein). It feeds 6 cats for a meal, so £2 a day on wet food.

juliebunny wrote: »

Also, as others have said, working for 11 hours a day, opening a bag of biscuits or even a tin of Classic, is about all I can manage...does that make me a bad mummy....:cool:

Not at all, you are conscientious enough to be giving it some thought and providing for your charges the best way you can.