Calorie Count of Cat Food

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

My much beloved oldies are no more, but the leftovers are very much in existence - one is about 13ish, long haired, possibly mixed parentage with a Maine Coon, going by the lynx tipped ears, furry toes and Fluffy knickers/feathers. However, she's still normal cat size and looks like a rat when bathed, as she's more floof than animal. The other one is a tabby simpleton.

They are both staaaarving hungry these days. You can't move, sit or breathe without a joint rush to the cat bowls - they get fed regularly, but have managed to condition the housemate into feeding them as well as myself and the OH. The instant they've finished their food, they sprint into the living room to hassle us for food - it's got to the point where we throw snacks into the grass to persuade them outside and shut the door behind them to prevent the inevitable yowling, howling and attempts to trip over the person cooking.

At times, I've put an entire tin of food down for them at one go - they pause their food grabbing activities for about an hour and then resume. The food is eaten all in one go, there's no sickness, furballs, tummy upsets or huge amounts of activity (neither goes further than the tiny back garden as they've both physically incompetent). They're incapable of catching anything above the size of a spider as well - as the hamster we adopted last year could have testified until s/he died of old age - the Idiot Cat followed/brought it in from somewhere (an escapee from a neighbour's house travelling over to our garden, perhaps?) but couldn't work out how to kill and eat it, so we rescued it and ended up with it as a pet. So worms are out of the question (they still get wormed anyhow).

Neither of them are thyroidy, diabetic or anything other than pains in the proverbial, but this food thing has been getting worse over the last year or so - they've had two normal cat sized meals in the last two hours and are now screaming for our dinner.

They are no different with higher quality mog food than with cheap slop from the supermarket. They're both normal weight but have been looking a little slimmer over the last couple of years, as they were both on the ooof-you-weigh-a-ton-how-are-you-not-fat-cat side of things.


Have they reduced the calorie content of cat food recently? And is there something affordable that will lessen their psychopathic obsession?

WeAreGhosts

Mine goes through phases of being seemingly starving hungry. I have to really restrain myself from giving her what I know is too much. If they've 'trained' someone else in your house to feed them and they have been getting more for a while then they probably will cry for more.

What food are they on?

Have you tried using a kong to feed them? Or one of these? Even my lazy cat has a go at both the kong and the feeder.

They'll slow down eating, and also mine tends not to bother if she's not actually that hungry, as getting food from them takes a bit of effort!

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Thanks, but they're not overweight - they've lost weight even with increasing their food. And the incessant scavenging/harassment of humans. They mostly get grain free mog food - and occasionally pure meat or fish. The Idiot Cat was born with weedy teeth and a wonky jaw, so can't handle food that needs carefully picking up or chewing (including concussed sparrows and hamsters, apparently) and the floofy one doesn't want to spend that long trying to eat something - she'll walk away from more than the tiniest morsels of fresh, raw meat, handfed or, if it were up her, placed upon a silver platter. But she'll hassle for food as much as the raggedy gutbucket.

Oh, and I forgot - the bin. He'll launch himself into that if he even suspects there's something edible in there.

I would honestly think they were neglected and half starved if they weren't my spoiled ingrates.

pinkteapot

When were they last vet-checked? Lots of old-age troubles can cause unexplained weight loss and hunger. I know you said they're clear of any medical issues but it might be worth getting them checked again, if their last check was more than six months ago?

As for calories, most manufacturers do publish them (though they can be tricky to find!). We're fighting a losing battle with our kitty's weight so will get some vet advice at his annual jabs in April. He's on a special food for sensitive stomachs (due to previous stomach problems) and he's very slowly but surely gaining weight, even on the minimum recommended feeding quantity, so I've been doing lots of looking up of food calories and how many calories cats need!

missbiggles1

I'm afraid you're going to need to bite the bullet and take them to the vets - eating a lot and losing or not gaining weight are symptoms of both diabetes and thyroid problems in cats.

Do they drink a lot of water and pee a lot?

http://pets.webmd.com/cats/guide/cat-hyperthyroidism
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=1+2135&aid=199

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

missbiggles1 wrote: »

I'm afraid you're going to need to bite the bullet and take them to the vets - eating a lot and losing or not gaining weight are symptoms of both diabetes and thyroid problems in cats.

Do they drink a lot of water and pee a lot?

http://pets.webmd.com/cats/guide/cat-hyperthyroidism
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=1+2135&aid=199

Last check was three months ago. Got charged an absolute fortune (more than a week's rent each) to be told there's still nothing wrong with them (other than their inherent stupidity and the Idiot Cat's genetic physical incompetence).

Neither drink much water (it's available all the time, including the option of a tub of rainwater outside) and they don't appear to pee or poo much, it all looks (and smells) rather healthy in that respect. And I've got experience of a cat with thyroid problems before; neither of them are remotely like she was, thankfully; I can't afford a thyroidectomy procedure unless I start living in a tent in the park and sell a kidney.


Humph. It's just something else for me to worry about. I've got to stretch out the next vet trip for another month at least, so I was hoping to find some higher calorie cat food for them to see whether it makes a difference - without spending stupid money on fancy brands that stick loads of crud in their mix but convince vets to plug their products.

Great, this pet business, isn't it? Can't afford my own prescriptions or an eye test/new pair of glasses and we spend about a tenner on food for ourselves in a week, but they get everything, including a monthly psychotropic drug hit in the form of catnip. And I still worry about their wellbeing more than the humans in the house.

WeAreGhosts

Re they're not overweight. I wasn't suggesting the kong/feeder for weight issues, but to slow them down and make eating last a bit longer

*~Zephyr~*

Last year, I had to keep a food diary for my Bert to establish calorie intake when he started losing weight, so I wrote to all the cat food manufacturers and asked for calorie counts of all their foods.

The highest calorie ones are the pate types. Gourmet Gold pate has more calories per gram than any of the other foods. I was quite surprised by the calorie count in most popular foods - it was way lower than I thought. The sachets average about 78 kcal per 100gm and the pate about 90kcal.

Dry food is WAY more calorie dense - between 350 and 400 kcal per 100gm. Bert stopped eating his dry food and only ate wet and the weight fell off him very, very quickly. Which is not surprising when you know that the dry is three times more calorific than the wet.

Hills a/d prescription diet has extra calories in and you can get it from pets at home. It's £1.79 for a 156gm tin but you could just mix some of it in with their usual wet food just to add some calories.

Or scramble them some eggs? All extra protein which might fill them up. Add some unsalted butter if they are tolerant of lactose. My kitties love scrambled egg! Some cats will enjoy a raw egg, beaten up too. All extra calories.

Hope this helps.

calicocat

*~Zephyr~* wrote: »

Last year, I had to keep a food diary for my Bert to establish calorie intake when he started losing weight, so I wrote to all the cat food manufacturers and asked for calorie counts of all their foods.

The highest calorie ones are the pate types. Gourmet Gold pate has more calories per gram than any of the other foods. I was quite surprised by the calorie count in most popular foods - it was way lower than I thought. The sachets average about 78 kcal per 100gm and the pate about 90kcal.

Dry food is WAY more calorie dense - between 350 and 400 kcal per 100gm. Bert stopped eating his dry food and only ate wet and the weight fell off him very, very quickly. Which is not surprising when you know that the dry is three times more calorific than the wet.

Hills a/d prescription diet has extra calories in and you can get it from pets at home. It's £1.79 for a 156gm tin but you could just mix some of it in with their usual wet food just to add some calories.

Or scramble them some eggs? All extra protein which might fill them up. Add some unsalted butter if they are tolerant of lactose. My kitties love scrambled egg! Some cats will enjoy a raw egg, beaten up too. All extra calories.

Hope this helps.

I came onto this board to start a thread about the best food for old skinny cat tonight and came across this.

Typically, my little skinny bundle of joy hates the pate type foods...loves the gravy ones, is now quite old (16) and licks the gravy off and the cries for the next pouch for the next batch of 'gravy'.....:mad:.....bless.

I have home made my own calorie dense gravy from bones etc....wont touch it. Won't touch any normal 'human' food....only ruddy cat food with all the additives .

I have checked her teeth out and they seem ok...but has gone off her dry food altogether at the moment, which isn't helping.

She's happy in herself, sleeps lots, but still has mad half hours, still tries to put in lounge window when she sees another cat, wakes me up when she wants anything, let's me know when she's bored etc.....so all is fine but the getting thinner thing.

I have even tried putting food into the Bullit machine to make it like a gravy......nope...she knows i've done it and won't touch it.

I'm now giving her about 10 pouches a day, but she just picks the bits she wants /gravy, but I want her to eat as much as she wants ans shouts for more.

I think I will have a go at the Hills stuff, Gourmet gold I have tried before, but will try again.


I will also have to find a vet where I am now as she is too old to travel to usual one. Not that she goes often to be honest as she is a nightmare so will have to look into one that will come to the house probably. Last time I took her I thought she was going to die from a heart attack she hyper- ventalated so badly.

However back to the OP point, I too have wondered if the foods have changed in value....or is it just that our moggies are getting I little older. I fear it is the latter.

*~Zephyr~*

calicocat wrote: »

Typically, my little skinny bundle of joy hates the pate type foods...loves the gravy ones, is now quite old (16) and licks the gravy off and the cries for the next pouch for the next batch of 'gravy'.....:mad:.....bless.

Ah, poor old skinny cat! But I suppose she's earned the right to be picky about her food reaching that grand old age. Bless her.

If she likes gravy, the Sheba foil hexagonal tray in Beef in gravy is the most calorific of all the wet foods at 94kcal per 100gm.

We also found that the Purina One sachets seemed to have lots more gravy than other sachets.

If you still want to try her on the pate, try mixing one with some cat milk and watering the pate down to a more lickable paste - extra calories from the milk too. It's all worth a try.

If you want to PM me your email address, I'll be happy to send you the calorie info I got from the manufacturers.

Hope this helps skinny cat. Give her ears a tickle from me

calicocat

*~Zephyr~* wrote: »

Ah, poor old skinny cat! But I suppose she's earned the right to be picky about her food reaching that grand old age. Bless her.

If she likes gravy, the Sheba foil hexagonal tray in Beef in gravy is the most calorific of all the wet foods at 94kcal per 100gm.

We also found that the Purina One sachets seemed to have lots more gravy than other sachets.

If you still want to try her on the pate, try mixing one with some cat milk and watering the pate down to a more lickable paste - extra calories from the milk too. It's all worth a try.

If you want to PM me your email address, I'll be happy to send you the calorie info I got from the manufacturers.

Hope this helps skinny cat. Give her ears a tickle from me

Thanks for the info, she can't have cat milk, has been allergic from 5 wks old with it. Had to rush her to vets at 5 wks old due to milk allergy. .......and wouldn't eat Sheba anything. Very picky cat, and getting worse!..bless. However, worth a try now.

It's Asbo-cat........was having ears tickled, but then psychotype decided not. to.....lol.

Thanks for reply, and will try some new and old foods again with her....bless.