Am I feeding enough?

(GAUBSTER2) wrote in message ...
From:

(...)

Regardles of where you got your "information"
these calorie requirements far exceed what cats need to maintain weight.
A reasonable general rule is to feed 15 calories per pound to maintain
weight on an indoor cat with an average activity level.

Where did you "get" this info? What is an "average activity level? Is the
indoor cat intact or not?

IME, she's correct - feeding the recommended amount as printed on cans
of cat food invariably leads to a lardarse moggy, especially so for
indoor cats.

I suppose that an 'average' activity level is the level which leads to
the cat's weight being maintained by 15kcal/lb/day, haha...

Not sure how many indoor cats are intact, too!

Steve.

From: (Steve G)

Where did you "get" this info? What is an "average activity level? Is the
indoor cat intact or not?

IME, she's correct - feeding the recommended amount as printed on cans
of cat food invariably leads to a lardarse moggy, especially so for
indoor cats.

I suppose that an 'average' activity level is the level which leads to
the cat's weight being maintained by 15kcal/lb/day, haha...

Not sure how many indoor cats are intact, too!

I'm not questioning the feeding "suggestions" on cans. I'm questioning why
Megan thinks she is so much smarter than everybody else. She fancies herself
as somewhat of an expert, which is quite amusing to say the least!

I suppose the "feeding guidelines" are a little bit on the high side so as to
perhaps insulate from the litigation that might result from someone suggesting
that their cat's energy needs weren't being met? shrug

"Cheryl" wrote in message
...
On Tue 16 Nov 2004 07:19:40p, GAUBSTER2 wrote in
rec.pets.cats.health+behav
):

I'm not questioning the feeding "suggestions" on cans. I'm
questioning why Megan thinks she is so much smarter than
everybody else. She fancies herself as somewhat of an expert,
which is quite amusing to say the least!

Why are you so threatened by her?

--

Now this is rich.

wrote in message ...
Steve Crane posted the following misinformation:

Assuming Nuetered cats
5kg (11 pounds) needs 284 kcals per day
7kg (15.4 pounds) needs 366 kcals per day
8kg (17.6 pounds) needs 404 kcals per day
9kg (19.8 pounds) needs 442 kcals per day
10kg (22 pounds) needs 478 kcals per day

Anyone following your advice will be looking at an incredibly obese cat
in a short amount of time. Regardles of where you got your "information"
these calorie requirements far exceed what cats need to maintain weight.
A reasonable general rule is to feed 15 calories per pound to maintain
weight on an indoor cat with an average activity level.


Megan,
The values here come from Small Animal Clinical Nutrition 4th
edition page 1034. They were developed by veterinarians who are board
certified Diplomates of the American College of Veterinary Nutrition.
In contrast your data comes from where? and who developed the data you
present? are you feeding siamese or main coon? Did you decide to
completely ignore the last paragraph which clearly indicated that
individual animals had to be fed individually?

(Steve G) wrote in message . com...
(GAUBSTER2) wrote in message ...
From:

(...)

Regardles of where you got your "information"
these calorie requirements far exceed what cats need to maintain weight.
A reasonable general rule is to feed 15 calories per pound to maintain
weight on an indoor cat with an average activity level.

Where did you "get" this info? What is an "average activity level? Is the
indoor cat intact or not?

IME, she's correct - feeding the recommended amount as printed on cans
of cat food invariably leads to a lardarse moggy, especially so for
indoor cats.

I suppose that an 'average' activity level is the level which leads to
the cat's weight being maintained by 15kcal/lb/day, haha...

Not sure how many indoor cats are intact, too!

Steve.

Feeding guides on cans, bags etc are not the issue here however.
Feeding guides are mandated by law to hit the 4th section of five
sections of the bell curve of animals energy needs. This would be much
easier to explain if we could have graphic here, but draw yourself a
bell curve, shaped like a church bell, flared at the bottom. Now split
the bell into five vertical sections of equal size. Animals on the
extreme left side require the least number of claories per day,
animals on the extreme right side require the most calories per day.
Those in the middle require the "average" nember of calories per day.
By law the feeding suggestions on a pet food container must meet the
needs of the 4th section to the right of the bell curve. This
necessarily forces the feeding requirments on a can or bag to be too
high for +60% of the animals fed. Should this be changed? Of course,
but those are the current rules.

Steve Crane wrote:

The values here come from Small Animal
Clinical Nutrition 4th edition page
1034.

I hate to break this to you Steve, but SACN is not the word of god, and
many things in there are questionable (this was pointed out to you
before and you didn't have an answer for it) with these calorie
recommendations being one of the things at the top of the list.

They were developed by
veterinarians who are board certified
Diplomates of the American College of
Veterinary Nutrition.

Sitting in a lab no doubt. If they had real life experience feeding
multiple cats from different backgrounds measured portions over the
course of many, many years those figures would be far different.

In contrast your data comes from where?
See above.

and who developed the data you present?

27 years of real life experience feeding *many* cats of all different
shapes, sizes and genetic dispositions Steve, and ongoing experience
helping people who followed your guidelines and have obese cats as a
result. Not that much different from what is done in some studies.

are you feeding siamese or main coon?

"Breed" feeding is a rather ridiculous premise in terms of calorie
content, especially when you state below that individual animals need to
be fed individually. You should pay more attention to what you post so
you don't look so foolish.

Did you decide to
completely ignore the last paragraph
which clearly indicated that individual
animals had to be fed individually?

Not at all, but the issue here is the calorie requirements you're
posting, which are far in excess of what cats require, even those with a
high activity level. Right now I am feeding 24 indoor cats (that are for
the most part fairly active) 1,385 calories at each meal for a total of
2,770 calories per day total. Average calorie intake per cat amounts to
115 calories per day per cat although obviously some get a little less
and some get a little more depending on size. None are skinny/emaciated.
As another example Mary L's two cats maintain a perfect weight on 113
calories per day. Why don't you survey people here that feed measured
amounts and see what the daily calorie intake is? I'm certain that
nobody with a cat that is not obese is feeding the calories you
recommend, which is 2 and 1/2 to 3x what most cats need.

You can't live your whole life and base all your decisions on what's in
a "peer reviewed published study" or a book. Reality is often quite
different. Your refusal to acknowledge that fact is unfortunate.

Megan



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(GAUBSTER2) wrote in message ...
(...)

I'm not questioning the feeding "suggestions" on cans. I'm questioning why
Megan thinks she is so much smarter than everybody else. She fancies herself
as somewhat of an expert, which is quite amusing to say the least!

She fancies herself as 'somewhat' of an expert.
You fancy yourself as 'somewhat' of an expert.
I fancy myself as 'somewhat' of an expert.
Most of the bleedin' regulars fancy themselves as 'somewhat' of an
expert, I'm sure.

So what? In this case, she's right, which is the bottom line.


I suppose the "feeding guidelines" are a little bit on the high side so as to
perhaps insulate from the litigation that might result from someone
suggesting that their cat's energy needs weren't being met? shrug

I suggest that this is exactly the case, but 'a little bit' is more
like '****loads' - may be closer to parity for outdoor cats, but still
high I think. It's a defence against idiocy, I suppose. If the
recommended feeding amount were more realistic, there'd be a risk of
stoopid people starving the occasional metabolically weird cat to
death.

Steve.

From: (Meghan Noecker)

I was very surprised when I discovered a cat food for seniors that
states it is for ages 15 and over. That truly is senior. And the
changes in the food reflect the changes in an older cat. Slightly
softer kibble. Glucosamine for arthritis. And they have a cat food for
"mature" cats - ages 10-15.

Glucosamine in pet foods is a marketing ploy designed to appeal to humans
buying the food. It's illegal to put theraputic levels in pet foods.

From: Cheryl

Why are you so threatened by her?

--
Cheryl

I'm not. I just don't like her arrogant and caustic, condescending attitude
towards anybody who doesn't share her opinions.

"Meghan Noecker" wrote
Glucosamine in pet foods is a marketing ploy designed to appeal to humans
buying the food. It's illegal to put theraputic levels in pet foods.


Well, it is enough that it helps. I haven't been able to get him to
eat the vitamins on a regular basis, and he's taking the stairs and
jumping on the couch better since I started added the senior food to
his other food.



Totally agree! If it works it works.