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Am I feeding enough?
Amber is a good sized cat and is a bit plump. Tiger is gigantic
(possible Maine Coon). He weighed in at 25 pounds at his last vet visit in June. The vet said he should lose some weight. I am feeding one 5.5 ounce can of Wellness for the two cats in the morning and again in the late afternoon. They get a small amount of dry Wellness at noon and again at bedtime. Both cats are inside only and are not very active - sleeping a lot. They appear to have lost some weight but are not skinny by any means. Am I giving them enough to eat? ---MIKE--- |
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"---MIKE---" wrote in message ... Amber is a good sized cat and is a bit plump. Tiger is gigantic (possible Maine Coon). He weighed in at 25 pounds at his last vet visit in June. The vet said he should lose some weight. I am feeding one 5.5 ounce can of Wellness for the two cats in the morning and again in the late afternoon. They get a small amount of dry Wellness at noon and again at bedtime. Both cats are inside only and are not very active - sleeping a lot. They appear to have lost some weight but are not skinny by any means. Am I giving them enough to eat? I have been feeding my two females (age 5, 7 lbs, and age 10 and OH MY GOD pounds) half a three-ounce can of food twelve hours apart plus half a cup of dry for the fat one and unlimited dry for the skinny one. (They essentially live in different parts of the house and someone is usually here so it is hard for the fat one to sneak the skinny one's food.) These are active cats, and this is clearly enough for them. |
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I posted this yesterday but it got buried before I could get any
meaningful responses so this is to bring it to the top. ---MIKE--- |
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(Meghan Noecker) wrote in message ...
On Fri, 12 Nov 2004 08:39:04 -0500, (---MIKE---) wrote: Amber is a good sized cat and is a bit plump. Tiger is gigantic (possible Maine Coon). He weighed in at 25 pounds at his last vet visit in June. The vet said he should lose some weight. I am feeding one 5.5 ounce can of Wellness for the two cats in the morning and again in the late afternoon. They get a small amount of dry Wellness at noon and again at bedtime. Both cats are inside only and are not very active - sleeping a lot. They appear to have lost some weight but are not skinny by any means. Am I giving them enough to eat? Have you asked your vet to give you an idea of what each cat should get? If the large cat is naturally a large cat, then it should have more food, but how much depends on what his ideal weight should be. Also, you want to try to cut the calories in such a way that it doesn't seem so small to the cats. And add in some exercise to help burn off some calories. [snip] You might want to explore other options instead of just relying on your vet. I did that for three years, and my cat ended up *gaining* five pounds instead of losing any weight. (I was talked into buying prescription food.) There are lots of great people here who are very educated in feline nutrition, and Megan the cat lady's web site at thecatlady.org has good info too. I'm not knocking anyone's vet, don't get me wrong. I just would not use a vet as your only nutrition source. Not all are thoroughly educated in feline nutrition. Rene |
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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. For example, Rene's cat Tucker, who is on a weight loss plan and had been losing weight slowly, but consistently, plateaued at a little over 19 pounds eating strict portions and, at that point, receiving about 170 calories total (1 5.5 oz can of Wellness) per day. We've now cut his food back slightly by about 15 calories and he is again losing weight. If he was fed according to your recommendations he would be eating more than double what his actual requirement is and be fatter than he was when he was fed according to what his vet recommended, which was also wrong. My own cats (24) are fed on this basis and maintain weight on 15 calories per pound and some even a little less. The calorie advice I have seen from you and several places on the internet is extremely erroneous and it would be of benefit to you to start getting some knowledge from "real life" and real experience instead of relying on what Hills, etc. tells you. Megan "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." -Edmund Burke Learn The TRUTH About Declawing http://www.stopdeclaw.com Zuzu's Cats Photo Album: http://www.PictureTrail.com/zuzu22 "Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way." - W.H. Murray |
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f
I'm not knocking anyone's vet, don't get me wrong. I just would not use a vet as your only nutrition source. Not all are thoroughly educated in feline nutrition. I definitely agree with that. But a vet would be the ideal person to determine the ideal weight for the cat in question. When it comes to a diet, you need a food that the cat likes that is lower in calorie so that the cat still feels satisfied, yet gets fewer calories. You might also see if there are any "snacks" or "fillers" that you can feed that would help the cat feel full. I use a filler for my dog, but I don't know what would work for cats. Meghan, I agree that, before starting any diet, the place to start is your vet's office. In some cases, your cat may have a medical condition that causes weight gain or loss. After that's clear, your vet can give an ideal weight. The problem I was alluding to is that some vets, when asked about food, are quick to mention what's on their shelves for sale. These foods may not work for your cat. I've found that canned food, though lower in calories, is more filling than the prescription dry I was feeding. To make the canned even more filling, I add a tablespoon or two of water and stir. I also give treats of fresh or fresh frozen catnip. I suppose you could give cats carrots or green beans (like they do as fillers for dogs), but not many cats may eat them. Rene |
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