Am I over feeding?

Hi, I feed my Sassafras (Sassy) wet and dry food. After reading several
of the post regarding feeding, diets and what not, I think maybe I feed
her too much. Her vet has never said anything about her being over
weight, actually when they weighed her Wednesday she was 13 =BD pounds.
I feed her =BD can of wet food in the morning and =BD can in the evening.
She also eats around 2 cups of dry food daily (I leave it out all day).
She is a very active little girl who gets the zoomies at least 1 time a
day. Her dry food is IAMS and her can is 9 lives (I have tried to give
her the expensive wet food, but she will not eat it, 9 lives is the
only one she will eat and then it has to be either the tuna and egg or
the tuna and cheese). She does not get treats (only because I have not
been able to find one that she will eat). Occasionally I will let her
have some potato chips. She is 9 years old.

Sorry this is an edit. For some reason the half can part did not show
up. It should read I feed her a half of a can in the morning and a half
of a can in the evening

2 cups of dry food sounds like an awful lot food! ... and what size are the
cans?

I give Brio ½ of a 3 ounce can of Wellness in the morning and the other half
at dinner. She doesn't eat the half can all at once, but returns to her dish
a few times during about a half hour period to finish it. She gets close to
a cup of dry Wellness over the course of the day but I don't leave it out
all at once cus I discovered when she was a kitten that no matter what
amount of dry food I left out she'd eat it ALL. She still has that same
tendency so small amounts at a time are all I give her.


"KittyLady" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi, I feed my Sassafras (Sassy) wet and dry food. After reading several
of the post regarding feeding, diets and what not, I think maybe I feed
her too much. Her vet has never said anything about her being over
weight, actually when they weighed her Wednesday she was 13 ½ pounds.
I feed her ½ can of wet food in the morning and ½ can in the evening.
She also eats around 2 cups of dry food daily (I leave it out all day).
She is a very active little girl who gets the zoomies at least 1 time a
day. Her dry food is IAMS and her can is 9 lives (I have tried to give
her the expensive wet food, but she will not eat it, 9 lives is the
only one she will eat and then it has to be either the tuna and egg or
the tuna and cheese). She does not get treats (only because I have not
been able to find one that she will eat). Occasionally I will let her
have some potato chips. She is 9 years old.

Its a standard size tin. My alarm goes off at 5 A.M., she hears it and
is standing at her bowl ready to eat. I give her the half can of wet
which she will eat at once, then before I start my housework I will
fill her bowl with dry food. It is about a two cup bowl. She will munch
this off and on all day. When we have our dinner at 7 P.M. she gets
the other half of can and eats it right away. She will finish off what
ever dry is in the bowl before morning.

"Kim" wrote in message
...
2 cups of dry food sounds like an awful lot food! ... and what size are the
cans?

I give Brio ½ of a 3 ounce can of Wellness in the morning and the other
half at dinner. She doesn't eat the half can all at once, but returns to
her dish a few times during about a half hour period to finish it. She
gets close to a cup of dry Wellness over the course of the day but I don't
leave it out all at once cus I discovered when she was a kitten that no
matter what amount of dry food I left out she'd eat it ALL. She still has
that same tendency so small amounts at a time are all I give her.

Cats will eat more of the grocery store brands than the premium brands
because they have more "filler" that just gets passed through their systems
(which is why the costs tend to even out because you have to buy less of the
quality brands than you would the grocery store brands). This also results
in more (and stinkier) litterbox offerings.

Hugs,

CatNipped

"KittyLady" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi, I feed my Sassafras (Sassy) wet and dry food. After reading several
of the post regarding feeding, diets and what not, I think maybe I feed
her too much. Her vet has never said anything about her being over
weight, actually when they weighed her Wednesday she was 13 ½ pounds.
I feed her ½ can of wet food in the morning and ½ can in the evening.
She also eats around 2 cups of dry food daily (I leave it out all day).
She is a very active little girl who gets the zoomies at least 1 time a
day. Her dry food is IAMS and her can is 9 lives (I have tried to give
her the expensive wet food, but she will not eat it, 9 lives is the
only one she will eat and then it has to be either the tuna and egg or
the tuna and cheese). She does not get treats (only because I have not
been able to find one that she will eat). Occasionally I will let her
have some potato chips. She is 9 years old.

Does she really eat TWO whole cups of dryfood a day? What kind? I think that
is a lot.


"KittyLady" wrote in message
oups.com...
Sorry this is an edit. For some reason the half can part did not show
up. It should read I feed her a half of a can in the morning and a half
of a can in the evening

Oops. I see IAMs and 9 lives. OK, now, I am not the purist others are about
food, because really, it's so important that they eat, but truly 9 lives is
about the worst food you can possibly feed a cat. I know it is super cheap
but can you consider at least going to a little better brand? Like even the
IAMs canned? (although, if you do that you could really probably spring for
Science Diet or Wellness.) and I just think 2 cups dry a day is a huge
amount. I think you should consider a dry food like Science Diet. It is just
more nutritious, she will eat less and I would only give her about 3/4 cup
per day at the most. Do you have piccies somewhere?


"Karen" wrote in message
...
Does she really eat TWO whole cups of dryfood a day? What kind? I think
that
is a lot.


"KittyLady" wrote in message
oups.com...
Sorry this is an edit. For some reason the half can part did not show
up. It should read I feed her a half of a can in the morning and a half
of a can in the evening

KittyLady wrote:

Hi, I feed my Sassafras (Sassy) wet and dry food. After reading several
of the post regarding feeding, diets and what not, I think maybe I feed
her too much. Her vet has never said anything about her being over
weight, actually when they weighed her Wednesday she was 13 ½ pounds.
I feed her ½ can of wet food in the morning and ½ can in the evening.
She also eats around 2 cups of dry food daily (I leave it out all day).
She is a very active little girl who gets the zoomies at least 1 time a
day. Her dry food is IAMS and her can is 9 lives (I have tried to give
her the expensive wet food, but she will not eat it, 9 lives is the
only one she will eat and then it has to be either the tuna and egg or
the tuna and cheese). She does not get treats (only because I have not
been able to find one that she will eat). Occasionally I will let her
have some potato chips. She is 9 years old.

I have always fed my cats on an "at will" basis - they
always have dry food available, and moist food twice a day
(which sits there until the next feeding, if they don't eat
it all). The only one who might have been termed "fat" was
the stray who adopted me after about three years on the
streets, and once he realized he'd never have to go hungry
again, he slimmed down. (He was still a BIG cat - weighed
nearly twenty pounds - but it was all muscle, so neither
humans, dogs nor other cats messed with him!)

KittyLady wrote:

Sorry this is an edit. For some reason the half can part did not show
up. It should read I feed her a half of a can in the morning and a half
of a can in the evening

You said the only moist food she'll eat is a couple
"flavors" of tuna. I'm not sure that's the best diet for
ANY cat. Mine, also, PREFERS the "fishy" foods, but she
gets them in rotation with all the others - beef, liver,
chicken, turkey..... She may not eat as much of the other
foods, but she does eat SOME (if only the gravy), and I
don't believe in catering to her that much (even if it does
mean "feeding" the garbage disposer a lot of left-overs).
It's there if she wants it - if she won't eat what she's
fed, "she's et" (just as I was raised as a kid). Eat what's
offered or wait until the next meal (and of course she
always has dry food - she seems to like the Purina "Indoor
Cat".)

KittyLady wrote:

Its a standard size tin. My alarm goes off at 5 A.M., she hears it and
is standing at her bowl ready to eat. I give her the half can of wet
which she will eat at once, then before I start my housework I will
fill her bowl with dry food. It is about a two cup bowl. She will munch
this off and on all day. When we have our dinner at 7 P.M. she gets
the other half of can and eats it right away. She will finish off what
ever dry is in the bowl before morning.

I really wouldn't worry unduly. Depending upon body-type,
13 pounds isn't all that heavy for an adult cat, and cats
are pretty smart. Unlike dogs, they'll seldom eat more than
their bodies require, unless they've been ferals for so long
they "load up" whenever the find food available. (And they
generally taper down, once they become accustomed to getting
regular meals at regular times.)