Feeding my cat

I see references fairly frequently recommending to feed your cat twice a day
12 hours apart. Is this a necessary regime to help a cat lose weight? I have
been feeding our cat at 4am before I go to work. The wife gives him a little
when she comes home for lunch, and I feed him when I get home from work
about 3:30 pm. I then give him a little dry food around 6:30pm. He gets no
goodies or treats in between, just cat food. He is fed Hills x/d. He gets at
present 304 calories a day. The breakdown is: Evening, 3/4 oz. dry, morning
3.5 oz wet, lunch 1 oz wet, dinner 1.8 oz wet. This has been his schedule
for a couple weeks with no weight loss, in fact his last weigh in showed a 2
oz gain. I will check him again in a few days to be sure then maybe drop the
calories a bit for a while. Thanks for your input.

--
Paul O.

"Paul O." wrote in message
t...
I see references fairly frequently recommending to feed your cat twice a
day
12 hours apart. Is this a necessary regime to help a cat lose weight? I
have
been feeding our cat at 4am before I go to work. The wife gives him a
little
when she comes home for lunch, and I feed him when I get home from work
about 3:30 pm. I then give him a little dry food around 6:30pm. He gets no
goodies or treats in between, just cat food. He is fed Hills x/d. He gets
at
present 304 calories a day. The breakdown is: Evening, 3/4 oz. dry,
morning
3.5 oz wet, lunch 1 oz wet, dinner 1.8 oz wet. This has been his schedule
for a couple weeks with no weight loss, in fact his last weigh in showed a
2
oz gain. I will check him again in a few days to be sure then maybe drop
the
calories a bit for a while. Thanks for your input.


Paul,

All I can tell you is that I had an 18-lb cat who was diagnosed with
hyperthyroid--an overactive thyroid, meaning her metabolism was
"speedy." The doctor told me she should have weighed about 8 lbs,
looked at me with big eyes when we began the medication to
correct (slow down) her metabolism and said, "you realize this means
she will GAIN weight?"

This is when we put her on a diet of all canned food, half in the morning
and half 12 hours later. When she did not lose, the vet told me to cut
the portion by 1/4. (No calorie counting necessary. She was getting
two cans a day and we cut back to 1 1/2.) One year later, she weighs
eight pounds. She is shiny and beautiful, light and agile. It is great to
see.

"cybercat" wrote in message
...

"Paul O." wrote in message
t...
I see references fairly frequently recommending to feed your cat twice a
day
12 hours apart. Is this a necessary regime to help a cat lose weight?


All I can tell you is that I had an 18-lb cat who was diagnosed with
hyperthyroid--an overactive thyroid, meaning her metabolism was
"speedy." The doctor told me she should have weighed about 8 lbs,
looked at me with big eyes when we began the medication to
correct (slow down) her metabolism and said, "you realize this means
she will GAIN weight?"

This is when we put her on a diet of all canned food, half in the morning
and half 12 hours later. When she did not lose, the vet told me to cut
the portion by 1/4. (No calorie counting necessary. She was getting
two cans a day and we cut back to 1 1/2.) One year later, she weighs
eight pounds. She is shiny and beautiful, light and agile. It is great to
see.

Our cat at last weigh in was 18.5 lbs. He is a Maine Coon. The vet seems to
think he should weigh about 13 lbs. I dunno bout that, but want to get him
to 16 lbs. and see how he looks. His ribs now aren't easily discernible.
The vet didn't say anything about hyperthyroid at his last check up a month
or so ago. I go the calorie counting so that I can know exactly what he is
getting. That seems the easiest for me. Thanks cybercat, appreciate the
input.
--
Paul O.

"Paul O." wrote

Our cat at last weigh in was 18.5 lbs. He is a Maine Coon. The vet seems
to
think he should weigh about 13 lbs. I dunno bout that, but want to get
him
to 16 lbs. and see how he looks. His ribs now aren't easily discernible.
The vet didn't say anything about hyperthyroid at his last check up a
month
or so ago.

Paul, my point about the hyerthyroid is that even though her metabolism
was actually SLOWED down, she lost on all canned food 12 hours apart.

I go the calorie counting so that I can know exactly what he is
getting. That seems the easiest for me. Thanks cybercat, appreciate the
input.

Sure, good luck with your boy.

"Paul O." wrote in message
t...
I see references fairly frequently recommending to feed your cat twice a
day 12 hours apart. Is this a necessary regime to help a cat lose weight? I
have been feeding our cat at 4am before I go to work. The wife gives him a
little when she comes home for lunch, and I feed him when I get home from
work about 3:30 pm. I then give him a little dry food around 6:30pm. He
gets no goodies or treats in between, just cat food. He is fed Hills x/d.
He gets at present 304 calories a day. The breakdown is: Evening, 3/4 oz.
dry, morning 3.5 oz wet, lunch 1 oz wet, dinner 1.8 oz wet. This has been
his schedule for a couple weeks with no weight loss, in fact his last weigh
in showed a 2 oz gain. I will check him again in a few days to be sure then
maybe drop the calories a bit for a while. Thanks for your input.

--
Paul O.



Twice a day is considered optimal for cats. This same schedule would be
used regardless of whether you want your cat to gain weight, lose weight, or
maintain current weight. You would adjust the amount of food (and therefore
calories) but not the schedule. A premium canned food with *no* dry food is
a much healthier diet.

MaryL

"MaryL" -OUT-THE-LITTER wrote in message
news:E6Btf.24283$9G.11951@dukeread10...

"Paul O." wrote in message
t...
I see references fairly frequently recommending to feed your cat twice a
day 12 hours apart. Is this a necessary regime to help a cat lose weight?
--
Paul O.



Twice a day is considered optimal for cats. This same schedule would be
used regardless of whether you want your cat to gain weight, lose weight,
or maintain current weight. You would adjust the amount of food (and
therefore calories) but not the schedule. A premium canned food with *no*
dry food is a much healthier diet.

MaryL
Thanks Mary. The only reason I feed him 'some' dry is that he loves it,
begs for it at around the time I normally give it to him. Thats his 'treat'
and a little something different than the canned x/d all the time.
--
Paul O.

"Paul O." wrote in message
t...
I see references fairly frequently recommending to feed your cat twice a
day
12 hours apart. Is this a necessary regime to help a cat lose weight?


No. The 12-hour feeding schedule allows time for the cat's natural acidity
to return between meals and dissolve sturvite. Feeding releases bicarbonate
into the extracellular fluid as hydrogen ions are secreted into the lumen of
the stomach. This is what's known as the infamous feline "postprandial
alkaline tide" and causes transient alkalinization of the urine which can
promote struvite crystal formation. Cats in nature don't have this problem
because they eat a practically all meat diet. Sulfur-containing amino
acids, phospholipids, and phosphoproteins found in meat acidify the urine-
naturally whereas plant material found in most commercial cat foods have an
alkalinizing effect on urine.


I have
been feeding our cat at 4am before I go to work. The wife gives him a
little
when she comes home for lunch, and I feed him when I get home from work
about 3:30 pm. I then give him a little dry food around 6:30pm. He gets no
goodies or treats in between, just cat food. He is fed Hills x/d. He gets
at
present 304 calories a day. The breakdown is: Evening, 3/4 oz. dry,
morning
3.5 oz wet, lunch 1 oz wet, dinner 1.8 oz wet. This has been his schedule
for a couple weeks with no weight loss, in fact his last weigh in showed a
2
oz gain. I will check him again in a few days to be sure then maybe drop
the
calories a bit for a while. Thanks for your input.

An 18# cat has a daily maintenance energy requirement of about 360
kcals/day. A *safe* weight loss diet would consist of about 270 kcals/day-
no more than a 25% reduction in his daily caloric intake. Its gonna take at
least 4 weeks for him to lose a pound on this this program. Weight loss in
cats can be frustrating as hell -- so be patient!

If he doesn't lose weight on this this program, recalculate his intake on 40
kcals/kg- or 18 kcals/lb/day- but no less unless its under the supervision
of a vet who knows what he's doing.

Since you have a critical scale (very small graduations), keep in mind that
small fluctuations can be caused by water gain/loss and not necessarily body
weight. Acute gains and losses are usually due to water. IOW, if you weigh
him before he urinates, his weight might be higher. Try to weigh him at the
same time of the day so you'll get a stable weight.

Phil