New cat owner with obese cat

I adopted a cat (my first) that is 33 lbs, and I need help finding a
good food for him. I got him a mate to get him moving but no success
there.

He gets a 3oz can of wet food, and so does his mate, but I think he
takes most of his mate's food. I also give him about a cup of dry
food, and another cup for his mate, because I'm gone most of the day.
Again, I think he eats his mate's food.

I always look at labels and try to find one that has high protein,
some fat, some fiber and little carbs. (I know how to compute the Dry
Matter Basis). Oddly, the brands that are called "weight control"
don't seem to be as high in protein as some of the other brands. The
best I found is Fancy Feast Medleys. Is this right?

Am I doing the right thing? Any suggestions on brands?

Thanks,
Dom

"Dom" wrote in message
oups.com...
I adopted a cat (my first) that is 33 lbs, and I need help finding a
good food for him. I got him a mate to get him moving but no success
there.

He gets a 3oz can of wet food, and so does his mate, but I think he
takes most of his mate's food. I also give him about a cup of dry
food, and another cup for his mate, because I'm gone most of the day.
Again, I think he eats his mate's food.

I always look at labels and try to find one that has high protein,
some fat, some fiber and little carbs. (I know how to compute the Dry
Matter Basis). Oddly, the brands that are called "weight control"
don't seem to be as high in protein as some of the other brands. The
best I found is Fancy Feast Medleys. Is this right?

Am I doing the right thing? Any suggestions on brands?


Dom, our tiny female was up to 18 lbs when she came to us. (She is
very small boned, so this was dangerously obese.) I fed her diet Iams
dry because that is what her owner fed her. Like your cat, I free fed
her, just left the bowl on the floor all day. She just got fatter.

You have the right idea about protein, and FF is what I feed, too, but
any canned food that has meat, fish, poultry as a first ingredient and no
or very few grains is fine. The thing is, you have to feed canned only
and feed every twelve hours. If you want her to him to lose weight you
will have to supervise feedings, because you have two cats. I feed my
skinny cat on the third floor and my fat cat on the first floor, then try
to remember to pick up what is left of the skinny cat's food before
the fat cat can sneak up to get it! If I had a single floor, I would feed
them in separate rooms with closed doors. If the skinny cat is like
mine and does not wolf it all, you could put his up on a counter or
table where the fat cat cannot jump. (Unless your cat can jump, mine
couldn't when she was that fat.

My fat girl eats two 3-oz cans a day because that is how much it takes
to keep her at nine pounds. (She lost 9 pounds in a year once I cut
out the dry.) Your big boy might need a can and a half twice a day.
My vet told me to feed canned only, and reduce it by 1/4 until the
cat begins to lose weight, so you want to start out on the heavy side.

Another thing about feeding every 12 hours is, it is better for cats
to wait this long between feedings. Phil P. once posted about this
but I have not retained the particulars.

As you have guessed, dry food is not the best food for cats because
of all the grains. In addition to the extra protein in canned, there is
extra water, and cats need that to stay healthy too.

If your skinny cat will not eat all of his wet food in the morning before
you
leave, and you can't put it up where the other cat cannot get it, you might
have a dilemma on your hands, as I surely would not separate them all
day, they need each other's company! What I do when my fat cat steals
Gracie's food is, I give her less in the evening and Gracie more.

Good luck! You're right to worry about your cat's weight, it can be a
killer.




--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

On Apr 9, 10:32 am, "Dom" wrote:
I adopted a cat (my first) that is 33 lbs, and I need help finding a
good food for him. I got him a mate to get him moving but no success
there.

He gets a 3oz can of wet food, and so does his mate, but I think he
takes most of his mate's food. I also give him about a cup of dry
food, and another cup for his mate, because I'm gone most of the day.
Again, I think he eats his mate's food.

Hi Dom,

My suggestion would be to feed your cats separately (in another room
works well), twice per day, about 12 hours apart. You need to monitor
the overweight cat's intake. Secondly, I would remove the dry food
from his diet and feed only canned. I personally had no luck with any
of the dry "weight loss" formulas, prescription or over the counter.
My cat actually gained weight on them! There's a good article about
feline nutrition he http://www.catinfo.org/

My cat lost 6 lbs a couple of years ago on canned food. Here's his web
site. Feel free to email me if you have questions.

http://community-2.webtv.net/getcathelp/tucker/

Rene

Dom wrote:
I adopted a cat (my first) that is 33 lbs, and I need help finding a
good food for him. I got him a mate to get him moving but no success
there.

He gets a 3oz can of wet food, and so does his mate, but I think he
takes most of his mate's food. I also give him about a cup of dry
food, and another cup for his mate, because I'm gone most of the day.
Again, I think he eats his mate's food.

I always look at labels and try to find one that has high protein,
some fat, some fiber and little carbs. (I know how to compute the Dry
Matter Basis). Oddly, the brands that are called "weight control"
don't seem to be as high in protein as some of the other brands. The
best I found is Fancy Feast Medleys. Is this right?

Am I doing the right thing? Any suggestions on brands?

Thanks,
Dom


You will need to adopt a fixed feeding rather than free feeding schedule.

Suggest you and the cat visit the vet.

Hi Rene:

Can you give me some advice on cat food. Reading labels, and making
conversions to DMB, makes me think that Fancy Feast Medley is a good
choice. But I'm concerned about that. FF seems like a commercial
brand that is not intended for obese cats. Yet, according to the
label, it is about the highest in protein, and lowest in carbs.

Thanks again
Dom


On Apr 9, 1:52 pm, "Rene S." wrote:
On Apr 9, 10:32 am, "Dom" wrote:

I adopted a cat (my first) that is 33 lbs, and I need help finding a
good food for him. I got him a mate to get him moving but no success
there.

He gets a 3oz can of wet food, and so does his mate, but I think he
takes most of his mate's food. I also give him about a cup of dry
food, and another cup for his mate, because I'm gone most of the day.
Again, I think he eats his mate's food.

Hi Dom,

My suggestion would be to feed your cats separately (in another room
works well), twice per day, about 12 hours apart. You need to monitor
the overweight cat's intake. Secondly, I would remove the dry food
from his diet and feed only canned. I personally had no luck with any
of the dry "weight loss" formulas, prescription or over the counter.
My cat actually gained weight on them! There's a good article about
feline nutrition hehttp://www.catinfo.org/

My cat lost 6 lbs a couple of years ago on canned food. Here's his web
site. Feel free to email me if you have questions.

http://community-2.webtv.net/getcathelp/tucker/

Rene

Dom" wrote:
Am I doing the right thing? Any suggestions on brands?


Dom, our tiny female was up to 18 lbs when she came to us. (She is
very small boned, so this was dangerously obese.) I fed her diet Iams
dry because that is what her owner fed her. Like your cat, I free fed
her, just left the bowl on the floor all day. She just got fatter.

You have the right idea about protein, and FF is what I feed, too, but
any canned food that has meat, fish, poultry as a first ingredient and no
or very few grains is fine. The thing is, you have to feed canned only
and feed every twelve hours. If you want her to him to lose weight you
will have to supervise feedings, because you have two cats. I feed my
skinny cat on the third floor and my fat cat on the first floor, then try
to remember to pick up what is left of the skinny cat's food before
the fat cat can sneak up to get it! If I had a single floor, I would feed
them in separate rooms with closed doors. If the skinny cat is like
mine and does not wolf it all, you could put his up on a counter or
table where the fat cat cannot jump. (Unless your cat can jump, mine
couldn't when she was that fat.

My fat girl eats two 3-oz cans a day because that is how much it takes
to keep her at nine pounds. (She lost 9 pounds in a year once I cut
out the dry.) Your big boy might need a can and a half twice a day.
My vet told me to feed canned only, and reduce it by 1/4 until the
cat begins to lose weight, so you want to start out on the heavy side.

Another thing about feeding every 12 hours is, it is better for cats
to wait this long between feedings. Phil P. once posted about this
but I have not retained the particulars.

As you have guessed, dry food is not the best food for cats because
of all the grains. In addition to the extra protein in canned, there is
extra water, and cats need that to stay healthy too.

If your skinny cat will not eat all of his wet food in the morning before
you
leave, and you can't put it up where the other cat cannot get it, you might
have a dilemma on your hands, as I surely would not separate them all
day, they need each other's company! What I do when my fat cat steals
Gracie's food is, I give her less in the evening and Gracie more.

Good luck! You're right to worry about your cat's weight, it can be a
killer.

This is great, cybercat. Just what I needed.

Dom

On Apr 9, 4:02 pm, "cybercat" wrote:
Dom" wrote:
Am I doing the right thing? Any suggestions on brands?

Dom, our tiny female was up to 18 lbs when she came to us. (She is
very small boned, so this was dangerously obese.) I fed her diet Iams
dry because that is what her owner fed her. Like your cat, I free fed
her, just left the bowl on the floor all day. She just got fatter.

You have the right idea about protein, and FF is what I feed, too, but
any canned food that has meat, fish, poultry as a first ingredient and no
or very few grains is fine. The thing is, you have to feed canned only
and feed every twelve hours. If you want her to him to lose weight you
will have to supervise feedings, because you have two cats. I feed my
skinny cat on the third floor and my fat cat on the first floor, then try
to remember to pick up what is left of the skinny cat's food before
the fat cat can sneak up to get it! If I had a single floor, I would feed
them in separate rooms with closed doors. If the skinny cat is like
mine and does not wolf it all, you could put his up on a counter or
table where the fat cat cannot jump. (Unless your cat can jump, mine
couldn't when she was that fat.

My fat girl eats two 3-oz cans a day because that is how much it takes
to keep her at nine pounds. (She lost 9 pounds in a year once I cut
out the dry.) Your big boy might need a can and a half twice a day.
My vet told me to feed canned only, and reduce it by 1/4 until the
cat begins to lose weight, so you want to start out on the heavy side.

Another thing about feeding every 12 hours is, it is better for cats
to wait this long between feedings. Phil P. once posted about this
but I have not retained the particulars.

As you have guessed, dry food is not the best food for cats because
of all the grains. In addition to the extra protein in canned, there is
extra water, and cats need that to stay healthy too.

If your skinny cat will not eat all of his wet food in the morning before
you
leave, and you can't put it up where the other cat cannot get it, you might
have a dilemma on your hands, as I surely would not separate them all
day, they need each other's company! What I do when my fat cat steals
Gracie's food is, I give her less in the evening and Gracie more.

Good luck! You're right to worry about your cat's weight, it can be a
killer.

On Apr 9, 2:36 pm, "Dom" wrote:
Hi Rene:

Can you give me some advice on cat food. Reading labels, and making
conversions to DMB, makes me think that Fancy Feast Medley is a good
choice. But I'm concerned about that. FF seems like a commercial
brand that is not intended for obese cats. Yet, according to the
label, it is about the highest in protein, and lowest in carbs.

Thanks again
Dom

cybercat has already given you some advice. I'm not crazy about
feeding FF (just my opinion, I know others here use it). I prefer the
premium brands that have human-grade ingredients and no grains. Some
examples are Wellness, Innova, Royal Canin, Nature's Variety--and I'm
sure there are others. Most important is to read the ingredient list.
Things like "meal," "by-products," and of course, grains, are not high-
quality ingredients.

"Dom" wrote in message
oups.com...
This is great, cybercat. Just what I needed.

Dom


Good luck! Choose varieties of Fancy Feast that have beef, chicken,
liver, etc. as a first ingredient. Some have "meat byproducts" as a first
ingredient, and even though I know I am being silly given what cats
eat when they eat prey, I like giving mine regular meat as a first
ingredient. Fancy Feast has improved in nutrition a great deal since
Purina bought the company a few years ago. As for "human grade"
ingredients, as Rene prefers, I guess that is what is meant by non
-by-product meats. Wellness etc., at twice the price as FF, includes
items such as blueberries which cats do NOT need. In addition, there
are some varieties of Wellness that contain garlic which has proven
to cause anemia in cats. FF is about the best you can do for 50
a can, IME.

cybercat wrote:
"Dom" wrote in message
oups.com...
This is great, cybercat. Just what I needed.

Dom


Good luck! Choose varieties of Fancy Feast that have beef, chicken,
liver, etc. as a first ingredient. Some have "meat byproducts" as a first
ingredient,

The problem with the "first ingredient" approach is that often
ingredients lower in the list can be combined to be greater in overall
volume than the first ingredient listed.

As example: The first ingredient is listed as chicken meat. The 2nd and
3rd ingredients are listed as "meat byproducts", but when those 2nd and
3rd ingredients are combined they overtake the first ingredient in terms
of volume.


and even though I know I am being silly given what cats
eat when they eat prey, I like giving mine regular meat as a first
ingredient. Fancy Feast has improved in nutrition a great deal since
Purina bought the company a few years ago. As for "human grade"
ingredients, as Rene prefers, I guess that is what is meant by non
-by-product meats. Wellness etc., at twice the price as FF, includes
items such as blueberries which cats do NOT need. In addition, there
are some varieties of Wellness that contain garlic which has proven
to cause anemia in cats. FF is about the best you can do for 50
a can, IME.