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Old February 23rd, 2008, 10:39 AM
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Kristin7 Kristin7 is offline
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Looking for some recommendations for helping my cat lose weight

Annie seems to be gaining weight. She has been somewhat overweight for awhile, not huge, probably 12-13 lbs. I haven't weighed her recently but just looking at her, she looks bigger, by a pound or two. She's getting Wellness Core in the mornings, 1/4 c and in the evenings canned food, usually either Wellness or Eagle Pack Holistic Select. She's as active as ever, however, I had hoped she'd lose weight on the recent incorporation of canned food to her diet. It seems to be having the opposite effect though. Any suggestions? I did just go to the pet store and picked up some other brands of canned food for variety. I've read that Wellness is high in calories, so maybe I should stop feeding her that brand? She hasn't always been on the Core kibble either, so it is possible the weight gain is from that... I plan to switch to a different brand after this bag runs out, and am thinking of moving away from kibble altogether. However, I am worried that canned is actually what has caused her weight gain, even though that is supposed to be something that helps cats lose weight. Has anyone seen this happen with canned foods? If you have a cat that has lost weight on certain foods, please let me know. Thanks!
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Old February 23rd, 2008, 01:18 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kristin7 View Post
Annie seems to be gaining weight. She has been somewhat overweight for awhile, not huge, probably 12-13 lbs. I haven't weighed her recently but just looking at her, she looks bigger, by a pound or two. She's getting Wellness Core in the mornings, 1/4 c and in the evenings canned food, usually either Wellness or Eagle Pack Holistic Select.
How much canned food is she getting? Wellness canned has up to 40 cal/oz, depending on the flavour (turkey & salmon only has 33 cal/oz) so a 3 oz can has 120 calories, a 5.5 oz can would be 220. Eagle Pack is similar, with some flavours as high as 44 cal/oz. The dry Core is also going to be up there in calories (all of the low-carb dry foods are) although I can't find the exact count right now. Does it say anywhere on the bag? I'm guessing it's well over 500 cal/cup, so lets say 1/4 cup is 140 cal. So, 1/4 cup of dry plus 3 oz of canned is putting Annie's calorie intake roughly around 260 calories/day.

Now, lets also say her ideal weight would be 10 lbs (no idea if that's the case, but we'll go with that). A very general guideline is 20-30 cal/lb of cat per day depending on age, activity levels, and individual metabolism. For instance, my 15 yr old guy only gets 15 cal/lb and is maintaining a weight of about 15 lbs. You might want to cut back Annie's calories to between 200-220 cal/day and see what happens (do it slowly though - start by giving her less and less dry until you're down to a tsp or 2 - gradually replacing the dry with canned instead).

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Originally Posted by Kristin7 View Post
I've read that Wellness is high in calories, so maybe I should stop feeding her that brand?
Well, it's up to you, but I'd recommend just feeding a little less. There are other lower calorie foods like Fancy Feast, but the quality of the ingredients isn't as good. Here's a link for you check out on the nutrient profiles of many different brands of canned: http://www.geocities.com/jmpeerson/canfood.html If you pick something from this list, make sure the carb content is low as well (less than 10%). A lot of lower cal foods are too high in carbs.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Kristin7 View Post
She hasn't always been on the Core kibble either, so it is possible the weight gain is from that... I plan to switch to a different brand after this bag runs out, and am thinking of moving away from kibble altogether.
I'd say finish up the bag and don't bother with anymore dry. There's no reason for Annie to need it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kristin7 View Post
However, I am worried that canned is actually what has caused her weight gain, even though that is supposed to be something that helps cats lose weight. Has anyone seen this happen with canned foods? If you have a cat that has lost weight on certain foods, please let me know. Thanks!
I used to feed Aztec 2 tablespoons of dry EVO per day (along with a variety of canned), but it wasn't until I got rid of even that puny amount that he lost 1.5 lbs.

Good luck! Let me know how she does.
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Old February 23rd, 2008, 01:41 PM
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Cool, thanks for the info! I will try and replace some of her morning kibble with wet, and eventually all of it. Honestly, I'm not sure how much wet she gets, I don't measure it out. Maybe 3/4 of a small can per feeding... I do measure the dry and she gets 1/4 c. I don't have the bag anymore as I keep their food in a storage bin. will have to look it up online about the calories... Do you know, if there is a thin cat in the house, if she gets fed wet food exclusively, will she lose weight too? My boyfriend's cat is super skinny and has hyperthyroidism. I would prefer to feed them all the same foods but if it is better for her to have some dry, I don't think she would complain, she seems to like it. Mealtimes are supervised, so we try and keep them out of each other bowls, usually with success. I did pick up another brand of kibble at the store today, with the intent of switching them all over to this for their breakfast meal: Solid Gold Indigo moon. Its grain-free, 450 kcal/cup. However, sounds like at least Annie should be on all canned. I also picked up several different brands of canned other than Wellness, we'll see how those go over. I was hoping to have her on foods with no grain. This was why I had switched to the Wellness core and started them all on some wet food, but have been confused how this switch seemed to have had the opposite of the desired effect on Annie. The other two are fine with the diet, Micki is maintaining her weight and Cleo, the one with hyperthyroidism has gained almost a pound. Annie's ideal weight is probably ~11 lbs. She is not a petite cat, even at her normal weight, has a big head and is medium boned.
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Old February 25th, 2008, 01:39 PM
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I've got both of my cats exclusively on canned foods (switch between Wellness grain free and Performatrin, Pet Valu's brand). Jake was large, and has been losing weight steadily since he's been on the canned food (I feed him about 200 calories a day - 4/5ths of a can of Wellness) and I have a growing kitten. We give them about the same amount of food (Alley, the kitten, is a lot smaller at 4.5lbs, but since she's a growing kitten, she gets the same amount).

As I said, Jake is losing weight, and Alley is doing fine. I wouldn't worry about them both losing/gaining, if you stick to the right amount of calories for their ideal weight (ideal being the appropriate word).

Jake is getting weighed tomorrow (couldn't find a baby scale for the life of me, so we're bringing him to the vet), and if he has reached his ideal weight, or is a little less, we'll up the calorie intake a bit, but right now both are doing great!
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Old February 25th, 2008, 02:16 PM
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Easier to give them more exercise instead of cutting down on the food. Laser pointers, cat trees, catnip toys, playing fetch (all of my cats will fetch until they get bored). Remote control mice.
Get the kitties moving around a bit more and you'll notice a difference in weight.

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Old February 25th, 2008, 11:44 PM
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Getting them to do activities that require them to move "up" is good too, like dangling toys above their heads. But honestly, I found the best weight loss for my girl was getting her a very very active kitten, LOL!
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Old February 26th, 2008, 09:45 AM
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Thanks! I would totally love to get her a kitten to play with. She really does like to play, and likes other cats, but the two in my house don't like her at all... she is kind of rough and they all are females who seem to get along better with male cats. The other two are also quite a bit older than Annie and not as active, they pretty much just want to sleep and not be harassed. Since none of them get along, I have a dog too, and my house isn't all that big, I probably shouldn't get yet another cat, as much as I'd like to. She's fairly active and runs around a lot and does play with the dog sometimes. I'm sure all she does while I'm gone is sleep, though, like most cats. I try and play with her with the laser pointer but my dog loves it even more and takes over. He also will play with her other toys, so she doesn't get to have them very often, since I don't want the dog to injest the smaller cat toys. It does sound like perhaps she's eating too much, so I'll try feeding her a bit less, and eventually switch to all canned food. I'll think some more about the kitten thing... almost got another one over the summer, but I do want a second dog, too. I don't know... probably 4 cats and 2 dogs is too many for a single person who works all day. My boyfriend helps out, and is home before I am, and one of the cats is his, though, so unless the house would just be too crowded, maybe it could work out.
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