Well, so much for *that* theory. . .

Comments

• Lisa Provost Member Posts: 4,486

  8 February, 2011 edited 8 February, 2011

  Is she feeding you the proper amount of food everyday? If you're not getting enough calories your body is going to store all that extra weight just in case. In order for you to lose it, you need to have the proper amount so you can have energy to burn it off. Make sense?

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• Lisa Dausman Member Posts: 5,216

  8 February, 2011 edited 8 February, 2011

  A whole can of Dave's or 1/2 a can, and what size is the can? What is the calorie count on the Dave's can and what is the calorie count on the TOTW? Thats what you have to look at, when you decide how much to feed, and never heard of Dave's, what is in it? :-h :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

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• Valerie Durham Member Posts: 8,724 ✭

  8 February, 2011 edited 8 February, 2011

  I guess your Mom is just going to have to feed an even MORE miniscule amount of the good stuff AND have intense Da Bird sessions with you. I had a friend who used to count how many pellets of food my relatively slender Japanese cat ate, and for some reason it was always eleven pellets. Mind you, this was Science Diet, not the most nutritious of foods. (She lived to a ripe old age anyway. Good old moggy genes.) Since you're doing portion control already, Mordred should be used to having his rations rationed, and probably won't miss a slight decrease in food. But do ask your vet for advice on how much food (rather, how many calories) he needs to lose weight healthily, and get your vet to provide you with a weight loss schedule (as you know, slow is best, but HOW slow?). And you might consider getting a baby scale (often available cheap at yard sales) or, if you can bear seeing your own weight on the scale (I can't, which is why I use a baby scale), weigh him while holding him in your arms.

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• Sharon Dalton Member Posts: 3,728 ✭

  8 February, 2011 edited 8 February, 2011

  Don't ask me about calories; I can't do the math for myself let alone for a cat. TOTW is grain-free - one of the "good" ones. The Dave's is something I just found; it, too, is grain-free, with only good ingredients - and I can afford it. (The uppity-scale foods are simply not in the budget.) He's been getting one of the small (3 oz?) cans. Mordred's pretty active for a 10-year-old. His doctor's not worried, and I have to say - I'm not as upset as I would be if had had *lost* a little weight. It is what it is; I can do no more than what I'm doing. I just was under the impression that higher quality food would prevent obesity, but I'm proven wrong; it seems to make him more active but does nothing for the weight.

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• Lisa Provost Member Posts: 4,486

  8 February, 2011 edited 8 February, 2011

  I honestly don't think he's getting near enough calories. Seriously. Dave's is a seafood meal (which Finney and Lacey eat) but not very filling at all. And he should be getting some higher protein like Nature's Variety or Natural Balance Limited Ingredient diets. A couple of small cans a day even! This isn't enough at all. Not for a 10 lb. kitty. Don't cut it down more! That'll cause some liver issues frankly. He's got to have more protein and a good meat source. Not just fish. Try some NV lamb, venison and rabbit, duck, any or all of them. Lean protein helps them feel more full, gives them the proper energy to burn the fat and doesn't put stress on the liver and other organs trying to keep up.

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• Sharon Dalton Member Posts: 3,728 ✭

  8 February, 2011 edited 8 February, 2011

  Alex, thanks for the concern, but Mordred's not getting the seafood Dave's - they get the turkey & giblets one. I'm afraid to feed too much seafood for fear of the mercury content, so I don't buy that. Those foods that you mentioned - Nature's Variety and Natural Balance - just aren't affordable for me. I'm feeding 3 house cats and 2 outside cats (and the outside cats get 9Lives kibble); I do my own food shopping at Dollar General and Walmart. I was so pleased to discover that I could afford TOTW and Dave's canned. I used to feed Purina O.N.E. dry and found that TOTW was about the same price; I was so pleased! And when I "discovered" Dave's on some forum here recently and checked it out - alleluia! I could feed them some canned! I do think Mordred is more alert since he's been on TOTW (a year or more now), but I'm thinking on cutting back on the canned every night & substituting the TOTW. Heck, I had two cats who lived to 17 and 20 on Meow Mix; one was 18 pounds and the other was barely 7 - only a year's difference in age. I'm not convinced I'm doing anything better here. . . .

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• Stephanie Johnson Member Posts: 556

  8 February, 2011 edited 8 February, 2011

  TOTW has 390cal/cup, so 97 in the 1/4 cup of dry + 107 in the 3 oz of Dave's turkey and giblets = 204 calories per day. I'm not sure of the formula for calories needed, but 204 is roughly what I feed my 12lb cat and she maintains that weight nicely (she's 10 and minimally active).

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• Lacey Kingston WilmingtonMember Posts: 7,527

  8 February, 2011 edited 8 February, 2011

  Yeah, 1/4 dry and 3oz of wet doesn't seem like way too little like others mentioned, perhaps they misunderstood? Hobie is 10lbs and typically gets 1/4 dry, without the wet. It might be a smidge too many calories? What was he eating before the TOTW and Dave's to compare? BTW, both are excellent choices. TOTW is right up there with NV as far as I'm concerned. It's generally more popular in the dog forums than here though. Dave's is also great, but not as well known. I do hate how most of their can flavors are fish though, wish they'd diversify.

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• Sarah Clark Ruston, AustinMember Posts: 689

  9 February, 2011 edited 9 February, 2011

  Where do you get the Dave's and how much does it run? Id love to be able to add some less expensive diversity into the wet foods that we get. Currently we get either By Nature or one of two wellness flavors that we will eat. (13.6 * ideal weight) + 70 is the formula for calories. Example: (13.6 * 10 pounds) + 70 = 206 calories. Thats for a day. Now if you are only feeding 204 calories a day (based off the numbers the other poster gave) you might actually be feeding too little given that He is 17 pounds. Talk with your vet to see how much weight you should shoot for, and say if you were going to shoot for feed to 16 pounds that would be 287 calories a day. A considerable difference. So if your vet suggests feeding more to prevent storing all the food as fat, thats one method. the other would be to just increase play time :-)

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• Kelly M- Member Posts: 779 ✭

  9 February, 2011 edited 9 February, 2011

  I'm overly concerned that Hunter is going to get overweight. I read that wet food controls their weight better than dry. So whats what he eats. Sometimes he eats 9 oz of food a day. And he is a slender 9 pounds. Maybe he is going to be a lean boy throughout his life, who knows. I understand what you're saying. Portion control. It does work. My yorkie was, is still, somewhat over weight. I'm doing portion control with her and its working! (plus no people food) I do also agree with what Alex says. Think about it. Even for yourself, if you portioned out your meals a lower amount to what you were eating before, and only twice a day I don't think you'd lose weight. But if you portioned out the right amount of calories throught the day, you'd rev up your metabolism, burn more calories, and with a crazy exercise session, burn even more. Thus, lose weight. Personally, I don't think your cat is getting enough food. But that is my opinion. As I said before Hunter is almost 10 pounds and he sometimes gets 9 oz of food a day. He is also crazy though, a very active boy. Also I know that to lose a pound, a person needs to burn 3500 calories. Not sure if its the same with cats though. Good Luck with Mordred's weight issue. I'm sure you'll find out what works for you! :-h

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• Poece Member Posts: 122 ✭

  9 February, 2011 edited 9 February, 2011

  Wouldnt switching to all canned help? Doesnt all dry food, even if its grain free, have carbs in it? I switched my fat cat to grain free canned and he lost weight. He was 30 pounds. He is now down to 26.5 pounds. He now eats raw but he was losing weight on canned.

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• Sharon Dalton Member Posts: 3,728 ✭

  9 February, 2011 edited 9 February, 2011

  Well, according to the calculation that Annabelle gave, Mordred should be getting 288 calories each day. That makes no sense to me at all - feeding more calories to lose weight. If you eat more calories than you use, it's stored as fat; that's basic science. Since I have no way of calculating how many calories he's using, I have to assume he's using fewer than he's taking in - thus the weight gain. And really, for all I know, he's getting more than the 204 or whatever someone came up with. He and Blue are fed on the floor; Althea (being a prinCESS) eats on top of the 6-foot tall entertainment center, where Mordred almost never goes. So, he could be eating some of Blue's food; if I put out more food, Blue might eat that and gain weight himself. The wet food is always gone entirely when I get up in the a.m., but I don't know who's eating it; Althea is petite, so it's not likely her, leaving only Blue (another 15 or 16 pounder) and Mordred. :? It is what it is; I can't fight genetics: Mordred's meant to be a husky guy, and I love him dearly.

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• janice lancaster temple gaMember Posts: 2,505

  9 February, 2011 edited 9 February, 2011

  Poor Mordred!You must have some 'fat genes'! Besides that, no one has mentioned yourage. Just as with people, the older you get, the more your metabolism slows down in most cases. To help some, your person could decrease your food by a teeny bit, but also encourage you to move around more; not easy with us seniors. I'll play a little bit now and then, but usually the most movement i do is following Meowma around. So the more she moves around the house, the more moving I do. Unfortunately the shanty is tiny, so....I don't do too much exercise. Meowma has been able to get me down to about 14 pounds from 17, but it's taken nearly 4 years, and I don't appear to be losing any more. And I get very little food. At my age Meowma isn't going to obsess over it.

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• Sharon Dalton Member Posts: 3,728 ✭

  9 February, 2011 edited 9 February, 2011

  Oh, dear BooBoo, thank you so much for the understanding! I've always been a big boy. Years ago, Mom got me down from 18 pounds to 16, where I've been ever since. Well, up 'til now, anyway. At the time, she took away the self-feeder and started feeding us twice a day. You might be right about the age thing; I'll be 10 in May, so maybe my matabolism is just slowing down. There was a little dry food left in our dishes from this morning, so Mom just added a little more this evening. As she types this, at 9:30 at night, most of the food is still there. So those who say I'm not getting enough - evidently, I'm getting as much as I want. And I was just running around like a crazy man a while ago, so I do have energy. Mom loves me, and she's feeding me good food, so that's that. She was just very surprised, after all she's read on this forum, that I actually gained weight on grain-free foods. Bless you, BooBoo, for being so understanding!:xo:

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• Stephanie Johnson Member Posts: 556

  9 February, 2011 edited 9 February, 2011

  Anabelle, the nutrition info for Dave's canned is here: http://www.davespetfood.com/catfood/canned3/ =;

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• Tina B Vancouver IslandMember Posts: 2,238

  10 February, 2011 edited 10 February, 2011

  Actually it does not matter how "high quality" any dry food states that it is. It will not help you loose weight, grain free or not. Is there any way you could just feed the Wet food? Just asking|^|

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• Sharon Dalton Member Posts: 3,728 ✭

  10 February, 2011 edited 10 February, 2011

  No, all-canned is out of the budget. Anyway, when I thought about it all - Mordred lost 2 pounds on all dry food (Purina O.N.E.)a few years ago - went from 18+ to 16, where he's stayed all these years. When he was weighed in June, he was his normal 16 pounds. The *only* thing that has changed since then --> I started feeding canned food, first only occasionally, then every night. So - my personal experience has shown that an overweight cat can lose weight on even a less than "premium" dry food and can gain it with premium canned food. Feeding cats, I think, is more art than science; each of us must find what works for each cat. Just as with people - different strokes for different folks.

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• Kelly M- Member Posts: 779 ✭

  11 February, 2011 edited 11 February, 2011

  The total opposite happened with Hunter. He is on premium canned food which as regulated his weight and he actually looked a bit too skinny for my liking. So I added dry food which added some bulk to him. I took him off the dry. And he still ended up being 9 pounds (according to my scale at home). I guess that is how much he is supposed to weight. If high quality canned food is supposed to make cats gain weight, oh geez, Hunter would be like a 30lb cat! ) Every cat is different I guess. Glad you found out what works for Mordred! :-h

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• Kelly M- Member Posts: 779 ✭

  11 February, 2011 edited 11 February, 2011

  The total opposite happened with Hunter. He is on premium canned food which as regulated his weight and he actually looked a bit too skinny for my liking. So I added dry food which added some bulk to him. I took him off the dry. And he still ended up being 9 pounds (according to my scale at home). I guess that is how much he is supposed to weight. If high quality canned food is supposed to make cats gain weight, oh geez, Hunter would be like a 30lb cat! ) Every cat is different I guess. Glad you found out what works for Mordred! :-h

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