Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I usually split a can between the two cats, with slightly more going to the younger, more energetic cat. I alternate between that and dry kibble. Neither cat is free fed because otherwise they'd both be enormous. I can gauge based on behavior and regularly checking the fat on their ribs so see if they are getting the appropriate amount of food and adjust accordingly.
Been feeding both my cats Wellness and BG canned food recently. Both my cats are getting about a 5.5 ounce can a day. First thing in the morning they have been getting about 1/4 to a 1/3 of a can.
How much is too much of canned food at one serving?
My concern is one of the cats would probably try to eat a whole can if I offered it, especially for Wellness. Now whether she would throw it up within 5 mins is another question.
I have three cats and I feed them two cans (divided 3 ways) of Fancy Feast every night.
They have free access to dry food during the day. (Taste of The Wild and Premium Edge (Finicky Adult Cat Flavor).
My two boy cats prefer the dry to the wet, so when I feed them the canned food they pick at it a bit. My little girl cat then proceeds to clean up after both of them, LOL. She's a little porker, she is.
Fat:
While fat isn't toxic to cats per se, it's not healthy to routinely feed your cat a diet high in animal fats as it will lead to obesity. Large amounts of fat can also cause pancreatitis.
I looked up the nutritional composition of a cats normal prey for fun and another PO used that information to determined the fat content of the various mice. They then determined the fat content of Wellness Chicken, Before Grain Chicken and a Weruva canned food, which was really interesting, since I didn't know how to make the information useful.
Just to point out that that list is a "dry matter" analysis.
To convert the GA on the can to dry matter: Find the amount of moisture in the can. For this post we will use the Before Grain chicken listed in the original post.
(note: the original post states "9 g" of fat etc, but it, if the info is being taken from cans or website should read 9 %, not 9 g. I don't know how these percentages translate into grams.)
Before Grain is 78% moisture, making the dry matter 22 %.
So you divide the fat percentage by the dry matter percentage, in this case 6% (.06) divided by 22 % (.22) and we get 27 % fat for the Before Grain.
Wellness chicken, using this formula comes out to 45% fat.
The Weruva listed, comes out to only 9% fat.
On that list in the link provided "Mouse Domestic, adult " is listed as 23.6% fat. However there are several different kinds of mice listed and the fat % varies greatly in range from 8.6 % to 30.1 %
So, a cat subsisting on mice "in the wild" may also have her fat content vary widely from day to day.
I give my cat 1 to 1.5oz of canned food at a time, 2 or 3 times a day. Mostly because she picks at her wet food and I don't want it to get dry. She also gets about 1/4 c of TOTW kibble (Taste of the Wild) a day, sometimes only 1/8 c. as it's a dense calorie-rich food.
I give my 3 cats 6 oz of wet in the morning, another 6 oz in the afternoon, and a half cup of dry in the evening. The wet food dries out faster on top in the winter when the heat is on, and I flip it over so the moisture penetrates down through the food again.
Our two boy cats became overweight because we used to leave dry cat food out and allow them to free feed. Also, their weight issues are due to having been on the Royal Canin SO Urinary Tract prescription cat food. (Even the vet said it makes them gain weight, but that the weight gain was less dangerous than the crystals forming and urinary issues...)
Anyway... so we stopped free feeding, and now we give our big boys 1/4 cup of dry food every morning and a 1/2 can of the moist food every evening. It is still more than the vet says we should feed them, but it's still quite a bit less than what they were eating before, and they have been losing weight slowly, which is the goal!
We've also just recently switched to a low calorie version of the prescription SO Urinary Tract formula so I'm anxious to see if this helps them with their weight as well.
I should also say that our cats are indoor-only, are 6 years old, and each weigh over 20 pounds. The vet wants to see their weight go down to around 18 pounds... we're slowly getting there.
Oh... and I'm editing to add that to their dry food, we add a bit of water. The dry food then softens and plumps up. The vet recommended doing this to help them get even more water into their diet. For some reason boy cats are more prone to urinary issues than female cats, and the vet says every bit of water helps. Anyway - they really love this.
Our two boy cats became overweight because we used to leave dry cat food out and allow them to free feed. Also, their weight issues are due to having been on the Royal Canin SO Urinary Tract prescription cat food. (Even the vet said it makes them gain weight, but that the weight gain was less dangerous than the crystals forming and urinary issues...)
Anyway... so we stopped free feeding, and now we give our big boys 1/4 cup of dry food every morning and a 1/2 can of the moist food every evening. It is still more than the vet says we should feed them, but it's still quite a bit less than what they were eating before, and they have been losing weight slowly, which is the goal!
We've also just recently switched to a low calorie version of the prescription SO Urinary Tract formula so I'm anxious to see if this helps them with their weight as well.
I should also say that our cats are indoor-only, are 6 years old, and each weigh over 20 pounds. The vet wants to see their weight go down to around 18 pounds... we're slowly getting there.
Oh... and I'm editing to add that to their dry food, we add a bit of water. The dry food then softens and plumps up. The vet recommended doing this to help them get even more water into their diet. For some reason boy cats are more prone to urinary issues than female cats, and the vet says every bit of water helps. Anyway - they really love this.
Our vet recommends doing both. She gave several reasons... one was because dry food, even a bit moistened with water, helps keep their teeth and gums healthy. We also do not always water the dry food down. Our vet says it's important to feed both in smaller amounts rather than one sort in a larger amount.
Our cats are happy and doing well so we've really no reason for changing anything, so long as they keep towards their goal of losing weight in a healthy way, which they currently are.
We've also bought them a really large new cat tree which they love - it's helping them to get more exercise. They've had cat trees before, but never one with four levels and so many things to do! Of course - they are only sleeping on it as I type this...
Our vet recommends doing both. She gave several reasons... one was because dry food, even a bit moistened with water, helps keep their teeth and gums healthy.
It is now known that this is not true! I'm surprised you're vet is not aware of this fact. It's discussed on almost every cat forum.
Quote:
We've also bought them a really large new cat tree which they love - it's helping them to get more exercise. They've had cat trees before, but never one with four levels and so many things to do! Of course - they are only sleeping on it as I type this...
Our cats also love their "trees" and love to not only clamber all over them, but they claw them instead of anything else in the house or RV.
Agree! I think the best analysis I have seen is humans eating pretzels everyday does not provide for exceptionally clean teeth.
Quote:
Originally Posted by =^..^=
It is now known that this is not true! I'm surprised you're vet is not aware of this fact. It's discussed on almost every cat forum.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
