I think I'm going crazy!

I just adopted, sight unseen, a couple of kitties. They're 6 & 7 yrs old and their mom has to move away and is unable to take them. I agreed to the adoption not even seeing the kitties, but I was told one was a "big cat". I was told he was "big and overweight"....well he's big alright, 18 pounds big! But structurally he's not that big a cat! He's long, but short....and you can tell by his face he shouldn't be more than 10-12 pounds.

OK....the crazy part? I'm looking at PetSmart online for cat food for overweight cats.....and I found myself thinking LC....."ok, this one has higher fat and protein, less corn and rice...."

hmmmmm I wonder what the vet would say! LOL

you could always feed it shredded chicken, sardines and tuna for a while and see if it works!

CindySue,

One of my herd of cats has food allergies. Normally the way to test cats for what they are allergic to is to remove one food group but it takes 3 to 4 weeks to get one food out of a cats system completely. My vet took some blood from my cat, Smoke, but we went with the food elimination theory first. Funnily enough fish ESPECIALLY tuna is the most common food allergy in cats who have allergies. And people tuna is a as a steady diet for cats. As a treat now and then, it's fine.

After a couple months of food elimination trials and no results i had the vet send in the blood for testing. It's a little expensive but i'm glad she sent it. She called a few days later and was amazed herself at the results. Smoke is allergic to EVERY form of starch -- wheat, oats, rice, potato, corn, etc. and especially soy. So feeding him is a challenge. Luckily there are several flavors of Fancy Feast he can eat. i'm not sure if the lack of carbs is the reason but Smoke is the slimmest of all my furbabies.

Can you give me some examples? What about dry?

Now I'm not so sure I'm crazy! LOL

I have 2 cats they both got very overweight and i worried mikey would have a heart attack he weighed 15# so I took him off dry food and fed the wet cat food made with meat and no starches at all. He has slimmed down to 11# and is a lot more active now. the other one didn't need to lose so much and I am giving her a little dry food 20% with the wet 80%, she is less sore in the joints now.


Diane

I think you're right on with your train of thought. Biologically speaking, cats weren't meant to eat the carbohydrates that come in cat food.

I had a cat who - unbeknownst to me at the time - developed feline diabetes. I was shocked to find out that it's quite common in cats which got me to thinking. The common denominator for cats as well as humans with adult onset diabetes is ...carbohydrates!

The link here has some good suggestions for lower carbohydrate brands of food for cats. It's not that expensive to feed a cat real meat so chicken or turkey would be a good option too.

Karen

Low Carbing for cats works. Cats being carnivores and all don't digest all the carbs too well. I got my cat on a low carb/high protein/high fat diet. He used to weigh 17.5, now he's down to 15.5. (not sure how long it too, he was on meds for asthma for a while which messed him up a bit) Now I just got to get him down to 12 lol.

Canned is best for them to lose weight. Dry has TONS of carbohydrates and other crap in it.
Low fat is the worst kind of cat food, because it's full of *fillers* just like people food. Wheat, Starch, blablabla. Crap you don't even eat lol.

Petsmart doesn't have the greatest selection of foods by the way. I feed one can of this a day..
http://oldmotherhubbard.com/cats/we...CatTurkeySalmon
Notice the difference in ingredients. Mostly meat.

I could get some more links with info if you want.. don't have any right now on this comp. =/

Er don't feed your cat too much canned tuna. it has something in it that can crystalize their urine and give them urinary tract infections and blockages..especially in males. It's not a balanced diet either so just feeding chicken, sardines and tuna wouldn't work...

With our neutered male he had the problem with urinary tract, mostly caused by dry food. He also developed the diabeties, but at the time he was around 14 years old. We decided at that advanced age it was in his best interest to be put to rest instead of aggressivly trying treatment for the diabeties.

If you are feeding the cat a steady diet of wet food though, you need to do something for his oral health. Dry food has the advantage of cleaning the tarter off the cat's teeth as he eats. Many cat's on a pure canned food diet suffer tooth rot after so many years. Make sure to offer crunchy treats, or if you are a braver person then I, get a kitty tooth brush

I have two large sized cats. The smaller of the two is diabetic. For years I fed her high fiber, science diet cat food at the insistance of my last vet. She never slimmed down. I left food out all the time for them because cats were supposed to be able to self-regulate how much they ate or something. Well, now "Lily" is diabetic. When I found out, I really blamed it on the food. Now I feed her canned food twice a day and she gets about 3-4 crunchy treats at night. I don't feed any dry food any more, but I still have to give her insulin shots twice a day. (She is very good about this!) I thought that getting her on a low carb diet would reverse her dependance on insulin, but it hasn't. I think she has better control though. The other cat has slimmed down quite a bit eating low carb.

Missy

I buy my cats Eukanuba, because last time I checked, the first four ingredients were meat, and no other cat foods had this. The two of them split a can of food every other day (one throws up if he gets more.) One is a big cat structurally, one is very dainty, but neither of them are overweight.
I think you are on the right track! Especially cats, who are even more carnivorous than dogs are.
Speaking of dogs, does anyone but me get indignant over that dog food commercial that brags about being full of "healthy grains and vegetables!"
Oh, yes, everyone knows dogs love that. Farmers have a terrible time keeping their dogs out of the wheat field and the tomato patch...

THANK YOU!!!!!!

I thought it was me! Yes, dogs like veggies when they're getting people food....but I've never seen a dog eat veggies over meat! And yes, some dogs (like mine) will eat grass.....but it's not often and some dogs do it to induce vomiting!

I read an article on MSN (can't find it, I tried! but here's another one http://www.msnbc.com/news/963396.asp ) that said CATS are carnivorous, and must be fed meat, but that DOGS are NOT! and "Vegetarian diets are fine for many dogs"! Since WHEN are dogs NOT carnivourous????? In the wild, sure they might eat grains if they like them and are available....but if you offer any dog a veggie or a piece of meat, which are they going to choose!!!!!

I know my dogs, if given a choice of buscuits, will take ANY meat (or cheese) flavored over the veggie! I usually end up with all veggie treats if I buy the variety boxes!

Dogs are not carnivorous......yea right!

Boy, I wisk I could discuss this with Duke and Daisy! I bet they'd disagree! LOL

I'm going to feed mostly canned...and yes, I'm going to find the ones with the lowest carb count thanks for the links..to both my fat kitty and my dogs, since they seem to be filling out a bit more than I'd like (they're dobe/shepherd/hound mixes, about 10 months old). I'm sure they won't complain!

thanks for the post. I just ran out of cat food and am going to get them the ProPlan Indoor cat formula. it's about 27% carbs. ... hope they eat it..

If you really want your animals to have ahealthy diet then may I suggest the BARF diet.
It's meat and raw foods. My dogs get raw chicken, meat, bones, organs & pulverised vegetables, NO CORN NO RICE!!! My cat eats raw too, lot less veggies though.
You can buy it premade or make it yourself:
http://www.touchmoon.com/dotters/raw/index.shtml

our vet also recommended a LC diet for our overweight kitty. After she was fixed, we got a new male kitten. She began eating his Kitten Chow & got as big as the barn. Needless to say, she is now limited in the amount of dry food she eats. Less than 1/2 c. per day w/ a 1/2 can of protien filled meaty canned food.