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.
We don't have a lot of money, so please don't suggest something we have to make ourselves, or is very expensive--but can someone recommend a cat food we can get at a grocery store that our four year old boy kitty can eat. He's a stray we adopted, inside cat only. He was really bone thin we got him 2 years ago, but he's getting too big and I'm worried about his health.
Congratulations on the rescue! You are right to be concerned about his weight. Remember that cats need to lose weight very slowly, it is dangerous for them to lose too quickly.
There is no dry cat food good for overweight cats. Especially if you are free feeding.
Feed a low carb canned diet, on a schedule. Friskies pate is cheap and not bad for carbs, (pate only) Fancy Feast Classics, and Sheba pate, are comparable. They are all relatively low carb and high in moisture, and contain meat.
The idea is to feed him foods that satisfy him. Dry foods are full of grains and carbohydrates, which will not satisfy a cat, since a cat is an obligate carnivore. They will keep eating more and more trying to feel satisfied.
Cats need food high in meat and moisture, low in carbs, no grains.
Here is a good website written by a vet you may find interesting and helpful. You don't have to read the part about making your own cat food there is plenty of other useful information.
Fancy Feast Classics is what I woukd recommend. My cat only eats a half a can at a time. I put the other half in the fridge and then barely warm it when it comes out of the fridge as he won't eat cold cat food. Remember the mouse is warm.
Yep, definitely wet canned pate food ESPECIALLY for a boy cat.
Boy cats have a longer urethra which can get clogged with crystals if they do not ingest enough water. Since most cats do not drink water, you need to make sure they get moisture, and through food is best. As others have said, cats eat meat, not carbs, so canned is best.
He drinks a lot of water. The problem with Fancy Feast is that the only one he will eat is the one with cheese ("Delights"), either tuna or chicken. I've tried all kinds of canned food--Science Diet, Friskies. Might as well burn money.
Please do pay attention to what we are saying. Those "healthy weight" bags are full of junk. They will not give your cat a healthy weight and in fact they will not give your cat health at all, except poor health.
There is NO MEAT. A cat is an obligate carnivore, he cannot thrive without meat. It's all corn and wheat and soy and sawdust. Nothing a cat should eat.
A cat cannot drink enough water in the day to compensate for a dry diet. A cat eating a carb heavy dry food will not be satisfied and will not lose weight. More likely he will be come diabetic and obese on that stuff.Not to mention the very high risk of urinary tract disorders and kidney disease.
Your cat can be transitioned to a healthy canned diet. It will take a little effort and patience on your part, yes, it takes work, but it can be done. There are many threads in this forum from people who said in the beginning that their cat wouldn't eat wet food, cats who are now thriving on a wet diet. There is also a lot of help in the link I already posted.
Try the Fancy Feast classic again, but this time take some of his favorite dry food, crush it and sprinkle it on the wet food. A lot of times this will get them started eating wet food.
There has been a lot of good advice on here. Please check out the website that the other poster provided. Good luck to you both!
We don't have a lot of money, so please don't suggest something we have to make ourselves, or is very expensive--but can someone recommend a cat food we can get at a grocery store that our four year old boy kitty can eat. He's a stray we adopted, inside cat only. He was really bone thin we got him 2 years ago, but he's getting too big and I'm worried about his health.
You don't need to change cat food. You just need to limit what he eats. Feed him twice a day. Our fat cat gets about 1/4c of dry cat food, twice a day. Try to feed him at the same time every day, so he knows when his chow is coming - it will reduce stress and irritability for him if he knows when the gravy train is due to pull in.
If he drops below his optimal weight on that, increase it just slightly - say by an extra T per serving - until his weight stabilizes. Ditto if he continues to gain - reduce his portions just slightly until that stops, then just a little more until he's at the right weight, then increase just a tad to keep him there.
Yeah, trial and error.
Next time he goes in for his shots, talk to the doc about it. But he doesn't need different cat food, just less of it.
Also - those low-calorie cat foods are extremely bad for cats. They make them "low calorie" but stuffing them full of cheap fillers like corn. Cats are obligate carnivores, felines in the wild eat virtually nothing but meat and bones. Fillers in dry cat food are already ungood - piling even more of them in there is just horribly bad for your cat.
Your cat will not starve on smaller portions. He will get accustomed to the new feeding schedule. Just carry on with your current food, only control the portions - no more free feeding!
I was free feeding "Naturals" in the bathroom, and giving him one can of FF "Delights" in the morning, in the kitchen. The free feeding probably needs to stop. I took the dry food and bowl out of the bathroom (left the cool water). Will continue the morning routine and maybe provide a little dry with it.
I think the free feeding is the problem, but I won't buy that diet food.
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.
