Fat Cat Question
I have a question concerning dry food and cats overeating. Azriel is overweight and I'm trying to get her weight down. She's a 6 year old semi indoor cat (she goes outdoors only if she's supervised cuz if not she gets into trouble!). Her weight at a recent vet visit was 14 pounds and she is short stature so the vet had mentioned that this wasn't good.
I was doing some reading up on cats that are always hungry and why.......it seems like the food I give her doesn't fill her up and she gobbles it and cries for more 10 minutes later. I do give her 1/3 of a can of pate style wet food once a day at supper as well and am always filling her water bowl.
There was an article I read about cheaper cat foods containing corn meal as a 1st ingredient and how cats eating food like this is like the equivalent of a person eating McDonalds every day; no nutritional value, not filling and makes you FAT. It suggested that switching to a higher grade cat food with meat as the 1st ingredient (real meat, not meat by products) will not only be better for her health wise, but will fill her longer and help her lose weight. It also mentioned that "diet" food and senior food was also no good because they are high in sodium.
Has anyone else heard of this and if it works? I would also appreciate any advice on things that have worked well for cats that needed to shed those pounds and succeeded!
I was doing some reading up on cats that are always hungry and why.......it seems like the food I give her doesn't fill her up and she gobbles it and cries for more 10 minutes later. I do give her 1/3 of a can of pate style wet food once a day at supper as well and am always filling her water bowl.
There was an article I read about cheaper cat foods containing corn meal as a 1st ingredient and how cats eating food like this is like the equivalent of a person eating McDonalds every day; no nutritional value, not filling and makes you FAT. It suggested that switching to a higher grade cat food with meat as the 1st ingredient (real meat, not meat by products) will not only be better for her health wise, but will fill her longer and help her lose weight. It also mentioned that "diet" food and senior food was also no good because they are high in sodium.
Has anyone else heard of this and if it works? I would also appreciate any advice on things that have worked well for cats that needed to shed those pounds and succeeded!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Melissa on -
Usually Whiskas or the Safeway brand, last bag I bought was Purina Indoor Cat Chow. I looked at the ingredient listings on all of these and they all were corn meal as 1st ingredient, and Whiskas was poultry by-product.
I just switched her to Iams today (chicken was the 1st ingredient) and I immediately noticed 2 things: she only ate half of what I gave her and left the rest (I only gave her a handful of food), then she laid down belly up and had that "uhhhh sooo bloated" look to her, so I'm thinking she must've had her fill! lol
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Permalink Reply by Dean Dwyer on
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Hi Melissa,
I started looking into this more seriously after my most recent visit with my vet when the pet food they recommended I buy from them and feed my cat was littered with animal by-products. It dawned on me then that not all vets are created equal and if I wanted to ensure the health of my cat then I needed to begin the process of educating myself.
In my research I happened to come across something that made reference to Oprah's vet (I am now on a first name basis with her :-)) His name is Dr. Marty Goldstein. He is best classified as a holistic vet. Anyhow he has a book which I bought and it has really changed my thinking to what it means to be an educated responsible pet/cat owner. I highly recommend it. I have attached a link below.
The Nature of Animal Healing : The Definitive Holistic Medicine Gui...
The biggest thing I got out of it was the fact that he makes his own pet food for his dogs and cats. While I initially balked at the idea i realized that the only way I am going to know what my pets are eating is to make my own food as well. And to be honest it has been very easy.
My guy has started to loose some weight as well. What I really like is that he isn't getting all the additives, hormones and by-products that come in traditional food because I use nothing but organic ingredients.
I would be more than welcome to chat more about this if you have any questions.
DD
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Permalink Reply by Melissa on
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Thanks for the info, I definitely agree with the natural route!
One thing I also read was that cats are natural carnivores, and a lot of pet foods don't give them their natural fill of meat.
This also freaked me out......I got one of those emails a while ago with home remedies for various things, one thing it said was a natural way to get rid of ants was to leave out CORN MEAL because they bring it back to the colony, eat it and can't digest it, so it kills them! Yup, same stuff that they put into most cat food as a main ingredient. That's pretty scary!
I'm still researching better food choices for her, she seems to be doing very well with her food change right now with more real meat in the dry food, I've noticed she's only eating 2 small bowls of dry and 1/3 can of wet a day and is actually full for a change! Her coat seems nicer as well (she has a bit of a dry skin problem). I guess the saying "what you pay is what you get" rings true with this one, it's been only 3 days and already her health is changing, I would rather shell out the extra 10 dollars for good food now than to spend 100s at the vet's after as a result of her eating cheap junk!
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Your last line is bang on. I have decided to take matters into my own hands and be proactive. I would rather spend extra money on quality food than hundreds or even thousands at the vet because I assumed the pet food industry had the best interest of my pet at heart.
I neglected to mention that I have also started feeding my cat raw food as well. All natural ingredients...very very healthy stuff. He loves it.
And you are also right...a lot of processed cat foods (and people foods) have tons of additives that act as fillers...no nutritional value at all. It pays to educate ourselves on what these ingredients are and whether our pet should be ingesting them.
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Permalink Reply by Bobbie on -
Good advice below. No wheat or corn gluten ever. Wheat gluten especially causes allergies. I cook and freeze holistic pet food. Only 1 endorsed by USDA for people as well as cats and dogs and make a months supply at a time. Then freeze, thaw a weeks worth out . and feed 2x daily. Allowing 30 min to eat then not anything down till 2nd feeding. Dry food is all garbage. Yes Vets will say get there foods which sometimes create more problems for your pet. They make money from the food as well as receive perks from the food company for this. Bobbie
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