06/17 Shmee AMPS 318, +8 177, PMPS 168, +2 196. Happy Fathers Day!

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Good morning,
Happy Fathers Day to all the dads out there!
I am driving out to spend some time with my dad today, he lives about an hour away so DH will be "tagging in" when I leave. I hope everyone has a nice day.

Replies from yesterday:

This seems so confusing to me haha but I am trying!

Shmee is 15.5 pounds. He eats 2.5 cans a day right now, and yes I agree 2 cans doesnt sound like enough yet. My vet thinks getting his weight down is a key factor in getting cats into remission.... but I don't want to starve him.
He is a grazer since he was used to eating dry food, but slowly he's been eating more at meal times (half can @ AMPS, full can @ +4, and full can @ PMPS). My theory is that he is just not fully used to eating at designated times yet, since he is eating more and more at mealtimes and not leaving that much to graze on anymore, so the in-between times he whines. Plus I know when they are in higher numbers they are more hungry . Which is why I hated seeing that pink creep up this morning.​

 

If you look on Dr. Puerson’s Site she has a formula to figure out how to gradually get a cat to lose weight. I wasn’t at all successful with Max because I couldn’t get him to move. I got a friend to use her formula and her cat went from almost 19 pounds to 15 slowly. She did feed two cans of fancy feast and a few treats a day. Before that he was on dry. Good luck and enjoy your day.

 

It's a good idea to use your scale as a guide in how much to feed. Neko did well on around 200 calories per day. Depending on the protein of the day, a little less or more. I did multiple small meals to try to stave off the "starvation". Getting high dose condition results can also help. Acros have extra growth hormone in their system - think teenage boys. Growing, they need extra food, not less. Knowing a cat's body condition score is useful.

Enjoy the day, glad Shmee gave you a pass to see your dad.

Sorry about the consuming answer above. Part of it is learning your own cat. If Neko saw a green in the 70's or lower, I would give her a chance to see if she could do it again. If all she saw was one high green in a sea of higher colours, I'd increase.

 

Thanks Elise, I found what you were referring too and I am going to start to look over that tonight.

A food scale? I do not have one of those. I was using Dr. Pierson's website for figuring out calories. I just went through it again but this time I looked at the obesity page on the website and she recommends 13.6 calories x their ideal weight (sorry I just realized I missed that part of your question before) so I did 13 pounds x 13.6 calories + 70 = a goal of 247 calories. His FF chicken is 98, so 2.5 cans = 245. Sometimes he gets the beef feast which is 92, so about 2.75 cans. So I guess the amount he is getting is ok? He just seems so hungry. When I am able to, I should split his meals up more, maybe that will help. I am anxious to get his bloodwork done to get some more data. My vet has yet to answer my email and I have an appointment set for Thursday to get those three blood tests... it should be interesting. And I appreciate trying to explain when to increase, I am learning slowly but surely. I need to keep adding onto my Word document I have saved will all of this advice because it is a lot to remember!

 

I always free fed my cats, so the adjustment to finding a good feeding schedule was tough. I was counting calories too, and kind of just settled into 6 meals a day, with am and pm being just a bit larger than the other meals. I think @Wendy&Neko meant weight scale to be your guide . I weigh Mav every week to see where he is at. You don't want them losing weight too quickly either.

 

No, a cat scale. Dr. Lisa's formula has some variation depending on age and activity level of the kitty.