Is Weight loss common when diet is changed?

Discussion in 'Feline Health - (Welcome & Main Forum)' started by skybar22, May 23, 2010.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. skybar22

    skybar22 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 5, 2010
    Morgaine has lost a pound in the last 3 weeks since she went off of the Hill's high carb diet food and onto low carb FF. She could use to lose another pound or less but I am wondering if this is a normal occurance when the diet is changed from high carb to low carb. She had such a hard time losing weight on the prescription food and it took her years to lose 5 pounds. I'm a little worried as I know a pound is lot in such a short amount of time, for a cat. I checked her lab work and everything else looks normal except for the glucose levels at diagnosis. Her thyroid is normal etc.
     
  2. Kelly & Oscar

    Kelly & Oscar Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 17, 2010
    How are Morgaine's glucose numbers lately? Unregulated diabetics can still lose weight even though they are on insulin. It is also common to lose weight when going to a higher protein food - just the same as when a human eliminates a lot of carbs from their diet and eats mostly protein. How many cans are you feeding each day? There are only 80-90 calories per can and most regulated/normal cats will need 2.5-3 cans a day roughly, depending on their activity level. A diabetic will need more since they aren't processing food as well and need more to get enough nourishment. I know at one point I was feeding Oscar 6 cans a day just to satisfy him.
     
  3. skybar22

    skybar22 Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    May 5, 2010
    Morgaine is not on insulin. Her BGs are around 100 and I have been taking them at different times of the day. Fortunately she has been diet controlled since diagnosed. she was at 292 at diagnosis with a +3 in her urine. As soon as I changed her diet she started to come down. The last 3 blood tests were 108, 97 and 110 and she has been under 140 for about 2 weeks. I test her every other day and sometimes 2-3 hours after feeding her.

    I have been feeding her 2.5 cans of FF a day and divide that into 5 small feedings as she is very much a grazer plus I give her 2 or 3 pieces of freeze dried Halo's chicken once a day as a treat. Her appetite is excellent. Do you think I need to feed her more? She is not very active and is 12 years old. She was obese for awhile and has now lost a total of 6 pounds. I think she could lose another 1/2 pound but she is really in good shape now. I do not want her to lose much more weight.
     
  4. Karen & Smokey(GA)

    Karen & Smokey(GA) Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 28, 2009
    What I did with Smokey was calculate how many calories he was getting.

    Each can of food may be a little different. Add up the amount of calories eaten each day.
    I would adjust up or down once per week depending upon how Smokey was doing.

    You will see that Morgaine loses weight on a certain amount of calories.

    When she reaches her target weight, if she still keeps losing, up the calories by 2-5%.

    I don't try to get the exact same amount of calories each day...just add everything
    up for a week and take the average for 7 days. Adjust accordingly.
     
  5. francine and garth

    francine and garth Member

    Joined:
    Dec 28, 2009
    hopefully this will help, when Garth was dx diabetic he was 29lbs!!!! eating C/D dry for 12 years. once I switched his diet and controlled his calories and carbs, he went down to 14 lbs and maintained that for 6 yrs until the cancer when he crossed over he was 10lbs. yes it is normal and it will roll off!!
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page