Nutritional Requirements

Please can I have some advice on feeding. I'm trying to switch them totally to canned. Currently they have Fancy Feast twice a day and then a small bowl of Royal Canin at night. Max has lost weight, he looks very bony at the moment and is weighing about 15.4lbs. I rekon his ideal weight must be around the 17.5lbs mark. Hi is a very big boned cat. According to the charts below that would mean he needs to eat about 400 calories a day. Am I right, because I have no idea how to get this much food into him on canned alone? One can of Fancy Feast has between 80 - 95 calories. He eats about half a can in the morning and half at night. Even if I change the kibble to another can, that still means he is about 200 calories short? Am I working this out right? I know that he will only really start to put the weight back on when he is regulated, but what do I feed this cat (and the other 3 civvies) to keep their energy requirements up if I take them off dry?

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I have five cats, we mostly feed Fancy Feast. On average, each cat eats about three cans of FF a day. I don't know if that is ideal or if they are all just a bunch of little piggies but everyone is slimming down a bit, except the kitten who is growing perfectly and is a nice healthy weight (he'll be a year old either next month or early in June I think) so, while I HATE popping open 15 freakin' cans of FF a day... I do it. Cuz they like it and it seems to be working. It sure would be nice if they'd eat something that comes in bigger cans though ohmygod_smile

 

When Max was scoffing down all the food he could eat right after diagnosis, I just kept cracking open the cans, the most he ever ate was one full can at each sitting,but then he also knew that there was kibble later on.... Mine just don't eat that much even though they are big cats, one is a huge Maine Coon. I don't mind openin up the FF (even though I might need to take on a second job to afford it!), I'm amazed that they will eat that much...maybe when their proper hunger response kicks in. I mixed some kibble with a can last night to start the transition process and it went down well, maybe it's a case of upping up that feed...I've had cats for 12 years and I'm only learning how to feed them properly now :shock: It's quite embarassing!

PS: You shold have shares in Purina at that rate

 

Mine are grazers, they don't usually clear their bowls in one sitting. Once in a while they will eat it all up at once but usually they eat about half of it and leave the rest till later. Watching them, they tend to eat about every 4 hours or so. Tugger is a bit of a social eater, so if he's in the kitchen or living room and someone goes to the kitchen he'll run in and eat a few bites.

It would be great if FF would make bigger cans. I know I can't be the only person feeding multiple kitties with the stuff. I've tried every brand that makes a low carb variety in a bigger can, but not one if them has been a hit. Fancy Feast Classic Chicken is the winner. The FF Chunky chicken is second, maybe tied with the Chunky Turkey. Those are the top three though for the low carb eaters. The civvies also only seem to love Fancy Feast but I have two that refuse low carb so they get Elegant Medleys on the counter where Tugger can't jump (yet. someday they'll be screwed, but for now he can't jump)

 

Are they maintaining their weight? If they are you are OK and feeding a little more would get them to increase. If they are loosing weight and do not want to eat more that is a problem and maybe a vet visit is in order. I use a digital postal scale to track the weight of my cats.

 

Oh they'd probably eat more, but they don't really need it, I don't think. All but the baby are a bit on the tubby side from all those years of kibble. Tugger is slimming down but hasn't lost any actual pounds or ounces, just getting a flappy belly for the first time ever, he used to be as hard and round as a keg of beer. The others are getting slimmer but not so much that I'm worried, it's been very gradual. We've only been on an all canned diet for a bit over a month. I weighed them all right before we started the switch and have checked Tugger twice since, no loss on him. I'll check 'em all again in the next couple of days to see if they're dropping.

Bella was the one I really worried about loosing weight, but once I found the foods she likes the weight loss stopped and she's just about what I'd consider perfect for her body. She's tough to weigh because she doesn't like to be handled much, but we're making some progress on that front.

I mostly free feed even the canned. If they clean bowls and are begging for more, I'll give it so some days we might pop open 18 cans in a day instead of 15 ohmygod_smile . There's generally food down 20 hours of the day. I pick up 2 hours before shot times but other than that there's always something available because they almost never eat more than a few bites at a time. It seems like the times they clean bowls are after a period where I've offered something undesirable which just sat and dried out. The next meal will be clean bowls, then it's back to grazing for the rest of the day.