Am I feeding enough?

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Dez

Dez

Member Since 2016
Sorry I keep making threads, but you guys are great and have really put my mind at ease with many things that I have always wondered about. Jinx (13 lbs) shares his diet with my other (non-diabetic) obese cat (23 lbs - was hoping I could get him to also lose some weight on Jinx's low carb diet) and here's the schedule:

9am: 1/2 can FF classic salmon (shot time)
10:30isham: 1/4 scoop of evo low carb dry (neither my husband or I are home for the following 6 hours due to work - vet suggested the dry was a good idea just in case BG dips while no one is home)
9 pm: 1/2 can FF classic salmon (shot time)
12-12:30am: 1/2 can FF classic salmon

I calculated calories the other day and it comes to about 200 which seems good to maintain his 13 lbs. However, I'm not sure if he should be eating more with diabetes? I leave for work at 11am and his dry food is pretty much empty by then (sometimes there's a bit left, depends on the day).. and then he goes until 9pm without food. I'm just not sure if I should put more dry food in his bowl than 1/4... but then calorie intake + BG would by higher by PMPS. I have to be home to watch him with wet food (I usually lock him in another room) because my other cat will knock him out of the way to finish his food. Also, Jinx only eats 1/2 cans at a time because a full can is too much at once for him.
 
Have you thought about getting a timed automatic feeder? I know several people who have the petsafe 5 day feeder. They freeze the cans of food in the removable trays and them let them thaw out in the feeder.
 
@Lisa and Smoky : I never thought about it. I don't understand how it would work with wet food? Maybe I need to do some research. It also wouldn't prevent my fat boy from stealing all the food when I'm not there either - unless I keep Jinx in a room all day by himself (which I would rather avoid considering he loves to play with fat boy all day while the parents are away.. you should see the mess of toys I have to pickup when I come home from work everyday haha).
 
There are special collars that you can buy that have a chip in them. These collars work to open a pet feeder that only opens for the cat wearing that collar. I'll admit I don't know much about them but might be something to look into.
 
The general (rough) rule of thumb for caloric intake is as follows:

(desired weight of cat X 13.5) + 70 = number of calories needed

So if your cat weighs 13 lbs, and that is the weight you want to maintain, your calculation would be (13 X 13.5) + 70 [175.5 + 70] = 245.5 calories per day. You can adjust the amount up or down as needed.
 
Squalliesmom said:
The general (rough) rule of thumb for caloric intake is as follows:

(desired weight of cat X 13.5) + 70 = number of calories needed

So if your cat weighs 13 lbs, and that is the weight you want to maintain, your calculation would be (13 X 13.5) + 70 [175.5 + 70] = 245.5 calories per day. You can adjust the amount up or down as needed.
Click to expand...

I did my math wrong! Oops. So
1 cup evo = 538 divided by 4 (he eats 1/4) = 134.5
each can of FF salmon = 85 (he eats 3 1/2 cans) = 127.5
So he eats roughly 262 calories a day so I suppose he gets enough

I guess the question is really about if a diabetic cat should go 10 hours with no food and then another 9 during the night.
 
Lisa and Smoky said:
There are special collars that you can buy that have a chip in them. These collars work to open a pet feeder that only opens for the cat wearing that collar. I'll admit I don't know much about them but might be something to look into.
Click to expand...

Will do! Thank you for the suggestions!!
 
my boys have always free feed... they have pure bites or wild side salmon out always and canned food 3x a day (they graze so canned stays out for a while)
 
When Nigel was one of 9 cats in the house restricted feeding was almost impossible. As Nigel's weight went down and his numbers were crazy our vet said "This isn't working, feed him whatever and whenever he wants". She's a vet willing to bend the rules and everything about Nigel changed for the better. Keep in mind, that was just one cat.
 
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