Food questions

[ChloesMama]

I think my post from the other day kind of was forgotten..so I'm going to try reposting because I'm quite curious.

How much do you feed your babies? Do you go by the recommendations on the side of the can? Like 1 can for every 6-8 lbs of weight? My civies at home are about 11 and 10 lbs each, and they barely finish a 5.5 oz can (each) sometimes. I don't want to be under or over feeding them.

And how about fat/protein content for civies? I'm trying different brands with Linus and Lucy, and Sophistacat and certain Friskies pates are very high in fat, yet low in carbs. I just want to find a good balance for them.

Many thanks!

 

[Ronnie & Luna]

You might want to check Dr Lisa's nutrional link:

http://catinfo.org/index.htm

Scroll down, there is a section on how much to feed, and how to calculate etc..plus she has a lot of info on weight gain/loss

something Dr Lisa (I'm pretty sure it's her) says: too fat? feed less, too thin? feed more.

Dr Lisa's link also includes a section, by the way : how to read labels.

You can learn a lot from her link in regards to feeding, sometimes it takes reading the site a few times, there's so much info in there. To this day I still go back to look something up.

Before our DX, I had no clue about pet food companies, so I always followed the labels and always assumed dry food was the best for my cats (NOT)
Currently I feed 1 can (5.5oz Wellness) per day for each cat, both are about 15lbs.

 

[Lori in Ohio]

I also asked this question because my cats just pick all day at dry food and never ate the wet.

I was told about a 1/2 a can 2x a day.

 

[Karen & Angus(GA)]

You may want to read this post: http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=659. It gives the theoretical calorie requirements for normal and overweight cats. If your cats are normal weight and not gaining or losing, they are eating the correct amount. You also need to consider their age and activity level. My senior, inactive cats don't eat that much. They get one 5.5 oz can or two 3 oz. cans each per day.

Your second question is much harder to answer. The AAFCO standard is a minimum of 26% of calories from protein for adult cats and 30% for kittens. The average adult mouse is about 8% carbs with the remaining calories pretty evenly divided between fat and protein. You also need to think about the source of the protein. Vegetables proteins (gluten, soy, rice or pea protein) are not as good for cats as animal sources. IMHO, the closer you can get to mouse, the better. That said, healthy civies can probably tolerate more fat and carbs than cats with chronic diseases.