Switching food and calorie count

[Ashley O Waterhouse]

Hi everyone!

I wanted to ask how you determine calorie needs for a cat. I must be doing my math wrong because I've figured my boy cat 12yrs old and 12lbs needs 375kcals. And my girl 15yrs old and 21lbs needs over 600kcal. They have both been on Blue weight management food for over 5 years with no change in their weights. I just recently (3weeks) ago started switching them both over to Hills W/D at the suggestion of my vet. Zeus was diagnosed as diabetic and Athena is in perfect health but needs to loose weight.

So far neither of them are fans of the Hills. After reading the terrific food chart on this site i was considering changing them both to the beef fancy feast.

I also had a question about the foods. My cats have always seemed to get sick from the foods I've given them - no matter the brand. BLUE was the best, making them sick maybe twice a week max. My girl is a gorger so it was always shortly after eating and pure kibble. But when we switched to W/D i put them both on wet food, since Zeus was also diagnosed with dental issues. Since eating the wet food neither cat has been sick once and I've noticed Athena's fur is much softer and shinier.

With this being said I'm hesitant to switch to fancy feast, but if they won't eat the W/D I'm unsure what to do.

So ultimately my questions are: would you suggest i make a switch in food? How will this new food effect Zeus's levels? How do i figure out exactly how much to feed them and will new food help Athena loose weight?

Thank you!

 

[JeanW]

I would suggest switching foods since the first requirement has to be that they will like and eat it.

After that it needs to meet their needs and be affordable. Prescription food is usually expensive. I would rather spend that same money on high quality food that doesn't have a bunch of synthetic junk in it or fillers/sawdust. I really believe that the right food and high quality food is one of the most important pieces of the puzzle in getting our kitties regulated and healthy.

New food will affect Zeus's levels - maybe to the good or the bad. You want to look at the % of carbs, protein and fats. I will defer to some of the others here to help you answer your other questions.