Weight loss help

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alsoro

Member Since 2013
I am trying to figure out how to get my cat to lose a pound or two -- he recently gained back everything he lost when he was unregulated and is too heavy again. I used some of the online calculators but they make the food seem VERY restricted... is this right? Can anyone help? His insulin resistance is going to get worse if he doesn't loose some weight too.

17 pounds divided by 2.2 = 7.7 kilograms (17 is the goal weight)
7.7 kilos x 30 = 231
231 + 70 = 301
301 x 0.8 = 241 calories

Calorie Content (Dry food - purina dm)
Metabolizable Energy (ME): 4118 kcal/kg, 592 kcal/cup

Calorie Content (Canned - purina dm)
Metabolizable Energy (ME): 1227 kcal/kg, 191 kcal/can

This is definitely NOT enough food and also doesn't match the site for the food i feed him - so any help would be appreciated:
http://www.purinaveterinarydiets.com/Pr ... tFood.aspx

I have a lot of this food for now - so i want to keep feeding him DM - but i might switch to other soft food.
 
I'm trying to lower the hard food and increase the soft food - but I don't want to accidentally add or subtract too many calories. I can't seem to compute the hard vs. soft - i dont know what calorie number applies. The DM webside doesnt give numbers for a 17 pound cat or for mixing soft and hard.

Right now he gets 3/4 cup of hard food and 1/4 can in the am and 1/4 can at night.
 
If you're not already doing it, you can try adding water to his food. Since cats naturally get most of their water from food, oftentimes, they'll eat when they're not hungry but because they're actually thirsty.

And here's a page specifically relating to obesity in cats that might help you if you haven't seen it already, which contains this formula: Required calories per day = [13.6 X optimal lean body weight in pounds] + 70. In your case, that would be 13.6 X 17 + 70 = 301 calories per day. A bit more than the calculation you have above, so that might help as well because it's recommended that a safe rate of weight loss is 1-2% of their current body weight per week.

You might also want to look for lower calorie foods in larger sizes so there's more substance in his belly but not as many calories going to his hips. ;-) It's best to look for higher protein-to-fat ratios. Here is a list of commercial cat food and their nutritional values to help you compare.

And, as always, it's best if you can fully transition your cat to wet and feed NO dry food at all.
 
Be patient -- cats need to lose weight slowly to avoid fatty liver disease. If you have not done so already, I second KPassa's suggestion that you take a peek at Dr. Lisa's tips on cats and weight loss : http://www.catinfo.org/?link=felineobesity

Try not to use any "weight loss" cat food. They tend to be low in fat, but extra high in carbs, which is dreadful for any cat (and has landed many a feline here!) but even worse for a cat who already has diabetes.

Good luck!
 
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