Overweight

[redbird]

Hi all, my cat Misty who is 7 years old and has gained a full pound in one year, the vet said that was a lot to gain for a cat in that amount of time. What do you think I should feed her, I now feed her Iams Adult foods wet and dry. I also have tried Iams Sr. but there is hardly any variety and it seems hard to find, also have tried Science Diet, that is also very hard to find in any variety. My spoiled Misty likes variety.


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Carol (Misty's Mom)

[Chris]

Hi Carol.
You may want to ask your vet to prescribe a special diet food for Misty. My vet recently prescribed a special food for my cat Romeo who has diabetes, but there are also weight maintenance benefits to the food. One brand is Hills, and they make an r/d formula that aides in weight reduction. I had two of my cats on the Science Diet Maintenance formula, but the vet said that would not help them lose weight, and would only help them stay at the current weight. Romeo use to weigh about 17 pounds, but is now at about 12 pounds because of the diabetes. As you know from your vet, that is a huge weight lose in a one year period. I think proper weight maintenance is crucial in cats. Hope this helps. Good Luck

[JKRJG24]

I heard that wet food is quite fattening but I'm not sure if its true!

[Chris]

In regards to wet food being fattening, the Hills weight reduction food does come in a wet formula. I've heard over the years that the wet food is really not that good in terms of health benefits.

[redbird]

Originally posted by SpencerTheLion:
I am currently fostering a 9-yr cat with only 3 teeth left from an exclusive canned food diet. If she was feral, she would starve to death. Read that cats in the wild may live not just 3 years, but 10 when their teeth start falling out.

Yes, I have heard that dry food is less fattening. In addition, the brands of dry food usually found only at the pet stores (IAMS, Nutro, etc.) have less filler (that you will see more of in the litter box). Dry food and tuna both help in teeth cleaning. Just make sure a cat on a dry food diet has plently of water.

Cats like corn. After all look on the bag of what they use for sweetner! Grass helps them with hairballs (hope it's not treated with fertilizer).

If you want high-calorie, kitten food is your choice.

If your cat does not like dry food, try mixing dry and canned. Also don't leave the food out all day.

Pet food has as many opinions as people. It is one of the more controversial issues, like indoor/outdoor and declawing.

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Carol (Misty's Mom)