Good food for overweight cat?

offbeatmama

My cat has gotten a little on the tubby side in her older age (she's around 7 now). She used to have great quantity management... not so much anymore. Now I feed her 1/3 of a cup twice a day and she frequently whines for food. Some days I'm either home or can go home mid-day to feed her (smaller portions 3x/day) but not always. The vet just recommended switching her to Science Diet weight control food but I was under the impression that was actually not a good food.

What's the point of a "diet" food? Does it simply have less calories per ounce so cats like mine can eat more without gaining? Is there really a benefit for overweight cats to eat diet food?

Is it better to feed her twice a day every day or three times a day when I can but only twice a day when I can't?

 

If I should be giving her weight control food (which it seems like I should) I'll write a few good brands down (from pet food ratings dot com) that have a diet option.

Kaiene

A couple questions:  What do you currently feed? Do you free feed?

Personally, I would feed a high quality food, but less of it.  I like meal times because you are giving kitty a set amoun of food, plus you can monitor how they are dating.

We feed raw, and adjust portions based on activity level.  L is the smallest, but most active, so she gets more than S, who sleeps 30 hours a day. 

marriedonmaui

Science diet is a really crap food. I wouldn't feed it in any form, diet or otherwise. I would just feed less of a high quality food. She'll get used to the smaller portions eventually. I would also try to increase the amount of play time.

marriedonmaui

Also, canned food gives them a fuller feeling longer so if you can switch to most or all wet food that will help too.

mainerocks

See the post about 6 below yours called Vet Recommended Food. Almost the same question so lots of tips there too )

LuckyAngel07

mainerocks:

See the post about 6 below yours called Vet Recommended Food. Almost the same question so lots of tips there too )

offbeatmama

mainerocks:

See the post about 6 below yours called Vet Recommended Food. Almost the same question so lots of tips there too )

I looked 2 pages back but didn't realize from the post title that's what it was about. I just read the whole thread and got a lot of good info. Thank you! I think I'm going to keep feeding her twice a day so it's always consistent. Obviously I don't want to give her poor quality food like Science Diet. I'm going to pick up some Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul in the lite version and work on cutting back her quantity gradually. I had no idea about wet food being more "filling". I'll pick up some of that too!

She was free feeding until about a year ago when I switched to 2x/day since she started gaining weight.

mainerocks

offbeatmama:

mainerocks:

See the post about 6 below yours called Vet Recommended Food. Almost the same question so lots of tips there too )

I looked 2 pages back but didn't realize from the post title that's what it was about. I just read the whole thread and got a lot of good info. Thank you! I think I'm going to keep feeding her twice a day so it's always consistent. Obviously I don't want to give her poor quality food like Science Diet. I'm going to pick up some Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul in the lite version and work on cutting back her quantity gradually. I had no idea about wet food being more "filling". I'll pick up some of that too!

She was free feeding until about a year ago when I switched to 2x/day since she started gaining weight.

No problem!  Good luck )