TC Love - how much should I be feeding her daily?

[dlaura]

It came up in the mascot thread that TC Love was a "big" cat and it is debatable whether she is a "fat cat" or just plainly a big cat.

Tiffers said the bags actually have you feed more than you should and offered to figure out what we should actually be feeding.


We do not free feed since about 2 months ago. TC Love gets her allowance divided and fed to her 3 times a day. We follow the directions on back of bag and TC Love will not reach a year old until the first week of March 2011.

The feeding directions on "Grain Free" -Tuna Flavor are:

Kitten: Age 1-2 mos 1/4-3/4 cup daily 2-6Mos 1/3-3/4cup 6-12mos 3/4-1cup

Adult: 4-7lbs 1/4-1/2cup 7-10lbs 1/2-2/3cup 10-15lbs 2/3-3/4 cup

3765 Kcal/kg (calculated)
1lb provided 1706 Kcal of metabolizeable energy (calculated) one cup (100grams)

provides 406 calories (calorie content calculated using modified at water method)

I welcome anyone's thoughts or comments here. Thanks in advance.

[e1beth1]

The guy that runs the organic pet food store near my works preaches that you feed whatever the lower end of the feeding scale is for the animals age.

I don't think she's overweight, I think she's just going to be a very large cat.

[tiffers]

Diane, do you know how much she weighs right now?

[special]

An adult cat needs about 180 calories a day, give or take depending on activity and metabolism, but of course, not all calories are equal.

A high quality food with protein calories will have different results than a food with the same calories but loaded with carbohydrates.

If you are feeding her one cup of food a day, and she is gaining weight, then she is getting too much. (one cup a day sounds like too much for any cat except little kittens!)

So..measure out what you have been feeding. Remove 2 tablespoons of food from that. Then split the remaining food into the three feedings.

It's important that cats reduce very slowly. After six weeks, if you see no reduction, remove another tablespoon from the daily quota.

If she looks more svelte continue with the new quantity. If she begins to look too skinny after say, three months, add a tablespoon back in.

PS I am a canned food advocate, and canned food is better for weight loss and weight control. But I realize some people don't want to feed canned food. You might consider replacing at least one meal a day with a high quality canned food. Maybe 2 oz for one meal.

[dlaura]

We weighed TC Love this morning and it appears she has lost about 1/2 to 3/4 of a lb. She looks much better to me - her tummy isn't bulging out on the sides anymore, but she still feels like she is there when you pick her up.

She weighed 10 lbs this morning.

I remember it ate me up to pick up April at 4 lbs and feel her seemingly wasting away.

I look forward to the results of your calculations Tiffer.

Special I will consider replacing one meal with wet food in the evening.

[special]

What is the brand name of the food?

[dlaura]

What is the brand name of the food?

The brand name is "Before Grain".

[special]

Never mind I remembered what you are feeding. Before grain Tuna contains 406 calories per cup.

A ten pound cat with a high activity level should get no more than half a cup daily, or 203 calories. Even that is pushing it a little. But like I said, if you've been feeding one cup a day, you need to cut back very slowly until you get to that 1/2 cup.

My chubby cat who eats grain free canned food gets 180 calories a day. She has a slow metabolism. I've tried feeding her less to reduce her weight, but being a stray she has terrible food anxiety, so my vet and I have agreed that she will just have to be slightly chubby (at 9.7 pounds)

The other adult cats also get 180 calories a day, but they stay lean on that amount. (female 8.5 pounds, smallish boned, male 9.5 pounds, large cat)

[tiffers]

There are a few routes you can take as far as what to feed.

At 10lbs, she needs about 218 kcal per day according to the formula (estimated energy requirements)/ RER (resting energy requirement). For a normal, neutered adult...you're looking at 261.6 kcals a day. For an obese prone, those kcals change to exactly 218 a day. But, if you're looking for weight loss, we'd need to decide what weight she should be at.

However, let me say this...or rather, give you an exam to try. :p

I've never met TC, so my comment was based soley off her picture. lol ...hold your hand out in front of you...palm down. Hold your hand flat, and feel your knuckles. That is how TC's ribs should feel under her skin. Turn your hand over, flat in front of you...feel your knuckles through the bottom of your hand...you have little fat pads...if TCs ribs feel like that...she's overweight. If you make a fist, turn your fist back over, and feel your knuckles...she is far too skinny.

This is, in general, a good thing to try if you're worried about her being obese. Now, if you have big hands...it may not be completely accurate, but it's something to try.

I would start with feeding the normal, altered adult amount. So, in cups of food...she'd need 1.8 cups per day. So, if you're feeding her three times a day, with the food that you're on...that's 0.6 cups, three times a day. Or, to make it easy, half a cup, three times a day. That'll give you the normal DER (daily energy requirement) for a 10lb cat.

[tiffers]

I'll also add, if you feed canned food...be sure to also figure out how many kcals per can it has, and I'll formulate that in. You must take those calories away from the dry food calories in order to avoid over feeding.

[special]

There are a few routes you can take as far as what to feed.

At 10lbs, she needs about 218 kcal per day according to the formula (estimated energy requirements)/ RER (resting energy requirement). For a normal, neutered adult...you're looking at 261.6 kcals a day. For an obese prone, those kcals change to exactly 218 a day. But, if you're looking for weight loss, we'd need to decide what weight she should be at.

However, let me say this...or rather, give you an exam to try. :p

I've never met TC, so my comment was based soley off her picture. lol ...hold your hand out in front of you...palm down. Hold your hand flat, and feel your knuckles. That is how TC's ribs should feel under her skin. Turn your hand over, flat in front of you...feel your knuckles through the bottom of your hand...you have little fat pads...if TCs ribs feel like that...she's overweight. If you make a fist, turn your fist back over, and feel your knuckles...she is far too skinny.

This is, in general, a good thing to try if you're worried about her being obese. Now, if you have big hands...it may not be completely accurate, but it's something to try.

I would start with feeding the normal, altered adult amount. So, in cups of food...she'd need 1.8 cups per day. So, if you're feeding her three times a day, with the food that you're on...that's 0.6 cups, three times a day. Or, to make it easy, half a cup, three times a day. That'll give you the normal DER (daily energy requirement) for a 10lb cat.

tiffers you know I have a lot of respect for you right? So keep that in mind when I adamantly disagree with you about this post.

1.8 cups of food for a 10 pound indoor cat is WAY too much food, even a grain free food with 36% protein. She should be having at the most 200 calories a day. Which is about a half cup of the Before Grain. :)

But..like I said before, if Diane is feeding her a cup a day currently, the reductions should be done very gradually.

Diane, I don't think you told us how much she is getting exactly, currently?

<edit> of course if it turns out she is still growing, and is going to be a big boned cat when she's done growing, she may end up needing more than half a cup a day. But I can't imagine any cat needing almost two cups of dry food a day. With the Before Grain food 1.8 cups would be almost a 800 calories a day!

[dlaura]

Ok, sorry I am confused Tiffers. Going by the theory that they always tell you to feed too much on the bag a normal 10 lb cat would received 2/3 -3/4 cups daily. Yet you are suggesting we feed more than the bag recommends. ??????

[tiffers]

Wait. Wait. lol

Let me recheck the formula...haha!

Here...I'll also put it here so you guys can check, too.

The RER for a 10# cat is 218. RER is her total kcal per day.

For an adult, neutered it's 1.2 x RER...and that's 261.6 kcal, her DER.

Your food is 406 kcal per cup, so 406/261.6 = is 1.5 cups.

That does not make sense at all...it really doesn't. I'm glad you both pointed it out because now I'm really confused...hahaha! ...that would mean your 10# cat eats more in a day than Chica. :confused:

I'm going to ask the doctor...I'll send her an email...that is just so weird. I don't know why it's not working right.

[tiffers]

For a 10# cat, ...just a 10# cat, with the weight loss formula...she'd need 1.8 cups per food...which is MORE than the normal adult neutered.

Holy moly...I'm doing something wrong. lol Maybe it's my calculator...? We use this formula and chart all the time and have for years....I am seriously at a loss why it's so wonky right now?

[special]

LOL tiffers!

I'm not a math whiz but I think you've got your equations backwards. 261 kcal out of a food that is 406 kcal a cup would be less than a cup of food. .64 cup by my calculations, which is about 3/4 cup.

My own personal opinion is that 261 calories would be too much for a 10 pound cat, but I like my cats to be on the lean side, so maybe that's just me. My one girl who weighs 9.7 pounds at last check gets 180 kcal in grain free canned food every day and about 20 kcal in kibble snacks but she doesn't get the kibble snacks every day, only every two or three days. She should not weigh more than 9 pounds, but I've had to accept she is going to be a slightly chubby cat.

[tiffers]

...wouldn't you divide the cup of food (406) by the calories the cat needs (200ish)?

LOL

This is terrible...this is why the doctor ALWAYS checks my math...I make her. lol

[special]

Divide the calories needed by the calories total. I divided 261 by 406 to come up with the .64 amount, which is approximately 2/3 cup. (I think I wrote 3/4 before but that is obviously wrong too, never was very good at fractions LOL)



So I did this.

1 cup = 406 kcal

1/2 cup = 203 kcal

3/4 cup = 304.5 kcal

2/3 cup = 270.6 kcal

So TC Love, depending on activity level and full growth size will need between 1/2 and 2/3 cup of food eating the Before Grain.

Whew!

[tiffers]

LMAO...

It still doesn't make sense to me...haha! I see where I borked it, but I don't get why you'd divide the calories by the cup... oh geez. This is terrible!

[Ophirae]

It makes sense that you'd divide the total calories per cup of the food by the calories needed.

If you use whole numbers, just for the heck of it, it makes more sense.

Let's say for the sake of this that a food has 400 calories per cup and you need 200 calories, this one's obvious without calculating it, you'd need 0.5 cups.

200 / 400 = 0.5 cups

[dlaura]

LMAO...

It still doesn't make sense to me...haha! I see where I borked it, but I don't get why you'd divide the calories by the cup... oh geez. This is terrible!

Me too Tiff! LMAO It reminds me of trying to do word problems in math back in my school days. My dad & I would sit at the kitchen table and he'd help me while still trying to get me to figure it out on my own. I detested word problems ......and still do.

[tiffers]

Let's say for the sake of this that a food has 400 calories per cup and you need 200 calories, this one's obvious without calculating it, you'd need 0.5 cups.


lol ...it makes sense to me this morning, I am not sure what happened last night!

We use it all the time and it always works out... lol ...I just couldn't for the life of me figure out why this wasn't working for TC's food! :headache: