How much to feed my 8 year old cat?

acequion

My cat is 8 years old and weighs 5kg. She is a rather big cat and has never been overweight, however the last vet she saw, who was standing in for her regular vet, felt I should get her weight down to 4.5kg.

I had been feeding her Royal Canin Intense Beauty as she had previously got a bout of alopecia and the intense beauty did wonders for her coat. At the vet's suggestion I tried her on Royal Canine, Satiety, a dry diet food only, for several weeks, but she didn't lose any weight. So now I'm mixing the Satiety dry with the Intense Beauty wet and the weight still isn't budging. She's a constant 5kg, diet or no diet.

At present I'm feeding her about 60 grams wet and 40 grams dry per day but it doesn't seem to satisfy her. She's an indoor /outdoor cat, very healthy and quite active.Any suggestions?

And what would be the average per day in grams of wet and dry for a 5kg cat? I have the Royal Canine measuring cup but it's really hard to figure out. It goes up to to 7/8 and then one cup. Whatever that's about No grams or recognisable measurement to be seen.

I really am confused. I don't want her overweight as she's getting older but I don't want her hungry either.

Much appreciate any help, cheers.

SillyMangoX

I’ve started one of my cats on a diet again recently after she put up some weight. We’re feeding her royal Canin light weight care both wet and dry. She gets one pouch of the wet food split into two separate servings and 40g of the dry food again spread into 2 servings so she gets fed 4 small meals a day. She doesn’t even normally finish it all. It’s been just over a week and she’s lost 0.3kgs roughly and I can already see a major difference in her.
I’m wondering the fact you say your cat is indoor/outdoor is there a chance she might be getting food somewhere else? Either hunting or maybe a friendly neighbour who thinks they’re doing the right thing.
Is there a way you could keep her indoors for a week or two and strictly follow the feeding schedule and see if they’re any difference then? If there isn’t then it may be worth getting checked at the vets in case there’s something else like thyroid problems going on!

acequion

Thanks so much SillyMangoX for your reply.

What you're feeding yours is roughly the same as what I'm feeding mine yet my girl doesn't have enough! And yes there is an old dear who lives nearby, batty for cats and I'd say definitely feeds her treats though I've a "do not feed" on her collar :rolleyes:

A few more questions as you're so kind. Do you know anything about the Royal Canin feeding cup? As in how many grams is it in total [my scales is not reliable] and what does the measurement in eights mean ie 5/8, 6/8 etc? It could be such a useful measuring tool if only it was clear. Also what's the story with vets at the moment? My vet is actually 20km away.

Keeping her in would be really hard in this lovely weather and in these long,bright days. She's bursting to get out every morn at 6am and bird watching at the window and hard to coax in at night. So she could be hunting a bit. But if she's getting extra food how come she's still hungry? Or does the fact that she's so active mean she needs more food? Maybe the 5kg is the correct weight for her as that has always been her weight? So many questions

Thanks so much.

Alun

We had this discussion a few years ago with our vet about our two cats. They were sisters, but even from when they were kittens, one was much larger than the other. Later on, I must admit, they both got a bit overweight, and we put them both on a weight loss diet. She had this fixed idea, like your vet, that all adult cats should be 4.5kg, and wouldn't listen to our opinion that cats are just like humans, some are just heavier built than others, and you can't make sweeping generalisations like that.

In the end the smaller one got down to 4.5kg and the larger one around 4.8kg, and we left it at that. The vet kept on commenting on the heavier one's weight, but we just ignored her!

SillyMangoX

acequion wrote: »

A few more questions as you're so kind. Do you know anything about the Royal Canin feeding cup? As in how many grams is it in total [my scales is not reliable] and what does the measurement in eights mean ie 5/8, 6/8 etc? It could be such a useful measuring tool if only it was clear. Also what's the story with vets at the moment? My vet is actually 20km away.

I’m afraid I don’t know much about the feeding cups, but I’d imagine they wouldn’t be totally accurate. The density of each kibble wouldn’t be the same consistently. I just leave a small kitchen scales next to the food and weigh it out each feeding!
With vets, most seem to be getting back to normal now although a lot have the owners wait outside and go out to the cars to collect the animal for its appointment. We’ve had to call in a couple of times with my uncles dog and to pick up medication and haven’t had any trouble at checkpoints when we let them know.

acequion

SillyMangoX wrote: »

I’m afraid I don’t know much about the feeding cups, but I’d imagine they wouldn’t be totally accurate. The density of each kibble wouldn’t be the same consistently. I just leave a small kitchen scales next to the food and weigh it out each feeding!
With vets, most seem to be getting back to normal now although a lot have the owners wait outside and go out to the cars to collect the animal for its appointment. We’ve had to call in a couple of times with my uncles dog and to pick up medication and haven’t had any trouble at checkpoints when we let them know.

Thanks so much for the help, much appreciated.