Please help me read the feeding guide

[Meowmie]

Is there any basic-ish guidelines on how many calories cats are supposto have?

There is some information here:

http://www.talktothevet.com/ARTICLES/CA ... ultcat.HTM

[Meaile]

Thanks for the article

It definately would be wrong to feed her 420 calories a day.....

I have a baby scale and weigh them monthly so I'll just keep a good eye out. Eddy could stand to lose a couple pounds over time but I'm not going to reduce his food as long as he doesn't gain.

[cal4ever0407]

Originally Posted by Meowmie

Are you saying his total food intake per day is at most half of a 5.5 ounce can a day?

Basically, plus various treats at random times of the night when he's good (Dr. Harvey's Whisker Smackers).

His appetite doesn't appear to be the problem. He comes running the moment he hears us shake a bag of treats, and he incessantly tries to eat Kit's dry food (although we put it somewhere where only she can get to it and Brutus can't). Whenever we're done giving him treats, he always smells around the area to try and find more. And we always put away Kit's dry food once we get home, so the smell of that food shouldn't be a temptation for him when Brutus has a meal.

Even when we free-fed Brutus, he was never a big eater. He would nibble little bits throughout the day. We gave him about 3/4-1 cup of Nutro Natural Choice a day, and he would usually almost finish it by the end of the day. When we got Kit, Brutus was able to try Kit's dry kitten food and he instantly fell for it, heavily prefering it over his dry food.

The thing is, when meal time comes (7am, 7pm, 12am), Brutus will happily eat what we give him (about 1 1/2 tablespoons of wet food). The problem is that he almost never finishes his food, usually leaving about 1/3 tablespoon of food or more. We give him about a 45 minute window to eat, although once he stops eating the first time, he generally won't eat again unless I pick up the bowl and put it in front of him. Even then, he'll only ocassionally choose to eat again.

Should I feed Brutus more frequently? Maybe even free-feed him wet food? Meowmie, you once mentioned that you free-feed wet food to your cats. How long do you leave wet food out before you toss it? Could we leave it out while we're gone for work, or would that be too long? We really don't want to leave out any dry food for him because if it's available for him, he will not eat much of his wet food (which is exactly what happened when we tried to put him on a half-dry/half-wet diet).

I'd prefer to keep Brutus on set mealtimes, but if he's not getting enough calories I guess I'll have to feed him more often.

[cal4ever0407]

Oh, and here's a list of the different wet foods we've tried. We're hoping to find something the he'll really like so that he'll eat more but it hasn't happened yet. We're also trying to make sure that Brutus doesn't develop any food addiction. So far, he seems to like the Nutro Natural Choice - Chicken and Liver or Chicken and Lamb flavor best.

Nutro Natural Choice (several flavors)
Nutro Max Cat
Wellness (just about every flavor)
Trader Joe's
Natural Balance

We're also about to give him Innova and Avoderm to try.

There's 2 things I should note - I've tried giving him those pouched foods and he doesn't seem to taken by it. He usually just drinks up the broth, leaving the meat chunks behind. Kit does the same thing.

In addition, he seems to like Kit's wet food as well. We primarily give Kit Nutro Natural Choice - Chicken and Lamb flavor. There have been several occassions where Brutus will finish eating his food and then go over to Kit's bowl and start eating whatever Kit leaves behind.

If his calorie intake isn't enough, should I consider feeding Brutus kitten wet food?

[Meowmie]

Thanks so much for the detailed reply.

First of all, based on what you write, the amount of food Brutus is eating right now doesn't even qualify for a starvation diet. Simply not enough for a cat to survive on, so this is a very serious situation.

So.... The first thing to do to turn this situation around: PLEASE, NO TREATS.

Treats are like candy for children, they fill up the cat and take away the appetite for regular food. By eating less or hardly any regular food the cat is not getting the nutrients his body needs to function normally.

To let him know you love him play with him, brush him, have quiet times with lots and lots of petting. But do NOT give treats.

Kitten food is not properly balanced for an adult cat, so please don't feed kitten food either.

If he doesn't finish the tiny amount of regular canned food you offer, it's safe to assume that he really, really doesn't like it. So keep trying until you find something he can develop a good appetite for.

I'm going to reread your posts and think about everything some more. For now, I can say that not having any dry food available will eventually make wet food much more appealing to him. Also, since cats are nibblers by nature, it will help tremendously if you leave some food out. By being able to smell the food (the smell of food stimulates the appetite) there is a good chance he'll want to go back and eat more of it, tiny portions, several times.
If you find a food he really falls in love with, there is a good chance he'll eat most of it when you first serve the food and whatever is left over won't last long enough for you to have to worry about it before you can serve fresh food again.

Also, to get this project going, at least temporarily, set up one or two extra feeding stations in the areas he spends most of his time. The closer the food, the better the chance the cat will want to have some of it.
The thing is, instead of making the cat hungry, going without food for many hours can actually cut down on a cat's appetite or desire for food, and make it impossible for the cat to eat a decent amount, or any amount of food at mealtime. Some cats actually become anorexic if they are forced on a rigid feeding schedule.

If Brutus finds kitten food more appealing than the adult food he should be eating, consider feeding them in different areas and then don't leave kitten food around for him to fill up on.

If you leave food out for a very long time (say 8-10 hours) you'll notice that the cats eat most of it in the first few hours and whatever is left over after that, will not be finished. So, one less reason to worry about food going bad. (Not that it ever does under normal conditions indoors.)

Pouched foods are not good foods anyway, so don't even bother buying them.

[cal4ever0407]

Originally Posted by Meowmie

So.... The first thing to do to turn this situation around: PLEASE, NO TREATS.

Treats are like candy for children, they fill up the cat and take away the appetite for regular food. By eating less or hardly any regular food the cat is not getting the nutrients his body needs to function normally.

To let him know you love him play with him, brush him, have quiet times with lots and lots of petting. But do NOT give treats.

That's what I figured. However, when we're gone for the day he's obviously not getting any treats, yet his dinnertime appetite isn't that much better than his appetite for other meals. But your explanation that some cats actually lose their appetite if they don't eat for a long time would explain that.

As I said before, I definitely don't want to leave any dry food out for him as that'll lessen his desire for wet food even more. Actually, just today it looks like Brutus found a way to access Kit's dry food which we leave out for her. We put it in a place where only she could fit through. However, it looks like Brutus was able to reach it with his front paw and pull the bowl to the opening (the bowl is about a foot or so away from the opening). Clever kitty. Looks like I'm going to have to find a new place to put Kit's food. Or keep them in separate rooms during the day, but I'd prefer not to if possible.

If he doesn't finish the tiny amount of regular canned food you offer, it's safe to assume that he really, really doesn't like it. So keep trying until you find something he can develop a good appetite for.

The funny thing is that I actually bought a few cans of Fancy Feast as a kind of super back-up for this kind of situation. I've heard that Fancy Feast has a lot of artifical flavorings and additives that cats seem to like. So, I'm going to try giving him the canned Innova and Avoderm first, but if Brutus doesn't really like those, should I try giving him Fancy Feast? I know that it's not a very nutritous food, but if it will get him to eat wet food, should I go for it and hope I can switch him to more nutritious brands of wet food later?

And just to clarify, you're suggesting that we leave out wet food for Brutus to nibble on, right?

Thanks for the reply.

[Meowmie]

Since right now he is eating so very little, Fancy Feast would be much better than nothing, just to get him to eat something. Some flavors are better than some others, so if he is willing to eat FF, that will give you time to find better food without becoming totally desperate. Once he gets the hang of eating canned food and starts enjoying it, he'll be more willing to try other foods. The first few weeks (or even months) are the most difficult when cats are weaned of dry food.

The best thing would be to find canned food for Kit also and doing away with dry food altogether. It's impossible to hide food from cats, and even if we try, just being able to smell it puts a monkey-wrench into all our efforts.

For now definitely leave food out for Brutus because that kitty must start eating. He should be eating at least one large can of food, or two small ones in a 24 hour period to catch up and make up for his self-imposed starvation diet.