Sugarplum’s lost two pounds! And all I did was change her from dry food to canned, the highest-protein kind I could find. That’s it.
I almost want to take her in to the vet just for the vindication. And, well, she could stand to have her teeth cleaned. And Junebug needs a rabies shot, especially with that raccoon hanging around the neighborhood.
Sugarplum is a senior, right? Our vet recommends they go to a lower protein diet as a senior, since it’s harder on their kidneys. But switching her to canned is certainly good for them, especially as they age.
Oh, really? I’ll ask the vet about that before I go out and buy another case of this stuff.
I’m also serving them their meals on top of a table now, since the dog gets into their food (and they get into the dog’s). They haven’t *quite* gotten the idea that when I put the dishes on top of the table, it’s time to eat. Once I haul them up there, they’ll return to finish their meals over the course of the day or night, but they could be screaming for food and just not get that it’s really, truly up on the table when I first put it there.
the highest-protein kind I could find
What brand did you use? Now that I’ve got three cats with three different dietary needs (Olivia needs to lose weight; Matilda is fine; Sophie needs high-calorie food for growing babies), I’ve been thinking of switching at minimum the two older girls to canned. So your timing on this was perfect — I’d love to see if I can achieve the same for Livy as you did for Sugarplum w/ the canned food.
And she’s still young (about 4), so I think high-protein would still be good for her…
I’m using Innova EVO, turkey flavor — 12% protein by weight, but weight includes moisture, so it’s much higher in terms of the dry mass. There’s a whole formula for figuring out how much protein is in the food, but for canned food, you want to look for crude protein of 10% or more. There is also a whole method to the various terms like “dinner,” “meal,” “formula,” and whatnot in terms of additives like grains or fillers. Kitten food is actually quite high in protein, so don’t discount that.
The 13-ounce cans aren’t really all that bad, price-wise, especially if you buy them by the case. I get three meals apiece for two cats out of one can, at about a buck fifty.
Good luck with it.
They’ve now figured out that the food is kept up on the table, so they’re getting up on their own. And since I just bought a bedframe, they’ll now have to do a little work to get into my bed once it’s delivered. Right now I just have the mattress and foundation on the floor.
Thanks!
I weighed her again, and she’s lost another half a pound (it’s a bit ridiculous, I admit, that I’ve purchased my first bathroom scale ever so I can weigh my cat).
Now I’m wondering if this is *too* fast. But I guess if she were a human, and some condition that was causing her to gain weight unnaturally were removed, she might lose a lot of that weight quickly as well. And it’s not like I’m starving her — there’s often food left in the bowls when I take them away. I’ll keep an eye on it.