fat cat & skinny cat-general advice please

[maddercow]

My Cashie went a bit greedy and porky after he was neutered... he got  quite a paunch on him until I started feeding him Royal Canin Light kibble and he lost weight then. Poor chap is quite slender now due to our girlcat Izzy eating everything in sight, even while she is eating her food she's ogling Cashie's the little piglet.  How hard is it trying the get one to eat more and the other to eat less???!!! She is heavier than he is and he is a much bigger framed cat.  They are fit though,  both get lots of exercise despite being indoor cats as they are always chasing each other, playfighting and chasing da bird. da mousey or red dot.

Mine are addicted to Felix AGAIL and Sensations, am sure there is something in them that makes them refuse to eat anything else. Izzy will eat Applaws, fresh chicken, raw steak etc but Cashie just eats junk cat food, he's a nightmare.

Royal Canin Light is good anyway, I can recommend it as I can the skin and hair for cats with coat problems.

Jo

[thekittensmittens]

ah ok so hes drugged up
will swap him over and see how he goes then, hes not normally a greedy cat but also not fussy about food thankfully , he used to eat normally it has only been the last two weeks so that hes gone totally mad but before that i did used to buy what was on offer or what shop i was in so long as its not that weird looking felix in jelly that looks like sponge and not food
they do like the little tray pate type? ones from tesco and aldi but i presume the aldi one has same stuff in as the sachets so best to avoid?
will have to sort them out before miyagi loses the plot, he got all excited earlier as he saw me carrying a cat bowl....of water, he had a major sulk when he realised it wasnt food
I will nip out before getting the kids (kids/petshop combo never good) and see if they have it in, if not i ill order some online as got to get bird food as well anyway.
we do have a tub for cat biscuits but will see if i can get a bigger one as will be easier to store it than buying little bags/boxes etc all the time.
thanks for the advice all

[sheilarose]

Right, got an idea for you to mull over.

I tried the Aldi Vitacat brand on our mob when Aldi first moved into my area. Sammy went NUTS for it, would eat a whole bowl and ask for seconds, thirds - then within a couple of days he started to show signs of aggression towards the other cats and my OH, but when he started to overgroom himself, I knew we needed to get him off Vitacat asap.

He's allowed Vitacat stick treats daily, and goodness know what's in 'em but Sam will take your fingers off with them.

I think the Vitacat food must be choc full of grain and additives. All made to be tempting and flavoursome to cats but Sam reacted as if I'd fed him on bad cocaine 
He could scale my garden shed in a single bound, and would chase all the girl cats in our street up a tree (oh, he's 13 and neutered by the way!)

Sam's sensitive to high grain foods anyway, he was a bad boy for his previous owners but had never been fed anything but Iams all his life, so they had no idea this was causing his Jekyll and Hyde personality.

Sam's a big softee now, so long as he stays off the Coke grain.

Defo try a bit of the Purely brand. My lot absolutely wolf the tuna tins but aren't all that fussed about the pouches. The dry kibble in chicken flavour goes down well too. I suggest introducing the new brand gradually as a sudden change from grain to low-grain can cause runny tummies.

BTW, low-grain tends to be pricier, but they eat a lot less as it's nutritionally much higher in protein, so it works out about the same cost.

Get a storage container/tupperware to store the dry food in, it dries out and loses it's meaty scent unless it's kept airtight and they turn their little damp noses up.

[thekittensmittens]

wont hurry to get any liver then, bit dubious about feeding him raw in case he turns vampire cat but may give it as a treat now and again so long as i dont have to watch
the teething makes sense as lately hes been coming up and showing me his teeth , he allso keeping biting my legs and my elder daughters head, so he may be suffering and thats why he keeps coming up to show me
I thought he was just showing them off as he sits there with his mouth open and all these lovely white teeth on show , feel awfull now!
I feed them the aldi wet in gravy and any kitten dry mix, Georgia doesnt like big peices of dry but loves the little ones. Miyagi doesnt even like dreamies because they look like biccies to him
He is soposed to be a doll face persian but think he is just half myself? should i start him on a dry one made for long haired cats, im never sure as he loves being out so not an indoor cat as such but he does have the habit of trying to chew hair so wondered if he needs something to help combat hair balls (never seen him have a problem with them though)
they do have chicken at least twice a week but apart from that he really is exsisting on the aldi wet in gravy, they will eat anything else though if i run out and i do buy those pate ones from tescos and aldi, they eat them like snacks though
It may be he just has hit teenage years as he wasnt a big eater before, its just been since hes been staying in, he does hang around new fridge too staring up into it hoping for some ham i presume!
I will get him some good quality dry tommorrow as we have a big pets at home in my town and make sure the rest of the family know hes not to be fed by anyone but me as he has the sly habit of getting food off everyone else when im not in the room and then they all accuse me of starving him and Georgia , naughty boy
its my own fault i allways said i loved big fat tom cats- now i know the reason they get like it

[sheilarose]

My lot won't touch liver, raw or cooked. Too strong flavoured for them. All the more for meeeee!

I would steer clear of human gravy for cats, too. Onion powder used in most gravy mixes isn't good for tiny tums.

May I ask what type / how much food you are putting down for Miyagi? Feeding guides can be misleading especially for highly active cats so a higher calorie diet is likely to be required for Miyagi.

If you free-feed a good quality dry food (i.e leave a bowl of bikkies out after he's had his dinner) he'll hopefully snack on this through the day and it might stop him scoffing like a stray at mealtimes, leaving poor Georgia to eat in peace.

Try "Purely" brand from Pets at Home for an affordable but low-grain kibble.

If he does start to pork up, look for lower calorie "light" kibbles, like "Purina One Light" to fill him up without adding weight.

It's tricky to gauge at just 10 months - he's the equivalent of a teenage boy on a fridge raid. Rampant hormones = insatiable appetite.

He may also be teething. Sly went through a month or so of most unpredictable behaviour at this age. Once his new teeth were through he went back to being our squiggly wiggly, but we did christen him Piggly wiggly at the time due to his ferocious appetite 

[Gillian Harvey]

Liver's ok as an occasional thing, but its not good for them to eat too much, it wouldnt constitute a 'complete' meal in itself (as part of a raw diet, yes)  - and the best way to feed liver is raw, no need for salt and gravy 

[thekittensmittens]

thxs Gill
yes i will try and get him to eat smaller amounts more often as at the moment he eats a sachet like its a snack, hes not into the biscuits although georgia is but hopeully if i try to start off mixing in a few and then increase it i may trick him into it.
on sunday they made me feel so guilty that they had a chicken breast to eat (miyagi sniffing it and raising an eyebrow as if to say are there tablets in it woman ) and we ended up with the other 2 chopped to make nasi garang for 7:innocent:

can i ask if chicken livers are ok for cats to eat? i saw they are cheap in the fresh meat section at sainsburys so wondered if it was ok to give them to cats as a substitute for sachets now and again? im sure if i cooked them up in a lowsalt baby gravy or something they must have more nutrition than some cat foods?

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

My Lupin eats like he has a black hole in his tummy and he is 14 months old but only if its food he really wants.

I think its the change of weather and maybe also that he is growing but would ration him to no more than 4 pouches and give often as half pouches, 3 pouches if he is also having biscuits 

Just try to keep his eating slower by not giving as much at once.

Good luck 

[thekittensmittens]

ok Miyagi our 10 month boy has turned really greedy, he seems to follow us all day meowing for food, when i give him some its like he hasnt been fed for weeks , is it possible its just a growth spurt or phase or is he going to turn into one of those fat cats?
my oh and daughter have said Georgia isnt eating , a quick investigation showed she is- but Miyagi is stealing it
Ive started to seperate them when feeding as if they have seperate bowls at same time hes eating his in a gulp and then starting on hers but im a bit concerned as he hasnt been that into food before.
he was wormed 2 weeks ago with drontal is it? so dont think its that.
the only thing i can think of is he was out a lot in summer so drank a lot more than rather than eating but because of the weather he wants to be in now so think it may be bordom perhaps?
should i leave him be for a week or so to see if its a phase or should i stop feeding him on demand and cut him back to his 3 meals a day before he turns into the cat version of barry white