Senior or Light for older overweight cat?

[Mark]

I tried a small can of regulars hills tonight and she ate it - I have tried canned hills light before and she wouldn't touch it. I will try the PAH light + some wet + some fish and see how she goes. She seems to like the PAH light and is 45% less fat than regular so fingers crossed 

[swampmaxmum]

Hi Mark, I had to diet both of mine after coming back from holiday to find them at 6kgs each!!!! The vet said to go as gently as possible as fast weight loss can be risky.
You prob have to use diet food and weigh every few days. Once the weight is ok, you can move to senior. Mine ate a RC food for years and once I'd got the quantity right pd their weight was completely stable.  Personally if you don't get too many complaints, reckon it would be easier to feed just one diet food rather than mix and match as they all have such diff calorific content that it may be difficult to work out what or how much to give! My vet said a 3 month diet to lose just over 1kg (they managed that, lol).

[Millys Mum]

Mark why not feed senior but less of it and bulk out with more wet, she wont feel hungry and would consume less calories. Dry food is more calorific then wet so its easier for them to overeat.

[Susieh]

My cats are all young but the 2 boys are quite greedy and their dry food is all light/senior to stop them getting fat.  The majority of their food is wet and normal but they get a bowl of dry down all of the time and this is the light one.  I feed them a combination of JWB, Hills, Purina and anything else that has a high meat content and is on offer.  They get bored of the same food/flavour and stop eating it after a while so this works for us.

Paddy is my biggest cat and weights just over 12lb, Freddy is small in stature but heavy for his size at 8lb and Maddy is small and all fluff at just under 6ib (I weigh them on digital bathroom scales in stone and lb as I still work in that way  )

[Desley (booktigger)]

Will start a new thread Kittybabe

[Kittybabe (Ruth)]

Really? Maybe I should move Lexy onto that? She's only on 30g of dry a day which is lower than the recommended limit. The wet food of Hills she only gets just less than half a tin a night.

Do you think if I put her on a whole tin a day that would work?  The tin label says 1.5 tins a day (the light kind) but I don't know if that will help.

Again, Mark sorry, seem to have hijacked your thread.

[Desley (booktigger)]

Kittybabe - I have found wet food to be more helpful in weight loss than dry food.

[Kittybabe (Ruth)]

I haven't seen the fish one yet, but lexy isn't a fan of too much fish. She gets the salmon gourmet solitaire tins so that's her fish quota.  Lexy enjoys this far more than the Hills one she was on but that was oral diet and that was too fattening. Been on JWB for about 3 months now and doing well.  I am worried she's not losing weight though but don't want to change her diet again, so will have to maybe only let her have the gourmet tins on the weekends.

[Desley (booktigger)]

I only feed the Turkey flavour - stems from when I had Ginger, he would only eat the Turkey flavour. Not sure if the girls have tried the Lamb flavour to be honest, might have to get them a sample pack - but the shop I get it from (£7.99 compared to £9.99) only had Turkey and Fish in Senior varities. They did like the sample of fish flavour though, but wouldn't want to feed too much fish.

[Kittybabe (Ruth)]

Sorry Mark, won't hijack the thread (much) but wanted to ask Desley if her lot prefer the Lamb or the Turkey?  

The lamb biscuits are little round discs and the Turkey are the pellet style, but I find that if I weigh out 30g of each, the lamb looks like it has more and Lexy paces herself well, but with the turkey there seem to be less (I guess becuase of their size) and she always seems to want more by the end of the day.

I don't give it to her but I feel guilty anyway  

[Mark]

I'll try it next time but only did a supermarket sweep in PAH today so it will be a while yet. Mine never seem to get on with it.

[Desley (booktigger)]

I use JWB Senior/Light too

[Kittybabe (Ruth)]

Whereas Kylies idea of exercise is wlking to the food bowl 

Lexy won't often run around like a madwoman but her regular exercise is jumping on her bed..thats about it

[Mark]

That's pretty much what I do, mix & match  - If I give Kylie any of willow's food (regular hill's) I give it as a small treat rather than a meal. Willow has to eat full-fat as she doesn't eat much and tears round the house day & night like she's possessed - she is tiny but solid muscle. Whereas Kylies idea of exercise is wlking to the food bowl 

[Kittybabe (Ruth)]

Hi Mark, I'm a complete dunce when it comes to the food side of things so am cautious. I have Lexy on JWB Senior/Light. Its a food either for senior cats or those who are less active and need to keep the calories low. Lexy loves it and mind you I think the only reason she hasn't put on weight as she doesn't really exercise much no matter what I do to encourage her is that I give her a mixture on different days of Hills Light wet food and then other times not light wet food (I vary the weight of dry and wet depending on what I'm giving her) or as a treat she gets Gourmet Solitaire tin at night.

[Mark]

Kylie is 7kg & 7 years old, I'm bad enough in Pets at home debiberating over food but I was really unsure whether to get her "Light" or "senior" - I know she is borderline senior but not sure which is best. Anyway, I opted for light as she already has 1/2 bag over Hills senior left. The PAH "adult complete" seems like pretty good quality - they have a standard one that s bulked with cereal ut the other one had a high meat content and was only £6.99 for 2kg (BOGOHP) compared to Hills at £12.99 not on offer. I would have bought Hills if I really thought it was better for her but not so sure.