kramer (04/06/83)
I am a new cat owner and have an unusual request. What can I do to avoid ending up with a Garfield in ten years? I've noticed that most adult cats tend to get rather thick around the middle and it's my intention to prevent this from happening to my cat. Anyway, I need to know exactly how much a cat "needs" to eat daily vs. "wants" to eat daily. I suspect that cats beg for the heck of it, not because they're hungry. The hard part is knowing when they are sincere vs. starving. Any relevant observations? (Right now, my cat eats two and a half of those little Pamper tins a day.) (Plus crunchies for in-between nibbles.) (Plus anything else he can get.)
paulsc (04/06/83)
The Vet. told my parents not to worry about a cat being fat until it gets over 15 pounds. While still on the phone we weighed our cats. I have a 25 pound Siamese cat (a very large cat, but not TOO fat), and my parents have a 30 pound cat (named Little Kitty, but VERY fat). The Vet. told my parents that if you change the brand of cat food often, the cat(s) will put themselves on a sort of diet. Cats are finicky, and until they get used to the new brand will only eat what they need. As to how much a cat should eat, I don't really know. I figure it will depend on the age, size, activity, ... of the particular cat in question. Paul Scherf,
bch (04/06/83)
Ah yes, the old "...but some other kitty comes in and eats my food and I haven't eaten in a month" routine. How much you feed your cats is dependent upon their age and activity. For mine, who are fairly elderly and sedentary (but not fat) 3 ounces of commercial canned (wet) food and a large handfull or so of dry food are sufficient along with a very few table scraps. When they were younger, they got 4 oz wet food and two handfulls of dry food each day...if they were going outside. If you are lucky, which I am not, your cat will turn out to be self regulating and can handle a couple of handfulls of dry food put out each day. Mine just scarf them down and look at me pitifully. The amount of begging can be reduced by feeding your animals according to a very precise ritual and time schedule. Mine get fed in the morning at 7 and at 11 at night and have been for many years. While they will beg if they think they have found a soft touch, it is not often a problem. (Of course they have been known to *demand* food at 11 at night no matter what is happening....like in the middle of a wedding reception with 150 people!)
wm (04/07/83)
We had one of those self feeders for a while, where you filled it up with a whole bag of dry food and it would dispense it as the cats ate it. I found that as long as the cats knew they had food, they would never overeat. Later, one of the cats developed systisis (spelling?) and we had to take her off dry food onto wet food, so she started the begging routine again, and even gained a little weight (although that might have been because of all the nine-lives wet she was getting!) The only cats I have ever known who were not self regulating with food were ones that were strays and were probably starved as babies. Seems they never grow out of that.
geo (04/07/83)
Has anybody every seen an overweight cat that hadn't been neutered?
bvi (04/07/83)
large quantities all the time); in addition, the cats get 2 cans of wet food each night, some of which is usually left over. They're all in the skinny-to-average range. What makes a dog/cat want to eat more than it can handle? The only way I've found to get our dogs to up their weight and food consumption is to increase their exercise (i.e., from 15 to 25 mpw), and even at that, the increase is insignificant. Speaking of exercise, how many people out there take their dogs backpacking? In the Bay Area, it's very hard to find places that tolerate dogs (not allowed in state parks, national parks, etc). We do all our long-term backpacking in wilderness areas (which *do* allow beasties), but it would be nice to take the dogs on day-packs, both for our/their enjoyment and also to keep them in shape for the long backpacks. Anybody out there know of places near the Bay Area (<= 2hrs away) where dogs are allowed? What have been other peoples's experiences with backpacking with dogs? Beatriz Infante, HP Design Aids Lab ..!ucbvax!hpda!bvi
guest (04/15/83)
References: watarts.1775
I once rescued a kitten on the verge of starvation.
Happily, she survived and is now a well adjusted cat.
However, she is also a well-padded cat. She made a
habit of gorging herself when she and the other cats
were fed. Old habits die hard, I guess.
Sharon Y. Parker, SPV
North Carolina State Universityannej (04/29/83)
I don't know how big the "little Pampers" cans are, but 2-1/2 cans sounds like a lot. Younger cats need more food as do more active cats. My cat never overeats when given the opportunity, but I know that many cats do. I'm certainly no expert on feline nutrition (there are lots of cat books with information on that) but I have an 8-yr-old very trim cat with lots of kitten-like energy, and she's never been sick. I feed her 1/3 of a can (they're small) of 9 Lives every morning, and give her a handful of crunchies about once a day to nibble on. If her crunchies are all gone and she asks for more, I figure she's hungry and give them to her. But the ONLY time I feed her more canned food is when we leave her for the weekend--I figure eating will help occupy her during our absence. (And believe it or not, she does somersaults for her breakfast. I know cats don't do tricks, but no one told her.) Some precautions I follow: I give her tuna very rarely--about once a month. Cats that eat it all the time get "addicted" and won't eat anything else, and too much tuna is bad for them. I also don't give her cat crunchies, but give her Purina Puppy Chow. I was told that cat crunchies contain flavor enhancers which may cause liver damage over the years. -- Anne Jacko, Tektronix