Hi again

I'm concerned that Jess seems to be hungry all the time. At the moment she's having 30g of Purina One Indoor cat on a morning (I bought it before I read the guide to dry food) then one 70g tin of Encore on an evening.

However, a few hours after finishing the evening meal she is asking for more! I've been putting some Purina in a feeding ball, thinking that if she's going to eat more than recommended then at least she's 'working' for it but she's munching all that and still wanting more before bedtime (she also has a snack during the night - I hear her rolling the feeding ball around!)

She was wormed last month, and as she rarely goes out (and even then only in my garden while supervised) there's not much chance of her getting them.

When I got Jess her previous owner had her solely on Tesco's own brand dry food. I continued this until the food was gone and she rarely ate all of the 75g I weighed out each day.

I'm now wondering whether she really is hungry, or whether she's eating more because she likes the new food better than the old (a bit like I'd eat more out of a bowl of chocolate than a bowl of salad lol) or whether she really is hungry.

When I got her I took her to the vet for vaccinations and she was 3.92kg (vet said this was fine,) but when she went back a month later for the second part of the vaccinations she was 4.17kg and a different vet said she could do with loosing a bit of weight

I don't want to cause Jess suffering by letting her get overweight, but I don't like the thought of her being hungry either.

I wonder whether a better quality dry food on a morning would satisfy her more and stop the constant need for 'snacking.'

Any ideas anyone???

Thanks, Lolly x

i would think some is as you say she maybe is gorging on the new food as she likes it. Mine has around 3 sachets and dry ians a day. But is a very active cat. Have you checked on the back of the packet to say what is the correct amounts to give,. some cats just like there food. And some are more active so eat more as burn it off. mine has his food at 5 in the morn when up. Then around 12/1 lunchtime and around 8 for supper. Has your cat been neutered as this can make them gain weight sometimes if there not burning it off. Has jess been wormed recently as can be a factor. sorry cant help more.

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that doesnt sound alot, mine have dry down 24/7 then wet meals spaced out throught out the day If she is healthy and a good weight I wouldnt worry & let her have a bit more, remember guidleines are just that 'a guide' every cat is different, Always go by your own cat, I never bother with guidelines as they dont know my cat! Neutering doesnt make them gain either, not sure why vets say this! One cat might eat a extra 100g compared to another etc

just going by wet guides alone is 400g per day...so your 70g doesnt look alot now!!

remember that cats are designed to 'snack' throughout the dat is mini meals, not sit down to 1 full meal a day lik dogs, they come and go whenever they like eating mini portions.

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forgot to say my Iams is down freely as well. My old cat use to eat a whole tin of whiskers a day. {Before i knew it wasnt a good food. } Although he was 16 when he left us but had a healthy appitie and had dry down freely as well.

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Thanks for your replies

Jess is a 3 year old indoor cat but not really active, even when I encourage her to play she gives up after a short time (she has lots of toys too.) She was wormed about 4 weeks ago so it's not that.

I have read the 'guides' on the packs of food, the purina says 65g a day and the Encore two tins, so as she has both I have been halving each one. I might try upping the wet food as at least that is high in protein and low in carbs so will be better for her.

I think I'll weigh her on my scales tomorrow, then have a weigh in each week to monitor how she's doing.

Hey Lolly, just saw your thread.

You know that the Encore is not a complete cat food, right? So, it doesn't contain all the nutrients your cat needs and as a result should only be fed as an occasional treat.

Hi Hobbs

I thought that because it's complementary it would be ok to feed it daily along with a dry food that has all the vitamins etc cats need in

Is there a wet food that can be fed daily that you would recommend? (ideally up to the same cost as Encore - about 75p for a small tin.) I'll have another look at the wet food guide too.

Thanks, Lolly x

Only 20% of a diet can be incomplete, so really only 1-2 meals a week, not everyday. if they dont eat enough of the dry then they wont be getting everything they need, plus all meals need to be balanced (except for treats etc) so they are getting enough.

Bozita, Animonda, PAH Scrummy Yummy, Smilla and Grau I believe all come out at 70p-£1 for 400g tins, same or less than encore?

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Hey Lolly, yes, technically you are right. The makers of complementary food say that you need to feed a certain amount of dry food a day to make sure that your cat gets all of the nutrients s/he needs.

But I have always struggled with that recommendation. Here is why? So, the complementary food is completely unbalanced - tends to contain not enough fat, no or not enough calcium, little of other minerals (other than phosphorus), few vitamins, little taurine etc.

However, dry food itself isn't cramped full of these either - certainly not in excess. So, a certain amount of dry food (the daily feeding rec if you are feeding it as the sole food) will cover the nutritional requirements of cats - nothing less and nothing more. Now, if you reduce that amount to take into account the nutrient-deficient complementary food you are feeding, then you are also feeding fewer of the nutrients that are in the dry food (by virtue of you feeding less of that stuff).

So I personally cannot see how some dry food can make up for the failings of the treat food.

£0.75 for a 85g tin is expensive! If your cat eats pate food (and that is another problem with the type of treat food - it tends to make fussy eaters) then you can feed him/her for less money or just a little more on a complete, high-meat content food without having to use any dry!

Thanks for the explanation Hobbs, it makes sense now why it's not suitable to feed the Encore every day. Luckily she's only had it for just over a week.

I've just been on Zooplus, the Grau food looks good (and your wet food guide recommends it) so I'm going to order a 'variety pack' to see how Jess gets on with that. I'll order some good quality dry food while I'm there too and start slowly changing over to that.

Thank you all so much for your help in this, I'm very much a novice when it comes to kitty care but want to make sure Jess has everything she needs to (hopefully) keep the vet at bay.

Lolly xx