Cats getting pudgy since switching to tins

[GetStuffezd]

Hi all,
I've recently switched from pouches to Butchers Choice tins because it's much better value. If I'm honest, I know I've been giving them more meat at meal times than I was with the pouches. I have two neutered, indoor cats aged 11 months and 13 months and I can definitely notice weight gain on the ginger boy. How can you tell if a cat is overweight!?
They're still extremely active and tear around like nobody's business. Plus when I move house this month they will be allowed outside.

Thing is, they sometimes go opening the kitchen cupboards, god only knows how, and once or twice have managed to get their dry food out and all over the kitchen floor so are they still hungry??
Thanks!

[Wheresmycaffeinedrip]

Tbh tinned cat food is mainly water. The percentage is really high. Your probably better off with a dry food that you can measure out according to instructions . They can always have a little bit of the meat on top. They may well be hungry due to the high water content.

[GetStuffezd]

Hmm, that's interesting. They absolutely love the meat though - I have to get them off the counter when I'm spooning it into their bowls. Thank you!

[cozietoesie]

Many/most cats will self regulate but I'm afraid that some of them are just piglets - and it might be that they're currently more fixated on food because they're housecats and eating prevents boredom.

Have you weighed them recently? (Or are they due for a checkup at the vet for booster shots etc? The vet would likely weigh them as part of the check but would, in any case, give you a view on their condition.)

[Madmog]

Male cats that have been done tend to carry more weight but you are wise to keep it under control.

Personally, I would stick with feeding wet food myself rather than swapping over to dry as suggested by Wheresmycaffeinedrip. I have two cats and when my girl was about 9 she started getting cystitis, which within half an hour means she's passing blood clots. It's horrible and not easy to treat and came back six times in a year. The best thing to prevent this in the first place is plenty of liquid in the diet. Also, male cats have smaller tubes inside. If they eat a lot of dry, crystals can form on the tubes causing them to be blocked. This is a life threatening thing and they need an operation to clear the tubes. If you are going to cut back on any of the food, I'd make it the dry.

[Fluffycloudland77]

I think if you are stricter with portion sizes that would help. You're going to have to try some tough love.

Do they have that pouch of flubber forming on their bellies? or a general rotundness?.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Cozie I'm going to have to disagree with you nowadays the vast majority of cats will eat until they burst hence 65% if the cat population being overweight.
If they are having more than half a can if wet food a day they are eating too much.

[cozietoesie]

65% ? Dear Goodness, Lone.

I'll stand corrected on that one because you're obviously seeing them in the surgery - but myself, the wider family has only ever had one cat who was a piglet and had to be controlled.

[cozietoesie]

Out of interest, how do owners react when you tell them that Darling Tibbles is a right porker?

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Denial is very common or she's big boned! The largest so far was a standard moggy who weighed 9.8Kg (should have been 4.5kg) she eats nothing according to her owners.

[cozietoesie]

I'm trying hard to imagine a standard cat who was twice size - and I would fail completely if I hadn't seen the photos on my own vet's walls, grotesque though they are. How on earth they fare in this current heat doesn't bear thinking about. Even my own old boy is crashed out upstairs and he's got very little to him at all.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Sadly these cats end up with terrible arthritis and diabetes.

[sallyhope2]

Wow they open cupboards? I'd definitely set up a web cam and see how they do that!

[GetStuffezd]

Right, I've cut down from half a Tin a day each to about a third a day each, split over two meals with some decent quality dry stuff too, which they seem happy enough with.
sallyhope I know! They're upper cupboards as well so I honestly am amazed they can get in!

[gobbin]

A tin of Butchers Classic a day plus two handfuls of either Applaws, Royal Canin or Orijen is what my three get between them. One looks a bit pudgy but she was the mother who continued lactating after being spayed and never lost the breast tissue. Her adult kittens are like racing snakes!