Do I need to put my cats on a diet?

[RickOShay]

I am very lucky and have two beautiful burmese sisters who are 10 months old. I think I have been overfeeding them, what should they be eating in a day?

All depends on the cat - as an how active they are, do they go outside, etc etc. Most cats self regulate. Burmese are quite a muscular, sturdy built breed, aren't they?

Post a picture of them, will be easier to tell by seeing them.

Sorry, read that as "am I feeding my cats too much." Forgot about your thread title, "Do I need to put my cats on a diet?" I don't think diets are recommended for cats, especially not without consulting a vet first.

How much are they eating and what brands? I wouldn't restrict their food intake without consulting vet.

They are eating quite a lot, 3-4 pouches of jelly sheba a day, plus dreamies and whiskas biscuits. They are very piggy and lovebite me to get fed. Will post a picture tomorrow as they are asleep on dc's beds now. I think you are right, I shouldn't put them in a diet, but how much should I be feeding them is a better question to ask.

Harry has three pouches a day, Country Hunter for breakfast, Hi Life for lunch and Natures Menu for dinner. His weight seems pretty stable and, while he's not a small cat, the vet doesn't seem to have an issue with his weight.

I've found he hasn't worried for food as much since he stopped having biscuits and went on to high protein pouches.

I'd swop to some more nutritious biscuits from a pet shop. The pouches are really not great for them.

So my cat as two portions of good quality biscuits then If you wanted to they could have one pouch of whiskers etc a day as a treat.

Three sounds a lot a day? Cats should look quite thin - do they look a bit round?

Yes. It's their tummies, What biscuits or pouches do you recommend? Are dreamies ok?

Freyja was on the heavy side and So I tweaked her food ( she had 4 pouches and free fed biscuits) to 2 pouches and free fed biscuits. She's a much better weight now.

Helga is still growing so she gets 4 pouches, she's not really interested in biscuits.

They both get 2 dreamies occasionally. They would eat a whole pack each if I let them.

Mine have Harrington biscuits and a variety of pouches, some expensive ones, some supermarket ones and everything in between but never Whiskas.

Personally I think wet food is much better for them ( not all wet food though) and mine like variety.

Mine have half a pouch of anything on special offer in the supermarket for breakfast and half for supper, then free flow Science plan biscuits.

I wouldn't be giving dreamies everyday. Mine get them once or twice a week if that.

Mine are on Applaws - they get a tin each in the morning and another at night, and free access to the grain-free complete biscuits all day.

Occasionally I'll give them tuna instead of the wet food in the evenings but maybe only once a fortnight or so.

I have 3 indoor cats - they have a bowl of biscuits each to last the day and every morning have 2 pouches split between the 3 of them (this is partly because I pander to my no.1 sweet kitty who just likes the gravy - yes, I know I am a slave).

Fluffy Bastard gets a dreamie when I get home from work, the other 2 aren't bothered! If we are eating fish, we'll give them a little.

Thanks for all the suggestions, lots to think about, will post a picture, but I need to get a the right angle!

The Purina crystal soup is an absolute rip off, 3 pieces of meat and a tablespoon of juice, both my cats gave me the ' Is that it?' look.

Rant over.

Thanks I'll avoid that one. In general
what are the better brands and why is whiskas not so good?

Whiskas has a spectacularly tiny meat content, made mostly of fillers such as cereals and lots of sugar. The equivalent to junk food. Butchers Classic tins from the supermarket are good and inexpensive. They're high meat content and cereal/grain free. [[http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/canned_cat_food_pouches
Zooplus]] sell some really good brands including Animonda Carny, also reasonably priced. Some of the wet foods on there are complimentary only, (Applaws for example) so would need to be fed alongside biscuits.

My 2 have a constant supply of Applaws biscuits, and a Gourmet cat soup in the evenings. I know it's a rip-off, (2 prawns and a few shreds of tuna in broth!) but they like it, and I add extra water to it to ensure they're hydrated.

Because cats are obligate carnivores, if you switch to a brand with more meat/protein and less carbs/cereals they will feel fuller for longer.

Thank you, this is really helpful.

I got that look too maidenmother !

I would really recommend Applaws. It's grain-free and has a really high meat content. As @RubbishMantra says, the wet food isn't complete but if you add biscuits alongside it, then it's fine as a diet. Ours have Applaws tins - one each, twice a day, alongside the grain-free biscuits which are down all the time so they can free-feed. They're one and two years old and both very healthy.

By contrast, our old cats were fed on Felix/Whiskas/GoCat (never again) and our male had really bad urinary problems which the vet put down to his diet. Unfortunately, the supermarket foods are generally cheap for a reason - they're full of grains/fillers which are really hard for cats to digest and cause all manner of problems.

We get our food from ZooPlus and there are always various discounts/vouchers available. It gets delivered within 5-7 days and we've never had an issue. They do get dreamies/salmon/tuna occasionally as a treat too. And Lick-e-Lix.