Understanding the feeding amounts to reduce weight

[Polkadottablecloth]

Our uninsured cat has had a very expensive weekend as he had urinary spasms which needed an emergency operation and a weekend stay at the vet hospital. He’s coming home today and I’ve got new vet recommended food to transition to but I’m confused as to the amounts. He’s overweight and needs to reduce, do I use his current weight to work out how much to feed him or do so use his goal weight? Eg the box says 6.5kg (current weight) 4 1/2 pouches per day. 5kg (goal weight) 3 pouches per day. How many do I give him?

I also can’t figure out how to mix this with the dry food and get the right amounts but I might introduce that later as the vet wants him on mostly wet food initially.

Goal weight but the instructions generally overestimate how much your cat needs to eat.

If I fed mine according to the packet instructions she'd be a chonker.

Couple of things that helped mine (cystitis, 6 grand from the insurance, months of hell)
Purina hydracare (low cal hydration)
Cystease supplement every day
add water to food
Almo nature hydration sachets (like chicken broth so not many cals but a good treat)

mine now gets dry food as a treat only, a small handful in a snuffle mat
worth asking if your vet has a nutritional person, mine does and worked out I actually can’t feed mine any less or he won’t get his needed nutrients

Thanks. I though 4.5 sachets was a bit excessive personally so I’ll start with the goal weight and see how we go.

@RupertRipperGilesForever he’s been in cystease for a couple of months, this all kicked off after a nasty injury following a fight. I think it helped but he’s been weeing all over the house and ended up here so obviously not enough. I’ll explore your other options and see if the vet has a nutritionist. We’re £2.6k down and as he’s uninsured it’s been a bit painful.

The guidance will assume that the only food they are getting is that one, so the 4.5 pouches or whatever is only if they are having NO dry.

You need to look at the guidance on both types of food to work it out e.g. if the wet says 4 pouches a day and the dry says 100g a day, you feed 2 wet pouches and 50g dry per day. But do bear in mind that male cats do have a tendency to urinary issues so better more wet and avoid dry.

Every cat is different in how they process food, same as with people. You can have 2 cats same size same weight same lifestyle, one will stay slim on a certain amount of food and the other may chonk out. Some cats self regulate, some don't.

Things that work for my cat:
Feliway
Vetpro urinary daily
Majority wet food diet - kibble basically just as a treat
Metacam at the first sign of weeing in the wrong place/spending too long in the litter tray
Extra litter trays at the first sign of trouble
Getting cat to use their brain on something other than stress - daily interactive play, Jackson Galaxy videos are good on this esp if your cat doesn't seem to be interested

I also throw pain relief down his neck the second he looks vaguely wrong! He loves bird TV too