INNOVA Fat Cat Food VS Science Diet low-fat

My cat is FAT! :sad: So I had asked on another thread what opinions were out there. I have already been feeding her a scant 1/3 am ~ 1/3 pm, and she is still so fat she can't clean her back-end fur, so she frequently stinks :yuck: of urine, and has 'mini-particles' of 'debris' on her arse.

YES, she's been to the vet. And she (the vet) concurs with me, in that the cat is just reached a point of being too heavy to properly comfortably get 'around there' to clean right. So, at the advice of a poster on these forums, I have switched to "Innova Reduced Fat Adult Cat Food." The food we are stopping is Science Diet "Diet Formula"....

The suggesting poster had switched from (Reg) Cat Science Diet, to Innova EVO cat food with success, but my local feed store suggested that a better transition was to the reduced fat Innova. Seems that the reg EVO is 50% protein, and might not be a good choice to go from a reduced fat (Science Diet) to a high protein (EVO) food. The Innova Reduced fat is pretty high protein as it goes anyway, with a hefty 32% minimum.

So, any supplemental suggestions as to what might be the best route? BTW...attention, please. I have already stated that I am giving her 1/3 cup in the morn, and 1/3 cup in the pm. (As per directions on the Innova label for 'weight loss' function.)

thanks in advance!

Cha-Cha sez thanks, too! :cat:

I pm'd you.:D

Try cutting her back more. I feed three cats Evo and they get maybe 3/4s a cup twice a day between them. I vary it between 1/2 to 3/4 cups. So drop her back to 1/4 cup, see how she does with that.

If you look at the ingredients in Science diet you will notice it is is mostly grains, grains are a carbohydrate, the body converts carbs to sugars which goes on as fats,

where as proteins are made up of amino acids, which the body uses for cellular repair and to develop muscle

fats, help to hydrate the body, and animals need fat particularily animal based fats more so than humans


EVO is a low carb diet, which is the reason it is effective for weight loss, it will help to increase muscle tone and your cat after a bit will likely become more active as a result which will also help to tone him up as the fat is lost.

Cats are true carnivores so all that grain is not good for cats, and because carbs convert to sugars can also end up causing diabetes, they need meat based diets not grain based proteins. Most of the nutritional studies that vets are taught in school are provided by Hills, which is really vastly out of date and unless the vet are upgrading their knowledge on nutrition and looking at sources other than Hills for info, they remain in the dark ages.

Science Diet is still following protein research studies from 80 years ago research done on rats(non carnivores) instead of getting getting their head out of the sand and looking at the newer research that has be actually done on the protein needs of cats and dogs

but you may have to reduce the feeding amount to less than the 2/3 cups you currently feed as it is nutrient dense. I have a 84 lb greyhound eating the EVO canine version who was also suffering from weight gain on a very low protein, low fat diet, I switched him then to EVO, where he lost weight and is now maintaining weight he eats 1 1/2 cups per day less than recommended for his size

If you decide on EVO for feeding amount , my suggestion is to determine how much he should weigh and go by the inactive feeding amount using the feeding wizard, and tailor from there to his needs.

http://www.naturapet.com/display.php?d=profile-wiz&animal=Cat

my cats are eating innova and ive never had a problem with overweight (moe packed on a few pound stealing the foster kitties food, but not overweight yet) they didnt seem to like evo as much but both are a good choice.