calories in cat food

Question
My cat is about 18 mths old. We got her from a shelter about 5 months ago and she keeps gaining weight. We give her a half can of fancy feast twice a day and put 1/4 cup of Hills Science Diet RD down. What are the calories in the facncy feast? And are we feeding to much?

Answer
Hi Suzie,

Can you tell me, please, what her weight is? Have you had her checked out by a vet to see if there is a physical reason for weight gain? I would do that first.

I am a firm believer that diet is the foundation of our kitties' health. I wouldn't feed kitties dry food, no matter what brand. Kitties derive the moisture they need from their food because they don't have a thirst mechanism like dogs do. They just can't drink enough to keep themselves hydrated. Also, even though the dry food you are feeding is a reduced calorie kind, by and large dry food it one of the biggest contributors to overweight kitties and to other diseases like diabetes, etc. More about dry food here: http://www.holisticat.com/no-kibble.html

I would also not feed Fancy Feast. To put it plainly :) - it has crap ingredients. Please check out this link for better choices of canned foods: http://www.holisticat.com/commercial.html

You should find that by switching her to a better canned food that she will lose the excess weight. This is because with a quality canned food with human-grade meat, not by-products, she will derive more nutrition from it and not need as much. Most of what she is getting from Fancy Feast is not being used properly by her body. Only a half a 3oz can of FF 2 times a day is not much food either. I would for sure have her seen by a vet to rule out a physical problem.

HTH a bit. Hugs to you and your little one,

Jules