My American Shorthair is getting fat, but is my Maine Coon eating enough?

Hello, depending on her lifestyle, indoor only cats should be fed atleast twice daily. This can be a variety of dry and wet food and should not exceed more than 1 cup of dry food per day or more than 1 can per day. There may be differences depending on how many calories each food contains so it is hard to determine this. Your kitten should be consuming around 201 Kcal per day. Hope this helps and best of luck.

These are good questions, and I will try to help you as best as I can. The problem with judging how much a cat show weight depends not only on their breed, but their bone structure as well. Some cats are naturally bigger than others, and what is a healthy weight is individual per cat. American shorthair females can range in weight from 6-12 pounds, so it can be normal for some females to be at Luna's weight or even higher. That being said, however, she may be smaller in frame, and needs to be closer to the middle or lower end of the weight range. I certainly wouldn't want to say she needs to lose a certain number of pounds, and have her be too skinny. It's great that she has lost 1.4 pounds, and if she hasn't been seen by a vet since the summer, it may be that she has reached a better weight (sometimes cats only need to lose a few pounds to reach a healthy weight). I would recommend taking Luna back into the vet for an exam to see if she has reached a healthy weight according to them. Another way to tell is to look at her body condition score. This will help give you an idea of how she is doing weight wise, and the vet can confirm how much more she needs to lose. I will put a link to a body condition chart for cats: http://www.wsava.org/sites/default/files/Body%20condition%20score%20chart%20cats.pdf As for how much to feed her, what you've been doing has clearly helped her lose weight, and I would continue to do that if the vet feels she needs to lose more weight. If she doesn't, then you can discuss with a vet a healthy diet for her. It's normal she will be hungry, dieting is not easy for either humans or cats :-)

Hi! Mars is super cute! As I am sure you are aware Maine Coon's are in general large cats. With that said, large does not equate overweight. It's difficult to assess ideal body condition from simply looking, you will need to put your hands on Mars. Ideally, what you want is to be able to see a bit of a wait taper behind his rib cage. You want to be able feel his ribs through a layer of fat. You shouldn't be able to count the ribs and they should also not be buried under so many layers of fat that you cannot feel them at all. Below I have included a link to The Ohio State Veterinary School's webpage with lots of great information on body condition and nutrition. I have personally worked with their board-certified nutritionist who is phenomenal, so the information provided here can't get much better. Hope this information helps you an Mars! https://vet.osu.edu/vmc/companion/our-services/nutrition-support-service/body-condition-muscle-condition-score-charts

Mars is super handsome! He was a really adorable kitten. Yes, I would say he is overweight. This article may help you out: http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=1+2230&aid=660 When you feed your cat based on the recommendations on the bag you have to keep two things in mind. 1. You need to feed your cat based on his "ideal" weight and not his current weight. 2. You need to understand that those feeding recommendations on the bag are for unspayed/unneutered cats so with him being neutered you will need to feed him to the lower end of the recommended feeding range. I hope this helps. Best wishes to you and Mars!

Check the labels on your cat foods and see if it gives you a calorie count. Most good pet foods will have that information. Calculate how many calories are in 1/3 of the dry food and compare that amount to the canned food to get an idea of the right amount to feed him to maintain his weight. If you aren't fond of math (like me!) a less precise method is to simply keep an eye on his weight and adjust the amount you feed accordingly. When you run your hands over his body, if the ribs can be felt with light pressure then he's a good weight. If you have to really feel around to tell where his ribs are, he could lose a little weight, and if the bones are felt with no pressure at all, he should get fed a little more.

Thank you for submitting your question Nala. The feeding recommendations on the side of the bag are total daily calories. You can divide this amount however you chose. It is important to note that the feeding recommendations on the bag are geared for the cats with the highest metabolism within each weight bracket. This is too much food for most cats. If your cat is overweight, then you will want to feed less. Cats should only have a thin covering over the ribs. You should be able to feel individual ribs. The cat should also have a defined waist from both the top and side views. I hope this information helps!

What handsome boys! So you have them listed at 8 lbs now. So that suggests to me that they have lost about 2 lbs on the current diet. You are aiming for probably 9 lbs for an average cat. The point is, they need to stop losing weight and either put a little on or at least maintain. Assuming all of those things are true, I’d recommend increasing the food slightly. Say increase one of the meals from 1/8 cup to 1/4 cup. If I’m incorrect and they are at their ideal weight and maintaining on this current diet then a couple ideas: switch to an overweight diet which contains more fiber so you can feed more physical food for the same calories. Or you can consider an automatic feeder to divide the total food into small snacks throughout the day. Best of luck to you and your sweet kitties!