Is my 6-year-old cat's weight and Fancy Feast diet healthy?

Question

Hi there, Jazz weighs around 13 lbs and is 6 yo. How much should he weigh? How many calories a day should he eat? We give him around 1-1.5 small can of Fancy Feast a day and 1/4 of a cup of dry food a day. Is this ok? Any nutritional advice would be greatly appreciated! Pet's info: Cat | Domestic Shorthair | Male | neutered | 6 years and 2 months old | 14 lbs

Dr. Elizabeth · Accepted Answer

The appropriate size of a cat is dependent upon their body structure. Some cats with a larger frame will be 17lbs at a healthy weight and some small framed cats are only 6lbs! Here is a link that describes body condition scoring and ways you can determine this at home. It also includes pictures to illustrate the levels: https://www.petcoach.co/article/how-do-i-determine-if-my-cat-is-overweight/ If Jazz is at a healthy weight, you don't need to really change anything. If he is over weight, you may want him to lose weight. It is important to note that weight loss needs to be very slow in cats or they run the risk of developing a potentially deadly liver disease. Due to that fact, before you begin a weight loss program, I recommend to call Jazz's veterinarian to get an exact calculation of calories to feed every day. The following article gives some practice information and advice about weight loss: https://www.petcoach.co/article/characteristics-of-a-good-weight-loss-diet-for-cats/ Lastly, the quality of pets foods can vary greatly. In my opinion, Fancy Feast is a mid range diet so it's not a bad diet for most cats. Pets love the taste and it does increase the water intake which is important. Most of the canned foods are also not high in calories so for most cats, this is a good thing. Some brands of food will contain higher quality proteins that are easier to digest. My favorite brand of pet food is Royal Canin. Most pets who eat this diet will generally have a reduction in stool production because it doesn't have a lot of fillers. They make a variety of formulas based upon a pet's life style. I also like Science Diet and Purina Pro Plan. There are many pet food myths circulating so always make sure to learn the facts. Here is another article discussing decisions to make when choosing a cat food: https://www.petcoach.co/article/choosing-a-cat-food/ I hope this answers your questions about pet food. Please feel free to post any additional questions.

Is my 6-year-old cat's weight and Fancy Feast diet healthy?

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