I had the pleasure of some snuggle time with my parents cat Lillian this morning. She’s what I like to call a “Sexy Skinny Cat.” Now this is somewhat of an anomaly, the skinny domestic feline is almost mythical. Now when I say “skinny” I am referring her being fit & healthy, NOT scrawny and sickly as some might use the term.
So what’s going on with Miss Lillian? Have you tried everything to keep the pounds of your own beloved kitty cat? Well Lillian has one unfair advantage. She goes outside. Now I don’t recommend this at all & I would certainly never let my children outside (both cats). However if your cat is living la vida loca of the outdoors, they are likely not very safe, but they are also likely very happy & well exercised. As we all know too well exercise is not everything when it comes to keeping fit figures. Exercise helps but the key is “Diet.”
So what is Miss Lillian eating that’s so special? I will tell you that Lillian DOES NOT eat what one might consider high quality pet food. She most certainly DOES NOT eat any type of prescription diet. Guess what else, Lillian DOES NOT EAT ANY DRY CAT FOOD. I just looked in her food cabinet & nosiree no dry cat food did I find. So what the heck did I find? You’ll never guess…. good ole canned Fancy Feast. Yes I said it Fancy Feast.
Fancy Feast!?!?! Well isn’t that crap grocery store pet food? Well yes & no. Let’s talk about why. Turns out the #1, 2, 3, 4, & 5 ingredient in canned Fancy Feast is something cats NEED, it’s what they thrive on. Now take a moment and think about what cats are truly designed to be eating, think about what Felis catus evolved to eat, long before they were such. Think about it….
And you guessed it! Cats eat meat, they have evolved to eat animal protein. Now grab your kitty crack (dry cat food) and write down the top five ingredients. How many of them are meat or animal protein? How many are not? The top five ingredients are the ones that make up the most of your pet food. So this number of top five was not picked arbitrarily.
Did you find all meat ingredients in the top five of your kitty crack? Or did you find ingredients like corn, soy, or wheat? Now I’m no zoologist but last I recall visiting the zoo at feeding time they do not feed lions corn on the cob or tofurkey. They feed them MEAT MEAT MEAT, typically whole raw bone & meat.
Now I see where you mind is going, “well I can’t feed my cat raw meat”, because of this, that, and another thing. Ok we will leave that for another article. Let’s get back to the Fancy Feast. The top five ingredients in FF canned chicken feast classic, are Chicken, Chicken Broth, Liver, Meat By-Products, & Fish. Now we can debate these ingredients & the rest that follow until the cows come home. The fact remains that the top five ingredients in classic canned fancy feast are ANIMAL PROTEIN, which is exactly what our cats should be eating.
Now a few tidbits about the famous Miss Lillian before we continue. She is no spring chicken. Ten+ years in age and NO major health problems. She is NOT on any medications. It was actually a year or so ago my parents switched her to wet food only diet. After screaming, begging, pleading on my part, my father was finally convinced by the website www.catinfo.org. After a few months they started to notice that Lillian had lost a lot of weight. They brought her to vet fearing the worst. Exam, blood work, nada, healthy as a horse. I’d also like to point out that she is much FRIENDLIER than when I used to live here long ago, I NEVER had snuggle time with Miss Lillian.
Lillian’s Vet, the most awesomest Mt. Lore Animal Hospital where I used to work actually calculated the amount of protein in several canned cat foods. Guess what came in number one over & over for most Protein, Classic Canned Fancy Feast.
So I can talk all day about the best cat diet being a nutritionally balanced raw diet, or a grain free high quality canned diet. But Fact of the Matter 90% of you will not switch your cats for whatever reason or excuse.
For those of you who might be willing to make a small change for the love of their cat, I suggest checking the top five ingredients & ditching any and all cats foods that do not contain meat for ALL top five ingredients. This may actually be difficult to find. Overall Purina foods are the WORST possible pet foods. I do not recommend them. However if your willing to make one small, easy, & cheap change for the health of your cat consider switching to an all wet food diet that contains top five meat ingredients. You may likely add quality years to your furry friends life. You may just end up with a “Sexy Skinny Cat.”
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I just switched my 16 pound cat to Fancy Feast canned about two months ago and he has lost one pound. He is down to 15 pounds. Fancy feast was recommended by his vet and his coat is much softer now and doesn’t feel dry.
LOL, what other foods did you test? 9 lives and Friskies?
have 1 cat alt Male who at 15 pounds was told Sience diet Light !
Well he his Mom and little sis all went to Get today…
He is now 20 pounds, little sis is 16.7 and Mom Cat tad over 10.
And they fussed at me for allowing him to become obese and sis to fat.. Yet all three have one small can 9 lives every day or so, and dry light Science Diet.. I wasn’t happy with the vet and she wasn’t happy how I care for my 3 totally indoor cats. Horrors they aren’t up on shots!!! Sick of being told how to care for my cats at a cost of 500.00.I can buy salmon in a can, meat at the deli.etc blenders do have a use other then smoothies
How many cans in 24 hour for 15 lb cat. or 15 pound cat
My 21 pound cat has been on fancy feast for years since 2014 and he has not lost any weight. He’s hungry all the time. The vet did say it is a better food because of the wet food however he hasn’t lost any weight and he has not gained any more weight either.
He is 12 years old now.
Learnt a lot from this post! Cheers 🙂