Expert: Jessica - 6/2/2010

Question
Hello.  My daughter just adopted a 2 year old female.  We have a couple questions.  She weighs 10 pounds..a bit overweight.  Is there a good food you recommend?  She is on science diet now and someone told her that was really bad food.  Also, how much food..how often?  Another question I have is what's the best type of litter?  
Thank you very much for taking the time to read and answer these questions.


Deb

Answer
Hi Deb.  I'm not a big fan of Science Diet, either.  I like foods that are low-grain or grain-free, personally, and there is starting to be a large movement in that direction.  The main idea is that in nature, cats eat meat, not veggies.  That equates to protein, not carbs.  So if your daughter can find a food that's high in protein, that should be a good start to helping her cat lose weight.  In fact, some of the new prescription weight loss foods that have recently come out have shifted from low calorie to high protein, low carb, and they have had excellent results.

I feed my own cats a grain-free food called Taste of the Wild (www.tasteofthewildpetfood.com).  They make both canned and dry food.  However, there are numerous foods that are grain-free or low-grain, including Evo, Felidae Grain-Free, BG (Before Grain) and Core, to name just a few that I would highly recommend, all for around the same price as Science Diet!  I would suggest that your daughter stop by an independent pet supply store and read some labels.  The chain stores like Petco don't stock these brands.

How much food depends on which brand you use, but each package should have a suggested daily amount.  Be sure to follow this strictly.  If your daughter switches her over to a high-protein diet (I would say 37% or higher), chances are she will lose some weight from that alone.  But you may need to reduce the recommended daily portion by 1/4.  Try to split this amount up into several feedings.  Naturally, cats will eat 11-14 small meals a day!  If your daughter can divide her daily portion into 3-5 meals, that would be excellent.  With portion control and exercise, which is also a big part of weight loss, she should be down to a healthier weight soon.

As for litter, I've tried them all!  Not one of them is perfect.  My favorite is probably Swheat Scoop.  It's made of wheat, so it's completely non-toxic to the cats.  It has no perfumy scent, which I think smells worse than the cat waste, personally, and cats object to, as well.  It scoops easily, and it’s a renewable resource, unlike all clay litters.  The down side is that when it gets a little too old, it starts to smell fishy, so be sure to dump it when it becomes questionable.  Also, it’s the priciest of the litters.

My second favorite is Feline Pine Scoop.  This is a scoopable pine litter.  Pros: it’s super lightweight, it has the best odor control I’ve ever found in a litter, it’s very soft on the cat’s feet, so even cats who are iffy about using the box will tend to use this litter.  It’s also completely non-toxic, unscented and is a renewable resource.  Cons: it tracks everywhere!  You may need to sweep or vacuum around the box almost daily to keep up after this litter.

I don’t really recommend any of the clay or silica litters.  The cedar litters are okay but need to be tossed pretty quickly.  I’ve tried World’s Best but found the odor control was awful.  I use the Feline Pine pellets version myself, because they’re cheap and do a great job with odor control, but not all cats will use them.  They also are really tough to scoop.  So if you can afford them, I would go with Swheat Scoop or Feline Pine Scoop.  One box lasts about one month if it’s for just one cat!