The Savannah Signal Final Issue 2011


On the other hand, do not attempt to withhold food for long periods of time (greater than 24 hours) with the hope that your cat will choose the new food. You need to ‘convince’ them that a high quality canned food really is good for them, rather than to try starving them into it - which does not work anyway. Al- lowing a cat to go without food - especially an overweight cat - for a long period of time (greater than 48 hours) can be quite dangerous and may result in hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver dis- ease).


Hepatic lipidosis can also develop when a cat consumes 50% or less of his daily caloric requirements over a period of many days. The definition of "many" varies from cat-to-cat. For this reason it is important to understand that you need to have some idea of the calories from canned food combined with the calories from dry food that your cat is consuming on a daily basis while you are implementing the transition to canned food. I have never seen a cat develop hepatic lipidosis when consum- ing at least 15 calories per pound per day. This number is fig- ured on lean body weight, not fat weight.


If your cat weighs 18 pounds but really should weigh 12 pounds, please make sure that he is consuming at least ~180 calories per day. (12 pounds lean body mass X 15 calories/ pound/day = ~180 calories/day)


If you have a small female cat that should only weigh 9 pounds, please make sure that she is consuming at least 135 calories per day.


Canned foods never list the calorie content on the can but many dry foods do list this information on the bag. A rough guideline for the calorie content of most canned foods that are 78% moisture is ~30 calories/ounce but can range from 20 to 40 calories/ounce as shown by the chart located at bi kyspage.tripod.com/canfood.html.


Most cats will lose some weight during the transition to canned food. Given that a very high percentage of cats are overweight to begin with, this is a favorable result of the diet change - as long as they do not lose too much weight too fast! A cat should never lose more than 1-2% of his body weight per week - preferably closerto 1%.


I highly suggest that all cat caregivers weigh their cats periodi- cally. This will help ensure a safe transition to a healthier diet and, in general, weight loss is often the first sign of ill health for any reason. I make it a point to weigh my cats at least twice yearly.


The Health-O-Meter HDC100-01 baby scale weighs to the near- est 1/2 ounce and has a 'hold' button on it that helps obtain an


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www.savannahcatclub.com accurate weight even for a cat that is moving around a bit.


All of my cats lost weight during the three months that it took to switch them to canned but none of them became too thin. They slimmed down to a nice lean body weight – losing fat while maintaining their muscle mass. They also became much more active.


If your cat is overweight, please see the Feline Obesity page at www.catinfo.org.


Resign yourself to the fact that you will be very frustrated at times and you will be wasting canned food as they turn up their nose at it. Also, you may want to immediately switch your cat


I do not worry about leaving canned food out for up to 12 hours at a time.


Keep in mind that a lion is not going to eat his entire prey immediately.


to a dry food that has fewer calories from carbohydrates than most dry foods. There are three grain-free/low carbohydrate dry foods currently on the market: Natura/Innova's EVO, Well- ness CORE, and Nature's Variety Instinct.


These low-carb dry foods are very high in fat and therefore are very calorie dense. These foods must be portion-controlled otherwise your cat may end up gaining weight. Note that dry Innova EVO has 612 calories per cup according to the informa- tion on the bag. One quarter of a cup contains 153 calories so be very careful to pay attention to how much of these high calorie dry foods you feed.


The caloric needs of an average cat can range between 150 - 250 calories/day depending on their lean body weight and ac- tivity level.


The low-carb dry foods are also very high in phosphorus. This is especially detrimental for cats with compromised kidney func- tion.


And, of course, these low-carb dry foods are water-depleted just like all dry foods are and are cooked at very high tempera- tures in order to dry them out.


I do not recommend these dry foods for long-term feeding for all of the reasons stated above. Please use them only as transi- tion diets.


Be sure to stay away from any "light" varieties since those types of foods are very high in carbohydrates.


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