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Hill’s i/d prescription diet

DillPickle

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My sphynx Dill is a year and a half old. At our vet appointment today he weighed 12.9 pounds and the vet told me he’s overweight. About 4 months ago I switched him onto Hill’s i/d prescription formula dry & wet food per my vets suggestion. Prior to this, he had chromic diarhhea, where I had tried 4 quality grain free foods and nothing was helping. (Routine stool samples were taken for months during this time). After switching to Hill’s. Dill has not diarrhea which has been amazing!!! However, now I am questioning if its the Hill’s food that causing him to gain weight. I dont believe I am over feeding. He gets 1/8 cup 4 times a day plus a large soup spoon full of wet food in the morning. I have read so many pros and cons of grain vs. grain free, vet suggestions vs. breeder suggestions, and I just feel so overwhelmed with information. I want to do whats best for Dill but I just dont know where to start with this weightloss.
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Sheldon13

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My sphynx Dill is a year and a half old. At our vet appointment today he weighed 12.9 pounds and the vet told me he’s overweight. About 4 months ago I switched him onto Hill’s i/d prescription formula dry & wet food per my vets suggestion. Prior to this, he had chromic diarhhea, where I had tried 4 quality grain free foods and nothing was helping. (Routine stool samples were taken for months during this time). After switching to Hill’s. Dill has not diarrhea which has been amazing!!! However, now I am questioning if its the Hill’s food that causing him to gain weight. I dont believe I am over feeding. He gets 1/8 cup 4 times a day plus a large soup spoon full of wet food in the morning. I have read so many pros and cons of grain vs. grain free, vet suggestions vs. breeder suggestions, and I just feel so overwhelmed with information. I want to do whats best for Dill but I just dont know where to start with this weightloss.
View attachment 98100

Can you get a pic of him from the top while he’s standing?


Love and Sphynx ~ It’s all you need
 

Catzzzmeow

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You can perhaps try cutting back to 3 servings not 4 times a day or less each serving. Did your vet give you an ideal weight to get Dill down to? We had a boy that was 13 pounds and successfully got him down to 10 pounds which the vet recommended. Trust me they beg and act like they are starving, but eventually they get the new routine. Kudos to you for wanting to follow your vet’s suggestions. So many health benefits getting them to a recommended weight. Since they rely on us to feed them, you can tweak the amount you are feeding them pretty easily.
 

Kelnym

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Have you calculated out the calories in the Hills food?

Some kibble has way more calories than others.

Also, others can correct me if I'm wrong, but I've always read and been told that wet food was much better for weight loss.
 

Sheldon13

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Wet food helps them fill up, so yes it’s better. It’s also superior because it gets more water into them. They are rather bad at drinking enough water so that’s always a good thing. I wonder if I/D science diet has a wet food?


Love and Sphynx ~ It’s all you need
 

Toa and Ross

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My boy Toa needed to loose weight too. I tried a lot of things but nothing seemed to work. Then I got the tip to cut back almost all dry food and feed more wet good. That worked great. Toa is a slim boy now. Maybe it's worth a try cause it would also mean you can stick with Hills food
 

Condo commando

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It really comes down to calories consumed and calories burned. When they're kittens they burn off more calories but after that there's an adjustment period where you have to level the amount of calories to how active your adult cat has become. Since Dill is a year and a half, he might be eating like a kitten, but he's not as active so ....

Anyway all cats slow down as they age, so you don't have much control over how many calories they burn. That's where changing the number of calories consumed comes in play.

The thing is that kibble is very, very calorie dense food. For a small amount, it has a lot of calories. That is why so many cats "eat too much" ....but it's not really that they're eating a lot; it's just high calorie food. Imagine being hungry and tearing into a bag of potato chips....how many calories would you eat before you were full....that's the deal. Now if you can feed him all canned food, he will fill up with less calories because canned food is less calorie dense. And as was said by someone else higher up, it will also provide water which is good for the kidneys.

GI issues are real though, so look for the highest quality ingredients that you can find in a canned formulation. I'm assuming you wouldn't consider raw, but that would work also.
 

DillPickle

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You can perhaps try cutting back to 3 servings not 4 times a day or less each serving. Did your vet give you an ideal weight to get Dill down to? We had a boy that was 13 pounds and successfully got him down to 10 pounds which the vet recommended. Trust me they beg and act like they are starving, but eventually they get the new routine. Kudos to you for wanting to follow your vet’s suggestions. So many health benefits getting them to a recommended weight. Since they rely on us to feed them, you can tweak the amount you are feeding them pretty easily.
The vet did not give a recommended weight. I am assuming 10 pounds. His dad was 12 and grandfather was 14, but they were also longer cats I am assuming. He has a HUGE pouch. Today I fed him 3 times instead of 4, but he ate each portion in a whole sitting. I also went out and bought a laser and am going to try and dedicate more in the day of activity with him.
 

DillPickle

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Have you calculated out the calories in the Hills food?

Some kibble has way more calories than others.

Also, others can correct me if I'm wrong, but I've always read and been told that wet food was much better for weight loss.
The bag says 508 kcal ME/cup. I do give him wet food in the morning, but I give him 1/3 of the small can, more as a treat than anything.
 

DillPickle

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Wet food helps them fill up, so yes it’s better. It’s also superior because it gets more water into them. They are rather bad at drinking enough water so that’s always a good thing. I wonder if I/D science diet has a wet food?


Love and Sphynx ~ It’s all you need
They do sell wet food. I give him 1/3 of a small can each morning. My biggest concern would be is this brand of food okay for him? It has helped his stool so much and he no longer has gas or bowel issues. However, I have read some really negative things about Hill's prescription food and weight gain. There is just so much to read on the internet I find myself questioning everything that I am doing for him.
 

DillPickle

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My boy Toa needed to loose weight too. I tried a lot of things but nothing seemed to work. Then I got the tip to cut back almost all dry food and feed more wet good. That worked great. Toa is a slim boy now. Maybe it's worth a try cause it would also mean you can stick with Hills food
Was it hard feeding your Sphynx mostly wet? I feel like he will beg so much more if he is on a mostly wet food diet.
 

Sheldon13

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Mine eats exclusively wet and doesn’t even always finish hers. She gets a small can twice a day.


Love and Sphynx ~ It’s all you need
 

Kelnym

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The bag says 508 kcal ME/cup. I do give him wet food in the morning, but I give him 1/3 of the small can, more as a treat than anything.

That's VERY high calorie food.
To maintain 10lbs of weight, an indoor cat needs 200 calories, so feeding half a cup a day, plus a scoop of wet is feeding over 25% more calories every day than your cat needs.

That would be like you eating an extra 500-700 calories per day more than you burn. A human eating that excess would gain 50-80lbs per year.

Even if you cut it down to 3 servings a day, that puts you at almost exactly 200 calories, so the scoop of wet may put you over.

If your cat will eat wet, then maybe switch them to just wet for now until the weight is back under control and then revisit food choice at that point.

If you are really concerned about poop, food quality and weight, then start looking into raw.
 

Toa and Ross

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Was it hard feeding your Sphynx mostly wet? I feel like he will beg so much more if he is on a mostly wet food diet.

It wasn't hard at all! When I did feed mostly kibbles, they did beg when on diet. When I switched to almost only wet food they stopped begging. I feed them 3 sachets wet food a day and they are satisfied. Even my little piggy Toa.
 

DillPickle

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It really comes down to calories consumed and calories burned. When they're kittens they burn off more calories but after that there's an adjustment period where you have to level the amount of calories to how active your adult cat has become. Since Dill is a year and a half, he might be eating like a kitten, but he's not as active so ....

Anyway all cats slow down as they age, so you don't have much control over how many calories they burn. That's where changing the number of calories consumed comes in play.

The thing is that kibble is very, very calorie dense food. For a small amount, it has a lot of calories. That is why so many cats "eat too much" ....but it's not really that they're eating a lot; it's just high calorie food. Imagine being hungry and tearing into a bag of potato chips....how many calories would you eat before you were full....that's the deal. Now if you can feed him all canned food, he will fill up with less calories because canned food is less calorie dense. And as was said by someone else higher up, it will also provide water which is good for the kidneys.

GI issues are real though, so look for the highest quality ingredients that you can find in a canned formulation. I'm assuming you wouldn't consider raw, but that would work also.
I am not considering raw at this time. But yes, thank you so much! this definitely makes a lot of sense!
 

DillPickle

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Mine eats exclusively wet and doesn’t even always finish hers. She gets a small can twice a day.


Love and Sphynx ~ It’s all you need
Good to know, im sure the weaning off process will be hard, but im interesting in trying 1 small can a day (half in morning and half at night) and only an 1/8c of dry twice a day.
 

DillPickle

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That's VERY high calorie food.
To maintain 10lbs of weight, an indoor cat needs 200 calories, so feeding half a cup a day, plus a scoop of wet is feeding over 25% more calories every day than your cat needs.

That would be like you eating an extra 500-700 calories per day more than you burn. A human eating that excess would gain 50-80lbs per year.

Even if you cut it down to 3 servings a day, that puts you at almost exactly 200 calories, so the scoop of wet may put you over.

If your cat will eat wet, then maybe switch them to just wet for now until the weight is back under control and then revisit food choice at that point.

If you are really concerned about poop, food quality and weight, then start looking into raw.
Wow.. thank you!! this is extremely helpful!!
 

Condo commando

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Good to know, im sure the weaning off process will be hard, but im interesting in trying 1 small can a day (half in morning and half at night) and only an 1/8c of dry twice a day.
Hmmm...he does look like he could trim down a little. You have a good plan. Keep in mind he might stay hungry or he might get hungry too soon after his last meal. He might even pester you for food but all he knows is he's hungry. In this case it's good to have healthy snacks around. A lot of people buy freeze dried food for snacks.

Something else that works and it's cheaper than freeze dried is a good ol' rotisserie chicken. I can't eat the whole bird so I eat half and the other half I shred the meat and turn it into cat snacks. You can even freeze it for later. Don't give him the skin; that's the fatty part plus it has all the seasonings....just feed the plain meat. It's lean protein.
 
Last edited:

Sheldon13

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He doesn’t look much overweight to me. Maybe half a pound at the most. He just has a little belly is all. I think start with your plan and if it doesn’t work go to a whole small can twice a day and no dry.


Love and Sphynx ~ It’s all you need
 

Yoda mom

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hugs n head smooches he is adorable! I have a dry food addict, wish I could get batman fatman to lose a wee bit. he won't get on the exercise wheel like Toby.. Toby has a little sphynx pouch and he runs like mad on his exercise wheel. keep us updated ! I am giving smaller portions to my Batman
 

DillPickle

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hugs n head smooches he is adorable! I have a dry food addict, wish I could get batman fatman to lose a wee bit. he won't get on the exercise wheel like Toby.. Toby has a little sphynx pouch and he runs like mad on his exercise wheel. keep us updated ! I am giving smaller portions to my Batman
I am hoping to get a cat wheel soon!! Thank you ❤️
 
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