Dietary recommendations for weight management of Maine Coon cats aged 2 years old

The daily caloric intake should be controlled at 40-45 kcal per kilogram of body weight (reduced to 35-40 kcal for neutered individuals), and the body fat rate should be maintained at 15%-20%. It is preferred to choose staple foods with crude protein ≥ 40% and carbohydrates < 10%. The total proportion of snacks should not exceed 10% of the daily intake. There is no need to stick to the unified standard of "male cats weigh 15 kilograms and female cats weigh 12 kilograms". You can feel the ribs and have a clear waistline when standing, which is a healthy state.

To be honest, I have just stepped into this pit before. My 2-year-old Maine rice cake always curls up on the sofa when it is cold in the winter. I always feel that he does not eat enough to resist freezing, so I add two handfuls of freeze-dried food every day. In two months, he jumped from 14 pounds to 17 pounds. When I took him for a physical examination, the doctor poked the sagging belly on his belly and said that the pressure on his hip joints and heart would double if he gained weight, so he started to adjust his diet in a hurry.

After asking around, I discovered that in the Maine Coon breeding circle, there are actually two completely different schools of thought regarding dietary choices for weight control for adult cats. There is no absolute right or wrong. It all depends on your own feeding conditions. Several veterans around me who have raised Maine Coons for five or six years are raw meat enthusiasts. They feed 2-year-old adult cats 2.5%-3% of their body weight. They are all raw meat with poultry, red meat, and offal. There are almost no carbohydrates, and the weight control efficiency is very high. I have a friend’s neutered male Maine Coon that has been fed raw meat for half a year. His body fat has dropped directly from 24% to 18%, and his belly does not even shake when he runs. However, the doctor at the pet hospital I often go to also repeatedly reminds me that raw meat and bones have extremely high requirements for food quarantine and storage conditions. If a nine-to-five office worker does not have the conditions to regularly conduct bacterial flora testing and low-temperature sterilization of food ingredients, he or she will easily get gastroenteritis and parasites. There is no need to join in the fun.

If you are like me and usually too busy to keep your feet on the ground, choosing the right puffed food is actually enough. Don't believe the "Maine-specific grains" advertised by the merchants. If there are grains and potatoes with a high proportion of cereals and potatoes in the top three ingredients list, just pass. The grain I choose for the rice cake now has 42% crude protein and only 7% carbohydrates. I feed it 120g every day, divided into morning and evening meals. It is almost one-third less than when I fed it openly. At the beginning, it would squat by the bowl and scream for food. After half a month of feeding, it got used to it.

Oh, by the way, don’t be fooled by the standard weight online. I met a girl at the hospital last month who took a 2-year-old mother Maine cat for a physical examination. She only weighed 10 pounds. As soon as the girl went in, she asked the doctor if she wanted to give the cat a supplement. After the doctor checked, he said that the cat’s body fat rate was 18%. She had a small frame and was at this weight. If she was forced to feed the cat to 12 pounds, she would be overweight. Really, judging whether the cat is fat or thin is always more important than the number on the scale: you put your hand on the side of the cat's chest and you can feel the ribs without pressing hard, but they are not clearly defined. When standing, there is an obvious concave arc in the waist and abdomen, which is just right. If you can't feel the ribs after a long time, and the belly sways when running, then it must be fed too much.

I have been involved in diet food pitfalls before. When I was about to control my weight, I bought a bag of so-called low-fat diet food. After feeding rice cakes for half a month, I lost a pound, but the muscles on my back felt soft. Later I learned that many diet foods rely on adding a large amount of dietary fiber to keep me full, and the crude protein content is not enough. Maine Coon itself is a breed with high muscle mass. Loss of muscle will only lower the basal metabolism and make it easier to rebound in the future. It is really better to feed high-protein food normally and reduce the amount appropriately.

Now my rice cake has been adjusted for three months and is back to 14 pounds. Yesterday I jumped on a two-meter-high cat climbing frame to catch birds. There was no sound even when I landed. The doctor said that my condition is much better than when I was overweight before. In fact, there are so many complicated rules. You don’t need to use a calculator every day to calculate calories and touch its belly twice more. If I parkour with you for half an hour today, it’s okay to give two more freeze-dried pieces as a reward. If it’s raining and sleep on the sofa all day, just scoop half a spoon less food at night. Being flexible is much more useful than a deadlock formula.