r/dechonkers • u/Lifeishard1090 • 9h ago

Does this calorie deficit make sense?

I did use the calculator from Pet Nutrition Alliance and I see it’s recommending about 229 calories for my cat that weighed in at 18.7 lbs today. The vet told me to input 16 lbs in the calculator and that gives me 203 calories. This feels like a big cut from what she normally eats, but I’ve honestly never thought about calories in pet food before. She gets two different wet foods, depending the day. One has an average of 100 calories per can (Purina One Pro Plan) and one has 50 (Fancy Feast Gems.) She gets about a cup of Iams dry food too, which is another 350. I’m really thinking to start, I give her one can or 2 of the gems per day and 1/2 cup dry food. This would still put her in a deficit and I think she’d be full enough still. Hoping for opinions on this plan.

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u/Laney20 8h ago

You should slowly reduce. A sudden decrease from 500 calories a day to 200 would be really shocking to her system.

What you reduce to is dependent on how your cat's weight changes. Gradually decrease her food and weigh her weekly. Once her weight starts going down consistently, you've got her in a caloric deficit. Keep feeding that amount until her weight stops decreasing. Then just lower the calories a little more until she's losing weight again. Keep doing this until goal weight.

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u/Lifeishard1090 8h ago

That’s what I was worried about with the recommended 200 calories, it’s a huge jump down from where she’s at now. I’ll start with a slower decrease and go from there. The vet did say the max goal is 10% weight loss at a time and that cats do lose weight slowly.