# Wellness Core dry food calories



## greenighs (May 1, 2008)

No Wonder Gizmo's gained weight! I switched him to grain-free, low carb dry food as I transition him to wet food only ... just called the Wellness consumer line and found out that *Core contains 536 calories per cup*!! Giz should be consuming *about 306 calories* per day, TOTAL. No wonder he's porked up! I thought he'd lose weight because there are fewer carbohydrates and I was feeding him only 1/2-3/4 cup dry along with his two 3-oz cans per day.

It turns out, I was feeding Giz around *700 calories!!* 8O

His transition diet is now *one* three-ounce can of Wellness grain-free food and two ounces of Nature's Variety medallions, split into two feedings per day. Since my folks* are softies, and can't stand to see Giz milling around the kitchen with an empty bowl all day, I've measured out a 1/4 cup portion of Wellness Core dry food into a tiny tupperware and left it on the counter for them to distribute as they must while I'm at work. NO cheating (they understand the consquences: fat cat = no asthma medication = miserable Gizmo. Or worse, fat cat + asthma medicine = diabetic, asthmatic cat.  ) That makes around 320 calories, total. I can live with that, and so can Giz.

Gosh, what a little research will do!

I know this is kind of anal retentive, but having a plan helps me cope with anxiety, and explaining my plan helps me stick to it. Hopefully, this info will be helpful to someone else some day.

*When I'm in my own place (soon), Giz is going all wet food, eventually all raw. But it just isn't reasonable to expect my folks to deal with Mr. Cranky Pants all day.


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## Mrs. Steepie (Feb 1, 2006)

*Wellness*

:lol: No wonder he gained weight.... think of the Atkins diet.
You need to maintain a Low Carb diet..... LOW carbs You were
feeding him a combo, so how would he loss weight?
My Cosmo is a Maine ****, and his weight 1year ago was 
26 lbs. I switched his food to Wellness Core and he has been 
losing weight slowly... thats the key! He has lost over 6 pounds.
He also gets no treats!!!! Hope this helps....


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## greenighs (May 1, 2008)

All the info I could find for Wellness Core was that it *is* low carb. Compared to other Wellness dry varieties, Core's got a quarter to half the carbs. Compared to Science Diet, it has about 1/3 the carbs. But that's not the whole story.

Core lists _percentage_ of calories (47% from protein, 42% from fat, and 11% from carbohydrates) but not the _number_ of calories. So I thought it was okay. I was thinking it was comparable to the Science Diet (Indoor Adult, 281 calories/cup) or other Wellness dry foods (Indoor Health, 222 calories/cup) or other dry foods. But nope, as Giz's impressive girth will assert, it isn't comparable at all! Thank gawd I called Wellness to check before Giz got too big to get out the door to the vet's office! 

Most of the recommended feeding tables on cat food cats and bags and pouches go up to cats weighing 15 pounds. Giz, on the other hand, goes up to 26 pounds and has to go down to 20, like your Maine **** did.  I had to make a spread sheet out of the Janet & Binky tables and make a bunch of calculations to figure all this out.

It boggles the mind, the density of info I've have to plow through to figure out what to feed my cat! But he's worth it.


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## greenighs (May 1, 2008)

And to clarify, I think Wellness Core is one of the best dry foods I've found, I just had my portion size waaaayyyyy off for it's calorie density. It's wasn't the food's fault, it was mine.


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## Mrs. Steepie (Feb 1, 2006)

*Wellness*

Your right... my baby is eating a lot less food since on Wellness
That is where people make a mistake. I have 2 cats... they get 
1/2 cup in th a.m. and 1/2 cup in the pm.. thats it!!! and they are 
not hungry


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## greenighs (May 1, 2008)

*grrrrrrrrr* Just bought a big bag of Merrick's BG #1 Chicken dry food, because the label said it provided *108 calories per cup* . But now I see the Merrick web site and www.beforegrain.com give the calorie count as *406 calories per cup*. I just can't stand the amount of money I've wasted on cat food that ends up being either unappealing to Gizmo or just plain bad for him.

I know there's no silver bullet that works for every cat in every circumstance, but for pete's sake, I'm sick of throwing money away!
:cussing 

I need more coffee.

The good news is that Giz is doing okay with 3 oz. of Nature's Variety organic chicken frozen medallions mixed into small amount of Wellness grain-free canned food. I divide the mixture into two portions, dinner and breakfast, and he eats it all up! Good boy!


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Grain free foods tend to be high in calories than foods with grains. Adjust the quantity you feed. The higher proteins and fats are more satisfying than the carbs, which just create a desire for more food due to the sugar highs and lows...


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