A presentation of the cat Tigger and his feeding plan during two days when he was staying in the clinic.

1. Feeding a cat
The story of Tigger

2. Meet Tigger

3. Tigger was a cat in our cattery who one day started to
sneeze.
We pointed him out to the vet who after looking him over
decided he had conjunctivitis and a little sniffle. So Tigger
relocated to our cosy isolation room while we cared for
him. I made a care plan and implemented it from the 26th
to the 27th of February
He was given a snuggly vetbed over a towel and his cage
was lined with paper. He has a litter tray, a bowl of water
and food of course.
His medications were chlorsig 1% in the right eye 3 times a
day until the eye clears up. After a day no more sneezing
was observed but his eye refused to clear so his medication
was changed to ½ a vibravet BID and 2-3 drops of maxitrol
in his right eye twice daily.

4. About Tigger
Tigger is a Domestic short haired male neutered cat.
He weighs 4.55kg and is 8 years and 7 months old.
Using a body condition scoring of 1-9 I placed Tigger
as about a 5. he is lean and I could feel his ribs but his
weight should be watched as he could be a 6 if you
were less lenient. Tigger is quite an active cat
usually, he likes exploring and climbing and spends
the majority of his time at home outside.
He has a sensitive stomach and will sometimes vomit
up his meals so the vet reccomended Royal Canin
Sensitivity Control which we continued while he was
with us.

5. What Tigger Needs
The resting energy requirement for
Tigger is:
4.55 x 30 = 136.5
136.5 + 70= 206.5kcal per day
RER = 206.5kcal per day
MER = 206.5 x 1.1 = 227.5 (MER for an
active cat)
Tiggers food Royal Canin Sensitivity
Control Contains 3332.5kcal/kg of
metabolise-able energy from his dry
Kibble. His wet food contains
950.5kcal/kg of metabolise-able
energy
Because of Tigger sensitive stomach I decided it was best to continue his
normal diet while he was with us because we didn’t want him vomiting
as it would waste some of what he needs in nutrients and energy daily
and it would be stressful for him. He was fed dry food in the morning
that contained most of his daily energy requirements as dry food could
be left and wouldn’t go off like wet food does. This way he could grave
on it all day. Wet food was offered in the evening as a little treat. This
only contained a small portion of what he would need as a sleeping cat
does not require a lot of energy.

6. Royal Canin Sensitivity Control
Dry Food:
Protien = 27%
Fat = 11%
Carbohydrate = 41.5%
Moisture = 5.5%
Metabolisable energy = 3332kcal/kg
Wet Food:
Protien = 8%
Fat = 5.5%
Carbohydrate = 5.8%
Moisture = 78%
Metabolisable energy = 950kcal/kg

7. How much to Feed?
Tigger needs at least 2/3 of his daily MER from his dry kibble morning meal.
To work out how many grams he needs:
227.5kcal per day/3.332kcal per g = 68.27g per day which can round up to
69g or 5/8 of a cup per day.
(69/5) x 4 = 55.2g for breakfast.
This gives Tigger 3.332 x 55.2 = 184kcal he needs another 43.5kcal to meet
his daily MER.
Wet food offers 950.5kcal/kg of metabolise-able energy. This can be broken
down into kcal per g: 950.5kcal per kg/1000 = 0.95kcal/g
To find the correct number of grams he needs for this meal:
43.5kcal/0.95kcal per g = 46g of food needs to be given to Tigger at dinner
time.
In total Tigger was fed twice a day and was given 55.2g of dry kibble in the
morning and 46g of wet food in the evening.

8. Critique of Diet
This diet is great for reducing allergies as it uses proteins
that are less likely to cause allergic reactions than normal
maintenance diets. It contains Fructo-Oligo-Saccharides
and beet pulp as well as a range of minerals (seen in
above nutrient content table) in order to help digestion
which is important for Tigger as he has trouble digesting
meals. This diet is fine for his health status as it easily
digestible so can provide all the energy that Tigger needs
in order to regain his health.

9. Sustainability
The Royal Canin diet is made and shipped from Melbourne Australia. This is not
local but is close enough that it is more sustainable than if it was manufactured in
their place of origin in France. A more sustainable option would be a locally (New
Zealand) made product but New Zealand has fewer and more expensive products
for purchase which makes a large overseas company like Royal Canin more
preferable.
Royal Canin use only sustainable raw materials and ingredients for their food and
have the latest green technologies used for manufacture and packaging. They
have set goals for themselves to reduce gas, electricity and water consumption by
3% a year and to reduce their buried waste products to zero by 2015
Royal Canin can still improve by using packaging that is more easily recycled and
perhaps creating factories in some countries where they do a lot of supplying to,
so as to cut down on transport time and costs and help improve economy.