Any opinions on feeding Purina Pro Plan Weight Management dry food to overweight cat? 46% protein & 8-12% fat

I've been searching for a dry cat food that's high in protein but very low in fat, with low/moderate amount of carbs. I just came across Purina Pro Plan weight management food and was impressed by the guaranteed analysis (namely the 46% protein and only 8-12% fat). Sounds exactly like what I was looking for, EXCEPT many of the ingredients are less than ideal (corn gluten meal, wheat gluten, etc.). Should I buy this product based on the guaranteed analysis of nutrients that I've been searching for? Or are the sub-par ingredients a horrible choice? Does anyone know of any dry cat food that is high protein and low fat (i.e. less than 15%)? Thanks!

Here is the link to the web page with nutrition info for this product: http://www.proplan.com/products/WeightMa...

thanks to *some* of the answers thus far :) I'm aware of the dry-mater basis (just got done reading a book on cat nutrition and that's what spurred me to make a switch quickly!!). I was just so impressed by the pro plan's numbers-- I've been searching an absolutely cannot find anything that's lowfat with high protein.

There are mixed feelings out there on this. As a veterinary student, I have taken animal nutrition classes and have seen a few different opinions. My nutrition prof said the ingredients do not really matter as long as they are getting the proper nutrition (and it is digestible). Many others say it must be the closest to what an animal would get in the wild.
I fed that exact diet to my cats for a while, and while they liked it, I got an overcooked batch at some point and I am pretty sure it caused gastritis in my older cat. I currently feed Purina Veterinary Diets - Obesity Management because my school gets it free for students. I have already noticed a difference in my cat. He is losing weight and the crunchers are nice and big so his teeth get some mechanical cleaning. Plus, it's really high protein and my cats love it. The unfortunate thing is that corn gluten meal is the number one ingredient. The reason I got it is because of the 50% protein, 10% fiber, and 10% fat. The thing is, as long as a pet's digestive system can properly handle a food, and it has all of the proper building blocks, the animal will be fine. An amino acid is an amino acid, vitamin B12 is always vitamin B12. The thing that really needs to be looked at is "what sort of additives/preservatives are in this food?" That can make a big difference in the health of your animal. I really wish I had a better class on this so I could be more informative. I am definitely planning to do my research. Good luck. I know finding the right diet can be a challenge.
*** Added, I should also note that my cats get a supplement of canned food, but only a couple tablespoons a day. It is recommended that you at least give some canned food to a cat because it will increase their water intake.
**Another edit - just looked into a whole bunch of dry foods. I know carbs are not good for cats, they lack an important processing enzyme for them in the liver. I figured dry foods were pretty high in carbs but good lord, they all have quite high percentages! Even Innova is 40%. Ken, good suggestions with the wet foods. The vets that recommended a mixed diet for my cats have had an even more limited nutrition curriculum than I have, which is really sad. Believe me, JAVMA is getting a good read-through this summer!

just dont starve the poor critter and possible call the vet and ask their opinion on weight management

Do not

I, personally, lost 10 pounds on Purina.

be careful. too much protein puts a big strain on the liver. and also, make sure she gets lots of fluids. better really to give her fresh fish/chicken that is naturally low in fat and carbs.

Hills make lots of different cat biscuits - sold by vets as well so contact a vet for advice

It's a cat!!!

If you don't feed the cat what it wants to eat, it will eat elsewhere anyway.

So, 46% protein, 8-12% fat, low carbs, who cares if the cat doesn't like it??

If your not sure then this is what I would do. Do you have small pet stores in your area? Not the big old pet stores like Petco or PetSmart.......but locally owned shops. They carrying higher quality pet foods, including food for cats. And anyone that I've ever been in the owners of these shops know there merchandise and can recommend a food for your cat, and maybe even a plan on how to get more of it's weight off. That's been my personal experience anyway. Good Luck!

If you've gotten those figures right off the bag, they are incorrect. When looking at these figures, you need to convert them to their dry matter whatsit.

"Because of the variation in water content, it is impossible to directly compare labels from different kinds of food without a mathematical conversion to 鈥渄ry matter basis.鈥?The numbers can be very deceiving. For instance, a canned food containing 10% protein actually has much more protein than a dry food with 30% protein.

To put the foods on a level playing field, first calculate the dry matter content by subtracting the moisture content given on the label from 100%. Then divide the ingredient by the dry matter content. For example, a typical bag of dry cat food contains 30% protein on the label, but 32% on a dry-matter basis (30% divided by its dry matter content, 100-6% moisture = 94%). A can of cat food might contain 12% protein on the label, but almost 43% on a dry-matter basis (12% divided by its dry matter content, 100-72% moisture = 28%). Dry food typically contains less than 10% water, while canned food contains 78% or more water."

But with that out of the way, I poo-poo this food. The ingredients are completely hideous. The only way a cat will lose weight eating this bag of corn is if you starve them.

I tried to get Poppy to lose weight on this food too. Not surprisingly it didn't work.

Rule of thumb - if you can buy it in the grocery store, don't buy it.

On top of that - you're not going to have a lot of luck getting a cat to lose weight eating any dry food unless you starve them. It's better than obesity but why take the hard route when it can be so easy if you just feed the RIGHT food? Namely raw or canned.

The cat should have exercise as well as diet. Low fat diets are as beneficial for them as for you. You might also do the same for the cat as for you - cut down the amount of food you give the cat.. Feed in the morning and evening but not too much.

I recommend not feeding your cat any national brand of cat food. The guaranteed analysis of these brands are misleading. The protein is of low quality - Usually from very little actual meat. Mostly meat by-products (ie: road kill and slaughter house leftovers (hooves, bones, beaks, etc.). Cats in the wild eat meat, fat, entrails, a small amount of bone and hair, and some stomach contents, which may contain a tiny amount of grain, vegetable matter, and/or grass.
Cats need more fat than, say, dogs, but they don't digest carbohydrates. So look for a brand of cat food that contains either no grains at all, or only minimal grain. The grain should not be wheat or corn in any form. Better grains might be barley or rice, but still, very little.

If you want to, you can do a google search for "grain-free cat food" and come up with a lot of choices. All that's left to do is find a retailer near you that sells the brand you choose. That's what I did and I'm so happy I took my cat off the store brands even before the poison was found in many of them. I feed my cat Wellness Core.

Hi

The carb numbers are high and I doubt you have the real numbers as they use minimum numbers in their descriptions and you have to call the company to get thje as fed numbers then do some mathematical calculations to get the real numbers.
You don't want to feed a lighter potato chip to a cat to make him lose weight. You want to feed him more of what he needs and less of what he doesn't and that means NO DRT FOODS aka kitty crack. Check out the link at the bottom for fat cats.
Nutrition since there are so many bad things out there is very important to your cat鈥檚 health
Contrary to what you may have heard; dry foods are not a great thing to feed a cat.
Please read the label on what you are feeding? What are the ingredients? Do you know what they mean? Is the first ingredient a muscle meat like chicken or meal or other things?
http://www.catinfo.org/#Learn_How_To_Rea...
Dry foods are the number 1 cause of diabetes in cats as well as being a huge contributing factor to kidney disease, obesity, crystals, u.t.i鈥檚 and a host of other problems. Food allergies are very common when feeding dry foods. Rashes, scabs behind the tail and on the chin are all symptoms
The problems associated with Dry food is that they are loaded with carbohydrates which many cats (carnivores) cannot process them. Also, Most of the moisture a cat needs is suppose to be in the food but in
Dry, 95% of it is zapped out of dry foods in the processing. Another thing, most use horrible ingredients and don't use a muscle meat as the primary ingredient and use vegetable based protein versus animal. Not good for an animal that has to eat meat to survive.
You want to pick a canned food w/o gravy (gravy=carbs) that uses a muscle meat as the first ingredient and doesn't have corn at least in the first 3 ingredients if at all. Fancy feast is a middle grade food with 9lives, friskies whiskas lower grade canned and wellness and merrick upper grade human quality foods. The optimum food to feed cats has no grains whatsoever, cats have no use for them and many have trouble processing them as well as the carbs. IBD is another disease that is rapidly becoming common amoung cats because of the inappropriate diets being fed.
Also, dry food is not proven to be better for teeth. Does a hard pretzel clean your teeth or do pieces of it get stuck? http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/bp...

Please read about cat nutrition.
http://www.newdestiny.us/nutritionbasics...
http://www.catinfo.org/feline_obesity.ht...
http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.ht...

Cats get fat on dry food, regardless of the kind that you select. It's because of the amount of carbohydrates needed to create dry food, any kind (hard to make biscuits without flour). As carnivores, cats need protein and fat, neither of which make them fat. They don't need carbohydrates, and because they are such an inappropriate diet, they keep eating more and more of it because it doesn't satiate them. Try feeding canned food or raw. Avoid those canned foods (and raw mixes) that contain grains, vegetables or fruit. Fancy Feast is a good readily available canned food that is all meat (avoid those with gravy). I think you'll be surprised how fast your cat loses weight on the appropriate diet.