Patent ID: 8029819

Claim:
A diet for promoting comprehensive weight management in companion animals comprising a first stage pet food product for promoting weight loss and a second stage pet food product for maintaining the weight loss, said first stage pet food product comprising, on a dry matter basis, about 35% to about 70% by weight of a protein, about 4% to about 10% by weight of a fat, about 2% to about 25% by weight of a fiber, about 10% to about 35% by weight of a carbohydrate, and about 0.1% to about 2% by weight of a functional ingredient, wherein said functional ingredient is selected from the group consisting of L-carnitine and conjugated linoleic acid; and said second stage pet food product comprising, on a dry matter basis, about 20% to about 35% by weight of a protein, about 4% to about 10% by weight of a fat, about 2% to about 25% by weight of a fiber, about 25% to about 70% by weight of a carbohydrate, and about 0.1% to about 2% by weight of a functional ingredient, wherein said functional ingredient is selected from the group consisting of L-carnitine and conjugated linoleic acid, wherein the protein content of the second stage pet food product is about 10% to about 45% less than the protein content of the first stage pet food product.