Weight issues

How do you all keep your older and middle aged cats from gaining too much weight? I dont want my cats to get too heavy, and I notice they have put on some weight as they have aged, like people do. How can I get them to exercise and play more? They eat really healthy food for seniors. Princess Gina eats chicken also, plain baked, because it has helped with her immune system. This is Gina.

What food are they eating? And is it limited or are they free-fed? I would think feeding them in meals would make it much easier to control their weight.

For exercising and playing, try rotating their toys. Take some away for a while then switch them so they seem like new. You can even store toys in catnip to make them more interesting. Interactive toys are great too. You can get them to run and jump on furniture, cat trees, etc for a better workout. A lot of people here like Da Bird, which I haven't tried yet. I really like the Cat Dancer, peacock feathers (cheap at craft stores), and laser lights. Alternate the interactive toys too so they don't get bored with them.

Gina's beautiful!

Bijou was getting to be a big boy and since I went to wet food for him he has slimmed down a bit and looks better.

Thanks, Gina is the feline version of me! What kind of wet food? The suggestions about the toys sound good too. Once my daughter brought a laser pointer over and Gina went crazy. I will get one, and look at some of those other toys too. I love to play with them. What is da Bird? The only time I saw my 12 year old cat Little really move was when we had a real mouse in the house!

A good quality wet food such as Nutro Balance, Merrick. If you do a search on this forum you will find some great info on the different foods and the quality.

I tried a number of different brands before I found that Bijou and Mika would both eat Merrick's - but only the Granny's Pot Pie and Thanksgiving Dinner. Neither of our cats likes fish.

Originally Posted by ginava

Thanks, Gina is the feline version of me! What kind of wet food? The suggestions about the toys sound good too. Once my daughter brought a laser pointer over and Gina went crazy. I will get one, and look at some of those other toys too. I love to play with them. What is da Bird? The only time I saw my 12 year old cat Little really move was when we had a real mouse in the house!

Click to expand...

Here's a thread about Da Bird: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=100865 I can also recommend the Cat Dancer. There are links to both in the thread.

Two good but inexpensive canned foods are Nutro and Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul. Both come in Senior versions. I've also found that Felidae and Innova, both great foods, are much less expensive if you can find the big 13 oz cans.

This is Da Bird:
http://www.thecatconnection.com/Da-Bird-Cat-Teaser.html

There's all sorts of different interactive toys at pet stores. It kind of depends on the cat's personality. Both of my kittens have different favorite interactive toys, although they do tend to like them all as long as they don't see them too often. Which means I'll probably buy more soon. They're fun for all of us!

I bought the laser toy today, that is jolly good fun. I feel a bit guilty tho cause they can never catch it. I will get the bird, too, they can really catch that thing. I didnt know there were so many great foods out there.With cute names too. Do they have them at Petsmart?

Petsmart has some decent stuff, unfortunately not Chicken Soup, Felidae, Innova, or some of the other great foods like that. Petsmart does have Nutro. I've heard Blue Spa is pretty good, and I think Authority is supposed to be decent too. By any chance do you have a Pet Supplies Plus or another pet store in your area? That's where I've been finding a lot of brands that Petsmart doesn't carry and at better prices too. 3 oz cans of Nutro are about 10 cents cheaper at the other stores in my area compared to Petsmart.

I was just playing with our laser toy, actually. Sometimes my kittens do get frustrated so I throw a catnip mouse for them or switch to something like an old shoelace or a peacock feather that they can actually catch. Usually they don't seem to mind.

My cat isn't a senior, but was definitely overweight. He had been eating nothing but low quality dry for the past 5 years. Everything I had read stated low quality dry foods with high amounts of carbs (like corn) are not good for cats since they can't digest it, and is therefore responsible for kitty weight gain.

I switched my kitty off off dry to canned only, except at night. I put out Evo dry at night, which has a 7% carbohydrate level. During the day, he gets canned food only. I first made a list of canned foods with low carbohydrate levels. I emailed the manufacturers of the foods to get the carbohydrate levels of the canned foods. Once this list was complete, I then organized the low-carbohydrate foods by calories. Here is the list I am using, with all pertinent information. The ingredients listed each have a number by them. That number represents the order the carbohydrate-laden ingredients appear on the cat food label. You can see by going this route, you won't purchase foods with carbohydrates appearring on the food label sooner than position 5:


Foods without fish:

Merrick Turducken
8% Carbohydrate level
162 calories per 5.5 oz can.
Carbohydrate sources:
Sweet Potatos (5)
Carrots (6)
Peas (7)
Apples (8)
Potato starch (9)

Eagle Pack Turkey/Barley
2.98 % carb level
177 calories per 5.5 oz can
Carbohydrate sources:
Barley (5)
Carrots (7)
Peas (8)
Potatos (9)

Eagle Pack Chicken/Lamb\t
1.91 % carb level\t\t
190 calories per 5.5 oz can
Carb sources:
Rolled Oats (5)
Carrots (7)
Peas (8)
Potatos (9)

Foods with Fish:

Merrick Surf & Turf\t
8% Carb level\t
160 ounces per 5.5 oz. can\t
Carb sources:
Potatos (7)
Carrots (8)
Zuchini (9)
Apples (10)

Eagle Pack Salmon & Shrimp\t\t
2% carb level
175 calories per 5.5 oz. can\t
Carb sources:
Oats (7)
Carrots (8)
Peas (9)
Potatos (10)

Chicken Soup Adult\t
3.6% Carb Level\t
187 calories per 5.5 oz can\t
Carb sources:
Whole Grain Brown Rice (7)
White Rice (8)
Oatmeal (9)
Potatos (10)
Barley (11)

Since switching my cat off of dry onto canned, he has lost weight gradually, which is the safest way. Even visitors are noticing his weight loss. Up to this point I have been trying different canned foods with meats high on the ingredients list and carbohydrate sources low on the list, as you can see. I will eventually switch him to the Merrick and Eagle Pack only, due to the low calorie contents, until his weight level has normalized.

Chicken Soup appears on the fish-based foods listing because salmon is the second ingredient listed on the can. Merrick can be purchased at Pet Supermarket, while Eagle Pack is available locally at a feed store. I don't purchase Eagle Pack or Merrick in all flavors, since all flavors are not equal when it comes to carbohydrate levels.

First off take kitty to a vet and find out how overwt she is ///

Many of us think our cats are over wt and try to diet them ... This is not a good thing... Wt loss should be overseen by your vet ... Many vets will give Rx diets for obese kitties ... Bring your canned research to the vet...

Here is a brief list of ones I rotate in cans

Meow mix
Authority
Wysong
Solid gold
Natures variety
Nutro
Natural balence
Eagle pack
Solid gold
Evangers
California natural
EVO ( all turned up not able to eat)
Innova
Merrick

Fish depends on the cat ... My oldest is 18 and loves fish but it is not loving her as much... The younger one literally will fish in my tanks If I dont give her some... NO HUMAN tuna