lossing some weight

I took in a male cat about 8-10 months ago. I don't know his age, but the vet guesses 6-10 years old. In terms of body size he is of a much bigger breed than any other cat I've had/seen. He weighed about 19 pounds 2 years ago when my ex took him in, my parents then kept him for a few months and his weight dropped to about 17-18 pounds (bc of the bigger house I assume) and now he is pushing about 23-24 pounds. He is in a smaller apartment, but as is typical of cats he doesn't move around a lot anyways. He has been fed a cup of dry food a day for the last two years, I give him half in the morning half at night mainly bc it keeps him from crying for food as much.

What is the best way to bring his weight down? I assume slowly cutting the amount I am giving down would help. Does it matter that I feed him twice a day, would once a day be better? Exercise is what he really needs, my room mate and I tried walking him, he didn't even make it around the couch, so your suggestions would be great to hear.

If you could get him to eat more wet food and less dry that would certainly help. Dry food has a lot of fillers and carbohydrates which can cause cats to gain weight. A good quality wet food is healthier (especially for neutered males who are more prone to crystals) and your kitty will probably lose some weight. Bijou slimmed down after I started feeding more wet food and a small amount of dry for munching on during the day.

If you feed a good quality wet food you will also find they eat less since they are getting the nutrition they need in a lesser amount.

You may have to gradually add a bit of wet to his dry to get him started on wet food and increase a bit each day over a 10-12 day period to get him eating the wet food.

The most important thing is that it is dangerous for them to lose the weight too fast. It really must be very gradual.

what food are you feeding him? if it is a low gradde food then that is where you need to start. secondly add more wet food and cut back on the dry. dry is fattening and wet generally is just a better diet anyways. don't do any major cut back on food unless you talk with a vet.

Originally Posted by Jen

what food are you feeding him? if it is a low gradde food then that is where you need to start. secondly add more wet food and cut back on the dry. dry is fattening and wet generally is just a better diet anyways. don't do any major cut back on food unless you talk with a vet.

Click to expand...

I stress the vet part of this