Fat Cat

We adopted 1 and a half year old Phoebe (Russian Blue) 3 months ago and she's a little overweight.

We've tried switching to a lower fat dry food for morning feeding and she has raw chicken breast (approx 100g) at dinnertime. She hasn't seemed to have lost any weight - in fact, we think she might be getting fatter!

Any advice on how we can assist Phoebe with her weight loss efforts????? Should we just keep slowly cutting down the portions of both meals????

Lisa

What you should do is talk to the vet about the caloric intake for your cats size and age. They will calculate the amount you need to decrease as far as calories go. By putting them on a diet and lowering the calories without all the info, you can do more damage than good.

heehee our Russian is a foodie. . .wants to be the size of a Maine Coon if she could. Her breeder said that Russians are known for being fond of a good meal, or two . . .or three

Over the years we've done various things . . she was free fed as a bitty kitten, then measured portions. There is NO WAY I could get her to use a gravity feeder for when we go away. . .. she just kept on eating and eating and wouldn't stop. So number 1, all meals should be portioned out -- not free fed.

The fact that your kitty eats chicken makes it more complicated since it is not a balanced food (by itself).

If her diet is balanced at the present time, I see no harm in simply trimming the amount down by a smidge and playing with her more vigorously. Over time she will lose weight.

Don't ever try to do anything drastic or try to put her on a severe weight loss diet because cats can get something called hepatic lipidosis and die from it -- it is a serious matter.

Good luck

PS someone here used a great method of playing toss with kitty at meal time. . . toss a bit of food across the room. . .kitty goes to get it. . .toss another bit of food. . etc. It worked and the kitty lost weight without reducing the amount of food as I remember.

Thanks Maui,

Yeah, I thought I'd try reducing the amounts for a few months first - I use a good quality dry food which ensures she gets all the vitamins and minerals she needs. I guess I'll start reducing the chicken breast (sounds good to me - that stuff costs a fortune - we can't even afford to eat it regularly ourselves!). Perhaps if I'm not having much success within say, 3 months I'll take her to the vet for some professional advice.

It's funny, my last Russian, Tatiana was a real finnicky eater - she loved her dry food the most and would take dainty little bits throughout the day (Phoebe gulps the stuff down like it's her last meal!). Tatiana was always svelte and never had any problems with weight gain - but I have heard that the majority of Russians are real foodies!

Lisa

"Tatiana was a real finnicky eater - she loved her dry food the most and would take dainty little bits throughout the day"

:tounge2:

My cat does NOT know "dainty little bits"!

"Phoebe gulps the stuff down like it's her last meal!"

yes. . .that's my kitty's style!

I was curious why you fed Phoebe a raw chicken breast. . .is that the BARF (Bones And Raw Foods) diet? Please be careful of salmonella. Maybe consider giving yourself -- and your pocketbook -- a break and feed her dry food only, with chicken breast as an occasional treat.

Maximum spoilage. . sigh. . .that is what these kitties force us to do!

No Maui it's not the BARF diet we're following here - rather the WEAE (Wont Eat Anything Else) diet!

Gee, I do vaguely remember hearing about the salmonella factor a long time ago - so should I give the raw chicken a miss

I guess I could cook the chicken for her (after an eight hour working day and a 60km drive home)

Perhaps I should cut out the chicken altogther and stick to the dry food - she's not gonna be happy with that!

Thanks for that Maui - I had no idea I was putting poor Phoebe at risk (perhaps that's how I'll explain it all to her - for her own benefit)


Lisa

". . . it's not the BARF diet we're following here - rather the WEAE (Wont Eat Anything Else) diet!"



too too funny! I had to tell my husband and he had a good laugh too!

Seriously on the salmonella subject, we do know some people who lost their doggie to salmonella. . . it was from raw chicken. Different animals can carry the bacteria in their body. . .chicken, beef, etc and so if the meat you buy at the store has some of this bacteria on it, it can multiply and create toxins unless the meat is stored and cooked properly. The toxins may cause anything from a little intestinal discomfort to full kidney failure and death.

The salmonella bacteria can affect animals as well as people so be careful when handling any kind of raw meat (don't reuse the same knife and cutting board for veggies without scrubbing with hot water and soap, etc)

I bet if you just popped the chicken breast in the microwave (use a covered dish cuz it would kinda explode a little), it wouldn't take too long to cook. . .and then you also wouldn't have to worry about the bacteria. If you gave her a small portion each day you wouldn't have to cook EVERY night

Our kitty loves home cookin' too. She has a very eclectic palette. . .usually whatever I'm eating!

Thanks Maui

Hubby and I have discussed it and we've come to a solution!

We found chicken drumsticks (legs) on special for $1.99kg at the local chicken store (as opposed to $9.99kg for breast fillet) and we bought 5 kilos. My mum cooks for her Siamese kitten and offered to cook and bag Phoebe's weekly meals for us!

Just got back from Mum's and we now have a fully stocked freezer of cooked chicken meat all ready to thaw and serve throughout the week! :tounge2:

Now I just need to make sure that we don't give her too much so that we can begin that weight loss program!

Lisa

heehee. . .there's nothin like Grandma's cookin!

:tounge2: