Getting a new foster today!!

Lucy is beautiful..
I am so glad that you have taken her under your wing.
Lots of vibes for a weight loss success with Lucy are on the way.

Keep us updated

good luck with her! she is pretty if pudgy time to start the work out regime

She is pretty - and I dont like torties, but she is one of the few friendly ones I have met. Fingers crossed when we go back in a month there will have been some reduction in her weight, we are goign to struggle for the first few months though, as she is carrying soo much extra weight that walking and playing too much isnt an option.

Wow! She is huge! It makes me sad when people let there pets get in such a state. And for the vet not to say anything?!
I hope you can work some magic on her so she has a better quality of life.

Jaffacake - letting your pet get to this state is cruelty in my opinion - my vet said that the owners vet might not have said anything, she dealt with a 7kg diabetic cat who's previous vet didn't say anything about the cats weight being conected with it.
I hope I can too - its goign to be a long road though.

My thoughts exactly! I saw a really sad programme about obese dogs. The owners just didn`t care that they were 'killing with kindness'
My cats a bit plump but I do my best to keep his weight down. Whenever we go to the vets he is weighed and she has told me he must not get any bigger.
Best of luck. It`s good to know there are people like you out there.

I Actually missed that programme, but have had 2 neighbours who did that with their dogs - they both ignored me when I Said that to them. They felt that as they were older dogs, they shouldn't take away their pleasures. I said that my older overweight animals would be kept on a diet as a few of the health issues they can get can also be age related - I can't stop them getting age related probs, but I can stop them getting weight related ones, and I dont want to have to feel guilty that my pet is ill purely cos I ignored their weight.

What kind of things do you do to keep your cats weight down? What food do you feed? Thanks, I think I will need loads of luck with this one!!

I just noticed your in the UK too!
It was on a while ago on Channel 4.
Kitty has Science Plan for sensitive stomachs as this is a big problem for him.
He also has cooked white fish for breakfast. I think you can buy 'light' food for the more, a-hem, chubby cats, but as Kitty is limited to the sensitive types of food, I haven`t tried them.
We also have lots of 'play time' in the evening and he can go out when he wants which isn`t very often.
Oh and I`ve started feeding little and often so he doesn`t want to pig out.
He`s 6kg so Im trying to not let him get any bigger though he`d eat all day if he could!

YEah, although a lot further up the country than you!!
I know, I meant to watch it, but forgot!!
Dry food does have more calories in it than wet food, not sure on white fish, I dont feed things like that on a regular basis. JWB does Senior/Light food, and it is Hypoallergenic. If you feed him little and often, do you monitor how much food he gets? It is important to stick to a certain amount of dry food if you are watchign their weight.

Yeah, I saw that food yesterday when I went to the pet shop! It was such a big bag though and I didn`t want to get it and then find it didn`t agree with him. Maybe they do trial size. Will investigate. Also he is only 4-5 years old so I dont know if Senior would be right for him.
He cant eat any wet cat food. We tried the Hills ID and Perfect Fit Sensitive and he just throws it all up. He only had a teaspoon!
Hope Lucy? is doing well! Keep up the good work!

If you go on their website (dont have it to hand), you can order trial sizes of all the flavours, and they do sell 400g bags, just haven't found a lot of places selling that. IT isn't a true senior food, as it is senior/light - less calories and somthing else, can't check, cos the cat just sat on my knee!!

Am having a good day with Lucy - the other foster went to his new home today, so Lucy has wandered round the room a lot more, and has had access to the house, she has walked all the way downstairs and come back up!!

Im going to do that then. I know everyone says Hills aren`t good quality.
We tried Perfect Fit sensitive but everywhere near me sells all the varieties EXCEPT the sensitive one now all the trail size bags have gone!
Glad she`s doing her work out!

Poor girl She has to be so uncomfortable at that weight! She's a gorgeous girl, though. Hopefully this is her start on the road to health.

I am really pleased that she is getting more active and moving more now the other foster has gone - I just need her to eat more now (I know that sounds an odd comment with her weight, but she eats less than my females who are half the size of her, so I am worried it wont be enough to keep her going!!)

Well, things are going quite well really, we are starting the integrating, and my girls are relatively OK with her, Tiger has had the occasional spit, but getting supper overcame that!! Molly just looks at her quite curiously now, which is a big thing for Molly, so in a few days, I can start letting her have all evening and all night out to see how they all get on. The eventual plan is to have her completely integrated with my two, and to have the outdoor access that mine do, as to keep her separate would give her no chance at all of losing 4kgs, my cat room is a good size, but not good enough for that, plus she is going to be here the best part of the year!! No new pics yet, and her next weigh in is on the 8th April, I hope she has lost some then!!

Lucy is a chub, but she's a pretty chub!

Hey, there's more of her to love.

As far as weight goes, this is sad...I do have a few suggestions, but I'm sure there is nothing I'm going to add that you haven't considered.

*A low calorie diet, fed in two meals, one in the morning, and one in the afternoon. I would only offer her 1/4 c in the a.m., and 1/4 cup in the p.m., of lite CANNED food, that contains NO grains...which have been known to create weight issues in cats. In her case, I would even consider transitioning her slowly to a raw diet, but this will take A LOT of research and planning on your part, and should be done under the advisement of a raw-friendly holistic vet. Even a partial raw diet could help with the weight issues.
*Do not allow her any access to the food of your other kitties. Don't allow her to "sneak" food from any free-feeders you have.
*Experiment with as many interactive toys as you can...get her moving, even if the play sessions are no more than 5 minutes at a time...you can slowly try to add on more minutes every few days, and offer 3-4 different play sessions each day.
*I don't normally agree with any cats outdoors, as I feel that most cats should be indoor only for safety reasons, but in Lucy's case, I would do some researching about walking her on a harness 3-5 times a week. She needs the movement, and perhaps could learn to walk with you for a half hour to an hour each day. This will also take some reading and learning on your part if you've never walked a cat before outdoors...I've never done it, so I can't offer you any great advice on it. However, there is lots of reading that can be done on the subject on the web, I'm sure.

Anyway, bless you for caring enough to help this little (or big?) girl! She looks like a sweetheart, and her markings are gorgeous! You can do it!

She is very pretty, and good natured.

I am in the UK, and finding light wet cat foods is incredibly hard, I haven't actually found any yet, so she is on 90% wet, with only a small amount of light dry food in the evening, which she has to work for!! A raw diet isnt an option, I have already considered and thrown it out of the window for my own cats, they just get high meat content food now.
She doesn't have access to my own cats food, but they also have senior/light dry food, so if she did find it, I would just reduce her dry food for the day.
Yep, we do that already, she is using some of the toys that mine wont use, I only let her play for short periods until she has lost some, as I dont want her overdoing it while carrying so much extra weight.
I live in a safe area, and have weighed up the pros and cons to letting my cats out here, and apart from fosters, all mine have had outdoor access. Whether she will want it is a different matter. Have tried harnesses on cats in teh past, only one has liked it. I would have to buy a special one, as she is way to big for my cat one, and I dont want to do that as I doubt she will like it with my previous experience.

Thanks - wasn't really my choice though, she was with another fosterer who was struggling, and as I have done it before, I got nominated to step in!!

As I had to shuffle cats to fit Shabba in, Lucy's integration had to be moved up a couple of notches, which also included outdoor access, so here are a few pics of her antics this weekend. I didn't get more than one outdoor pic as the camera batteries died!!!

This one is her sulking, if I wanted to take her room of her, she was going to take over the washing!!



Then her debating what to do



The only outdoor pic (she wandered more today as it was quieter at 8.30 this morning than it was yesterday afternoon!!)



Then, she was sooo tired after all her adventures and exercise, so I let her off playing last night



She has her second weigh in on Thurs, fingers crossed she has lost some.

Awww! There`s my little dumpling!
Hope her weigh in goes well. I will have my fingers crossed!