How do you put a cat on a diet with out feeling guilty?

catsarebetter · Mar 15, 2007

Weight management, senior, lites, and other "low calorie" or "weight loss" foods did absolutely nothing for my little porker. I'm trying her on Innova now. She actually likes the taste.. but doesn't eat as much as she did of the carb based foods. We'll see how it turns out.

mimosa · Mar 15, 2007

I know from experience (and the theory I have studied later) that you don't have to use a tough-love approach to make your cat lose weight. My Ernesto got fat on Indoor formula kibble and he lost the weight on a practically all-he-could-eat raw diet, a high quality canned or raw diet can help your cat lose weight while keeping muscle tone and without having to go hungry. An all wet diet has more volume (because it contains so much - healthy - moisture) and your cat will also feel satiated because of all the proteins in it.

I went to a seminar at Utrecht University last saturday (there were a lot of vets there because it qualified for study credits) and attended a lecture about type two feline diabetes, the lecturer told us current research shows there is a link between carbohydrates and obesity in felines (and between obesity and diabetes), dry food is laden with carbohydrates, so feeding dry food to a cat who has to lose weight makes little sense.

icklemiss21 · Mar 15, 2007

Originally Posted by emmylou

It was very effective for my cat. And I've read other people here say they had to switch their cats off of weight management foods (temporarily or permanently) because they lost *too much* weight on them.

Personally I have never heard that except in cases where the kitties got ill from dieting and would be interested to know what they are feeding because it has been a hard slog with my little porkey pig

Don't feel bad about putting her on a diet, it is in her best interests to be healthy. I agree with those who said 'diet' foods do not work, in fact Scully ate more and gained more when his previous owners fed a 'lite' food.

Find a low carbohydrate food or feed more wet, speak to your vet and work out the calorie intake she needs, measure her food daily and give her just that (we measured Scullys into a container each day to make sure he didn't get too much and then poured it into his bowls for a few meals a day to keep him satisfied)

Find time to play with her and make her exercise, it will help the weight come off more easily.

kittymonsters · Mar 15, 2007

Mimosa;1655259 I went to a seminar at Utrecht University last saturday (there were a lot of vets there because it qualified for study credits) and attended a lecture about type two feline diabetes said:
I find this very interesting. There have been similar studies with horses and Insulin Resistance (horses rarely get diabetes). We have an IR mare so I have been following that research closely. In doing so, I have been wondering if this can be a problem in an herbivore, how much bigger a problem could it be for an obligate carnivore like a cat. Do you know if there are any articles printed from the research presented at this seminar? I would love to read it.

On another note....I have been avidly reading all the "diet" posts and food type posts because half my cats are obese. Dieting however scares me because of the risk of hepatic lipidosis. I had a very young kitty die from it., and he was not obese, but not trim either. He didn't completely quit eating, but decreased it enough to start that horrible cycle and despite a feeding tube placement we were not able to save him.

My current vet is a stickler about fat animals, and if you have an overweight dog or horse you will get the "fat dog" or "fat horse" lecture every single time. He is NOT nice about it either,

and will expect a weight reduction or you get the bad owner lecture too! However with the cats he is very leary of the hazards, and said that getting them to lose weight safely is very difficult.

Does anyone else have concerns over this potential problem or had your vet caution you about it? Will going with a raw/canned/ high protein diet help reduce the risk of excess fat burning that will clog the liver?

Another question do you any of you know if your obese or overeaters were starved or malnourished as kittens? My four porkers were all very skinny, almost emaciated, when I got them. I am wondering if this predisposes them to be over eaters or having a metabolism that is stuck in "starvatin mode"?

I hope my quetions are not too off the original topic, nor a highjack of this thread. If so I hope admin will move this post.

cheylink · Mar 16, 2007

Hi everyone! Well, I hadn't checked up on this thread in a few days and am pleased to see how many people relate to this issue, in many different ways I may add

...... Wanted to thank you for all the advice and say that everyone is right in one way or another.
So here is an update so far......I stuck to my guns, no more 10 kibbles here and there, and she seems to have lost a little jiggle

. I believe her loving to eat stems from being the runt of the litter, interesting how its her dry food that she loves soooo much! Since I have been sticking to feeding her 4 times a day, about a 1/3 cup(I know this is still more then recommended), she has gotten much better with the begging and often doesn't run into the kitchen every time I am near it now

. I pretty much new what I had to do as well as know her diet could be better, just looking for some support and feel this is something many of us may be dealing with

.
Thank you for the support and suggestions!

fluffysimba · Mar 16, 2007

You need to determine how much she is to have each day. Give half in the morning and half at night. I know it's going to DRIVE YOU CRAZY b/c I have a cat the same way! She is So spoiled she thinks her food bowl must be full all the time with FRESH kibble. She's a goof and has been just like yours - small and petite and now a bit chunky. I can say she's finally starting to lose weight. She's had some UTI problems and is approx 4-5 years old so I switched her to another food to help with all this.

Best Wishes!

Charity
Faith Hope Love Persians

icklemiss21 · Mar 16, 2007

Originally Posted by kittymonsters

On another note....I have been avidly reading all the "diet" posts and food type posts because half my cats are obese. Dieting however scares me because of the risk of hepatic lipidosis. I had a very young kitty die from it., and he was not obese, but not trim either. He didn't completely quit eating, but decreased it enough to start that horrible cycle and despite a feeding tube placement we were not able to save him.

My current vet is a stickler about fat animals, and if you have an overweight dog or horse you will get the "fat dog" or "fat horse" lecture every single time. He is NOT nice about it either,

and will expect a weight reduction or you get the bad owner lecture too! However with the cats he is very leary of the hazards, and said that getting them to lose weight safely is very difficult.

Does anyone else have concerns over this potential problem or had your vet caution you about it? Will going with a raw/canned/ high protein diet help reduce the risk of excess fat burning that will clog the liver?

First of all, if your cat is severely overweight or eating so much or so little that it is at risk of hepatic lipidosis you should definitely be getting the help of your vet. When we (with the help of our vet) decided on the 'right' diet for Scully, he went to 'fat cat' clinics every 2 weeks for a check up and weigh in to make sure he was healthy and not losing too fast.

As far as vets, mine will let you know the health risks of obesity, but is also one of those 'catch more flies with honey than vinegar' people and tends to be nicer about it - but then I went there looking for help with Scully rather than her telling me I needed help (she so didn't believe me when I called and said, hi, I have adopted a 33lb cat, I think I should bring him in ASAP')

hepatic lipodosis was definitely something our vet checked for, and while she didn't 100% agree with our decision to feed a grain free dry food, she soon realised it suited the boys and Scully was healthy and losing weight on it... but I guess the type of diet would depend a lot on your cats

kittydad · Mar 16, 2007

I would agree in feeding the recommended amount of food to your little fur baby. When I got my bag of food, I looked at the recommended amount per day and for a cat at a certain weight it was so much. But since I have 2 cats I have doubled everything, and I do monitor their eating too. I premeasure out the food using a measuring cup, then into a bowl. I have even gone to the extreme of measuring how much water is held in the bowls, then when asked by my vet I can accurately say they eat this much food and drink aprrox this much water in 24 hrs.

cheylink · Mar 16, 2007

Originally Posted by icklemiss21

First of all, if your cat is severely overweight or eating so much or so little that it is at risk of hepatic lipidosis you should definitely be getting the help of your vet. When we (with the help of our vet) decided on the 'right' diet for Scully, he went to 'fat cat' clinics every 2 weeks for a check up and weigh in to make sure he was healthy and not losing too fast.

As far as vets, mine will let you know the health risks of obesity, but is also one of those 'catch more flies with honey than vinegar' people and tends to be nicer about it - but then I went there looking for help with Scully rather than her telling me I needed help (she so didn't believe me when I called and said, hi, I have adopted a 33lb cat, I think I should bring him in ASAP')

hepatic lipodosis was definitely something our vet checked for, and while she didn't 100% agree with our decision to feed a grain free dry food, she soon realised it suited the boys and Scully was healthy and losing weight on it... but I guess the type of diet would depend a lot on your cats

HEY! You two, I thought this thread was about Me-ow!

Maia says "no one should argue about how they love their fury friends and keep them healthy!"
I was hoping to get support, not make others try to make others feel guilty!

icklemiss21 · Mar 16, 2007

It is, and I was agreeing with her that a vet should be involved in kitty diets to make sure no cat ever has to suffer from hepatic lipodosis, but I also think it is not a good idea to leave the cat overweight just so it doesn't have the possibility of hepatic lipodosis from dieting

cheylink · Mar 16, 2007

It is nothing near that topic! I mentioned in the beginning that the vet is the one who made me feel bad first

.....just want to thank all for the response!

kittymonsters · Mar 16, 2007

Sorry, I didn't mean to cause conflict either

....... this is a great thread!

Cheylink will you keep us posted on your progress with Maia?

cheylink · Mar 17, 2007

Originally Posted by kittymonsters

Sorry, I didn't mean to cause conflict either

....... this is a great thread!

Cheylink will you keep us posted on your progress with Maia?

Of course! I can't help myself but regularly throw Maia all over this site! If it's trying to help others or looking for advice myself!

How do you put a cat on a diet with out feeling guilty?

catsarebetter

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