Fat cat and thin cat

jeza921

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I have two cats... one very fat cat... I think she is 15lbs, not a large frame, but in her defense she does have huge paws. She is 9 years old. The young one turns 1 in June.

I'd like the fat cat to lose some weight. My first attempt was by adding wet food into the diet to speed the metabolism... I think she got fatter. (I did this for about 3 months) They both eat Science Diet Hairball Light. They both have long hair, and the older one especially gets hairballs.

Currently I just fill the bowl up twice a day with 3/4 cups. What can I do to help Jeza (fat cat) lose weight while the little one still gets all she needs? When she was a baby I made a box out of cardboard that had a hole just big enough for the kitten and had kitten food in it... Jeza quickly figured this out and would get her head stuck in the hole and fling the box around eating whatever she could get out of it. Then I would have to rescue her from being stuck.

Thanks!
 

sharky

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I will PM you later

3/4 cup of most premiums is an awful lot ( ie enough for a 10-18lb cat)

What does the VET say about the wt issues
 

angie8

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Jeza sounds like a cutie.........the visual of her sticking her head into the box looking for food & then getting stuck is too funny. Amazing what kitties will do for food, isn't it?

Anyway.......about the only thing I can think of to help Jeza lose weight without the younger kitty losing, too, would be to separate them at meal time--so you can be sure they're each getting their appropriate share. My vet told me to leave the food out for a specified period of time, to give them a chance to eat all of it (say an hour, maybe) then pull the food until the next meal time.

In all honesty, though, I tried this with my gang & it didn't work so well....though I've got quite a big crew, so the dynamics are much different. A few of mine went on an all out hunger strike, refusing to eat at the set times. It may work out easier for your two kitties.

Hopefully someone here has some other suggestions that could help us both out--I've got a couple that could stand to lose a few
.

Good Luck!!
 

jen

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ooo no wonder she isn't losing weight, you are feeding her way too much! Most cats get around 3/4 cup in one day, not one serving. Cut back on that first of all. Secondly, are you exercising her at all? That is very important too. Get a cat tree or something and play with her.
 

beandip

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Wet food is a good idea, however there's a catch. Some cats, when offered wet in addition to a day's supply of dry (or a 'free fed situation, either one) ...will eat the wet, fill up...and virtually ignore the dry. Others, who are addicted to snacking, will eat the wet, fill up...and still snack on the dry. So that does add up to possible weight gain.

That happened with my Leopold. He was free fed the dry, and I added wet to the menu. Some of my other cats really cut back on their dry consumption, but not Leopold. He gained a pound in a matter of 2 months. So, I put him on an exclusively wet diet, and he lost the pound quite easily. So he's back to a good weight, and he's much more active than he used to be too. Meals have helped his activity level. Now there's more to his day than eating...he has no choice.


With mine, the wet food has been good for weight loss, but either way (wet/dry/or a combo), the meal format helps significantly too.
 
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jeza921

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Vet says... "you know, if she lost weight her leg wouldn't hurt as much" (Jeza has a bone spur). One vet gave me the worthless advice of feeding them both four times a day, different foods each. Not possible- I work. Another vet gave me the idea of the small box with food only the kitten could get. My stepfather is also a small animal vet, and he's the one that put her on SD hairball light so many years ago.
 

beandip

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Originally Posted by Jeza921

Vet says... "you know, if she lost weight her leg wouldn't hurt as much" (Jeza has a bone spur). One vet gave me the worthless advice of feeding them both four times a day, different foods each. Not possible- I work. Another vet gave me the idea of the small box with food only the kitten could get. My stepfather is also a small animal vet, and he's the one that put her on SD hairball light so many years ago.
I understand the 4 meal thing. My schedule allows for 3, but a lot of people do 2 meals. I don't know if that would work for you or not.

I'm not real fond of "light" dry cat foods, as they tend to be even heavier on carbs than a regular dry food. The current thinking is that a high protein low carb diet can be beneficial for the cat's weight loss. Cats utilize protein and fat efficiently, but carbs tend to add pounds to the cat. Many cats will eat a great deal of the weight control food in order to get what they really need....cancelling out the supposed benefit of it.
 

sharky

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SD hairball please read the % profile... and the fact most of the HIGH HIGH fiber comes from soybean hulls...

I would recommend a quality ( you can get for the same price or a bit less) dry ADULT or all stage for both to eat if the kitten is over 6 months...

Cats are carnivores and rodents birds fish and insects arent HIGH FIBER
 

merlynn's mom

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My Merlynn - just over 1 year old and about 9 lbs 3 oz (pretty short cat) - is on the verge of getting fat. The vet said to watch her weight. So I switched both my cats - one "tanky" and one tall and slender (Piccolino - 9 mos, about 7.5 lbs) - to regular meals twice a day (b/c I work), all canned. They were getting half dry and half wet, with the dry out all day (about 1/4-1/2 cup total) and 1/2 wet in the a.m. and 1/2 in p.m., but I wasn't able to regulate the dry.

And besides from reading what the members say here and from doing my own research online about how cats digest their food I decided that the best way to slim Merlynn down was to give her what her body was created to digest - protein.

So we went on 100%, twice a day. Pico gets 3 tbs in the morning and 3 tbs in the evening. Merlynn gets 2 at each sitting, but usually won't eat it all by the time Pico eats his (like a vacumm - maybe 5 mins). I have to separate them b/c Pico eats up his food and rushes over the Merlynn's bowl to eat whatever she hasn't gotten to by then. Merlynn is sort of ADD, she'll eat and look around and take another bite and chew and look around.


FYI: This whole 100% wet, scheduled meals thing just started about 1 week ago. So I'm still experimenting with amounts and "leaving-food-out times." The recommended serving is 1-2 6oz cans per 4-8 lb cat. Merlynn doesn't come close to 1 can and Pico eats about 1 - 1 1/2 cans.

I quickly found that Merlynn would eat about 1 - 1 1/2 tb of the wet and be hungry maybe 20 mins later. So I moved her bowl onto a counter, so she could get it when she got hungry again. Pico doesn't jump up on counters too much, so I figured she'd find it before he did. I don't leave them separated for 30 mins or 1 hour because Merlynn goes to the door where Pico is and sits there until I let him out. So they eat separately, but when Merlynn's done (at first) I let Pico out and move Merlynn's bowl to the counter.

I'm there to supervise their meals, and after about 45 mins or so, all bowls are usually pretty clean and they get washed and ready for the next meal.

The only canned food they really "sing" for is the Solid Gold Tuna.

It may just be my imagination, but Merlynn already looks a teensy bit slimmer (at least she's not getting fatter and she is a little more active - was already pretty active - but was getting lazy).
 
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jeza921

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Ok, so- high protien food. What's a good dry high protien food? Also, keep in mind Jeza got UTIs both times I've tried switching her before (and I mixed it for like, a month). No UTI on any of the wet foods I've tried, which adds to my hypthesis that her UTI was impacted by a lack of moisture in her food.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by Jeza921

Ok, so- high protien food. What's a good dry high protien food? Also, keep in mind Jeza got UTIs both times I've tried switching her before (and I mixed it for like, a month). No UTI on any of the wet foods I've tried, which adds to my hypthesis that her UTI was impacted by a lack of moisture in her food.
If UTI s are a regular issue look at Nutros Max cat ... it has been tested for UTI health
...

If they arent an issues

EVO

Raw instict

Core

those are high high protein and grain free

moderate fat and protein with grain( most true premiums fall under this)

Cal natural

Natural choice

Solid gold( low fat but decent protein)

Feline caviar

Innova

Eagle pack holistic

Max cat

Natural balence

Wellness
 
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