fat cats

I'm watching my sister's cats and they are rather chubby. They've been to the vet several times and found no health issues. They are brothers around a year old. Currently they are eating california natural and have been cut back to well below the minimum recommended amount. Natura suggested .4 cups of dry until they lose weight and right now they are only getting about 1/4 cup dry and a half of a 5oz can each per day (~190kcals) for very large cats. Even if they weren't fat they'd easily be twice the size of mine. Currently they probably weigh over 20lbs each and are still gaining weight. They have fat rolls around their shoulders and their bellies hang out over their legs when they sit. I think lack of activity is contributing alot since they live in an apartment but I don't see any solution for that. The cats have plenty of toys, are given run of the entire place, each other to play with when people are gone, and are played with when people are home. Anyone have any ideas especially changes in diet that might help? We'll see if running around my house playing with my kitten for 3weeks makes any difference. I may have to run a cat fat camp periodically for them.

Do they have to have the dry? I would probably try just giving them the canned. Also, while a bit counterintuitive, giving more food may actually help them lose weight by ramping up their metabolism. Also, some cats can't maintain a proper weight with the carbs in dry food. If possible, I would try giving them 3-4 small meals each day. Since you want them to lose weight slowly, you may want to start with 2 cans per cat for the big ones--aim for no gain first, and then slowly cut back to help them lose weight. Also, I would work with the vet if you feel that the vet has enough background in nutrition. At the very least, get the vet's input on how much you should aim for them losing per week/month. If you can, get a postal or baby scale to monitor their weight. Fat cats are especially at risk for hepatic lipidosis if they lose weight too quickly. Adding L-carnitine to their diets may help with weight loss and/or preventing hepatic lipidosis.

http://www.vin.com/VINDBPub/SearchPB...00/PR00174.htm

I doubt they'd fit on a postal scale. I'm not even sure they'd fit on the human scale in the bathroom. I can hardly pick them up and not because of their weight (I haul livestock feed around all the time) but they are so massive they don't fit in my arms. I end up with legs and chunks of body hanging out off my arm. I wonder what breed mix they are because they make my largest cat look like he's still a half grown kitten.

She was feeding at least twice and I think 3 times a day plus a seperate canned food meal. I've been feeding them their dry food in little handfuls throughout the day and splitting their canned into 2 meals. I can suggest replacing dry with canned but I think the restriction on the canned was a cost and conveniance issue. Both her and her boyfriend are occasionally gone for a couple days over the weekend. Before they got the cats it was decided her roommate could watch and feed them during that time. The roommate turned out not to be the most reliable though and kept forgetting the canned food completely and only dumping down an unmeasured amount of dry once a day. They were working on finding someone else to watch the cats and that's the reason I have them right now. Except I'm over 200miles away so I can't just stop by every day to feed them and it's too stressful on the cats to drive them here when they are only going to be gone 36-48hours. One of them kept vomiting in the car on the way here.

The 2 vets the cats have been to couldn't find anything wrong with them and didn't know of a better food for them. The only brands they ever suggested to anyone had both more calories and carbohydrates than the food they are currently on. Along with the 2nd vet insisting they should only feed dry. Otherwise everyone just keeps telling them to feed less but the cats are at minimum not losing weight and appear to have gained a little more fat since I last saw them.

I bought postal scale off eBay that can handle up to 35 pounds. I put a box that the cats fit in on top of the scale and tare it, and then I put the cat in the box on the scale.

It sounds like the kitties may have some Maine Coon in them since they are built big. There are other ways to "force" exercise, like putting the food up on a higher surface, forcing the kitties to jump or climb up stairs to get to it. If there aren't too many insects around, you could suggest a treat ball of some sort, so that the kitties have to work to get at the dry food (http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...02+2035+113967 is an example of one such product). They may also want to look into automatic feeders--some of them use ice packs to keep wet food cold, or they can be used to space out feedings of dry food.

Since different foods have different caloric densities, it is important to look at how many calories they are being fed rather than how much of a cup. Too little food slows down the metabolism, and their bodies start conserving the calories they do get rather than burning them. You can use this site as a guide for how much they should eat to maintain their weight: http://www.petdiets.com/default.asp?...culate/der.asp

This site also provide guidelines on caloric intake:
http://cats.about.com/cs/catfood/a/weightcontrol.htm


ETA: Any guidelines about actual number of calories should be treated as guidelines rather than hard fast rules. Ultimately, the cat's weight must be used as a guide.

They possibley could use some l carnitine for fat metabolism and lean muscle mass ... it is a common ingrediant in LIGHT or Indoor dry and canned ... unfortunately the highest amount is found in SD .... but if you can talk with their vet and ask as it is avail OTC in varing doses for humans

I second the forced exercise ... and the GUIDELINES...

HOW much wet per feeding ??? one yr olds SHOULD NOT have wt issues yet

Calories should be a moderate factor ... ie many cat s loose wt on foods like evo thou they are HIGH cal and the cat s are eating to the guidelines .. the calories should primariley come from protein( DUH I know you know that ) but they are gaining on a moderate to higher protein and moderate fat ... you may want a higher protein or close and low fat


remember some cats are
atkins ... need high protein and fat for wt control

jenny craig ... low fat moderate protein and high carb to cause low cal

zone ... equal protein , fat and carbs( their current is this)

Since different foods have different caloric densities, it is important to look at how many calories they are being fed rather than how much of a cup.

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I did calculate in my first post the approximate total daily calories from both dry and canned that each were eating. It came out slightly below 190kcals when the suggested, depending which of those suggestions you use, is more like 300-400kcals.

Currently they are only getting one 5.5oz can split between them daily. L carnitine can easily be obtained otc but while I measure out various individual supplements daily for a variety of animals asking my sister to do it scares me. I usually only trusted her to dump down a premeasured and premixed container of food for each animal. Occasionally she didn't accomplish that correctly. Better to avoid getting into supplements especially individual ones if possible.

My experience is almost completely limited to animals that use nearly more than they manage to consume daily so I'm used to finding the most calorie dense food and feeding as much of it as they'll eat. If you have cats that don't excercise well and gain weight easily which is better to try first? Lower carbohydrates with something like evo and/or more canned or less calories, fat, and protein with a light formula?

Since they lack the excercise component maybe try a light ( ohh and maybe find her one with the l carnitine already measured in it )... More wet gets first vote but I still ?>?? how much she gives per feeding?? 2 oz each or 4 oz each??

My "job cat" was 15.9lbs (easily twice her ideal size) when I started her on a weightloss regimen on Dec 1st, and she's lost 1/2 pound since then. She gets 1/2 can in the morning & evening (purchased 1 case each of Merricks, ProPac, & Chicken Soup) plus a little less than 1/4 cup in the early afternoon. The dry I chose was Premium Edge Healthy Weight, a cost effective high protein/low carb/low fat formula w/ L-Carnitine.

I also got her a bunch of new toys including a laser light which REALLY gets her going.

Originally Posted by kittyTales

My "job cat" was 15.9lbs (easily twice her ideal size) when I started her on a weightloss regimen on Dec 1st, and she's lost 1/2 pound since then. She gets 1/2 can in the morning & evening (purchased 1 case each of Merricks, ProPac, & Chicken Soup) plus a little less than 1/4 cup in the early afternoon. The dry I chose was Premium Edge Healthy Weight, a cost effective high protein/low carb/low fat formula w/ L-Carnitine.

I also got her a bunch of new toys including a laser light which REALLY gets her going.

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that healthy weight great fat and protein but the l carnitine is TOO low to really do anything...

gotta love laser pointers

Originally Posted by sharky

that healthy weight great fat and protein but the l carnitine is TOO low to really do anything...

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Just curious...what would be a helpful amount of l-carnitine in dry food?

Originally Posted by whuckleberry

Just curious...what would be a helpful amount of l-carnitine in dry food?

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the foods that are proven to help have 100 or more mg/kg... at the present time there is no "ideal" dose but SD was the first and they use 300 mg/kg

personally I can tell you that with two of my girls 140mg/kg was more than enough

I just bought the Bamboo CatFisher. Stimpy likes it much more than a laser pointer. We also moved to an apartment with stairs, and he loves to tear up and down at top speed. I measure his food, so I know what he is eating. But I think between the stairs and the CatFisher he's going to drop the 2 lbs he needs to. I know activity is a big component. Stimpy is a big cat and our last 2 apartments were too small for him to really get up to speed.

I really recommend the CatFisher. Stimpy figured out that we click the laser pointer on and off, so he won't play with it anymore.