overweight kitty

My kitty is less than 2 years old is at 17 lb steady. It's either a coon or coon mix - long hair coming out of ears and paws. Comes over when you call her name. She has been having trouble grooming her back end. We have to wash it for her when it's really smelly

She is on IAMS weight control food - carefully weighted. Anything we can do?

Also she is the first cat I have that doesn't like any kind of toys. She loves to go outside and enjoy the sun - that's about it. I have caught her jumping aournd the lawn chasing insects. Is this type of behavior (do not play indoors with toys) considered normal for coon cats?

Well, first of all, 17 pounds is not large for a big Maine Coon cat. Has your vet told you that she is overweight? Although if she can't groom properly, that is something that needs to be fixed.

My cats have to lose a bit of weight, and the vet told me to feed them canned food, not kibble, even the diet kibble is much much higher in fat and calories than the canned. So if you can afford to feed her canned food instead of dry, and just give her the dry food a little bit each day for a treat, this should help.

Hi sxzwang and welcome!

i saw a very huge maine coon kitty at a recent cat show. Also, Friskies have an inhouse big coon as well. They are so adorable!!

Please feel freel to share your kitty pix, okay?

Hair coming out of ears and paws? If you like, you can trim the hair a little with a human nosehair scissor. i bought one to be used as kitty scissors. They have round ends, so they would not hurt your furbaby at all. My kitty, Venus, has long hair as well. Every now and then, i need to trim the hair around the paw areas.

Here is a pix:



i think it is always a good idea to exercise your kitties by playing interactive toys with them. Oh yes, you said she likes bugs? What about a bug interactive toy? They come in many forms. Both my kitties like to catch "birds." i use a pheasant feather to tease them a lot,and they love it!

Here is a pix of a bug toy (butterfly):



With regards to IAMS weight control food, i am afraid my kitties have not tried them before. They are currently on: Dry food - 3 types of wellness with solid gold. Wet food - Fancy Feast with Pawiers (multi-vitamins) added.

Here is a site about maine coon kitties:

http://www.fanciers.com/breed-faqs/maine-coon-faq.html


Cheers!