Felix needs to be the "Biggest Loser Cat"

My former feral feline Felix (say that 5X fast!) is just back from the vet. I took him in for labs "just in case" there was a thyroid problem.

He's just fat!

Felix has a fairly small frame for a male cat but a HUGE body, with great rolls of fat. He weighed 17 pounds at the vet today, but has been as much as 18.2 as of his last visit last winter. It just doesn't look healthy, and of course, it isn't. He is 5 years old.

Felix in his fave position:


Felix's activity level is quite low, and recently his bum is showing signs of neglect. I think it's because it's just too hard to reach. It's serious diet time.

The vet, being of the unenlightened variety, insists dry food is the only way to go, and recommended Science Diet R/D. I cringed. I listened politely, all the while knowing I'd be coming here for advice--and here I am.

Felix currently eats 1/3 of a cup of dry Taste of the Wild twice daily. We do not do free-feeding at our house. In addition, he occasionally licks a bit of egg yolk from my husband's plate or a bite of roasted chicken or grilled meat--not really anything else. I've tried and tried to convert him to raw like my wirehairs eat, but even if I put a pea sized morsel in the bowl with his dry, he will refuse the whole bowl. Same for any canned food I've tried (although I plan to buy a can of TOTW canned "just in case.")

I am planning to force some exercise (he prefers snuggling to playing), and am thinking of buying one of those treat balls that he has to roll around to get food to drop out for part of his portions. However, with 2 other cats and two 30pound dogs in the house, that's probably not going to work well at all.

Given my information, does anyone have any suggestions? I do know slow weight loss is the only way to go and that he cannot go more than a day without eating without danger, so I'm not going to try and "wait out " his hunger.

Thanks in advance.

Cally

You may find this helpful: http://www.fnes.org/raw-feeding/tran...-to-a-raw-diet

It is about switching from dry to canned and how to do so. Then canned to raw.

Have you tried a lot of differant types of wet food? Some cats will only like one flavor of one brand (Mikey was one of those cats). Texture and flavor make a differance for some cats.

Else you could keep feeding dry food but start counting the calories according to what he needs. You need to figure out his ideal wieght - how many calories he needs according to that - and then how much calories is in the food you are feeding. Even a few pieces of kibble can add a lot of calories which isn't going to help anything - you almost need to figure it out per pieceo of kibble in order to make it worth while.

Weight loss and cats is a SERIOUS issue that should be undertaken WITH your VET .Maybe a second opinion?.. Too fast of loss can KILL a cat and it is not a big amount per month that should be lost ..

On average ( yes there are a number of exceptions) kibble has double the calories per oz as canned ....

Originally Posted by sharky

Weight loss and cats is a SERIOUS issue that should be undertaken WITH your VET .Maybe a second opinion?.. Too fast of loss can KILL a cat and it is not a big amount per month that should be lost ..

On average ( yes there are a number of exceptions) kibble has double the calories per oz as canned ....

Click to expand...

Well... He did lose 1.2lbs in a year... That is not huge, but it is a loss.

Yes, kibble has more calories per oz, but your cat will not eat as many oz in kibbles as he will eat in wet... unless it is free fed.
In wet food a lot (the great majority of) of those oz are in water, which is why dry food is more calorie dense.
A calorie is a calorie which is a calorie; the difference is that usually dry food is free fed, while wet is fed in a controlled manner. If you feed a controlled dry portion, and a wet portion, you can control the calories all the same.
For a heavy cat, like yours, and like my Bugsy, I agree with Sharky - close vet supervision is required... As my vet told me: "I rather have a fat cat than a dead cat" - he told me this about crash and fad diets.
Be careful!!! If he goes even a couple of days eating 50% of what he is used to, he can develop fat liver disease and he can die. That is how serious this is.
So, pay very close attention to what your vet says....
Good luck!

Felix has been on his diet for 3 days now. I've been measuring the kibble with laser precision. I also found him some "Blue Spa Select" wet food and bought 3 different flavors. I've been putting a small spoon of it in his bowl alongside the kibble. He has been very careful to avoid the wet food.

Until today.

I just fed him his dinner. After picking out all the kibbles, he looked in the bowl again---and took a lick. And another, and another. In all he ate about 1 teaspoon of wet food!

A BREAKTHROUGH!!!

Here's hoping this will continue and I can get him to one meal a day of wet food. Then we'll work on RAW!!!

This might actually work!!!

Thanks for the suggestions!

Cally