Did this happen too fast?

Attitude has lost .4 lbs since March 16. She has gone from 10.6 to 10.2 lbs Is she losing weight too fast or is that acceptable? or do I need to call my vet and ask them?

I'm just happy that she is losing weight and that Nuts is staying steady at 9.8 lbs but if she is losing it too fast then that's really bad, I don't want her to have liver or other health problems.

This is so confusing, she needs to lose weight but not too much at a time, but how much is too much.

Taryn

The veterinary nutritionist my vet referred us to some years ago told me that owners need to make sure a cat will lose no more than one pound of weight in a 30 day period. That that is the safest way for a cat to lose weight. (Rapid weight loss and/or losing a large amount of weight quickly is dangerous for the cat's liver.)
So based on the weight Attitude has lost so far you can figure out how to proceed to make sure she doesn't lose too much weight too quickly, but that she does keep losing steadily and safely.
The one pound advice worked very well for us, so I swear by it.

Vet recommendations vary by weight and other health concerns, but like us, they can vary throughout the day according to how much they have eaten/eliminated so a small amount of that could be a daily variance.

0.4 in a week does seem like quite a bit, but like people, sometimes the first week can see a higher weightloss, at 10lbs (ish), they should lose 0.1lb (1% per week) a week at home and 0.2lbs (2% per week) if under strict vet supervision on the diet. I would worry if it carries on or if she has skipped meals etc

Originally Posted by icklemiss21

Vet recommendations vary by weight and other health concerns, but like us, they can vary throughout the day according to how much they have eaten/eliminated so a small amount of that could be a daily variance.

0.4 in a week does seem like quite a bit, but like people, sometimes the first week can see a higher weightloss, at 10lbs (ish), they should lose 0.1lb (1% per week) a week at home and 0.2lbs (2% per week) if under strict vet supervision on the diet. I would worry if it carries on or if she has skipped meals etc

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When in doubt call the vet

I have added a wet feeding to their 1/2 cup each of dry. She actually looks bigger and I'm wondering if last week I got her when she was full and this time I got her while she was 'empty.'

She(and Nuts as well) were eating badly last week due to trying to force them to adhere to a schedule. This week I am feeding them freely so I will see if it changes when I get back from being out of town. Paul will be taking care of them while I'm gone. I'm using the plaqueoff and lysine in the wet food since they don't like the lysine when added to their dry food.

I'll have to see what happens when I get back to see what her weight is.

I'm thinking I got her when she was was 'empty' as opposed to full. I don't think she could have honestly dropped that much considering I am feeding her the same amount.

I'm just worried for her liver, Maude died of liver failure so it scares me even more. I'm going to try to get her to 10 lbs, she is still going to be slightly overweight but I don't want to try and get her down to 9, but if it happens it happens. I wish I could weigh her in a week to see what she weighs. Might have Paul do it for me. Ok, will have Paul do it next Mon and see what she weighs then. If she continues to drop like that then she will go to the vet.

Taryn

When one of mine had to lose weight and the vet nutritionist warned me not to let her lose more than one pound in a whole month, I got a digital baby scale. (Just couldn't think of doing it any other way.) Anyway, one day I weighed her at the usual time. Minutes later she was in the litter box. The size of the puddle she produced was such a nice big one that it made me wonder. So I put her back on the scale. Would you believe it? She weighed 5 ounces less. I just stood there shaking my head. If I hadn't seen this myself, I wouldn't have believed it.
So elimination can make a big difference in the number you see on the scale. At the end of every week, keeping this difference in mind, you can get a fairly accurate number that's good enough to go by.

I usually wait and grab mine after they have made a trip to the litterbox, but mapping the weight for a month will give you a better idea