Billy has to lose weight so we stopped free feeding

ldg

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I've been dreading this, but had to do it. If anything, he's gaining weight since we got the toys that make him run and leap around! The exercise routine worked for Lazlo - but I guess Billy's compensating for the extra exercise by eating more!


Had to pick up all the dry food.


We used to let them free feed, and I'd give them one wet meal of food at night, though we started splitting that into two and feeding them one wet meal in the am.

Billy doesn't like wet food very much, sadly, because it's the best way to get him to lose the weight, but....

The biggest problem is that even as kittens, we couldn't get them on a schedule. They just won't finish a bowl, now matter how little food you put in there - and we decided that with our erratic schedule free feeding was best anyway. They (except Billy) are all just nibblers. They eat a gazillion times a day, but obviously just a few bites, because none of the them are overweight (except Bill). Lazlo got a little pudgy... but got him exercising, and it came off. Billy... nibbles more


SO.... they're all on c/d because of the boys' problems with crystals.

Talked to the vet, and she suggested that we feed them one can of wet food between the boys a day, and each gets 1/4 cup of dry food over 24 hours - when we feed them is up to us. I give Bill a touch less wet and dry, and give the extra to Tuxie, because we've worked so hard to get him to gain weight and we REALLY want him to keep it - if not gain a few more ounces over time.

I took out plastic bags, and put the 1/4C of food in one for each cat - I put little teeny piles down for each one when they wander around looking for their food: it comes out of their respective baggie. And I've divided the wet up into a breakfast and a dinner. (Thank goodness for the internet and being able to work from home). My goal is to increase the size of the piles and reduce the number of times they get them, to the point where I'm feeding them their dry food 2x a day.

Billy, of course, is the only one acting like we're starving him to death. And of all of them, he's the biggest talker, so he's been loudly letting us know he's not happy with the new arrangement.


But he actually needs to lose about THREE pounds!
 

2dogmom

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Wow what a lot of things to deal with! Crystals, fussy cats, weight loss. Do I read right that you have to do this because Billy swipes Lazlos' food if you free feed?
 

strange_wings

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I bet the C/D is part of it. Another member commented that her cat put on some weight on C/D and so has mine - I think Sherman has gained half a pound. He's not fat but he's at the upper limit of what he should be. (I don't want him round and fluffy)

If you stick with the routine they do get used to it eventually.

You mentioned that Billy's playing seems to be making him heavier. Have you noticed any increase in muscle, too? Muscle weighs more than fat does.
I have one outside that's a very muscular cat, he feels quite heavy but he's not fat - well... not now that he's working off his winter weight.


O/T - Thanks to something hilarious I found online a few years ago anytime I see/hear the name Billy I always imagine it being said in a Christopher Walken voice...
 
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ldg

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All of our kitties were feral rescues, but Billy was the oldest when we brought him inside - he was about two. Tuxie was one - but used to having access to free feed dry so already self-regulated.

Billy, I think, was just happy to have food around all the time. He never gobbled his food - but he just eats a lot frequently, I guess, with the dry around to free feed on. He may have gained muscle mass - I don't know. I just know he looks fatter, we don't have a scale and I don't know how much he weighs. But the fat isn't coming off, because he looks like an oval when you look down at him from the top.


...and he's been on c/d since he came inside - we've been feeding them all c/d since we switched to it in 2003/2004. The vet said they may gain weight on it - but the only ones that did were Lazlo and Spooky, and they both took it back off without too much problem.

Honestly, I don't think it would matter what food we had out, I think Billy would just eat a lot of it frequently - because he can.

The other cats never bothered with human food - at all. We can't leave ANYTHING out since having brought Billy inside. We were having really spicy Thai soup once, and we left a bowl on the table - even that wasn't safe.
Came back to find Billy lapping it up!


If he weren't SO overweight, we'd probably let it go. Ming Loy is about a pound overweight - but the vet isn't concerned about it because of her CH - says she's just fine for her and her situation. But Billy - longer term we run the risk of diabetes.
 

darlili

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My vet said CD is very nutrient rich - and for most cats, you have to cut the portion size down compared to other foods. I really have to thank my vets for being really nice about helping figure out portion sizes, etc. My Dante is the one than tends to gain weight on CD - my girl, eating the same stuff, is 'perfect weight' per the vet. Go figure.
 

strange_wings

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^I'm pretty sure it was you who mentioned it to me.
I just have problems remembering how to spell user names and didn't want to risk misspelling your's.


I've cut down how much dry Sherman gets, though he gets larger portions of wet.
 

mrsgreenjeens

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I've got four cats that all free feed, and I've really GOT to put Darko on a diet, but, problem is, Sven is 14 and a CRF kitty, so needs to gain weight (plus being so old and free fed his entire life, don't know how well he would adjust to a major change like this). I'm really in a quandry. Like you, Laurie, have tried exercising Darko more, and thought it was working up until I weighed him yesterday, and he had gained .2 lbs! Hopefully I just got him after he drank a lot and had not peed or pooped yet, since I weigh him weekly and he has either been dropping a few oz's or at least maintaining and not gaining, but this guy is only 15 months is is almost 16 lbs. He's been overweight since about 8 months!! We thought he'd grow into his belly, but it never happened!!

None of our cats seem to like wet food, the two younger like it better than the older two, who absolutely refuse any and all kind of wet! I guess if I took up all their dry and doled it out like you do, maybe they'd get hungry enough that they might eat some wet too! Poor Sven...guess I'd better talk to the Vet before I try this.
 

mrsgreenjeens

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Yes, I already "hand feed" Sven treats (just dry kibble) lots during the day, just to keep him from being a walking skeleton, but he has always been a middle of the night eater, so think this will really throw him for a loop. Ever since he went on KD diet, however, he's been different, so maybe it won't be so bad.
 

taryn

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Attitude dropped weight way too fast when I tried to schedule feed them and Nuts also lost weight. I went back to free feeding a measured amount of food. I have dropped them to 1/3 cup a day from 1/2 cup so hopefully there will be some weight loss from Attitude and not Nuts.

It's hard when you have one that needs to lose and others who need to gain or at least stay steady because they are thin.

Taryn
 
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ldg

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Yeah, this isn't going so well. I am REALLY worried that Lazlo and Tuxedo are not getting enough food. Flowerbelle never eats enough, so I've just been giving her as much as she'll eat in the bathroom by herself (although that's what we've always done with her and she just will not gain weight). Spooky loves wet food, so not having access to dry isn't an issue for her. She has bad teeth, so hates eating dry anyway (I know it's good for her teeth - but no matter how large the kibble is she'll either just swallow it without chewing or not even try to eat it). Ming Loy could lose a little weight, so I'm good with feeding her wet food twice a day like Spook.

My new plan is basically a combo of what you mention Taryn. In the morning, I'm going to put down 1/8C of dry food for five cats (Spooky and Flowerbelle don't really free feed off the dry c/d). I'll feed all of them their correct of amount of wet food mid-morning. Evening, again, I'm going to feed them all their respective correct amount of wet food, and before we got to bed I'm going to put down 1/8C of dry food for five cats.

I'll make sure to feed Tuxedo and Lazlo little clumps of dry food here and there as treats (easy to feed them alone in the bathroom).

We're gonna give it a month and see what happens. If it turns out Billy is pigging all the dry food we're free feeding - we'll just have to put it down in individual bowls for them, pick them up as they walk away, just feed the balance to them as "treats" alone in the bathroom over the course of the day.

Thank god we work primarily from home, that's all I have to say. The days we have to head into NYC for work, they'll just have to hope we're not leaving them to starve.

But with so many cats, a small space, and two cats that could stand to lose some weight and one that absolutely MUST - and three that we have to encourage to eat to keep the weight on and one we want to keep gaining weight - all I can say is this is no fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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