Fat Cat

my kitty cat daphne is my best friend. she's 6 years old and has a lot of life left. but she's really fat. she eats a regular amount of food but is still really chubby and overweight. i dont want her to develope diabetes or anything. she doesn't excersize much and has very little interest in toys... she doesn't generally like the outdoors either. She has a very senstitive stomach, and a new diet might effect her "business" or her digestive system. i haven't talked to my vet yet... but i'd like some advice so i have an idea of where im headed with this... i really don't want anything bad to happen to my baby because I love her so much... do you have any advice about like stomach-senstitive diets i could try or excersize ideas i could use until i get her to the vet???

You need to talk with your vet... One to find out how much Daphne needs to loose and then get a game plan on SLOW weight loss...

Have you tried a lazer pointer>?

thank you very much... I haven't tried a lazer pointer, but that's deffinetly a great idea. ive seen them at the local pet shop near where i live so i will definetly get one for her. thanks!!

I agree - definitely talk to your vet - most vets these days are very sensitive to weight issues and will help you work out a game plan. My boy needed to lose a fair amount of weight when I adopted him as an adult. The vet worked out the right measured amount of food to give him - and believe me, I would have thought it was far too little and would have been scared had the vet not assured me it was enough food for my boy.

He did lose weight slowly - and that's what you want.

Also, just like with people, if your kitty isn't used to exercise, and is a bit too 'fluffy', just start out with baby steps and go from there. My boy would barely paw at a toy when I started, but, as the vet said, that was still more than he'd been doing. Little by little, his energy level went up, his weight went down, and, yes, the laser toy became a huge favorite.

Or, if she's food-oriented, after talking with the vet, you could try splitting her food up into different bowls, so she has to 'search' for it - or if she gets any dry food, there are treat balls so that the kibble only comes out if she makes the ball roll around.

Your vet will probably be very happy to hear from you - they love having pet parents who care enough to worry about their pets' weight. Good luck!

thank you so much for all the advice! i really appreciate it and im very confident the vet and all the advice will help. i'll definetly have something to work with while I work on getting her a "game plan"!!
~ D.

Attitude is a bit pudgy she needs to lose about 1 lb or so, she's at 10.3 lbs and still looks fat so I think I'm going to shoot for 9.5 lbs as the magic number(vet said between 9-10 lbs.) Of course I might start having the opposite problem soon, if the vet is right. I hate FeLV. For Attitude and Nuts I was told to give them each 1/3 cup of food daily. Now these are my cats, your cat will be different and we tried different amounts of food before we came to 1/3 cup. How much depends on the food, the cat and other factors there is no one size fits all diet plan, it's a matter of playing around with amounts and finding one that works.

I also have 2 cats which makes it more difficult, to support the massive growth of Nuts and keep him at a healthy weight. He now outweighs her for the first time in awhile. He's 10.5 lbs and looks like he could afford a few more.

The biggest thing is SLOW. Attitude is losing about .1 lb every 2 weeks or so. The vet is happy with that but honestly with all her issues at the moment her weight doesn't matter at this time, but every time I put her on the scale and it shows she has lost weight it makes me happy. I said I was going to keep her at 10 lbs but as I said at 10.3 she still looks too fat so I'll go for the middle at 9.5 lbs.

If you only have 1 cat then it will be easier than if you have more than 1. Attitude and Nuts graze from both bowls so I have no idea how much each one individually is eating. I moved the bowls into the living room to make sure they are eating. Found out the hard way that just because the bowls are empty doesn't mean everyone is eating.

Taryn

I am going through this with one of my cats right now. I have been playing with her daily and little by little she will now run after the lazer pointer. Not for very long, but at least it's more than she was doing. Right now she's at 18lbs. I recently noticed another of my cats looking a little chubby too. I weighed her and she's at 13lbs. So it looks like I'm going to have to start her on a weight plan too. It's hard with 6 cats because I have one that is 7lbs and I really don't want her to loose any more. The rest of the cats are a healthy weight though.

So far I have not noticed any weight loss in Faith ( I call her my tubbins because she's a chubby cat). But I will continue to try to get her to excersize. Though I'm hoping when my fiance's brother moves in with his daughter that she'll chase the 2 cats around that need some excersize. lol

yes i picked up a laser pointer for chubby Daphne today and she loves it. she's going crazy for it, and its a big step for her because she usually doesn't like toys too much. im really hoping for the best because this is like the first toy not containing catnip that Daphne is interested in!!