Hi everyone,
About 10 months ago, I put my then 18.2 pound, former feral Felix cat on a diet. I'd been caring for him since he was 6 mos old, by trapping him for his neuter and then feeding him outside after that for about 11 mos. At that point, he had some kind of accident and needed to be brought in the house for treatment and has been here ever since. He's now 6 years old.
Felix was always an eager kibble eater. The only problem, it made him FAT FAT FAT! No matter what kind of food or how little I gave him, he continued to gain weight. Last fall I'd had enough, and more or less FORCED him to find a wet food he'd eat and switched him to that, and the weight began melting away.
Felix is now at his goal weight of around 12-13 pounds, and looks great. He's also now eating a totally raw diet! We have a PROBLEM, though! It's as if he's going through a "delayed kittenhood." He's constantly prowling around, surfing the counters and getting into food, playing with plastic containers, etc. He tries to butt the other cats out of their bowls and last week took a chunk out of some bread I'd just taken out of the oven.
I can't open a cabinet without him darting into it. He begs at every meal like a dog. He has started coming upstairs to visit for the first time ever and chases the other cats and irritates the dogs! It's CRAZY! He's not the same cat he was at all---and I'm ashamed to say I'm not totally happy with the changes. At least when he was fat he'd lie quietly and not get into trouble! Now he's ALWAYS into mischief. At times I think of changing his name from "Felix" to "Feces!" (Just kidding--kind of
).
Anyway, just thought I'd share the news of my "new kitten." Sigh... Just when you think you have them all figured out!
Cally
About 10 months ago, I put my then 18.2 pound, former feral Felix cat on a diet. I'd been caring for him since he was 6 mos old, by trapping him for his neuter and then feeding him outside after that for about 11 mos. At that point, he had some kind of accident and needed to be brought in the house for treatment and has been here ever since. He's now 6 years old.
Felix was always an eager kibble eater. The only problem, it made him FAT FAT FAT! No matter what kind of food or how little I gave him, he continued to gain weight. Last fall I'd had enough, and more or less FORCED him to find a wet food he'd eat and switched him to that, and the weight began melting away.
Felix is now at his goal weight of around 12-13 pounds, and looks great. He's also now eating a totally raw diet! We have a PROBLEM, though! It's as if he's going through a "delayed kittenhood." He's constantly prowling around, surfing the counters and getting into food, playing with plastic containers, etc. He tries to butt the other cats out of their bowls and last week took a chunk out of some bread I'd just taken out of the oven.
I can't open a cabinet without him darting into it. He begs at every meal like a dog. He has started coming upstairs to visit for the first time ever and chases the other cats and irritates the dogs! It's CRAZY! He's not the same cat he was at all---and I'm ashamed to say I'm not totally happy with the changes. At least when he was fat he'd lie quietly and not get into trouble! Now he's ALWAYS into mischief. At times I think of changing his name from "Felix" to "Feces!" (Just kidding--kind of
Anyway, just thought I'd share the news of my "new kitten." Sigh... Just when you think you have them all figured out!
Cally
