One Chunky and One Smooth

Hello all kitten enthusiasts!

I am new, obviously and I have two beautiful babies that I nursed since they were a week old! Now a year and a half later, Tommy (black and white) and Rosie (calico) are silly, fun, but spoiled and loved cats! They are both fixed, so I expected them both to gain weight. Tommy has grown longer, with a tiny cat pooch, but Rosie remains petite, probably about the same size she was when she was eight months. Rosie's grown, though.

Width wise.

She plays with Tommy, she runs and jumps (though doesn't shimmy halfway up the door frame like her brother!) but she is fat! She weighs more than our shih-zhus (I can't get her to sit still long enogh to get a scale reading) and you can see when she lays or stretches she looks like she's got a balloon in her stomach!

I'm thinking about weight control food. But there's a problem in this! Will I be able to feed her (gradually, I know to mix the foods and present them with old food still) the weight control food WITH Tommy, the normal sized cat? Will it have an effect on him? And if it doesn't, what brand of food is the best for this?

Here is Tommy, the normal one!

And here is my big baby in question!

Thanks guys! I look forward to cat spazzing here!

Hi, Geoker. Welcome to TCS!

Your best bet, for both weight loss and the general health of your kitties, is to switch them both to a grain-free, low-carb canned food. You can see the Feline Nutrition Education Society's website, Feline-Nutrition.org, for multiple articles highlighting the relationship between kibble and obesity, or you can review Dr. Pierson's article "Feline Obesity: An Epidemic of Fat Cats" on her site, CatInfo.org. (She also has a very helpful article offering advice and tips on transitioning kibble fed cats to a healthy canned diet, "Transitioning Feline Dry Food Addicts to Canned Food".)

Any canned product that is grain-free, contains low or no fruits or vegetables and has a high percentage of a named meat (i.e. "turkey" instead of "poultry") is going to be a good choice. Wellness, Natural Balance and Felidae offer grain-free flavors, and Evo and Nature's Variety Instincts are all grain-free foods. A "grain-free canned cat" search on petfooddirect.com will yield a veritable cornucopia of options, and you can conduct a side-by-side analysis of the ingredients and nutritional profiles. (Feline-nutrition.org has a nice article on deciphering pet food labels under their Nutrition section that offers additional insight into choosing different products.)

Regards!

AC

P.S. Your kitties, chunky or not, are adorable! <3

I don't emphasize on grain-free because sometimes it is out of budget or harder to find, but I mirror a high protein, low carb food instead of a 'diet' food. (Diet foods don't work in humans, why would they work on cats? )

Real named meats (chicken instead of chicken by-product) in the first 5 ingredients are important, and protein levels above 40% are very beneficial. I personally won't go less than 42% and avoid all corn, soy and dyes.

Oh, and yes you can also feed this food to your 'normal' kitty.

Good luck!!

Originally Posted by Minka

I don't emphasize on grain-free because sometimes it is out of budget or harder to find, but I mirror a high protein, low carb food instead of a 'diet' food. (Diet foods don't work in humans, why would they work on cats?

)

Real named meats (chicken instead of chicken by-product) in the first 5 ingredients are important, and protein levels above 40% are very beneficial. I personally won't go less than 42% and avoid all corn, soy and dyes.

Oh, and yes you can also feed this food to your 'normal' kitty.

Good luck!!

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Well put ...

Grain free is easier to find on all budget s in a wet food

Prior to "dieting" please consult your vet.... Many of us have thought fluffy was overweight and/or underweight gone to the vet . Then at the vet get told fluffy is of perfect wt

Originally Posted by sharky

Prior to "dieting" please consult your vet.... Many of us have thought fluffy was overweight and/or underweight gone to the vet . Then at the vet get told fluffy is of perfect wt

Click to expand...

I think it would be a waste of money for her to go to the vet to check if Rosie is overweight or not.

Originally Posted by Minka

I think it would be a waste of money for her to go to the vet to check if Rosie is overweight or not.

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A good vet will not charge for a quick check like this ... Most have a "clinic" time for weigh ins at which time they normally dont charge ... occasionally a vet will delegate the proper wt check to a senior tech
Obviously, if you are close to reg vet check time just bring it up at that time.. BUT dieting kitty without a vets guidance is foolish and can be dangerous to the cats health

Originally Posted by sharky

A good vet will not charge for a quick check like this ... Most have a "clinic" time for weigh ins at which time they normally dont charge ... occasionally a vet will delegate the proper wt check to a senior tech
Obviously, if you are close to reg vet check time just bring it up at that time.. BUT dieting kitty without a vets guidance is foolish and can be dangerous to the cats health

Click to expand...

I didn't need a vet's 'guidance' to know that my 22lb cat needed to go on a diet. And I certainly didn't need it to get him down to 16lbs. My vets said 'feed him what the bag says' and 'here's some Science Diet.'

P.s. a vet (DVM) and a Feline Nutritionist are two totally different things.

I have had the "Chunky" Cat, Duke was 25lbs when he passed away from fatty liver.

You have to intigrate a new diet SLOWLY so it's not a compleet shock to your kitty's system. Gradually moving them to a wet food diet is a great ideabut don't take away all their kibble right away just give them less kibble and more wet each day until its all a wet diet.

Also on a wet diet keep an eye on their teeth, tartar buildup can occur when on a wet diet that would normally be bruched away by the hard kibble against the teeth.

My vet put Duke on a Feline RD diet by science diet I believe and he wouldn't touch the stuff it was like he went on kitty strike so make sure it is somthing your cat will eat without too much complaint.

Good luck on your diet mission!