Hobo went to the vet yesterday

He weighs 14lbs12oz. Makes me so unhappy that he has not lost any weight. Dr. W(also my boss) suggested SD W/D, I would never feed that to my cat. I wish vets understood nutrition. So anyways I guess I need to really figure out calories better. Everything else checked out well. I will probably be taking him back in month for bloodwork just to be sure everything is normal.

Hi there, I'm kind of new here so I don't know what you're currently feeding Hobo. Are you feeding a grain free diet? A good grain free, high quality protein food usually does wonders for them to lose weight naturally.

You've made a good decsion with avoiding SD.

I would suggest a good wet - low carb, no grain.  I'm partial to Nutro, but then I've fed it for years.  Someone else suggested putting their cat's food on a different floor of the house so the kitty had to run up the stairs to eat.

@finnlacey My boy is being transitoned to an all canned food diet and going with grain free. Before I started switching though he was eating a grain free food for a year and only getting 1/4 cup two times a day. Idk why he never lost.

So right now these are the brand of wet foods he has ate.

Evo Turkey and Chicken

Nature's Variety almost all formulas

Before Grain(doesn't like)

Wellness Core both formulas

PureVita

Authority(some grains in it, but he likes it LOL)

Earthborn Holisitc Chicken Catcciatori

May be a few others that I am forgetting.

@WendyB-Yes I hate SD and I am already trying to go all wet so I for sure do not want to put him back on dry. His food is actually upstairs and he runs up and down them probably 50 times a day. His food is also up on his cat tree so he has to jump up on it to get to it.

I need to get him to play more, just hard to do when you have an annoying dog in the house that barks and whines if the other two pets get attention. I know I need to try harder.

Those are mostly good brands but I would stay away from the Wellness Core as it's lead to a lot of urinary problems in cats in the last couple of years. Authority is okay except it has yeast in it so just keep an eye and make sure he doesn't develop any skin conditions. I don't like PureVita at all, there's ingredients I don't like. Soulistic is another one you might try and Merrick canned. Weruva also. Nature's Variety and Evo are very good. I'm willing to bet it was the dry food that was doing it. Dry food has no moisture and they need moisture for their muscles just like we do. Plus it's still a lot of carbs and some kitties just can't have an all dry diet (which really isn't good for ANY pet to be honest). So you're headed in the right direction!

finnlacey said:

Those are mostly good brands but I would stay away from the Wellness Core as it's lead to a lot of urinary problems in cats in the last couple of years. Authority is okay except it has yeast in it so just keep an eye and make sure he doesn't develop any skin conditions. I don't like PureVita at all, there's ingredients I don't like. Soulistic is another one you might try and Merrick canned. Weruva also. Nature's Variety and Evo are very good. I'm willing to bet it was the dry food that was doing it. Dry food has no moisture and they need moisture for their muscles just like we do. Plus it's still a lot of carbs and some kitties just can't have an all dry diet (which really isn't good for ANY pet to be honest). So you're headed in the right direction!

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I didn't know that about Core, thank you for telling me. He wasn't fond of it anyways though LOL He didn't like the PureVita either.

I forgot to look for the Soulistic when I was in the store, but next time I will grab some cans.

I hope once he is completly off dry he will slowly start losing.

Thanks for the info!
 

I think he will. You definitely have the right idea that he needs to lose it slowly and safely and as the weather gets warmer too and he's off dry food, he'll get more energy. Does he have any cat trees or towers in the house he can climb?

finnlacey said:

I think he will. You definitely have the right idea that he needs to lose it slowly and safely and as the weather gets warmer too and he's off dry food, he'll get more energy. Does he have any cat trees or towers in the house he can climb?

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Yep he has one tall cat tree with three levels. He is always on it, that is where I feed him. I would like to put shelves up on the wall, but we are moving in May and idk if our new landlord would care for that to well.

Well it's really good that he has something to climb. That's great exercise!

Emma(my lab) chases him up the stairs, so he is not the complete laziest cat out there HAHA They run back and forth with each other every day.

that's the best kind of exercise!!!

finnlacey said:

that's the best kind of exercise!!!

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I would rather he have another kitty friend to play with, but looks like DB would not be happy about that. He doesn't even like Hobo. Not mean to him or anything like that, but would prefer to not have him.