advice for overweight cat

Hi everyone,

I'm new here, and have a wonderful, extremely active 10-month-old boy cat, who I adopted at 6 months from a rescue agency. When I got him, he had been on dry food and the perfect weight. I put him initially on Science Diet, because I thought it was supposed to be good, but then actually read the ingredients, was appalled (what the heck is corn gluten anyway??), and began to read about kitten nutrition. I eventually made the switch to Wellness, which he's been on since. I've been trying to get him to eat wet food, but he's a total grazer, and eats a little bit of food at a time throughout the day and night, which is why he tends to eat the kibble and not the wet. I work long hours so can't feed him more than 2x per day, so I leave the kibble out. In all this time, he's been slowly gaining weight, and now he has a little pouch that sways side to side when he walks, and extra fat around his ribs and shoulders! I started measuring out 2/3 cup of dry and giving him only that amount per day, and then brought him to my vet, who agreed with the measuring and recommended switching from kitten to adult canned food, so he's on that now. Does anyone have any ideas on getting a grazer to convert to meals without starving them (I don't want him to get that awful fatty liver thing), or other ideas for better weight loss? The idea is eventually do 80% wet (or even a bit more) and 20% dry. I would even commit to brushing his teeth if I had to take him off dry completely, but I just need to get there. Thanks in advance!!

First of all, stop him from "grazing" all day.  Have a set meal time and that is it.  And only enough of a porportion that he needs in one meal.  Secondly, get him playing hard... Invest in Da Bird or a lazer light and play with him for about half an hour a day.  This will help him to loose weight.  He won't starve.  Your vet will recommend to stop the grazing asap! 

Yes no grazing.  You can also try putting his food in a box so he has to jump in the box to eat or putting it somewhere he has to work to get too.  For the dry they make those treat balls that they have to roll around and chase to get the food out.  

Weight loss takes time though and he is a kitten so he has plenty of it!  I would only weigh him every 3 months or so, so that you don't get to upset with yourself if you don't notice him loosing.  He may also always have the pouch, my kitty has lost 3 pounds and he doesn't really look like it because he has so much extra skin.  

You will have more trouble getting him to loose weight with dry food than with canned.  You want a high protein and low carb diet and the best dry I can find for that is EVO.  The bad part about EVO dry is it is very high in calories. 

If you want I can get my weight loss formula out for you kitty and help you figure out how many calories he needs per day and we can figure out exactly how much of the wellness dry and canned he needs everyday!

I just started the set meal time today. He's not taking to it well, but I'm working on it! Thanks for your feedback!
 

Bowie said:

Yes no grazing.  You can also try putting his food in a box so he has to jump in the box to eat or putting it somewhere he has to work to get too.  For the dry they make those treat balls that they have to roll around and chase to get the food out.  

Weight loss takes time though and he is a kitten so he has plenty of it!  I would only weigh him every 3 months or so, so that you don't get to upset with yourself if you don't notice him loosing.  He may also always have the pouch, my kitty has lost 3 pounds and he doesn't really look like it because he has so much extra skin.  

You will have more trouble getting him to loose weight with dry food than with canned.  You want a high protein and low carb diet and the best dry I can find for that is EVO.  The bad part about EVO dry is it is very high in calories. 

If you want I can get my weight loss formula out for you kitty and help you figure out how many calories he needs per day and we can figure out exactly how much of the wellness dry and canned he needs everyday!

Click to expand...

I would LOVE that! I was looking around online last night, and found one formula on... catinfo.org, I think, but I was hesitant to try to use it as I thought it was for adult cats. He's 10 months now, so almost adult, but still - I don't want to do something that's bad for him. I will of course run whatever I plan to do by my vet as well.

The other problem is, he's really long for a cat - always has been, since I got him, and I think his bone structure is such that he's going to be bigger than average, anyway. It's still so hard to tell now though, because he's so young. Because of that too, I worry about accidentally underfeeding him, which would obviously be awful for him right now as he's still growing.

Thanks for your input!

I'll be at work tomorrow so I will pick my copy up there!

Agreed on meal times only.

How much wet are you feeding him? I know you said you were giving about 2/3 cup dry, but I didn't see a wet amount mentioned.
I work long hours too, so I know how you feel, but he really will be okay all day. I feel my cat when I leave for work, and then up to 12 hours later when I get home I feed him some more, and then I get up in the middle of the night to feed him a third time. If you are Super worried, you could purchase a wet food timer that will dispense some wet food while you are gone.