My cat constantly wants food....

terestrife · Dec 30, 2013

I have a american shorthair calico cat, she just turned two years old (on December). My vet told me she should lose a little weight, shes 12 lbs he recommends 9-9.5 lbs.

Its hard to help my cat loose weight as she loves to eat. She will stand next to where her food is and cry until you feed her. She'll stand next to her treat maze to let you know she wants it filled.

I dont mind the expense, what concerns me is her health. is it very bad for her to be at 12 lbs? If so, how can i help her lose weight?

She eats 1 can a day from a variety of wet food cans (natural balance, wellness). And i give her treats. Yes, i know the treats is not healthy and i want to stop. But if she doesn't have a nighttime snack, she will pester for food all night, and my mom is a light sleeper.

My niece is a vets assistance told me to give her dry food, and that its only some cats that get UTI from dry food only.

I've considered giving her half dry/ half wet. does anyone have any advice? I want my baby to be healthy.

13 - 90 copy.jpg

terestrife
Dec 30, 2013

This is a picture of Kitty taken a during October.

denice · Dec 30, 2013

I would stick with the wet food. Dry food is higher in carbs than wet food and won't contribute to weight loss. http://catinfo.org is a good website to explain feline nutrition. For weight loss the general rule of thumb is 15 calories per pound of their ideal weight. If calories aren't listed on the can you should be able to get it from the companies website.

You can also get freeze dried meat to use as treats. http://www.purebites.com/products/en/#cat is one brand and there are others.

peaches08 · Dec 30, 2013

Check out mschauer's thread about the overweight foster she saved named Mickey. Great infor about how to reduce calories safely.

Wand toys, laser pointer, etc are also useful to help kitty get some exercise and lose weight safely.

raintyger · Dec 30, 2013

Dry food causes weight gain because of the carbs. It is also the most likely suspect in a myriad of diseases, some of them very serious:

http://www.littlebigcat.com/nutrition/why-dry-food-is-bad-for-cats-and-dogs/

You can't tell if a cat is overweight by poundage. I can't tell about her waist because of the picture angle the skirt/bow, but you should be able to see a defined waist. You should be able to feel ribs but not see them.

stephenq · Dec 30, 2013

Some cats, including my own, ahem, like to have 3 meals a day, and this helps them get through the night and be less ravenous at breakfast. So you might try spreading out her food over more meals?

Another thing to just reflect on is that hunger and appetite are two different things, and some cats as well as some people just have higher appetites.

fleabags mom · Dec 30, 2013

I wouldn't have thought one can was OTT for your cat at all, so I guess the weight must be coming from the treats? I would try and keep a note of what you're feeding kitty, absolutely everything - cat treats, table food, everything. Then try and cut back on those treats if you can, and perhaps see what's out there with more meat based treats (like dried meat sticks) instead of biccy's for your cat if you don't already. The biccy ones are full of carbs again, like the dried ones.

Try feeding her last thing at night before you sleep and if that still keeps your cat begging and waking up your mum, perhaps just give her treats at night only. Play with her more too if you can, it all helps with weight loss. The other thing I would say is to perhaps take her for a trip to the vet. She may have something wrong with her, or something like a tummy ache that animals can mistake for hunger. My old dog was like that. We thought she was greedy but she was in pain.

Good luck to you and your very cute kitty!

catwoman707 · Dec 30, 2013

I have dealt with my cat Krissy's weight her entire life. By the time she was 1 1/2 she looked prego.

She is now 12, well close to.

Mine are the same, they are spoiled on cat treats at night before bed, and I recently realized that the standard store bought treats like Temptations are 5 calories per 4 treats.

That doesn't sound like much for us but think if a cat's daily intake is about 200 cals total?

What I am doing now is, instead of actual treats, giving them a small amt of great tasting dry food before bed. They think it's treats still!

I also read a new tip on making your own treats out of canned pate food, thinly sliced pate food and bake on a cookie sheet until they are crunchy.

That way you know the cal content you are feeding before bedtime

Also, I don't think your cat looks fat, you probably should watch though as through the years she might have a tendency to gain weight, and at some point have to deal with taking weight off rather than not allow her to gain anymore.

Willowy · Dec 30, 2013

Obviously the dress hides the weight

, but I agree that she doesn't really look 3 pounds overweight. That's like 25% of her body weight! Can you post more pics with more angles?

But anyway, yeah, canned food is less fattening than dry so I don't think adding dry food will help keep her weight healthy. How many treats do you think she gets every day? I agree that spreading her food out between 3-4 meals might help her feel less hungry.

oneandahalfcats · Dec 31, 2013

Hi there ..

If your kitty hasn't eaten dry food I wouldn't start now as it can cause multiple health problems down the road, and is just not a good diet for cats to begin with.

On first glance, your kitty doesn't look overweight and depending on her frame and bone structure, 10 pounds might not be too far off the mark, but its hard to tell from this picture. You don't say what size of can of wet food you are feeding but one can a day doesn't sound like too much. If giving treats, I suspect this is where any extra weight would come from.

Depending on the size of can of wet food you serve, you could split this up into 2-3 meals as others have mentioned, so kitty has the benefit of some food through the day rather than all at once which might help to make her feel more satisfied and less likely to be looking for more food. As with humans, having several little meals through a day is better for digestion, to provide a steady supply of energy from food and less problems with blood sugar. Amount of food should be proportionate to the ideal weight so its important to know how much and give this on a regular basis. Activity level is also something to take into consideration. Your kitty is still a young cat, and so depending on her energy level, will require more nutrients than a cat who is older and more sedentary.

Max (pictured) is a big boned nine year old cat who was up to 17 pounds last year which is too heavy, even for him. My vet and I agreed that he needed to lose some weight and so I stopped the free-grazing of food and switched to giving more wet food. His ideal weight given his bone structure, is about 12-14 pounds max. This year I will be starting to transition all of my cats off of the dry food they get now, to a completely wet or raw food diet. A meat diet is what cats need. Dry food is completely for our convenience.

Btw, your kitty is lovely.

terestrife · Dec 31, 2013

catwoman707 said:
I have dealt with my cat Krissy's weight her entire life. By the time she was 1 1/2 she looked prego.

She is now 12, well close to.

Mine are the same, they are spoiled on cat treats at night before bed, and I recently realized that the standard store bought treats like Temptations are 5 calories per 4 treats.

That doesn't sound like much for us but think if a cat's daily intake is about 200 cals total?

What I am doing now is, instead of actual treats, giving them a small amt of great tasting dry food before bed. They think it's treats still!

I also read a new tip on making your own treats out of canned pate food, thinly sliced pate food and bake on a cookie sheet until they are crunchy.

That way you know the cal content you are feeding before bedtime

Also, I don't think your cat looks fat, you probably should watch though as through the years she might have a tendency to gain weight, and at some point have to deal with taking weight off rather than not allow her to gain anymore.

Those are great suggestions. I even found some great recipes online.

I will try and keep an eye on her weight, i try to weigh her every now and then. I have seen cats that are far more overweight that my cat, i just dont want it to get out of control, you know?

terestrife · Dec 31, 2013

oneandahalfcats said:
Hi there ..

If your kitty hasn't eaten dry food I wouldn't start now as it can cause multiple health problems down the road, and is just not a good diet for cats to begin with.

On first glance, your kitty doesn't look overweight and depending on her frame and bone structure, 10 pounds might not be too far off the mark, but its hard to tell from this picture. You don't say what size of can of wet food you are feeding but one can a day doesn't sound like too much. If giving treats, I suspect this is where any extra weight would come from.

Depending on the size of can of wet food you serve, you could split this up into 2-3 meals as others have mentioned, so kitty has the benefit of some food through the day rather than all at once which might help to make her feel more satisfied and less likely to be looking for more food. As with humans, having several little meals through a day is better for digestion, to provide a steady supply of energy from food and less problems with blood sugar. Amount of food should be proportionate to the ideal weight so its important to know how much and give this on a regular basis. Activity level is also something to take into consideration. Your kitty is still a young cat, and so depending on her energy level, will require more nutrients than a cat who is older and more sedentary.

Max (pictured) is a big boned nine year old cat who was up to 17 pounds last year which is too heavy, even for him. My vet and I agreed that he needed to lose some weight and so I stopped the free-grazing of food and switched to giving more wet food. His ideal weight given his bone structure, is about 12-14 pounds max. This year I will be starting to transition all of my cats off of the dry food they get now, to a completely wet or raw food diet. A meat diet is what cats need. Dry food is completely for our convenience.

Btw, your kitty is lovely.

She already eats 3 times a day. I get a 5.5 oz can and split it to three meals. I tried making it 4 times to see if her nighttime craziness would lesson, but she freaked out and started following me around meowing because her meal was suddenly smaller. lol I used to give my cat dry food, during the beginning when i didnt know anything about cats, but i switched her to wet food when i read about all the risks with giving dry food. I do give her temptations treats, which i think im going to see if i can find a healthier option. that might be where the weight is coming from.

Thanks for the compliment. =)

And good luck with getting Max to a healthy weight. =)

tammyp · Dec 31, 2013

There are some great things to use as treats, and they aren't junk but really good food. As Denice mentioned, freeze dried meats would be perfect. I can't get them over here, but I can get dried liver from the farm, plain dried chicken, and I also use some ziwipeak 'raw without the thaw' - which i should think would be available over there too.

Like you, I have one cat who likes an 'aperitif' before consuming her meal, so it was important to find food-worthy treats (and I use a very small amount, because she wants it frequently...3-4meals per day!) I don't have weight issues, and likely never will because of her svelte breed, but I am always concerned about optimal nutrition.

oneandahalfcats · Jan 1, 2014

catwoman707 said:
I have dealt with my cat Krissy's weight her entire life. By the time she was 1 1/2 she looked prego.

She is now 12, well close to.

Mine are the same, they are spoiled on cat treats at night before bed, and I recently realized that the standard store bought treats like Temptations are 5 calories per 4 treats.

That doesn't sound like much for us but think if a cat's daily intake is about 200 cals total?

What I am doing now is, instead of actual treats, giving them a small amt of great tasting dry food before bed. They think it's treats still!

I also read a new tip on making your own treats out of canned pate food, thinly sliced pate food and bake on a cookie sheet until they are crunchy.

That way you know the cal content you are feeding before bedtime

Also, I don't think your cat looks fat, you probably should watch though as through the years she might have a tendency to gain weight, and at some point have to deal with taking weight off rather than not allow her to gain anymore.

What a clever idea to bake sliced wet food to use as treats. Never occurred to me but why not. I also like the idea Denice suggested about giving freeze dried meat as an occasional treat. I used to use the temptations treats years ago but was always worrying about product quality and the use of flavor enhancers/artificial flavors, so I stopped buying and giving these kinds of commercial treats.

b-roc · Jan 2, 2014

terestrife said:
But if she doesn't have a nighttime snack, she will pester for food all night, and my mom is a light sleeper.

My 3.5 year old tortie is like a puppy constantly begging for food and I agree with the comment of another who stated that appetite is different from hunger. My cat has a strong appetite for food but isn't always hungry - she'd just eat constantly if we let her. We now feed her only raw food but when she was on canned food we use to freeze 1/4 to 1/3 of her daily food dosage and then put it in her dish (still frozen) when we went to bed. She'd lick it like a popsicle for an hour or two and by the time she was done she was both tired and somewhat full from her snack and as a result she would sleep through the night. There are also dishes on timers which you can set to open but they are a bit expensive and mine figured out how to open them so the timer was useless.

If your cat is keeping you up, try freezing the food and putting it out frozen. She'll likely either wait a few hours for it to thaw and eat it then or she'll do the popsicle thing and wear herself out eating it. Either way, you win.

My cat constantly wants food....

terestrife

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denice

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peaches08

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raintyger

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Willowy

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terestrife

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