My cat peeing on my things

Hello,  I'm new to the forum.  I appreciate being able to ask questions here and look forward to being a part of the group.

I have an indoor cat named Dagny.  He will be 5 years old in March.  He came into my life when he just showed up in my yard when he was approx. 5 months old.  We decided to keep him, made him an indoor cat, had him neutered, he gets regular vet visits, worm and flea treatment every month and he is the king of this house.  I love him very much.

The last 2 times I have taken him to the vet, they tell me that he needs to lose weight.  He is a big cat, tall and very long and he weighs 20 pounds.  He has a bigger frame than the ordinary cat.  His best weight would be around 16 pounds.  I agree, he does need to lose weight.  He has a big belly.  I don't want him to become unhealthy due to being overweight.

The only thing is, that when I reduce his intake (and I don't do it too much at a time), he begins to act out.  By that I mean to say that he pees on my things.  Once it was in the clothes basket while I was sorting clothes for the wash.  Once it was in a clothes basket that I had left on the floor because I was too lazy to hang them up when I got them out.  And today I find that he peed on some clothes I had in a chair.  Now I smell cat pee everywhere even though the things are in the washer now.  Also, he starts chewing the ends off every book in the house that he can reach or climb up to and I have a great deal of books in my house.

It seems he only does these things when I'm trying to limit his intake.  I admit that I'm failing at him losing weight because of this and the fact that cats can torture you to death when they are hungry.

After years of working, I have found myself not working for the past 9 months due to my daughter's death and I also have her cat that I have adopted.  She constantly had food in his bowl all day and he expected that at my house but I cannot do that or my other cat will become 100 pounds.    He never pees on my things or eats my books, only occaisional plants.  He's a big cat too, but he is only 14 pounds.

My schedule (or theirs) is they wake me up at 5 a.m. every morning to be fed and I feed them.  I also feed them again at 5:00pm.  Their diet consist of regular brand name moist cat food with just a sprinkling of dry.  My vet has said that dry is fattening and I should stop the dry.  But my daughter's cat lived on dry and he gets upset if I don't give him dry too.

So, yes, my cats rule me and I don't know what to do.

Is there any way to limit Dagny's food without my entire house being peed on and all my books being chewed up?

Thank you so much for any advice.

I'm sorry, a mistake....Dagny will be 4 years old in March, not 5.

Here is a stretched out pose so you can see his belly.  My daughter's cat Gatito is in the background.  Vet says Gatito is a good weight.  Dangy...not so much.

The most important thing is to eliminate carbs (or at least reduce as much as possible), so that's why your vet wants the dry gone. It's very addictive to cats but very unhealthy, especially if it's not a grain-free dry. Thus, if you feel you must continue to offer some dry, try switching to a high quality grain-free option. They're more expensive, but if they're only getting a little, a small bag will go a long way. Consider also storing it in the refrigerator to ward of bacterial growth. As for the wet food, that really needs to be as free of carbs as possible as well. What brand and flavor varieties are you feeding?

Also, you noted that you're not currently working, so perhaps you could cut their meals into smaller, more frequent ones. That way the same amount (or less) of food would ultimately be more filling as their hunger would be satiated more regularly. 

You may also find this page helpful: http://www.catnutrition.org/obesity.html

[Edit] They are beautiful cats. Hopefully Dagny can get down to a healthy weight! And also, many condolences for your loss.   

I'm glad you've come to TCS. I hope you'll stay.

Thank you so much!