Less active cat

Thank you to both of you. You've cheered me up. I do love the pair of them. They're rescue kittens so I just want them to have the best life ever. Without of course compromising their health. Worked his weight in pounds and it's 11.2lbs so I don't think that's too much.

@Burkey Frankie's little pouch is exactly that like George's! And like you I was certain it was skin too. Not fat. Slightly swings when he runs I look down from above as I took that photo and just can't see what the vet is seeing. In the UK it seems vets have the pre-programmed idea in their head that all cats must be 5kg and a max of 5.5kg but anything above that is bad. He has long legs, a long tail and he is tall. So he's a naturally big cat. She showed me the profile chart and picked out the 'overweight' profile for Frankie but I completely disagreed. The image showed a cat with a visible roundness from above around the middle. He doesn't have that at all.

They are not shy @MServant nope! Drive me insane at times charging like elephants haha. They're not siblings so they do fight more and Frankie does get a bit violent! They're perfect to me.

Thank you. You've really eased me now. I was wondering what I was doing wrong as they're on the best diet I can give and I weigh ALL the food anyway haha. So was shocked to be told to watch it.

OK, here we go @ValG      There MIGHT be just the slightest hint of a waist there...  ?      This shows a little more kindly what his figure is really like - muscled but with a wobbly 'spay' belly.     It is mosly fur, honset - he actually has loose skin and dense fur which you can see at his chest, in front of his foreleg - still handsome if a little tubby.  

I think Frankie and George look like skinny cats next to this kitty.  

Hi there. Firstly so sorry haven't been online for a while. Work has been insane!! Appraisal time of year sucks! Ha!

What a stunning looking cat. He is absolutely gorgeous! I always wanted a gray cat! Stunning! And I still don't think he's fat or overweight.

We are two weeks in to the 'diet' and they're still driving me insane with begging. Phoebe not so much. Frankie is terrible. I would have thought he would get used to it. Never mind. I'm going to try to weigh him Wednesday as will be two weeks since we reduced his food. Hoping he's gone back to his original 5.5kg weight. His flabby pouch looks to be a tad smaller but maybe that's just me haha

  I always wanted a black and white cat with white paws because I think they look so awsome when they play.     I'll not swap though as Mouse has kind of wound himself round my heart.    I can't see that George can have much to loose from his 'above' photo as he has such a lovely indented little waist (unlike Mouse) so I wouldn't see him starve because he is only a year and will still be growing in to his paws....  Once you feel happy you have his food balanced and at thre right level for him it is probably worth concentrating on his activity levels as that will make as much of a difference as anything - although he will always have that lovable little bit of loose belly skin I fear, just like Mouse.  

Time to spend a few hours and days working out what gets his paws moving and make sure he keeps burning the calories and keeping his muscles toned.  Mouse's preferred reason for moving is to find food so he gets to chase his dry food and treats on a daily basis, gets to play hunt the human hide and seek (he likes playing chase games), and daBird but they are all different.  The laser pen is often a good one esp if you give a little toy or food reward at the end of the game.  The food bowl not always being full, and needing to hunt and play to get at the food is a great way to keep a less active cat moving about. 

Awww they do tend to find ways to make us love them a lot! Frankie's perfect.

Yeah the balance is being worked on. If he doesn't shift any weight then he clearly needs it! Haha. I can't account for what he does whilst I'm at work but when I'm home him and Phoebe spend ages chasing one another. It's constant play fighting and charging about. He loves the laser so we do use one and Phoebe plays fetch. He also had mad half hours at about 6am and between 9-10pm every day where he will charge and run up my ruined curtains in the lounge!

The plan is to let him out eventually. I'm being cruel keeping him inside. I think he will lose a lot of weight by exploring the area where we live. Hopefully he will come back :-s

ValG said:

Awww they do tend to find ways to make us love them a lot!

Frankie's perfect.

Yeah the balance is being worked on. If he doesn't shift any weight then he clearly needs it! Haha. I can't account for what he does whilst I'm at work but when I'm home him and Phoebe spend ages chasing one another. It's constant play fighting and charging about. He loves the laser so we do use one and Phoebe plays fetch. He also had mad half hours at about 6am and between 9-10pm every day where he will charge and run up my ruined curtains in the lounge!

The plan is to let him out eventually. I'm being cruel keeping him inside. I think he will lose a lot of weight by exploring the area where we live. Hopefully he will come back :-s

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He sounds pretty active in doors to me!     I love when they do that mini elephant stampede things and run like crazy with thundering paws for half an hour. Mouse doesn't use his claws so he never had great success climbing curtains and mine are still intact but there was a post several months ago by another UK member whose 2 little Burmese angels had comptletely shredded his, and everything else in the room to boot!    Have a look at the pics in post 247 of this thread!  LoL    http://www.thecatsite.com/t/258709/bad-bad-kitty-pics/500_100   

I'm a rare beast in the UK as believe in indoor kitties like people do more over in the US.  As long as the environment is rish with things to explore and each cat has their own space they feel safe in if it's a multi cat household the cats generally seem a lot less stressed.  I'm reading the Paul Bradshaw book on cats at the moment too; he's involved in a lot of the cat behaviour and social behaviour doecumentaries that have been on the last couple of years, and it seems from that too many cats are a lot less stressed being indoor unless living in open country where there are hardly any other cats.  No idiots with air guns or risks of running out in traffic either.   Quite a few people on the site have trained their cats with tricks for extra interest and activity together, and also take their cats out on harness if they really want them to experience the outdoors but that is really time consuming and you have to be seriously patient to wander about outdoors with a cat!!!

Ah you are in the UK too? I would prefer to keep them both indoors. It is my partner who wants to let them out as Frankie is a little monster and wrecks the house regularly. I have taught him to sit, give me his paw and hi-5 [emoji]128522[/emoji] I used a dog clicker to train him and literally followed him around and every time he sat I would click, say "sit" and reward him. He didn't take long to train at all! Phoebe is more giddy so more difficult.

I watched the programme about cats and saw what you mean about the large number of cats and how it can create a stressful environment for the kitties outside. There are tonnes of cats around my estate too and an alpha male cat who thinks be rules the roost. I tried the harness but I got bored to be honest as he spent 10-15 minutes ok the same spot sniffing the ground!! So I think it will be a case of letting him out and hoping he returns for his tea! [emoji]128523[/emoji]

If I had Mouse I wouldn't be letting him put either [emoji]128522[/emoji] he's far too handsome!! Bless him

LoL, so your patience has been tried already.      I used to take my previous 2 cats out on a leash when they were young but you can just imagine 2 cats out at the same time on 2 separate extendable leashes.  I'd be waiting for one to climb down off a tree trunk while the other was wrapping her self around a bench somewhere off in the oposite direction or trying to charge at some poor little dog.  They didn't mind when I stopped taking them out as they kept busy hunting each other in the flat.  :-D   As long as you have plenty cat trees, boxes, and other toys you can rotate, and a  couple of windows they can look out and watch the world go by if they want to many cats are pretty calm in their own space.  The 3 I have had over the years have never destroyed furniture, but what I have found is that dander is much worse with indoor cats and if you have a cat that molts at all you need to groom them more regularly.

Thank you.  Yes, Mouse is a handsome little chappy, and a bit too sociable to be let loose:  he'd go off with anyone who said hello or bent down and picked him up!  That's if he lived that long as I live on a busy main road and he has no car sense.  Actually he has no sense full stop.    I hate seeing cats walking across the roads and resting under cars here as I am sure they risk their lives daily.

Weight update after check up. Frankie hadn't gained for once and had lost 100g! was hopin. Would be more but the vets happy he's not gained anything. Phoebe on the other hand gained 100g which is odd as she was given same quantities but she's only 10 months so I guess still growing.

It's been hard work but determined to stick to it as adviced.

100 g is 100 g more than zero so you are doing good together!    

Thank you for the update.   I'd say what ever you have been doing, along with Phoebe doing lots of chasing, keep doing it because little bits all add up, and as he gets lighter he may well feel he's got more energy too and that will help even more.

Awww thank you!

I'm just cutting out treats. Still give one once or twice a week but not all the time and reduced the food. Vet agreed that we should stick with the 80g wet per day and 40g dry per cat so we will see. Frankie's due his boosters in January so I shall have home weighed again then

His charging is a lot more manic so to speak!! Haha. Also we had a result back for his ringworm culture (last lesion he had was September) and it's negative so overall I'm pretty pleased