Hello everyone!
I have an 11 year old spayed cat that needs to loose some weight. She has been stressed and less active for the last 8 months, as we adopted a new dog then. We have been working with both of them to adapt to each other, but she's naturally quite shy, and prefers to just hang out in the master suite. We have been exercising her more with toys, she used to eat 1/2 cup of dry food a day, then I brought her down to 1/3 cup of dry food a day (It's been about 1 month on 1/3 cup), and she has done well. She doesn't act hungry, there is still some kibble left in the bowl the next morning when I regularly feed her.
I recently read that feeding a higher protein grain free diet of wet canned food would be best to help with weight loss in cats. So, I picked up some grain free wet canned food for her and feed her 1/4 a can in the morning and 1/4 can in the evening. She loves it! Should I feed her less? Or more? She acts very satisfied and doesn't finish it all, (no licking the platter clean), she is still going potty well also. She is used to grazing all day, but seems to be adjusting just fine to only morning and night feedings now.
She is still exercised daily, usually twice a day someone in my family gets her to play hard core with her toys. I also adopted to baby kittens two weeks ago. She was stressed for the first 3 days, and now has been very happy with their company and her responsibility to them.
I hope to begin to see weight loss for her sake. She is such a healthy and happy girl, I figured she'd live a long life, but not if she's gaining weight.
She is regularly 7 lbs... very petite. 3 months ago she weighed 9 lbs. I could see the weight gain, so I had already been actively trying to help her maintain or lose. So far, I haven't seen weight loss with the changes I made prior to wet food. In fact, she may have gained another lb. She seems a little heavier. So, I'm hoping the diet change and kitties encouraging her to be more regularly active will help.
Any ideas on how long it can take for a cat to loose weight? I have never been successful with helping an animal loose weight in the past, (had a dog gain 5 lbs close to the end of his life), perhaps I don't need to worry as much as I am, but I want to do what's best for her.
I have an 11 year old spayed cat that needs to loose some weight. She has been stressed and less active for the last 8 months, as we adopted a new dog then. We have been working with both of them to adapt to each other, but she's naturally quite shy, and prefers to just hang out in the master suite. We have been exercising her more with toys, she used to eat 1/2 cup of dry food a day, then I brought her down to 1/3 cup of dry food a day (It's been about 1 month on 1/3 cup), and she has done well. She doesn't act hungry, there is still some kibble left in the bowl the next morning when I regularly feed her.
I recently read that feeding a higher protein grain free diet of wet canned food would be best to help with weight loss in cats. So, I picked up some grain free wet canned food for her and feed her 1/4 a can in the morning and 1/4 can in the evening. She loves it! Should I feed her less? Or more? She acts very satisfied and doesn't finish it all, (no licking the platter clean), she is still going potty well also. She is used to grazing all day, but seems to be adjusting just fine to only morning and night feedings now.
She is still exercised daily, usually twice a day someone in my family gets her to play hard core with her toys. I also adopted to baby kittens two weeks ago. She was stressed for the first 3 days, and now has been very happy with their company and her responsibility to them.
I hope to begin to see weight loss for her sake. She is such a healthy and happy girl, I figured she'd live a long life, but not if she's gaining weight.
She is regularly 7 lbs... very petite. 3 months ago she weighed 9 lbs. I could see the weight gain, so I had already been actively trying to help her maintain or lose. So far, I haven't seen weight loss with the changes I made prior to wet food. In fact, she may have gained another lb. She seems a little heavier. So, I'm hoping the diet change and kitties encouraging her to be more regularly active will help. Any ideas on how long it can take for a cat to loose weight? I have never been successful with helping an animal loose weight in the past, (had a dog gain 5 lbs close to the end of his life), perhaps I don't need to worry as much as I am, but I want to do what's best for her.
