Safe weight loss for cat

Hello, new to the forum.  I rescued my furbaby 8mths ago and love him to bits.  He's an orange tabby.  From day one I've questioned his weight because he is big.  The vet kept telling me he's fine, he's just a big cat.

Yesterday they declared him overweight!

I would like to know what is the safest way to help him reduce.  The vet said weight loss too fast can result in liver failure.  Are there any brands of food for weight loss.  Currently he eats ProPlan wet food and ProPlan and Iams dry food.

I am going to very gradually decrease his wet food.

Any suggestions most appreciated.

How much does he weigh?

The dry food tends to put more weight on them because of the carb content. Try reducing the dry and increasing the canned food.

He is 18lbs.  When I rescued him 8mths ago he was 13lbs.

I was giving him 3/4 cup of dry food.  He doesn't really eat it, so reduced it to 1/2 cup per day.  He just munches on it here and there, there is always some leftover.  Don't really want to eliminate the dry food completely because then he will get used to eating on wet food.

What did your vet advise? Did they have any thoughts on why your kitty gained 5 lbs in 8 months?

I know weight loss can be tricky in cats, just like your vet stated, too much too soon is not good. I personally had luck with switching to an all can/wet diet for my kitty that was a chubster.

How old is your cat?

He was a rescue so  we don't know exact age.  They think maybe around 2yrs old.  The vet said to go down from 3 small cans of wet food to 2 cans and then eventually maybe down to 1.5 cans per day.  She said to keep the dry food amount the same (1/2 cup) because she doesn't want too many changes.

That doesn't seem like you are over feeding him. Have blood tests ruled out any health issue that could be causing this weight gain. Could the weight register now be inaccurate or the starting weight? That's an awful lot of weight to gain that's almost a 40% his weight.

Can you snap a photo?

I'm waiting to get his blood test results any time now.

Here's my Prince.

he looks a lot thinner in the second pose!!!! maybe I need to take some photo tips from him next time I'm trying to look thin in a photo. He doesn't really look 18 lbs to me. Mine is 18lbs, unfortunately, and he is built like a Buick. So is his mama so I'm not really insulting him. Exercise is the only thing that helped my cat. He's down 1 1/2 lbs. But Yours just doesnt doesn't look 18 lbs heavy. You are sure the weight is right? Was he weighed in a carrier the second time ?

This is an 18lb cat.

Thanks for sharing.  I just talked to the vet and his blood work came back normal, thank goodness.  She said to cut down his wet food very gradually and weigh him every week and see how he does.

Also exercise will help. Lots of those fishing pole toys can get him moving.

We've been dealing with weight problems recently too, it's been tough. It has taken 4 months to see progress. I tried to do weigh ins about every month. Up until 2 days ago we hadn't seen much more that maybe .2 difference.
Now the boys, both around 12-13, have both lost about 2-3 pounds each.
The biggest, mitten- a Maine coon mix, started at 27 lbs. he's down to 24 now.
We also had blood work done and it all came back normal.
Good luck!

Thanks for the encouragement!

I have two kitties. They are both male and also big cats. They both weight about 15 lbs.and vet says they are fine and healthy. They eat all wet food and only some dry treats. I do worry that they may weigh too much. I always had small cats who never weighed more than 9 pounds.
Wishing you luck with your kitty. He really doesn't look too heavy.
He is a gorgeous kitty!

Hi i agree totally with Lots Of Fur.An all canned diet being even the cheapest is by far superior to the best dry you could feed your kitty.Safe weight loss is 1/2 lb per month.I recently posted to someone about it also.So you can see it is very gradual.Too fast and hepatic lipidosis sets in.Fatty liver disease.you can google it.Not good & can be life threatening.the bloodwork what kind of panel did you have run? That is a very lge weight gain imo.But there are some cats out there if food is available they will continue to keep eating until they are well over 20lbs.Not good unless you are maybe a Maine Coon or Siberian or Norwegian forest cat they can get big.Health issues will over time arise.It is a given.It is good that you are taking the bull by the horns and helping your kitty.Programmable feeders work excellent for some cats with multi cat households if you have more than one cat..Some being microchiped operate with the chip.here in Canada most are just tattooed.Here is a huge read from Dr.Pierson on losing weight safely.Why canned over dry etc.Super lady!! Good luck to your baby.

Her link is www.catinfo.org  Also i was wondering if a T4 was done on your bloodwork?Checking thyroid levels.HYPO thyroid can cause weight gain but is confirmed or denied via T4 blood test.In Canada it is not part of the regular bloodwork panel done.You have to ask for it specifically.I don't know where you are but you should have copies of every test your kitty ever has.You are privy to this info in paper form.Below is a list of possible for weight gain.This DOES NOT mean your kitty has any of these.It may just be food intake.But thought I would list them for you.

• Hypothyroidism
• Insulinoma
• Hyperadrenocorticism
• Neutering

HTH & Hugs to the babe.C.