My cats weight

My cat Fizz Gig is 5 years old. She is part Maine coon. She gets 3 cups of grain free dry food a week (for 7 days). She gets one or two treats a month and no people food. She will not touch wet food, won't lick the gravy or anything and I've tried every brand I can find. She weighed about 18 pounds last time I had her at the vets, the vet said she was a little overweight but that I was feeding her the correct amount of food so try to get her to be more active. My family thinks she has gained more weight since then. I have tried many different toys and have yet to find anything she loves to play with. Some toys she won't touch others she bat a few times near where she's hanging out and then stop. Ideally I would like a toy she chases but haven't had any luck finding one. Do you have any suggestions? Also the other cats bully her somewhat (chase her while she runs away hissing) could that be a factor in why she doesn't play? She played a lot when she was a kitten. The other two cats are only a month older than her, everyone has their own food water and litter boxes so we have no problems in that area. Thanks in advance!

Fizzgig said:

My cat Fizz Gig is 5 years old. She is part Maine coon. She gets 3 cups of grain free dry food a week (for 7 days). She gets one or two treats a month and no people food. She will not touch wet food, won't lick the gravy or anything and I've tried every brand I can find. She weighed about 18 pounds last time I had her at the vets, the vet said she was a little overweight but that I was feeding her the correct amount of food so try to get her to be more active. My family thinks she has gained more weight since then. I have tried many different toys and have yet to find anything she loves to play with. Some toys she won't touch others she bat a few times near where she's hanging out and then stop. Ideally I would like a toy she chases but haven't had any luck finding one. Do you have any suggestions? Also the other cats bully her somewhat (chase her while she runs away hissing) could that be a factor in why she doesn't play? She played a lot when she was a kitten. The other two cats are only a month older than her, everyone has their own food water and litter boxes so we have no problems in that area. Thanks in advance!

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while it's ideal for cats to eat a wet food diet over a dry food diet, i understand that some cats just simply won't eat wet food. and you certainly have tried, trying 'every brand you can find'! 

may i ask -- do you have a cat tree(s) or cat shelves? climbing and jumping from one shelf to another can be exercise for your Fizz Gig too! the cat shelves can be much less expensive than a cat tree, but that depends on how many cat shelves are bought.

i think the other cats bullying your girl may very well have something to do with her not playing. the stress cats feel when being bullied can be very hard on them. does your Fizz Gig have a place(s) she can go where the other cats don't go -- where they won't disturb her? sometimes just putting up an extra screen door somewhere in the home can give some separation for cats who don't get along too well. and it's easy to open/close the screen door as you or your Fizz Gig would like.

Changing a kibble addict onto wet food can be a real challenge. It can take lots of time, perseverance and out of the box thinking to persuade some cats that wet food can be yummy too! This article has some great ideas [article="31138"][/article]
Wet food is such a crucial element of the weight loss toolbox that I really do urge you to keep trying - especially if your other cats will help 'recycle' any rejects (my old boy is much fussier than my girl, so his leaving and rejects get refrigerated and fed to my girl at the next mealtime. The result is very little waste ; ) ).

You might find that Feliway helps with the bullying situation, but play is also an amazing tool to build a cat's confidence. If you can get her engaged in 'hunting' play (using a wand toy to create 'prey') and end the 'hunt' with a meaty treat (so she gets to eat her 'prey'), that could go a long way to sorting out the bullying and weight issues in one go.[article="0"][/article][article="0"][/article]
You could also consider harness training and taking her for walks. It's a great way to get extra activity into a cat's day, and may even help her confidence too.[article="22430"][/article]
Opening up vertical space can be an enormous help in these situations as well. By introducing cat shelves, trees etc you're actually increasing the territory. The bigger the available territory, the fewer problems you're likely to see with bullying. I'm sure micknsnicks2mom won't mind me linking to her thread that shows just what can be achieved with a little imagination [thread="297074"][/thread]