Overweight cat

Hello, I am posting today to ask how I can help my cat loose weight. The cat in question was spayed about 3 years ago, and she blew up right after she was spayed. Well, now she is (approximately) 8-10 years old, and I am getting a little concerned about her weight. She definitely overweight, and has trouble jumping and climbing places. I have tried playing with her and getting her to move around, but it does not work. She has never liked toys, but she used to be very active. What can I do to help her loose weight?

Here are some threads to read through:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/307774/safe-weight-loss-for-cat

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/274190/how-to-achieve-weight-loss

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/245236/mickey-my-27-lbs-foster-and-his-journey-back-to-a-healthy-weight

Additionally, http://catinfo.org/?link=felineobesity has tips for safe weight loss.

What are you feeding your cat and how much? Exercise is great but you may also need to adjust the diet a bit.

Hi there!!  

What are you feeding her? Is she eating only dry? Dry and wet? If she is on a dry only diet, that could contribute to her weight gain as most dry foods are loaded with fillers that cats simply don't need. Cats are obligate carnivores and need a diet that is high in protein and low in carbohydrates. If she is eating dry only, I'd suggest that you introduce some wet foods. I have very picky eaters on a wet only diet so if you would like some food recommendations, let me know. 

As far as trying to get her to be more active, have you tried wand toys such as Da Bird or laser pointers?? A lot of cats really like these. Some of our members here have had success in training their cats to wear a harness and leash and taking them for walks. That's always an option if you can convince her! That's the hard part. Da Bird is available on Amazon if you are interested

All has been said. Follow the advice of the links. And stop giving her dry food which has more fattening carbohydrates than wet food. But bear in mind that how much she eats depends on how much you give her. Some cats can regulate the amount of food intake, yours obviously can’t, so you have to feed her reasonable portions once or twice a day, and not leave food permanently available for her. But, whatever changes you do in her diet, do them gradually.

She will stay fuller for the same amount of calories if there is more protein in her diet rather than carbs, so it will be much easier and healthier to use a food with few to no fillers. Corn, wheat, rice, oats, potato, peas, anything from a plant is going to be empty calories. Getting an overweight cat to move around is harder than a cat who is in shape, so it's going to be most effective to change her diet at first. Do not try foods advertised as weight control without understanding the ingredients, because those are usually a gimmick with lots of cheap fillers that do not help.

The catinfo.org link has been my guideline for helping my cat safely lose weight through diet control and I recommend looking through it!

Molly92 said:

 
She will stay fuller for the same amount of calories if there is more protein in her diet rather than carbs, so it will be much easier and healthier to use a food with few to no fillers. Corn, wheat, rice, oats, potato, peas, anything from a plant is going to be empty calories. Getting an overweight cat to move around is harder than a cat who is in shape, so it's going to be most effective to change her diet at first. Do not try foods advertised as weight control without understanding the ingredients, because those are usually a gimmick with lots of cheap fillers that do not help.

The catinfo.org link has been my guideline for helping my cat safely lose weight through diet control and I recommend looking through it!

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I couldn't agree more with everything that Molly92 says here and the "anything from a plant" part is a super-easy way to think about what to avoid in cat food ingredients! (Lots of those ingredients also have a tendency to irritate cats' digestive systems -- that's an added bonus for nixing them.) I'm also a huge fan of catinfo.org.

I also agree wholeheartedly with what @Kat0121 says about wet foods over dry, too!

Thanks guys. She won't take wet food, she will just sniff it, sit down, and give you a dirty look. I have tried laser pointers and such but,she has no interest. When I warms up I will take her outside. Some fresh air should help with her herpes as well. I think we will just start making her food. The dry foods without fillers around here cost more than it would be to make it out of fresh meat! >-> Once again, thanks!

Don't be so sure about the canned food. What brands have you tried? It has taken me 3 years but I finally have a cat who throws a temper tantrum if he doesn't get his wet food.

This is what a vet told me: he said, cut his dry kibble by half. My cat weights 15 lbs and I thought 3/4 cup a day was a diet. My vet said to cut THAT in half. It did not hurt that around the same time, I discovered a brand called Whole Earth farms. He's crazy about the duck and beef. I don't microwave the food, I put the cans in hot water so that the food comes out warm. And today I tried another brand from the store: "I and Love and You" and he inhaled half the can and threw his first ever "give me more canned!" tantrum--he ate the rest of the can cold, that's how much he likes it.

If your cat won't even try canned, smear a little on a paw or dab a little of the juice on her mouth, just enough to introduce the taste. Trust me, once you get her kibble to a low enough level her willingness to eat canned will increase. You might also try mixing it with her dry, but don't force it bc you don't want her to get a complex whereas she associates canned with with anything negative.

You could try buying a powder probiotic/flavor enhancer and sprinkling it on both her dry and canned foods; most cats LOVE the probiotics.

In my experience, if you switch canned brands and flavors too much trying to find one they like, it turns them off. So my suggestion is try a good brand (I really do recommend the ones I mentioned) and keep it simple, three flavors within the brand, and place a little canned next to her usual bowl of dry.

It could take a while to transition from kibble to wet, but if you're comfortable doing homemade, that will probably be even better for weight loss. You just have to be very careful and might need to follow a recipe to make sure she gets the right ratios of nutrients in her diet. 

I started taking my overweight cat outside on a harness, and she seems to have a lot more playful energy now, so maybe that will help.

She monitors her own eating. She actually eats very little. Homemade didn't work out. She can't digest meat. :/ I am good here. Thanks. She and lost a good amount of weight, and the vet said although she is still overweight, she's not going to get any thinner. Is there some way to delete this topic or something?

Jumping in here, but what do you mean when you say she can't digest meat?  Have you brought her in for a full senior blood panel recently?  I would be concerned if my cat were not eating a lot and losing weight, if that were a sudden change.

The weight loss was very gradual. She has never eaten a lot. She hasn't been able to digest meat since we got her. She can only digest it if it is specially made.

Mutation said:

The weight loss was very gradual. She has never eaten a lot. She hasn't been able to digest meat since we got her. She can only digest it if it is specially made.

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Have you tried different proteins for her?  Grain free?  And discussed this with the vet?  Obviously not being able to digest meat is a big issue for a cat!

What food did you find that works for her?

It's not an issue. The vet said she is very sensitive to meat like chicken, and ham. She eats meat from animals like rabbits and mice fine. We feed her 9 lives.