Successful weight loss of 7.75lbs & has kept it off for 4+yrs !!!

hfactor

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Hi.
Six years ago I adopted an overweight senior cat who had been a stray, adopted out 2x and returned to the shelter. When we met, he weighed 21.75lbs. The shelter named him Awesome which fits him perfectly, due to his size and personality. They said he just likes to eat and get attention all day long. He is the epitome of a snuggly lap cat but he's extremely food aggressive. He's just adorable, very fluffy and full of personality. Immediately I put him on a weight management program: a grain free canned wet diet with Weruva. Despite his daily Non-Stop attempts to sabotage his diet, he did manage to get his weight to 13lbs over a 16month period. He does need to be crated in the kitchen when he eats and when I feed my Belgian Malinois & other 2 cats, or when I unpack the groceries or when I want to cook or eat for myself, etc. He also has a crate in the living room since I tend to eat in front of the TV at night. He's a good sport about being crated. He constantly jumps in the sink to lick a dirty plate and even jumps into the microwave to clean that for me too. Occasionally, he gets on the Dog Pacer Treadmill with his BFF my Belgian Malinois. I do reward him with pieces of cooked chicken if he gets on the treadmill.
Awesome easily opens kitchen cabinets and will steal & consume anything in seconds - especially good stuff like carbs, bread, Doritos, etc. I have to hide any high value food in the washing machine (seriously, this is how I live).
With the helpful assistance of my dog's long nose, the two of them are quite a dynamic duo and are full of antics. I had to get a new slow cooker with the locked down lids because the two of them ate an entire pot roast and on a separate occasion an entire chicken stroganoff. I literally have a video of Awesome biting the hinges on the new slow cooker. This is one very determined cat.

So if you have an overweight cat, please don't give up. They can lose weight and keep it off. It just takes daily diligence and in my case a lot of supervision.

I am a firm believer in a Grain Free canned wet diet for my dogs and cats. If they are overweight or diabetic (and yes I have a diabetic cat too), make sure to get a low carb canned wet food. Weruva is full of water which I believe helps fill them up.

Awesome's weight loss is the Greatest Accomplishment of my life!!
 

artiemom

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Congratulations!! thank you for taking care of this kitty... Awesome is really fortunate to have you as him mom...
 

4catsncounting

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It's easy to tell how much you love him by how you just described that.

Thanks for the encouragement- I have 5 cats, one borderline anorexic and one who is very overweight. Got a few pounds off him by placing food for others high enough and he was too fat to jump.

He lost 3-4 pounds, but then could make the jump. 


Now he's gained it all back plus one.

Gah.

He is being eased off the dry and likes the wet. That should do it.
 

4catsncounting

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Oh, one more thing -

I just stumbled on this article listing a few medical reasons a cat might have an insatiable appetite.

I'm not too fond of Pet MD and their articles, but this is pretty general.

Not saying anything is medically wrong with your guy, (I have experience with a former stray that I think psychologically still is stuck on "this may be my last meal for a while", and gorges if given the chance.)

http://www.petmd.com/cat/centers/nu...utm_medium=PaidContent&utm_campaign=CatHunger
 
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