Hi everyone...

dv'shumanmom

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Dec 14, 2004
Messages
7
Purraise
0
Location
California
My name is Erica and I am 22. I have 2 human babies and 1 furbaby named Don Vito.We just call him Vito though.(well my daughter calls him bedo,lol) He's a fat cat(25lbs!!!
) Some of you may know where the name comes from if you watch MTV. My husband named him because the former owners never actually named him, they just called him kitty. He is approximately 5 years old. That's not a definite age because he was rescued as a kitten and then adopted out.

Anyway, we've had Vito for a week and he is just the most loveable cat in the world. The vet said he needs to lose weight so he'll be going on a diet soon. Thankfully, all of that excess weight hasn't caused any health problems so far. We want to fix that problem before he does have issues.

You would think that such a fat cat would not be able to jump, but this cat can clear a baby gate like nobody's business. I had originally put it up so that I could keep my daughter out of his space but I could still hear him if he wanted to get out. I figured I would just have to take it down to let him out when he wanted, but one day he came prancing into the living room. I assumed that I just hadn't put the gate up correctly, but nope it was still in place. Since then, I have seen him jump over it several times a day. That's actually a good thing.

He's not as active as I would like, but I am hoping that once he loses some of the weight he will be more active. I've been considering giving him catnip to get him to play but I have no experience with it, so I need to do more research on it first.
 

dawnofsierra

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Feb 24, 2004
Messages
16,678
Purraise
24
Location
Loving my beautiful baby girl
Hi, welcome to TCS, Erica and Don Vito!
So glad you joined us and look forward to getting to know you better!
Gee, I didn't think I was that old, when I hear Don Vito, I think of the Mafia!
You have a great idea to get your little boy more active to help him in his gradual weightloss program, and are very smart to be working so closely with your Vet! Sierra really enjoys Catnip, and we would all enjoy making recommendations for you, just let me know! I would be so happy to help you in any way as you learn your way around the site. Please, simply click on my user name and send me a Private Message!
 

valanhb

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Mar 2, 2002
Messages
32,530
Purraise
100
Location
Lakewood (Denver suburb), Colorado
Welcome to the site Erica! Vito sounds like a real sweetie.
We've had lots of threads about helping a cat become more active to loose weight, so just do a search and I'm sure you'll come up with tons of information. Or just start a new thread in Health & Nutrition and I'm sure a lot of ideas will come your way.
 

pinkdaisy226

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Dec 5, 2004
Messages
6,808
Purraise
13
Location
Oregon
Hi and welcome to you and all your babies!


I don't have any experience using catnip but I've found that my cat goes absolutely nuts over the Cat Dancer... she could chase that thing all day long. So if you don't have one, maybe you could look into one of those to get your cat more active, it's only a couple of bucks!
 

huggles

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Jul 3, 2003
Messages
9,620
Purraise
4
Location
Melbourne, Australia
WELCOME TO TCS


Vito certainly sounds like a sweetheart and how wonderful of you to take him in

catnip doesnt have an effect on my boys
I wish it did as I see how it effects others - let us know how it goes

and good luck with encouraging Vito to loose weight - its such a good idea and will ensure a much healthier cat

so happy to have you on board and looking forward to getting to know you more

welcome again from me & my boys
 
Top