overweight cat

My male cat, Ralphie, is approximately 3 years old, neutered, and only eats lite Nutro brand cat food and drinks water. No treats, table food, etc.

Since I have three other cats who are of normal weight, I free feed. Two of these cats get treats, but Ralphie never even tries to eat them.

I am not absolutely sure of his weight, however, I have a male, neutered cat, Jake, who is about 14-15 pounds and Ralphie is at least double his size.

I was just wondering if anyone had any ideas on what I should do. We keep the cat's food in the office so the dogs cannot get to it, so it is very hard to monitor what Ralphie is eating. That is why I switched them all to the lite food.

Thanks for any input or suggestions.

You will find a few suggestions in here


http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...?threadid=4061

What does the vet say? Is he a bigger cat/ie: Maine Coon, etc?

Put the food on a tall table or shelf where the thin cats can jump but the fat cat can't. I keep our cat's food on the washer because it is too tall for our fat cat to jump up but allows all of the others to eat when they want.

I would suggest that you take your cat to the vet to run some bloodwork or other tests just to make sure that your cat doesn't have any health-related issues - his size is an indication that something MIGHT be wrong. Or he could just be enjoying his life.

I say this because I had a 'fat' cat who wound up being on a special diet and saline injections because she had kidney problems. She had a very long and happy life which ended to a cancerous tumor - totally unrelated to the kidney problem. The vet said he was amazed at our efforts to keep her healthy and happy for about eight years after her diagnosis....if not for the tumor she probably would have been around alot longer. (Couldn't operate due to kidneys.)

Sorry, not trying to bring you down just trying to make you aware that routine vet visits are essential and that any special health needs can be dealt with. Sometimes you need to suggest to your vet (like your own doctor) that a test needs to be done - to give you peace of mind.

My cat is on lite Nutro also. To keep her from eating the other cats food --I give the Ginger moist. Streak hates it and won't touch it. While if Ginger needs to nibble the lite food is fine for her too.

I also try to only give half in the AM and half in the PM. So they are on a schedule [somewhat].

Dorina