Overweight cat... suggestions?

Hi everyone. I am new to the community.

I was originally a dog lover until I got my first cat, Broccoli, and then my second, Gargomel, but I'm still learning on raising my cats

I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions or experiences with getting their cat to loose some weight.

Both my cats are indoor cats only, so they tend to lounge around alot. (Both are 2 years old) Gargomel is at a decent weight, 13 lbs but Broccoli is at 23 lbs. Broccoli has a tall frame, so he is meant to be a big cat but he has alot of fat on his body as well. And how do I put one cat on a diet and not the other, if they share food bowls??

Oh, by the way, I keep their bowl fill all the time, instead of feeding them at a certain times.

And to be honest, I don't mind his weight, I think he is just adorable, a walking chubby purrball. But for health reasons, I would like to get his weight under control.

Thanks in advance!

Obviously Broccoli doesn't know how to regulate his food intake, so you can't let unlimited amounts of food sit around. If you still want Gargomel to have acces to food all the time you could use a feeding crate, a crate/box/whatever with a hole in it, the hole should be made big enough for Gargomel to pass through but too small for Broccoli. I used a feeding crate when my kittens came to live here and I didn't want the adult cats to eat the kitten food (the adult cats ate in a high place the kittens couldn't reach). I used a bench, I made the opening smaller with metal wire covered in self adhering rubber strips (insulation material, don't know the english word)



You could feed Broccoli by throwing his kibble one by one through the room, you know the exact amount he eats and he gets exercise. You could also put his kibble in an activity ball. Anything to get him moving. Have you ever tried the Feline flyer or DaBird cat toys ? We have the Feline flyer and the kitties think it is so much fun, all that playing is real good exercise.

I am not such a fan of kibble, I have seen Ernesto's weight explode on that food. When I switched him to raw the weight increase stopped and he actually lost some weight ! Good quality canned or raw can be a great substitute for kibble wyhen a kitty needs to lose weight, the cat will feel more satisfied because of all the moisture in such food, he can eat three times as much compared to kibble without getting more calories ! Raw food doesn't have any grains, and those grains may be the reasons some kitties gain weight really quickly on kibble, a cats body isn't built to handle all those carbohydrates, they release a lot of glucose into a cat's bloodstream, it may be your cat is converting the glucose to fat.

I have noticed most weight loss with my overweight foster since he has been on wet food only, and he now gets his biscuits scattered at suppertime so he has to find them all to eat them - will find out today how successful that has been, it is his monthly weigh in.

I'm in the same boat as you and I'm trying to get my Lucky to lose some weight. After talking to the vet, i found out how many calories Lucky needs for her basic metabolic needs, and feed to that amount. I feed a very high quality holistic wet and dry food. I have them on 50% wet and 50% dry and they get feeding times in the morning, after work and at night. (wet morning and evening). Your cat should lose no more then 1lb per month for the weight loss to be healthy. When you first switch them over to a new diet, do it slowly and don't expect any great change in weight for the first 2 months until they adjust to the new diet. If you do a search online you can find out the kcal (calorie) requirements for your cat (i.e. if your cat is 23 lbs and you want to start by reducing him to 20lbs...feed to the 20lb kcal rate....once they get there you can start lowering it again). All good quality foods will either have a number to call or have the kcal/cup amounts on their packaging/internet.

sorry so long...i've done a lot of research on this for lucky. If you need any more advice, feel free to pm me.

I have the exact same problem, Sibohan is 5.1 kg and Duke is 11.3 kg (he lost 1/2 kg since lasy year) I have to restrist Duke quite a lot. For an entire day Duke gets 1/4 cup of dry food and 1 tbsp of wet as a treat, half the time he dosn't eat all of the dry. I play with him intensely for 10 minute stints let him rest and repeat every hour or so, if its more than 10 minutes he is compleetly not interested when you start playing again. Having Sibohan around also helps she chases him around the apartment and vice versa. Sibohan' s food is kept high so duke can't get to it (he's not as agile) This is the best I have come up with.

Good Luck

My 2 year old female Maine Coon is 16.4 pounds. She will not eat wet food. So I have her on a Royal Canin indoor cat food diet. The also make a food to help cats lose weight. It helps them lose weight or keep the weight off.

http://www.feline-nutrition.com/indoor_u.html

Thanks all for the replies and suggestions.

I do use the feather at the end of the stick (Not sure if that's what you mean by the Feline flyer or Dabird cat toys), and Broccoli LOVES it, he'd chase it around all day if he could. But I usually stop after about 5 mintues, because he starts panting and puffing, like he can't breathe. Which is probably an effect of the overweightness but it really worries me when he starts to do that.

I've tried canned food, Gargomel will eat it, but not Broccoli. Maybe I need to just try a different brand. I just recently heard about the raw food diet on the message boards, and did some yahoo'ing on it and got worried because I kept seeing that they might get salmonella.

I am actually taking Broccoli to the vet in about a month and a half for his yearly vaccinations, hopefully he can give me some help with what would be the best diet for him.

If that doesn't work, I think I will try what you do, Sibohan2005. Gargomel is like Sibohan and can get much higher than Broccoli can. Hopefully the food at a higher level doesn't motivate Broccoli to somehow get up there too and eat all of Gargomel's food lol. He can be pretty determined. He has learned how to open all my cuboards in the house and can open the front door if its not shut completely and locked. lol, he is really adorable!

Oh by the way, my cats are currently eatting Iams Indoor cat food. Does anyone know if that is a good quality food? My fiance says thats what he fed his old cat, and his cat was healthy and lived long.