Am I feeding too much??

[ut0pia]

Originally Posted by carolinalima

Utopia - can you feel his ribs when you pet him? If you can, he is probably fine. Per my vet, in re. to my fatty Bugsy, don't go through weight or breed - stop his diet when you feel his ribs.

I can't feel his ribs

I took some pics of him standing up and I'll add them on here so you guys can see his belly...

 

[ut0pia]

Here they are...I am scared to post because they look scary

I feel like such a bad meowmy I let my baby get so obese

 

[carolina]

Oh honey

you are not a bad meowmy, and he doesn't look that obese to me - he is beautiful!

 

[ut0pia]

Originally Posted by carolinalima

Oh honey

you are not a bad meowmy, and he doesn't look that obese to me - he is beautiful!

Thanks

.. I am scared mostly because of his age- at 1 he should be lean given his activity level. It freaks me out that in a few years he will likely have the same appetite but will sleep a lot more. And I know it's my fault, I should have noticed him getting bigger and done something about it rather than just waking up to it like this...

 

[sharky]

Has his thyroid been checked ? I only ask cause many years ago I had a Puppy ( under 1) show up with underactive thyroid

 

[ut0pia]

Originally Posted by sharky

Has his thyroid been checked ? I only ask cause many years ago I had a Puppy ( under 1) show up with underactive thyroid

I don't think so, he hasn't had any blood work done. Although the last time we were at the vet (it was for his last kitten shots) - the vet said he was starting to get a belly and I need to switch him from wet to dry food (I fed him wet only as a kitten). I mean, I know his ideas about best nutrition might be wrong but I don't doubt the fact that he was worried about his weight. Jake was 14 weeks old at the time. So he has always been chubby starting from then. When I got him at 4-5 weeks old I was so scared he wasn't weaned yet (and he really wasn't- I fed him KMR and wet food for a while) and then all of a sudden he turned from barely eating to devouring everything on his plate...
He also had a pediatric neuter so I'm sure that adds to the issue somewhat.

 

[otto]

When he was neutered has nothing to do with it. And he is beautiful and from those pics I would not call him obese. He may be over ideal weight, but not by much.

Canned food is better than dry to reduce a cat's weight. Every cat is different in appetite and how their bodies process calories.

I have to watch every morsel Mazy eats, AND make sure she gets interactive Game time to be sure she gets enough exercise, even though she never stops running all day long. Tolly eats at least half again as much as she does and never gains an ounce.

Jake may not be getting as much exercise as you think. Are you playing with him, yourself, every day? Getting him leaping and jumping with a wand toy or tossing toys up on things for him to chase will not only give him more of the kind of exercise he needs, it will stimulate his imagination and energy level and he will play more on his own too.

Do you have a cat tree? Jack needs something to climb and jump up and down on.

You aren't a bad mommie at all. Many of us struggle with keeping our cats' weight down. Mazy, who is perfect at 8.5 pounds, shot up to almost 10 pounds when I first put her on the hills prescription c/d. I thought she looked a bit "chubby" but reality did not hit until I took her in to the vet for a check up.

Keep us posted!

 

[auntie crazy]

Wow. Your vet said to feed an overweight cat dry food so he'd LOSE weight?

Oh, my.

You're doing just fine, Utopia. You can use only the tools and knowledge you have at your disposal at any given point to make decisions. As you gain new knowledge, you can make newer, better decisions.

You are actively researching the issue, which is more than most people (vets or otherwise) take the time to do. Your kitty has a good meowmy.

 

[ut0pia]

Originally Posted by otto

Jake may not be getting as much exercise as you think. Are you playing with him, yourself, every day? Getting him leaping and jumping with a wand toy or tossing toys up on things for him to chase will not only give him more of the kind of exercise he needs, it will stimulate his imagination and energy level and he will play more on his own too.

Do you have a cat tree? Jack needs something to climb and jump up and down on.

Jake doesn't really care for feather wand toys at all. He ignores them. He does like to play with the laser pointer and that is how we mostly play. He gets pretty good exercise with it because he chases it and when I put it really high up on the wall he jumps trying to reach it sometimes jumping huge heights. He likes to play with my hands too, like he likes to bite them (he doesn't bite hard at all) and get all aggressive in his play. He loves fight type games he even attacks me when I'm walking randomly and jumps at my hands. I guess I wasn't persistent enough to teach him not to play with my hands when he was a kitten, but it really doesn't bother me because he doesn't hurt me at all. He also plays with these catnip toy mice that he throws in the air- I just put these all over the floor at my house and he goes crazy all on his own

He throws them and pretends they are real and are trying to run away from him..
And of course he loves climbing bookshelves and knocking my stuff over and then when it's on the floor chasing it for a long time until he gets tired of it.
I do have a cat tree but I need a bigger one. I might try making one or engaging some good friends so we do it together ....

 

[carolina]

Have you considered getting him a buddy? Cats love chasing each other, and another kitty might make him more active...

 

[icklemiss21]

Foods differ so much in calories and nutrients that it is difficult to say how much is too much.

Cats need 20 (older, very inactive cats) to 30 (younger active cats) calories per day per lb of ideal weight so it is important that you know how much he should weigh. Like people mentioned above, it is also important to bring them down to that amount of food slowly.

For Scully, once we had got him down to a manageable weight, we fed him 22 calories per lb for 15lbs, his healthy weight and he lost weight while eating wet and low carb dry = 330 calories. We also played with him for intense exercise for three 20 minute play times a day and split his food up into small portions on cat trees etc to make him walk around and find it when we were not home.

 

[ut0pia]

Originally Posted by carolinalima

Have you considered getting him a buddy? Cats love chasing each other, and another kitty might make him more active...

I really, really wish I could get him a buddy..But I can't because I'm living with my parents again and they wouldn't want another cat. They didn't want to accept Jake at first either but now they love him, I am almost worried about what I'd do when I move out and take him with me because I wouldn't want to separate them. Especially my dad

He wants the most unhealthy things for him though, like he wants to build a cat door for him so he can go in and out as he pleases

I'll update more when I've taken him to the vet to be weighed. I'm so busy these two weeks with school that I won't be able to-but I'll update whenever I get around to it!