Cat doesnt seem to eat much but very overweight : (

[Lynettecampagna]

My sweet girl, Shady, is very overweight, she is about 18-20lbs. I don't see her eat very much (could be night eating though). I have 3 cats total and I feed them all dry food, with a wet food "treat" 2x a week. Shady does not like the wet food or any treats, only eats the dry food. I split 1 cup of dry food between them 2-3x a day. I had read in the other threads about taking the food up at night, which I can do. I'm just not sure how to monitor how much each cat is eating when they share all 3 bowls. She's not very active even when I try to play with her (she's a lazy player) but she is able to jump up on the bed and couch and run up the steps just fine. She'll be 7 years old in Sept and I just want her to live her best life. Please help.

 

[tarasgirl06]

My sweet girl, Shady, is very overweight, she is about 18-20lbs. I don't see her eat very much (could be night eating though). I have 3 cats total and I feed them all dry food, with a wet food "treat" 2x a week. Shady does not like the wet food or any treats, only eats the dry food. I split 1 cup of dry food between them 2-3x a day. I had read in the other threads about taking the food up at night, which I can do. I'm just not sure how to monitor how much each cat is eating when they share all 3 bowls. She's not very active even when I try to play with her (she's a lazy player) but she is able to jump up on the bed and couch and run up the steps just fine. She'll be 7 years old in Sept and I just want her to live her best life. Please help.

Hello L Lynettecampagna , Shady and furmily, and welcome to TCS! Dry food is the highest in calories, and if you are feeding each cat 1 cup (8 oz.) of dry food daily, that may be a lot for Shady. Also, does Shady get exercise not related to play? Does she interact with your other cats in play-chasing, perhaps? Does she walk around quite a bit? Everyone needs daily exercise and cats are no exception. At almost 7, Shady is in her prime, or at young mid-life. So she may be getting less exercise and it may result in her weight gain.
Wet food is preferred by most experts because it is higher in quality, higher in moisture, which all cats need, and less calorically dense. Have you tried mixing wet food with her dry and offering it? If she will accept it, you could taper off the percentage of dry over a couple of weeks until she is getting all, or mostly, wet food.
I've lived with cats all my life, and my way is to feed high quality wet food (1/3 of a 5.5 oz. tin) 3 times per day per cat, plus high quality dry free-choice. I do not take bowls up at night, because cats are crepuscular (they naturally hunt and eat at dawn and dusk) and I don't believe it's healthy to fast them overnight unless it is medically necessary as before an operation. I provide them fresh water at all times, in a filtered cat fountain and in several bowls around the house. My 16-year-old is on the thin side, but my 13-year-old is at optimum body condition.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. How old are all these cats? What kind of shape are the other 2 cats in? Are you feeding 1 cup of food 2-3x a day - so you are saying 2-3 cups a food per day? Is this pretty much free-feeding, as in when the bowls are empty, you are putting more in them?
When you say Shady doesn't eat that much, how do you know that? She could very well be eating more than the other cats and you would have no idea, tbh.

Some of the possible solutions depend on the condition of all of the other cats, and what you can determine each cat's food intake is. Tell us a little bit more about all the details, and perhaps that will help all of us to come to more detailed plans about what you might do. When it comes to multiple cat food situations, more information is better than less!!

 

[Kflowers]

Different foods have different calories. You'll need to count them as well as measuring the amount. Chewy.com has the calories listed per cup for most cat foods under the box about ingredients.

I only mention this because I was feeding a upper brand but cat turned into Queen Victoria. Turned out that brand was high carb, high calorie. Searched and found a lower calorie dry and she has lost weight. Not racing thin, but not Queen V.

 

[Lynettecampagna]

Hi. How old are all these cats? What kind of shape are the other 2 cats in? Are you feeding 1 cup of food 2-3x a day - so you are saying 2-3 cups a food per day? Is this pretty much free-feeding, as in when the bowls are empty, you are putting more in them?
When you say Shady doesn't eat that much, how do you know that? She could very well be eating more than the other cats and you would have no idea, tbh.

Some of the possible solutions depend on the condition of all of the other cats, and what you can determine each cat's food intake is. Tell us a little bit more about all the details, and perhaps that will help all of us to come to more detailed plans about what you might do. When it comes to multiple cat food situations, more information is better than less!!

Hi, thank you for responding. The oldest cat, Mama 9yrs old(she is literally the other 2 cats mom) is a little over weight about 12lbs, the 3rd is Tabby 7 yrs old in Sept, she was the runt and has always been about 8 lbs til just this year she got a little bigger at 10lbs (she eats the most, like noticeably eats the most). I work from home so honestly I am aware of most of their eating, my work area faces the kitchen where their bowls are. I of course don't know about nighttime from 1am til 830am. I split 1 cup of food between them 2-3x a day (most times 2 cups) in the morning and like 9pm ish. Mama and Tabby are Tabbies, Shady has always been bigger, she's black and white and much bigger paws then the other 2.

 

[Lynettecampagna]

Hello L Lynettecampagna , Shady and furmily, and welcome to TCS! Dry food is the highest in calories, and if you are feeding each cat 1 cup (8 oz.) of dry food daily, that may be a lot for Shady. Also, does Shady get exercise not related to play? Does she interact with your other cats in play-chasing, perhaps? Does she walk around quite a bit? Everyone needs daily exercise and cats are no exception. At almost 7, Shady is in her prime, or at young mid-life. So she may be getting less exercise and it may result in her weight gain.
Wet food is preferred by most experts because it is higher in quality, higher in moisture, which all cats need, and less calorically dense. Have you tried mixing wet food with her dry and offering it? If she will accept it, you could taper off the percentage of dry over a couple of weeks until she is getting all, or mostly, wet food.
I've lived with cats all my life, and my way is to feed high quality wet food (1/3 of a 5.5 oz. tin) 3 times per day per cat, plus high quality dry free-choice. I do not take bowls up at night, because cats are crepuscular (they naturally hunt and eat at dawn and dusk) and I don't believe it's healthy to fast them overnight unless it is medically necessary as before an operation. I provide them fresh water at all times, in a filtered cat fountain and in several bowls around the house. My 16-year-old is on the thin side, but my 13-year-old is at optimum body condition.

Thank you for replying. Shady does not play with the other cats and does not walk around as much as the other 2. I haven't tried mixing dry and wet but I certainly can. My concern is that her sister, Tabby, eats every drop of wet food put down. Shady is also skittish with her sister and Mama, she usually won't eat if they're in the room. She doesn't like too much commotion and will walk away if there's too much movement or noise. She'll stop drinking or eating if the other cats want to get in there. She's so pure hearted lol Are you mixing the food? So you are feeding one 5.5 oz can a day per cat?

Hi. How old are all these cats? What kind of shape are the other 2 cats in? Are you feeding 1 cup of food 2-3x a day - so you are saying 2-3 cups a food per day? Is this pretty much free-feeding, as in when the bowls are empty, you are putting more in them?
When you say Shady doesn't eat that much, how do you know that? She could very well be eating more than the other cats and you would have no idea, tbh.

Some of the possible solutions depend on the condition of all of the other cats, and what you can determine each cat's food intake is. Tell us a little bit more about all the details, and perhaps that will help all of us to come to more detailed plans about what you might do. When it comes to multiple cat food situations, more information is better than less!!

Different foods have different calories. You'll need to count them as well as measuring the amount. Chewy.com has the calories listed per cup for most cat foods under the box about ingredients.

I only mention this because I was feeding a upper brand but cat turned into Queen Victoria. Turned out that brand was high carb, high calorie. Searched and found a lower calorie dry and she has lost weight. Not racing thin, but not Queen V.

 

[Lynettecampagna]

Thank you for replying. Shady does not play with the other cats and does not walk around as much as the other 2. I haven't tried mixing dry and wet but I certainly can. My concern is that her sister, Tabby, eats every drop of wet food put down. Shady is also skittish with her sister and Mama, she usually won't eat if they're in the room. She doesn't like too much commotion and will walk away if there's too much movement or noise. She'll stop drinking or eating if the other cats want to get in there. She's so pure hearted lol Are you mixing the food? So you are feeding one 5.5 oz can a day per cat?

Hi, thank you for replying. Are you strictly feeding dry food? That's what I prefer to feed them but I want what's best for their health, so I'm open to trying different food solutions.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Sounds like you have a pretty good grip on their eating habits. It would seem that given the weight of all of your cats, the dry food - as mentioned above might be part of the problem. How are the other 2 cats about canned food? I wonder if you would try placing less dry food out and offering them canned food at least 2x a day (vs. as a treat 2x a week) - what would happen? Shady may not like canned food, but she might adapt to it if that is what is her primary food source with regimented feedings. I am thinking scheduled canned food feedings, at least twice a day, along with less dry food in total.

I think you have a long road ahead of you, in terms of gradually changing their eating habits. This isn't something you are going to solve in a few months, much less 'overnight'. They all are not 'old', so you have some time to work through various solutions to get the ultimate goal.

 

[Lynettecampagna]

Sounds like you have a pretty good grip on their eating habits. It would seem that given the weight of all of your cats, the dry food - as mentioned above might be part of the problem. How are the other 2 cats about canned food? I wonder if you would try placing less dry food out and offering them canned food at least 2x a day (vs. as a treat 2x a week) - what would happen? Shady may not like canned food, but she might adapt to it if that is what is her primary food source with regimented feedings. I am thinking scheduled canned food feedings, at least twice a day, along with less dry food in total.

I think you have a long road ahead of you, in terms of gradually changing their eating habits. This isn't something you are going to solve in a few months, much less 'overnight'. They all are not 'old', so you have some time to work through various solutions to get the ultimate goal.

Your advice sounds like a good place to start. Thanks so much!

 

[IndyJones]

Canned food is excellent for weight loss. I inadvertently discovered this when the vet switched Kabby to canned only. He became underweight and anemic because I wasn't feeding him enough.

Anyways, try the canned food and scheduled feeding if possible. Scheduled feeding is much easier with canned since it tends to turn bad after a few hours.

It's a good idea to feed your cats separately if you can too. This way you know if someone isn't eating which is one of the early signs of illness.

 

[JulietteTruong]

Canned food is excellent for weight loss. I inadvertently discovered this when the vet switched Kabby to canned only. He became underweight and anemic because I wasn't feeding him enough.

Anyways, try the canned food and scheduled feeding if possible. Scheduled feeding is much easier with canned since it tends to turn bad after a few hours.

It's a good idea to feed your cats separately if you can too. This way you know if someone isn't eating which is one of the early signs of illness.

Yes, as someone with a kitty who used to be overweight, I can tell you those diet dry foods are all bunk. I tried a lot. Once I switched to all wet, her weight started to drop. That’s all. I didn’t even stick to any particular brand or flavor.

 

[mizzely]

My Jasmine was overweight all her life until I switched her to all wet food. She finally was able to get to a healthy weight using Friskies canned!

Part of the reason that wet food works so well is because it satisfies them with less calories per gram. This means they feel full without over indulging.

A calculator for calories may be useful: CALORIE CALCULATOR FOR CATS

My 9 lb cat eats about 180 calories a day. To break that down among popular foods:

- One 5.5oz can of Friskies pate, OR
- Two 3oz cans of Fancy Feast pate, OR
- half a cup of Cat Chow Indoor, OR
- a little over 1/4 cup of Dr. Elsey's Chicken

So the Kibble is much more calorie dense, especially if it's high in fat. They get to eat more of the wet food while not feeling starved, which is a recipe for weight loss

It's just so hard to find a dry food that will do the same thing as they all tend to be about 300 calories per cup or more!