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- Oct 12, 2014
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Just wondering how to tackle this, it's been vexing me for ten months now since I adopted Sabbath.
When I got Sabbath from the cat rescue, I didn't actually notice he was 'obese' (15lbs) until the girl put the cat carrier on the floor before getting me to finish filling in some forms. It wasn't until I picked up the carrier that I was almost certain I must have just adopted four cats...the weight seemed excessive for a cat...I'd never known a cat to be so heavy.
My mother went through months of telling me that nothing was wrong with Sabbath other than he was "big boned" and "sturdy". But I was always concerned from the get go as he has a low hanging tummy (quite a big primordial pouch) and when he flops down on the rug he's like a beached seal. He can still run, jump pretty much, but I've always been terrified of feline diabetes.
His obsession with food got worse. I would feed him twice a day, he'd clean the bowls, and then be complaining for more. I'd never heard of this "stray cat eating syndrome" until I got Sabbath, and how apparently if a cat has been stray they become quite opportunist towards food and will always be eager to find the next meal and be convinced they're hungry because they're not sure if they'll be fed again. Ten months on and Sabbath still hasn't quite got the gist that there will always be food (I guess to be fair he might have thought there was always going to be food at his last owners then somehow ended up stray which might have changed his thinking a bit).
Now I give him half a pouch of his favourite wet food (Whiskas...beef, turkey, chicken and lamb flavours in gravy) and I give him a small scoop of his favourite dry food at night. He still acts as if this isn't enough and that he is starving. Earlier I had a nap before dinner and when I woke up he started whining at me to feed him (every cat owner knows their cats whine for food), when I got downstairs my mother confirmed she'd already fed him (nice try, greedy little bugger, no second dinner for you!). It's getting a little bit beyond the joke now.
I took him to the vet in July for an eye infection but the vet was more worried about his weight and told me he was far too obese and needed to lose serious weight, and I got railroaded into buying an expensive food (I think Hills was the brand) that I could give him a cup a day of and he was meant to get energetic and lose weight. I swear, I've never seen the cat so miserable in all my life. In a month, he sat depressed, would hide and wouldn't come out, had no energy, nothing. Then I read some HORRIBLE reviews on this food brand they'd made me buy which said a lot of cat owners cats had gone into renal failure from this food! I was horrified and took him off it immediately. Low and behold, same day gave him some wet food, he was jumping around as if he'd been put on Speed.
Now my problem is trying to get his weight down the sensible way without starving him.
I've tried staggering his dry food, as he's always whining for food I'd keep the food in the scoop and only dish out a tiny bit every couple of hours (as if I gave them all at once he'd eat the lot and then complain for more later), but he hasn't lost any weight this way. I really can't stand the thought of him being hungry, especially as he's quite a vocal cat, but at the same time...he's yanking chicken off guests plates and begging (yes, begging) at meal times while the family are eating. He also likes to hang around where his treats are kept in the hope I'll throw some down for him.
How much food should I really be giving him to get him from 14lbs to a sensible 10lbs perhaps? He's healthy now, but I don't want that going downhill. I really don't know how to help a cat with an eating disorder.
When I got Sabbath from the cat rescue, I didn't actually notice he was 'obese' (15lbs) until the girl put the cat carrier on the floor before getting me to finish filling in some forms. It wasn't until I picked up the carrier that I was almost certain I must have just adopted four cats...the weight seemed excessive for a cat...I'd never known a cat to be so heavy.
My mother went through months of telling me that nothing was wrong with Sabbath other than he was "big boned" and "sturdy". But I was always concerned from the get go as he has a low hanging tummy (quite a big primordial pouch) and when he flops down on the rug he's like a beached seal. He can still run, jump pretty much, but I've always been terrified of feline diabetes.
His obsession with food got worse. I would feed him twice a day, he'd clean the bowls, and then be complaining for more. I'd never heard of this "stray cat eating syndrome" until I got Sabbath, and how apparently if a cat has been stray they become quite opportunist towards food and will always be eager to find the next meal and be convinced they're hungry because they're not sure if they'll be fed again. Ten months on and Sabbath still hasn't quite got the gist that there will always be food (I guess to be fair he might have thought there was always going to be food at his last owners then somehow ended up stray which might have changed his thinking a bit).
Now I give him half a pouch of his favourite wet food (Whiskas...beef, turkey, chicken and lamb flavours in gravy) and I give him a small scoop of his favourite dry food at night. He still acts as if this isn't enough and that he is starving. Earlier I had a nap before dinner and when I woke up he started whining at me to feed him (every cat owner knows their cats whine for food), when I got downstairs my mother confirmed she'd already fed him (nice try, greedy little bugger, no second dinner for you!). It's getting a little bit beyond the joke now.
I took him to the vet in July for an eye infection but the vet was more worried about his weight and told me he was far too obese and needed to lose serious weight, and I got railroaded into buying an expensive food (I think Hills was the brand) that I could give him a cup a day of and he was meant to get energetic and lose weight. I swear, I've never seen the cat so miserable in all my life. In a month, he sat depressed, would hide and wouldn't come out, had no energy, nothing. Then I read some HORRIBLE reviews on this food brand they'd made me buy which said a lot of cat owners cats had gone into renal failure from this food! I was horrified and took him off it immediately. Low and behold, same day gave him some wet food, he was jumping around as if he'd been put on Speed.
Now my problem is trying to get his weight down the sensible way without starving him.
I've tried staggering his dry food, as he's always whining for food I'd keep the food in the scoop and only dish out a tiny bit every couple of hours (as if I gave them all at once he'd eat the lot and then complain for more later), but he hasn't lost any weight this way. I really can't stand the thought of him being hungry, especially as he's quite a vocal cat, but at the same time...he's yanking chicken off guests plates and begging (yes, begging) at meal times while the family are eating. He also likes to hang around where his treats are kept in the hope I'll throw some down for him.
How much food should I really be giving him to get him from 14lbs to a sensible 10lbs perhaps? He's healthy now, but I don't want that going downhill. I really don't know how to help a cat with an eating disorder.