Fat cat

[crazy cat lady]

Hi Everyone:
Today was the first day on the site. It seems very helpful to a lot of people. Now to my problem. I adopted a young mother cat in Sept after one of my kitties dies in July. She is less than a year old and I think she was a stray until someone dropped her off at the vet and she gave birth to 5 kittens. After her kittens were adopted I took her home. She was so thin after looking after her kittens. She hasn't stopped eating since. She is really getting fat. I have never had a cat that didn't know when enough was enough. We adopted another female cat in Nov that was in a similar situation to the first and they seem to get along okay. She was also thin but so far doesn't seem to be getting fat.
Help!

 

[Anne]

Hi Kathy and welcome to the forums!

I assume they're both spayed now. I guess some cats are more prone to becoming overweight than others (much like people).

Do you feed them at fixed times or free feed? What kind of food are they getting (dry, canned, treats)? I think it's best not to let cats become overweight, even if that means putting them on a diet. That said, extreme diets can be very dangerous for cats, even life threatening.

Before putting a cat on a weight loss diet, I think it's best to consult the vet.

Love your user name - aren't we all?

 

[jennyr]

Hi and welcome to TCS. It is very normal for an ex-stray to eat too much - they have not yet learned that there will always be food available and they eat as if each meal will be the last they will find for some time. It can take a long time to get them out of the habit. You don't say how you are feeding them - but I would try to get them into a routine of mealtimes with set amounts. If possible feed three times a day at first and then drop down to two. Don't free feed and try to measure the daily amounts to that recommended on the can or by your vet. You may have to supervise feeding times to stop the new one stealing all the food. Take away any food that is not eaten after 30 minutes. This may seem a little hard at first but t hey will soon learn. And I would also add that wet food is less likely to put on weight than dry, as most dry foods contain a lot of cereal fillers that cats don't need. If you can, find grain free foods, wet or dry, that will not have useless (to a cat) calories in them.