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great picture! You can really see a difference.
Thanks guys! I wasn't entirely sure I wasn't just seeing what I wanted to see!Yup! I think he looks quite a bit smaller in his neck/shoulder area!!
great picture! You can really see a difference.
Thanks guys! I wasn't entirely sure I wasn't just seeing what I wanted to see!Yup! I think he looks quite a bit smaller in his neck/shoulder area!!
I jumped the gun a bit this time but my intention is to post updated pictures with every 2 lbs lost.Oh Yeah! I can totally see a difference! He looks great! Long way to go, but I can't wait to see the pictures as he continues to lose weight.
And we'd LOVE "boring" updates of "he lost six ounces last week."OK, but you know the old saying: Beware of what you ask for, you might get it!
I love that video too. he's so cute!
I'm not actually worried or stressed at all. I agree that as long as his weight is consistently going down everything is fine. But, Mickey is a foster. The reason I'm trying to get him losing at a faster rate is because the sooner he gets down to an adoptable weight the sooner he will get into his forever home. I am thinking I might have to be satisfied with a slower rate of lose though. But I'm not quite ready to give up yet on my target of a lose of about 1.5% of his body weight a week. The difference between him losing 3 oz a week or 6 oz is the difference between him losing 10 lbs in 12 months or in 6 months.I've been offhandedly watching this thread for a while and thought I would give some advice and encouragement since I have a cat going down the weight loss path as well.
I know that you are worrying and stressing about how much Mickey is losing, but 3-5oz per week is really good.
That is essentially what I am doing. I'm just tracking the amount of food he gets in calories rather than just as ounces. The reason for doing that is that different foods can have very different caloric densities. That is important because when it comes to weight lose it is really calories that matter not food quantity . For instance, say you you have your cat consistently losing weight on 6 oz a day of some food or mix of foods. Then you add a new food to the mix and he suddenly starts gaining weight. Most likely the new food has a higher caloric density and should be fed in a lower quantity in order to achieve the previous rate of lose.I wouldn't recommend trying to count calories, you are going to drive yourself insane.Figure out how much you can feed him without him losing, and then slowly reduce from there. You don't want to cut down his calories so much that he ends up with a slowed down metabolism, that wouldn't be any good. *shakes head*
That doesn't surprised me. Cutting caloric intake will result in weight lose until the weight is reached that that caloric intake is needed to maintain.Something that I never would have predicted myself is that even though I have kept Grim's food amount the same for months and months, he still continues to lose.
Yup, I expect Mickey will get more active as he loses and that will certainly help with the weight lose. At some point I may even need to increase his food so he doesn't lose too fast. Boy do I look forward to that day!The healthier wet food plus exercise really does most of the work for you once you get below around 18lbs.
I WISH either of my cats were like this when I fed them - EVER. Mine act like they are never fed and eat it so quickly. They've never left food uneaten.As for cutting calories too much, I've been keeping a close eye on how he reacts when I give him food. So far he starts eating right away but he always stops without finishing and eats the rest later. That tells me he isn't getting excessively hungry between meals. That and monitoring how fast he is losing should prevent me from underfeeding him.
For an obese cat Mickey is not very food oriented. I thought it was really strange that when I use trying to train him to use the cat door that I couldn't use food to entice him through the door even when I knew he was hungry. He will eat anything and that has been a tremendous help but he just doesn't seem overly interested in food most of time.I WISH either of my cats were like this when I fed them - EVER. Mine act like they are never fed and eat it so quickly. They've never left food uneaten.As for cutting calories too much, I've been keeping a close eye on how he reacts when I give him food. So far he starts eating right away but he always stops without finishing and eats the rest later. That tells me he isn't getting excessively hungry between meals. That and monitoring how fast he is losing should prevent me from underfeeding him.
Yup, that sums it up nicely. I'm a little frustrated that I can't get him to lose at a faster rate but really as long as he is losing at all I can't be too disappointed. If he weren't a foster I wouldn't care at all. But at the rate he has been losing it could take another *year* for him to get to an adoptable weight. Am I really going to return him to the shelter after a year?! He'll be almost 9 years old!I can see how you can be happy about his weight loss yet disapointed that you aren't hitting your marks. It's frustrating, I think
Ah.. Okay, I see.I'm not actually worried or stressed at all. I agree that as long as his weight is consistently going down everything is fine. But, Mickey is a foster. The reason I'm trying to get him losing at a faster rate is because the sooner he gets down to an adoptable weight the sooner he will get into his forever home. I am thinking I might have to be satisfied with a slower rate of lose though. But I'm not quite ready to give up yet on my target of a lose of about 1.5% of his body weight a week. The difference between him losing 3 oz a week or 6 oz is the difference between him losing 10 lbs in 12 months or in 6 months.
Maybe I should emphasis more that I'm really happy he is consistently losing! :lol3:
Probably so. All I know is trying to count calories would make me lose my head. :lol3:Really I don't think there is any difference between what I'm doing with Mickey and what you did with Gus. I think maybe you read too much into my calorie counting.
His name is Grim.Great job with Gus by the way! I'm sure he is a lot happier now!
And thanks for sharing Gus's story. I think those with overweight cats need as many success stories as possible for motivation and encouragement.
I just did the (long and super boring) calculations and even if he lost 2% of his body weight every week, it would still take him 7 months to get down to 14lbs. I think you may have a failed foster on your hands.Yup, that sums it up nicely. I'm a little frustrated that I can't get him to lose at a faster rate but really as long as he is losing at all I can't be too disappointed. If he weren't a foster I wouldn't care at all. But at the rate he has been losing it could take another *year* for him to get to an adoptable weight. Am I really going to return him to the shelter after a year?! He'll be almost 9 years old!
You need to learn The Joy of Spreadsheets.Probably so. All I know is trying to count calories would make me lose my head.Really I don't think there is any difference between what I'm doing with Mickey and what you did with Gus. I think maybe you read too much into my calorie counting.
Oops. Sorry!His name is Grim.Great job with Gus by the way! I'm sure he is a lot happier now!
And thanks for sharing Gus's story. I think those with overweight cats need as many success stories as possible for motivation and encouragement.
You could have saved yourself some pain by looking at the spreadsheet I linked to in post #2.I just did the (long and super boring) calculations and even if he lost 2% of his body weight every week, it would still take him 7 months to get down to 14lbs. I think you may have a failed foster on your hands.
Thanks! I bought 11 cans of Soulistic yesterday, each one a different flavor. He wouldn't touch the one I opened and put down for him! So much for "will eat anything".Awesome job on the weight loss :-)
My advice is to Not give in to this.But, starting a few days ago he stopped finishing all the food I give him. He always ate about 3/4 of it but more often than not quite a bit was left from the last meal when I put fresh down. I think I have abused his "will eat anything" attitude by not giving him enough variety. For his four meals a day I've just been cycling through 3 flavors of by Nature mixed with 2 flavors of Weruva. But the 2 Weruva
flavors aren't all that different from one another. One is Paw Lickin' Chicken an the other is Peking Ducken. But the Peking Ducken is really just the same as Paw Lickin' Chicken with a bit of duck added, not enough to really alter the flavor I don't think. So really I've only been giving him 3 flavors.