My cat and temptations

[angelabrownred467]

I hace been giving my cat temptations treats only because a lady i know brought me a huge thing of them .. hes only nine months old hes part Maine coon but hes now overweight he should way about 10 lbs for his size . Im stopping the treats they are almost gone anyway I hope and pray he will lose the weight now he gets one wet treat per day

 

[Kieka]

Do you have any photos?

9 months for a Maine Coon mix is still pretty young. While I'd agree that treats shouldn't be a regular part of his diet, he also may be a larger cat in general. There really isn't such a thing as the "right" weight for cats as a general statement. Just the right weight for your cat as an individual. I have a 7 pound cat whose right weight is maybe 7.5 pounds and a 17 pound whose right weight is around 15.5 pounds.

 

[thefiresidecat]

I hace been giving my cat temptations treats only because a lady i know brought me a huge thing of them .. hes only nine months old hes part Maine coon but hes now overweight he should way about 10 lbs for his size . Im stopping the treats they are almost gone anyway I hope and pray he will lose the weight now he gets one wet treat per day

a little overweight won't hurt him and odds are he will grow into it anyway. maine coons don't stop growing until about four years old. don't restrict his actual food. you are right too many treaters are bad but let him have free access to dry food and still feed him a normal amount. ie no diets at his age.

 

[amethyst]

Temptations aren't necessarily that bad unless you are feeding them to him as his food not a treat, I realize the bag says you can give them as a meal but it's really not good. Also although the bag says they can have something like 10-12 as treats a day (I think a cat wrote that, lol), but personally I think it's best to limit it to just 2-3 at a time (I like to think of them like us eating cookies, it wouldn't be good to have a dozen cookies a day). If you want a healthier option though I would suggest going with one of the freeze dried meat treat options like PureBites for example. They are high in nutrients which would be good for a growing cat.

A few other things you can look at is what are you feeding? Also has he been neutered? I know most people say to feed large breed cats kitten food for the first year, but if he has been neutered you may want to look into switching him to an "all life stages" food rather then a kitten specific food if he is really getting chunky. With Maine coons and Maine coon mixes it can be hard to go by weight alone, they are muscular cats so they do tend to be heavier then a similar size cat. Here a a chart so you can tell by body condition but keep in mind he still has years of growing and they can gain weight right before a growth spurt too.

Also how active is he? At that age he should still be pretty active and you should be playing with him everyday. If you don't have other pets that might get to it, a good idea is to introduce puzzle toys and puzzle feeders so he has to work a bit for his food and isn't just sitting there eating, at least for part of his meals. For example these type things

(there are lots of other brands just giving an example)

 

[lisahe]

I agree with amethyst about limiting treats like Temptations. Beyond some of the less-good ingredients (corn and wheat), some cats get obsessed with them. We had a cat who did and I swore we would never again feed a cat treats as part of a daily routine! We now just use treats (mostly freeze-dried chicken) on top of meals or, say, after the cats get shut in a room when we vacuum or wash floors.

 

[Kwik]

I hace been giving my cat temptations treats only because a lady i know brought me a huge thing of them .. hes only nine months old hes part Maine coon but hes now overweight he should way about 10 lbs for his size . Im stopping the treats they are almost gone anyway I hope and pray he will lose the weight now he gets one wet treat per day

Is that "huge thing" of Temptations the Temptation cat food or cat treats.... a friend of mine dropped off a 13lb bag to me ,saying " Wow, this bag of treats was such a bargain I bought one for you"-when I opened it I noticed some odd shaped ones and then after looking closely at the bag it said " cat food ".....I didn't even know there was Temptation cat food!
I only asked because you said you were feeding that "only"- so I'm wondering if you meant "only those specific treats","only instead of cat food" or is it actually only Temptation cat food,lol
A yr ago I started caring for a feral that lived on Temptation treats "only"& what prey he caught- he was badly malnourished and skin & bones,besides parasite infested ...imagine living on chips ahoy cookies,kitties need a proper and balanced diet -it's always a good idea to ask your Vet about your individual cats dietary needs if he seems overweight- have you been to the Vet yet? If not then do make an appt for his first visit and to provide him with proper health care and guidance
You see,it's hard to give any advice without knowing anything about the lil guy or any specifics( nuetered,wormed,health etc)
Congrats on your new baby boy,love to see a photo.

 

[GranolaLouise]

Temptations aren't necessarily that bad unless you are feeding them to him as his food not a treat, I realize the bag says you can give them as a meal but it's really not good. Also although the bag says they can have something like 10-12 as treats a day (I think a cat wrote that, lol), but personally I think it's best to limit it to just 2-3 at a time (I like to think of them like us eating cookies, it wouldn't be good to have a dozen cookies a day). If you want a healthier option though I would suggest going with one of the freeze dried meat treat options like PureBites for example. They are high in nutrients which would be good for a growing cat.

A few other things you can look at is what are you feeding? Also has he been neutered? I know most people say to feed large breed cats kitten food for the first year, but if he has been neutered you may want to look into switching him to an "all life stages" food rather then a kitten specific food if he is really getting chunky. With Maine coons and Maine coon mixes it can be hard to go by weight alone, they are muscular cats so they do tend to be heavier then a similar size cat. Here a a chart so you can tell by body condition but keep in mind he still has years of growing and they can gain weight right before a growth spurt too.
View attachment 452370
Also how active is he? At that age he should still be pretty active and you should be playing with him everyday. If you don't have other pets that might get to it, a good idea is to introduce puzzle toys and puzzle feeders so he has to work a bit for his food and isn't just sitting there eating, at least for part of his meals. For example these type things

View attachment 452368
(there are lots of other brands just giving an example)

I had the tree and it was such a failure that the company just said 'keep it' and sent me a refund. TONS of complains about the 'tree 'shown above.
I have a ball with adjustable holes and I put Greenies inside. My cat who only plays with stuffed toy mice and string goes bonkers for the treat ball. I include a link and this ball can be adjested according to the size of the treat.It takes a long time for him to get the treat(s) out . She loves it!
Amazon.com

Another good treat are the Blue Buffalo and the Kittle treats. They are natural and are very small , so the cat can have more of them rather than 1 or 2 larger nuggets.
The freeze dried are great and my cat LOVED the chicken ones, but they are high in protein so I stopped topping her food with them crumbled because of ckd..

 

[amethyst]

I had the tree and it was such a failure that the company just said 'keep it' and sent me a refund. TONS of complains about the 'tree 'shown above.

Yeah I was just giving a few examples of treat puzzles, not nessasarily suggesting those exact ones. I am curious though what the issue you had with the food tree one, I was thinking of trying that one next. I'm not seeing many complains on Amazon (mostly issues with shipping/arriving broken, or cats just not liking it), most are positive reviews. Also was the one you had the old version (which apparently did have several design flaws) or the newer 2.0 version with the "wider base for increased stability" and smaller opening on top, that is suppose to be an improvement? Just wondering if they really did fix the issues or if even the "improved" version is still a failure.

The only one of those I posted pics of I have is the play treat puzzle, and my cats seem to like it. (I use it in addition to feeding them wet food meals and kibble in a feeder) I sometimes mix treats in with their kibble then scatter it around the puzzle, so they get the occasional treat but mostly kibble. I really does depend on your cat and household though so I suggest trying a few, what works for one may not for another.

 

[GranolaLouise]

Yeah I was just giving a few examples of treat puzzles, not nessasarily suggesting those exact ones. I am curious though what the issue you had with the food tree one, I was thinking of trying that one next. I'm not seeing many complains on Amazon (mostly issues with shipping/arriving broken, or cats just not liking it), most are positive reviews. Also was the one you had the old version (which apparently did have several design flaws) or the newer 2.0 version with the "wider base for increased stability" and smaller opening on top, that is suppose to be an improvement? Just wondering if they really did fix the issues or if even the "improved" version is still a failure.

The only one of those I posted pics of I have is the play treat puzzle, and my cats seem to like it. (I use it in addition to feeding them wet food meals and kibble in a feeder) I sometimes mix treats in with their kibble then scatter it around the puzzle, so they get the occasional treat but mostly kibble. I really does depend on your cat and household though so I suggest trying a few, what works for one may not for another.

It was the older one. It just tipped over all the time. I do not know about the newer version. You can always give it a try and send it back if it doesn't live up to standards.The first feeder looked interesting. I got my cat a cat snuffle mat several months ago and she just looked at it...wouldn;t even sniff out the treats. But she seems to like the ball.

 

[thefiresidecat]

Is that "huge thing" of Temptations the Temptation cat food or cat treats.... a friend of mine dropped off a 13lb bag to me ,saying " Wow, this bag of treats was such a bargain I bought one for you"-when I opened it I noticed some odd shaped ones and then after looking closely at the bag it said " cat food ".....I didn't even know there was Temptation cat food!
I only asked because you said you were feeding that "only"- so I'm wondering if you meant "only those specific treats","only instead of cat food" or is it actually only Temptation cat food,lol
A yr ago I started caring for a feral that lived on Temptation treats "only"& what prey he caught- he was badly malnourished and skin & bones,besides parasite infested ...imagine living on chips ahoy cookies,kitties need a proper and balanced diet -it's always a good idea to ask your Vet about your individual cats dietary needs if he seems overweight- have you been to the Vet yet? If not then do make an appt for his first visit and to provide him with proper health care and guidance
You see,it's hard to give any advice without knowing anything about the lil guy or any specifics( nuetered,wormed,health etc)
Congrats on your new baby boy,love to see a photo.

you can never be sure with what people write online but i had the impression she was just giving her cats a lot of cat treaters. maybe so many there was a lot of meal replacement but she used the words treats instead of food so have to assume she meant that now he's just getting one treater a day instead of a ton of them.. but sadly the op seems to have left the thread.