If I wasn't concerned before, I'm frantic now after the fiasco with Zeus, his heart disease and arthritis. His weight is okay for a healthy, active cat, but not with arthritis. He is now at 12.4 lbs and I'd like him to get down to the 10ish mark.
I have another cat also who adopted us from our front doorstep as a tiny kitten with a huge round belly. The vets were very guarded that she would survive delivery and especially nursing. We supplemented with KMR and kitten food for her and she got up to 11 lbs before she delivered 5 kittens approximately 2 weeks late. They felt better about her chances of survival, however, still guarded. We continued the extra nutrition support and she definetly flourished gaining up to 18 lbs before weaning her kittens. She never lost an ounce while nursing. By this time she needed to be spayed so they told me she needed to lose weight before they did the surgery. She lost down to 13.8 lbs and they did the procedure. Since then she has gone back up to 18 lbs and I've had the hardest time getting this weight off her. We encourage exercise and she is very agile for her size. About 3 months ago we tried EVO to cut out the carbs at the suggestion of a nutritionist at a holistic store in my area. She has since gained 2 pounds. I'm petrified now that she'll be having these problems that Zeus is having by the age of 5. I NEED to get this weight off her.
I went back to the store yesterday and we consulted again about Sara's gain and I told her my concerns about Zeus and my fear if this happening to Sara (even though Zeus' heart condition is congenital). She suggested we try Wellness grain free wet as a staple, 2 5.5 oz cans a day for Sara at 20 lbs, 1.25 cans for Zeus at 12.5 and 1.25 for my other cat Rayne, who is 9 lbs. She also said we could try another brand of dry food and possibly even one with grain, along with the wet food feeding dry in the a.m. and wet at night or vice versa, since our goal is weight loss for 2 of the 3 cats but the brands she suggested were like buying gold, even compared to the EVO we were feeding. Feeding the Wellness alone would cost us 136.00 a month in food. We spend 54.00 a month in dog food, with one dog weight much more than all 3 cats together, feeding Candiae, on top of the recreational bones and probably 5.00 a month on training treats (whcih we use a very small amount of).
There has got to be a more reasonable, cost effective way to get weight off my cats. If this is our only hope, I'll bite the bullet, but I really believe there has to be a more cost effective alternative without compromising my cats health any longer.
I have another cat also who adopted us from our front doorstep as a tiny kitten with a huge round belly. The vets were very guarded that she would survive delivery and especially nursing. We supplemented with KMR and kitten food for her and she got up to 11 lbs before she delivered 5 kittens approximately 2 weeks late. They felt better about her chances of survival, however, still guarded. We continued the extra nutrition support and she definetly flourished gaining up to 18 lbs before weaning her kittens. She never lost an ounce while nursing. By this time she needed to be spayed so they told me she needed to lose weight before they did the surgery. She lost down to 13.8 lbs and they did the procedure. Since then she has gone back up to 18 lbs and I've had the hardest time getting this weight off her. We encourage exercise and she is very agile for her size. About 3 months ago we tried EVO to cut out the carbs at the suggestion of a nutritionist at a holistic store in my area. She has since gained 2 pounds. I'm petrified now that she'll be having these problems that Zeus is having by the age of 5. I NEED to get this weight off her.
I went back to the store yesterday and we consulted again about Sara's gain and I told her my concerns about Zeus and my fear if this happening to Sara (even though Zeus' heart condition is congenital). She suggested we try Wellness grain free wet as a staple, 2 5.5 oz cans a day for Sara at 20 lbs, 1.25 cans for Zeus at 12.5 and 1.25 for my other cat Rayne, who is 9 lbs. She also said we could try another brand of dry food and possibly even one with grain, along with the wet food feeding dry in the a.m. and wet at night or vice versa, since our goal is weight loss for 2 of the 3 cats but the brands she suggested were like buying gold, even compared to the EVO we were feeding. Feeding the Wellness alone would cost us 136.00 a month in food. We spend 54.00 a month in dog food, with one dog weight much more than all 3 cats together, feeding Candiae, on top of the recreational bones and probably 5.00 a month on training treats (whcih we use a very small amount of).
There has got to be a more reasonable, cost effective way to get weight off my cats. If this is our only hope, I'll bite the bullet, but I really believe there has to be a more cost effective alternative without compromising my cats health any longer.