Outside to Inside Cat

[xenawonteat]

Xena use to be an inside/outside cat. At my parents house the cats go out in the day when it is nice. But I moved with her to the city, she can't go outside- no way would I let her outside here. She doesn't seem to mind being indoors (we have big window sills she likes just as much)- she only use to go out with the older cat, but since she passed away and my parents said she never seemed to want to go out anymore.

I feed Xena a can of wet food a day, and dry food is always available. Normally she eats like half the can when I put it down, comes back to finish later. I wonder if she will start getting fat? I bought inside cat dry food when I moved. She also doesn't eat people scraps- so she can't chub up on that.

Shes a great size right now, but if you have indoor cats- do you feed them less?

 

[beandip]

All of my cats are indoor only, and they've always had a diet similar to your Xena (free feed dry + some wet). I haven't had a problem with weight for the most part. However, when I only had one cat...he did get a little chunky. That's Leopold and he's still a little chunky. I attributed that to boredom from being the only one. Of course you would think he would have slimmed down with 7 friends to play with, but he's a little lazy too.

If she starts putting on some weight, I might suggest keeping the wet in her diet, but putting out a measured amount of dry each day. That way you have a little more control over her intake so you can monitor that. That's what I have started doing. I put out the amount (dry) to the point where I know there will be just a few kibbles left there in the morning. IMO, dry food (carb heavy) puts weight on them more that a (good quality) wet food does.

Let me say it again - Xena's gorgeous!!

 

[persi & alley]

Evidently some of the big cat food manufactuers think so because they produce special lines of cat food labeled as INDOOR CAT formula.

 

[cloud_shade]

Each cat is different, so you'll have to watch her and see. Willow can have food available 24/7 and still maintain the perfect weight. Odo, however, cannot. I believe he may be a bit senile--he forgets that he's just eaten at times, so I if I leave food out for him, he will eat it all. Instead, he gets two meals per day that total up to one can of wet food.

My parents had two indoor/outdoor cats--one was able to maintain her weight when free-fed--the other reached a top weight of 25 pounds. So it really depends on the cat. If she starts gaining weight, I would remove the dry food.

 

[white cat lover]

One good way to prevent Xena from chunking up is to play interactively with her daily. Buy a wand toy to play with. If she fetches, play fetch. For my Lily, playing interactively means throwing her favorite toy & then she plays with it. When it gets boring, I go get it & throw it again(more or less, I fetch!

).

You can always measure out the amounts of dry food Xena gets. Either free feed a set amount daily, or only leave the food out during "mealtimes". WEt food has less crabs & is less fattenining...so wet food could help keep her weight down as well.

With the right preventative measures, you can keep Xena thin. If she does get too fat, I definately suggest taking her to the vet to rule out any health issues causing a weight problem, & then working with your vet on a diet!

 

[xenawonteat]

Thanks for all the advice!
Xena doesn't even seem to be eating the dry food- so I guess she isn't being a piggy. I was just playing with her last night with a ribbon spool- she must miss playing. She was jumping with all four legs off the ground! I'll make time to play with her everyday.