The "Tiny" Weight Loss Thread

[grogs]

Originally Posted by AddieBee

Got some new pics of Tiny showing off her much smaller physique????

Absolutely!

Here she is on the scale the first time her weight dropped below 13 pounds. She's quit posing for me on the scale, so not very good I'm afraid.


Here's the side view. Even though most of the weight is gone, the loose skin still hangs down, so she really doesn't look a lot thinner in this photo than when she did when we started. It's funny to watch when she runs though because the loose skin swishes from side to side like the hem of a robe.


You can really see a difference from overhead though. She has a serious waist going on now!

 

[catmom2wires]

What a sweet girl! Congrats on the weight loss. My boy, Felix is currently on a diet, too. He's still in the 16 pound range, so will be a long while until he has a "swinging robe hem."

Cally

 

[addiebee]

Nice pics, Grogs. Yes - you can really see the difference from the top view! I bet she feels better, too!

 

[grogs]

Originally Posted by CatMom2Wires

What a sweet girl! Congrats on the weight loss. My boy, Felix is currently on a diet, too. He's still in the 16 pound range, so will be a long while until he has a "swinging robe hem."

Cally

Thanks, and good luck with Felix's diet.

Originally Posted by AddieBee

Nice pics, Grogs. Yes - you can really see the difference from the top view! I bet she feels better, too!

Thanks. My only regret is I don't have any overhead views from when we started. It's not an angle I normally photograph my cats from, so I never thought to take one.

As for feeling better, I can only imagine. She went nearly 10 years without being able to do more than wave at her bum. Now I get excited every time I see her cleaning herself back there. My friends think I'm nuts getting that excited about a cat cleaning herself.

 

[stephanietx]

Way to go, Tiny!! Look at that figure now! The sway may go away a bit if she 'tones up' and starts getting some exercise in.

Do you find her to be more active now that she's lost a bit of weight? (I'm just being curious.)

 

[grogs]

Originally Posted by stephanietx

Way to go, Tiny!! Look at that figure now! The sway may go away a bit if she 'tones up' and starts getting some exercise in.

Do you find her to be more active now that she's lost a bit of weight? (I'm just being curious.)

Thanks! Yes, definitely more active. I see her tearing around the apartment chasing or being chased by one of the other cats from time to time, which never happened before. She also climbs the cat tree up to the window a lot more than she used to and I don't cringe like I used to when I see her jump down.

She also runs after me when I carry Thufir's food bowl into the bathroom and then runs back to where I feed her.

 

[stephanietx]

Another added "bonus" to her slimming down! Yay for both of you!

I know at first, when my Callie was put on a diet, she would follow me around begging for food. As time went on and she realized she was not going to be getting anymore food, she turned that energy into play and started playing more, jumping around, climbing, and being more active in general.

You're doing a great job with her! Keep it up!

 

[grogs]

Well, itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s been a good year for Tiny. Sheâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s dropped a few more ounces this month and sheâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s now sitting at a nice 12.5 pounds. When I started this thing, she weighed over 18 pounds. Nearly 1/3 of Tiny has gone away this year. Sheâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s healthy and while sheâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s not super active, she likes to tear around the apartment from time to time. Since the New Year is a time for reflecting on the past, I thought I would post up a graph that shows her weight loss progress this year:



The New Year is also a time for looking forward. Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ve decided that Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m pretty happy with where her weight is at right now. Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m going to put her on a maintenance diet and try to keep her where she is for a few months. That will give her body some time to adjust to the new weight. I may decide later that she needs to lose another pound or so, but this will give her a nice break from rigors of dieting.

Tiny isnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t the only one who will be taking a break from dieting. My big boy Thufir has hit the 13 pound mark, which is his ideal weight according to the vet. Itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s not easy to see on him since heâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s a long-haired kitty, but he feels great. When I have him shaved down in the Spring, I'll try to get some pictures of his new bod. Thuf has lost a little over 4 pounds this year, which is about a quarter of his starting weight. Between he and Tiny, theyâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ve lost nearly 10 pounds this year, which is a whole cat.

I hope everyoneâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s New Year is wonderful and filled with skinny kitties!


Starting Weight: 18 pounds - 4 ounces

Current Weight: 12 pounds – 7.5 ounces

Weight Loss to Date: 5 pounds 12.5 ounces = 31.7% of starting weight

 

[addiebee]

Originally Posted by Grogs

Well, itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s been a good year for Tiny. Sheâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s dropped a few more ounces this month and sheâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s now sitting at a nice 12.5 pounds. When I started this thing, she weighed over 18 pounds. Nearly 1/3 of Tiny has gone away this year. Sheâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s healthy and while sheâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s not super active, she likes to tear around the apartment from time to time. Since the New Year is a time for reflecting on the past, I thought I would post up a graph that shows her weight loss progress this year:



The New Year is also a time for looking forward. Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ve decided that Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m pretty happy with where her weight is at right now. Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]m going to put her on a maintenance diet and try to keep her where she is for a few months. That will give her body some time to adjust to the new weight. I may decide later that she needs to lose another pound or so, but this will give her a nice break from rigors of dieting.

Tiny isnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t the only one who will be taking a break from dieting. My big boy Thufir has hit the 13 pound mark, which is his ideal weight according to the vet. Itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s not easy to see on him since heâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s a long-haired kitty, but he feels great. When I have him shaved down in the Spring, I'll try to get some pictures of his new bod. Thuf has lost a little over 4 pounds this year, which is about a quarter of his starting weight. Between he and Tiny, theyâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ve lost nearly 10 pounds this year, which is a whole cat.

I hope everyoneâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s New Year is wonderful and filled with skinny kitties!


Starting Weight: 18 pounds - 4 ounces

Current Weight: 12 pounds – 7.5 ounces

Weight Loss to Date: 5 pounds 12.5 ounces = 31.7% of starting weight

Congrats!!!

I need to shave some weight off of one of my foster boys. So I am taking inspiration from you! And tiny Tiny!

 

[stephanietx]

Go Tiny!!! Congratulations on shaving off the weight!

 

[grogs]

Originally Posted by AddieBee

Congrats!!!

I need to shave some weight off of one of my foster boys. So I am taking inspiration from you! And tiny Tiny!

Originally Posted by stephanietx

Go Tiny!!! Congratulations on shaving off the weight!

Thanks! And good luck on your foster AddieBee.

I thought I'd throw these pictures in. They're of my two "biggest losers" snuggled up together in the heated cat bed. Tiny is the Tabby and Thufir is the cream and white long hair. The first picture is from last winter before I started their diets. Their total weight is about 35.5 pounds. The second picture is from December. Total weight is about 26 pounds. As you can see, they seem to be a lot more comfortable in the second picture.

 

[gemlady]

Yes, there seems to be a smidge more room in that bed.

I hope Thufir isn't gassy.

 

[catmom2wires]

I am just amazed at your success with Tiny. I've been working on my little hefty one, Felix, for a few months now and we can't seem to get any real momentum going and the lowest we've gotten him has been 16.4 from a start weight of 17.2. We go up and back down to 16.4, but can't go lower.

About how much wet food were you giving tiny. Felix is eating 1/3 of a 5.5 oz can morning and night and one rounded teaspoon of raw food daily. That's it. Of course he's lazy as can be.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Congrats to Tiny!

Cally

 

[grogs]

Originally Posted by gemlady

Yes, there seems to be a smidge more room in that bed.

I hope Thufir isn't gassy.

Well, knowing cats, I doubt Tiny would mind. I sleep on my back mostly and Promise will come in and curl up in my crotch. She never seems to be bothered at all if I'm gassy.

Originally Posted by CatMom2Wires

I am just amazed at your success with Tiny. I've been working on my little hefty one, Felix, for a few months now and we can't seem to get any real momentum going and the lowest we've gotten him has been 16.4 from a start weight of 17.2. We go up and back down to 16.4, but can't go lower.

About how much wet food were you giving tiny. Felix is eating 1/3 of a 5.5 oz can morning and night and one rounded teaspoon of raw food daily. That's it. Of course he's lazy as can be.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Congrats to Tiny!

Cally

Thanks. I've been feeding Tiny about 1.1 - 1.2 ounces of wet food 3 times per day, so a little less than 2/3 or a can daily. I feed Chicken Soup, but I mix a little bit of Fancy Feast into each meal because I've found it keeps her interested in the food. Before, she would get tired of it from time to time and stop eating. I add about 50% water (by weight) to the food to add more water to her diet and make her feel more full. She also gets a couple of Greenies a day as a treat.

If you don't have one already, I'd recommend you buy a food/postage scale for weighing out the food. I got one for about $20 at the Office Depot that's accurate to 1/10 of an ounce. I've found that just a small increase of a couple of tenths of an ounce each meal can make the difference between Tiny losing a couple of ounces a week and losing none at all. If you have the patience and the scale, I'd recommend you do something like this:

1. Start by feeding him the regular amount for a while and weighing it out each time to get a baseline of how much you're feeding him.

2. Get a good starting weight. You want as accurate of a value as possible, so ideally from a pet/baby scale either at home or at the vet's office.

3. Reduce his food intake by 0.1-0.2 ounces at each meal. You can cheat and add a little more water so that he's still eating the same amount if he complains about it too much.

4. After a couple of weeks weigh him again. At 16 pounds, about 2.5 ounces a week is nice safe rate of weight loss, so you want to make sure he's not losing any faster than that.

5. If his weight hasn't gone down in 2 weeks or if it's gone down too much, adjust the amount you're feeding him slightly.

6. Keep repeating until you find a good amount that makes lose weight gradually. You'll want to keep monitoring his weight as he loses because he may become more active and start losing even faster.

 

[catmom2wires]

Thank you very much for the advice. I will try it!

Cally

ps--Felix thinks your advice STINKS!!!! LOL

 

[silva_unt]

I read all 5 pages!! I'm very impressed and am so happy to see Tiny's progress in weight and through her pictures! My kitty is only 9 months and this inspires me to keep her at a healthy weight. If things get out of control I know I will have a great reference!
Again, awesome job and congrats!

 

[grogs]

Originally Posted by CatMom2Wires

Thank you very much for the advice. I will try it!

Cally

ps--Felix thinks your advice STINKS!!!! LOL

I bet he does.

One thing about cats who are over eaters is that they're always going to act like they're starving. I put out 2 cans of tuna on Christmas day. That's about twice what I feed my four cats at a typical meal and it just vanished. Thirty minutes later Thufir was rubbing up against my leg and begging again even though I could feel his belly was still full.

Originally Posted by silva_unt

I read all 5 pages!! I'm very impressed and am so happy to see Tiny's progress in weight and through her pictures! My kitty is only 9 months and this inspires me to keep her at a healthy weight. If things get out of control I know I will have a great reference!
Again, awesome job and congrats!

Thanks. It's a lot easier to prevent the problem before it starts than to try and fix it later. With a kitten, you don't really want to restrict their food too much. Otherwise, you could end up stunting their growth. If she starts getting overweight before that, talk to the vet about what you should do to prevent weight gain safely.

 

[valksy]

Many thanks for the fascinating read

 

[grogs]

I hope nobody objects to me necroing my own thread. Tiny passed this morning, and this seemed appropriate given the amount of time I spent talking about her here. She was just over 16 when she died. Time, hyperthyroid, and ultimately lymphoma finally caught up to her. I'll do a proper tribute in the "Crossing the Bridge" forum when I can gather my thoughts enough to express what I'm feeling.

Since the last time I posted on this thread five years ago, I've graduated school, changed jobs, and moved to a new place. I was a grad student, mostly studying from home when I put Tiny on her weight loss regimen, and it shows that I had a lot of time to dedicate to the effort. Now that I'm working 40+ hours a week I don't have nearly the amount of time to dedicate to managing weight, but I still try to feed my cats some healthy wet food at least once a day. Tiny kept most of her weight off, despite my decreased attentiveness, and I feel that this significantly improved her quality (and probably length) of life over what it would have been had she weighed 18+ pounds. Once hyperthyroid started kicking in during 2013, keeping the weight off was no longer an issue. I was never able to completely manage the thyroid levels. When I got it too low, it caused constipation issues that nearly killed her. I chose to keep it somewhat under medicated (i.e., a bit high of normal) because this seemed to give the best quality of life. Despite being somewhat hyperthyroid for about a year, she was still an active 9 lbs - 10 oz. when I weighed her a couple of weeks ago.

Since over five years have passed since the last reply to this thread, I'm sure that there are a lot of new members who have joined since then that never saw it. Hopefully this will give some of those hope that it *is* possible to get your cats down to a healthy weight, and maybe some ideas for how to get there safely. The formatting has gotten a little screwed up during the intervening years, but hopefully that doesn't detract too much.

 

[mnm]

aww such a bitter sweet post....so sorry for your loss.