Fat Cat. Help With Diet.

[freddykitten]

Sorry this is long. I have a fat cat. I am not a cat expert so I apologize for anything I say that is wrong or if my actions are wrong. I am a dog person, but my brother has a cat. He is off at college so he is my problem now. He used to hate me but we have become friends now. I even taught him to run on the treadmill .

So, he is about 17 lbs according to our 20 year old scale. He used to be a lot fatter, since he would get into the dog food a lot, but now we are more vigilant. He isn't super fat, but he has a belly. It has gotten bigger since his diet. I also have a problem with his food. He has been eating Science Diet Indoor. It isn't the best food, but when I tried to switch to Innova it was a bad move. I did a slow switch to California Natural (made by Innova) with no success, so we went back to Science Diet. Here is the food: http://www.hillspet.com/products/scienc ... r-dry.html

Per their feeding guidelines, he should be getting 7/8 to 1 1/4 cups. We feed him 1/4 cup in the morning and 1/4 cup at night. He is ALWAYS hungry (or so he thinks), but he has been eating this amount for his entire life. I don't understand how it can be so far under the guidelines, yet he is still fat. He gets no treats and if I want to give him treats I use his kibbles and take them from his dinner.

The diet we started 3 weeks ago is as follows:
1. He gets 3-4 kibbles less each meal time. I'd say in the 1/4 cup there are 20 or so, but I can't be sure since I didn't count.
2. I use the toy and he jumps and spins and paws at it for about 20 minutes a day.
3. He gets his dinner on the treadmill starting 3 days ago. It doesn't take very long but it is better than nothing.

So my problem is he is getting fatter.. and now that I looked up feeding guidelines I am concerned he is getting fed too little (but that can't be since he is fat!). Here are some picture to give you an idea of his fatness level. Oh, and he is an indoor cat. Thanks in advance.

[~Siameseifuplz~]

From those pics he doesn't look too bad, but it's hard to tell without touching the cat. Can you feel his ribs (individual ribs)?

I think it's VERY hard for a cat to loose weight on dry food. Neko would not loose his extra pounds on a diet of half wet half dry, it wasn't until I put him on all wet food that he lost the weight.
It's also important to remember that low quality foods like science diet are full of calories that provide little nutrients but still cause weight gain. So they make the cat fat without making him full, cats get full when they eat enough protein and fat. SD is full of grain and other veggie matter, this does not provide that protein and fat nearly as well as meat does. So the cat has to eat more to feel full.

I would really try adding a good wet food to his diet, transitioning can take a long time but it's worth it.

[freddykitten]

See, things I had never considered! Genius.

What food would you suggest? We tried a better food (California Natural I think) and he had terrible diarrhea after a slow transition. He was going all over our house. My parents wanted to go back to the other food. I don't think my parents want to deal with feeding him wet food (due to the cost and messiness). Since he doesn't need to lose that much weight, do you think dry food would be ok?

I can't really tell with him.. He is just squishy so it depends what position he is in if I can feel his ribs or not.

[Owned_By_Two]

I've had a lot of success with Innova Low Fat dry food for my 3 year old male:
http://www.innovapet.com/product_line.asp?id=1407

The 1/4 cup per meal is about right, maybe even a smidgen more is OK.

And I agree that you should try to get your cat on 50% wet food. Innova makes a "Lower Fat" wet food as well, and you can mix this into other canned food if he won't eat the Innova alone. I'm in the camp that no cat should ever eat 100% dry food (because then they are always in a state of dehydration which causes other problems).

[freddykitten]

I'll see what my dad thinks about switching food brands and to wet food and let you know what he says. Is there a food that is for more sensitive stomachs? I don't know about cats, but for dogs I know some dogs don't work well with foods like Innova EVO (what my dog eats).. and I kind of think that is how my cat is. I guess we will have to transition very, very slowly.

[Owned_By_Two]

Originally Posted by freddykitten

I'll see what my dad thinks about switching food brands and to wet food and let you know what he says. Is there a food that is for more sensitive stomachs? I don't know about cats, but for dogs I know some dogs don't work well with foods like Innova EVO (what my dog eats).. and I kind of think that is how my cat is. I guess we will have to transition very, very slowly.

Well I don't think you could do better than California Natural for a sensitive stomach, but you said you already tried that. And I haven't used CN so I can't speak for it, but like I said I've had amazing results with Low Fat Innova. My cat has been losing the weight at a very nice clip while maintaining his energy level.

Whatever you use, it sounds like you're going to have to go very slowly like you said. Take 3-4 weeks to transition over to 100% of the new food.