My cat is obsese...and now its a problem

[icklemiss21]

Originally Posted by Meowmie

When you put your kitty on a diet make sure kitty does not lose more than 1 pound of weight in a 30 day time period. The easy to follow rule: 1 pound per month.

Before you begin, please take kitty to the vet for a very thorough physical exam that includes bloodwork (a complete chemistry profile and CBC) and ask your vet's advice about a safe weight loss program.

I have a cat that lost more than this - this is the average that they would expect a cat to lose safely over a year - but if your cat loses more in one month - its nothing to get overly worried about. Scully lost 3lbs in his first month of being on a diet and the vet said this was fine.

Do consult with your vet and go for regular check ups during the diet to make sure your cat is staying healthy while dieting... Scully lost over 13lbs in less than a year and the vet gave me his phone # if I was worried rather than bringing him in, I could just call him and chat about how Sculls was doing to make it cheaper for me.

DO NOT feed 'diet' or 'light' foods - its probably why he is so big to begin with - these are actually worse for a overweight cat. If you want to feed dry - find a high quality and give them less than the amount it says on the pack - that is for maintenance diets - not weight loss.

I am having GREAT results with Innova EVO - its low carb so good for them - I feed them 1 cup between them and they are losing weight and staying healthy.

Try and play with them for an hour a day to make them exercise so they tone as well as losing weight - a 16lb toned cat can actually be more healthy than a 12lb untoned cat.

Once she loses some weight she will find it much easier to groom too!

[jennifer2]

Also remember that switching to a higher quality food often has more calories per cup than lower quality foods so you often need to feed less.
For my cats, I do a pound per cat per calorie calculation to figure out how much to feed.
It's 20-30kcal per pound of cat per day.

Also, just like people too fast of weight loss is not good. But, also just like people the more you have to loose, the faster you will loose it in the beginning.
Jennifer

[icklemiss21]

Originally Posted by luvthemhorses09

Well right now we are introducing a food specifically designed for indoor cats. It is suppposed to give them the stuff they dont get that they would if they were outdoor cats. So we will see how it works. Also the fact that they are not eating constantly might help. Thanks for your suggestions!

Indoor foods are also basically 'lite' foods and may actually make them gain weight... what food are you using?

For instance:
Iams (regular) dry

Ingredients
Chicken, chicken by-product meal, corn grits, ground whole grain sorghum, corn meal, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols, a source of vitamin E, and citric acid), fish meal (source of fish oil), dried beet pulp (sugar removed), dried egg product, natural chicken flavor, potassium chloride, brewers dried yeast, dl-methionine, choline chloride, vitamins [vitamin E supplement, niacin, ascorbic acid, vitamin A acetate, calcium pantothenate, biotin, thiamine mononitrate (source of vitamin B1), pyridoxine hydrochloride (source of vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin supplement (source of vitamin B2), inositol, vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid], salt, calcium carbonate, minerals [zinc oxide, manganese sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, cobalt carbonate], rosemary extract.
Chicken provides a natural source of taurine.

Guaranteed Analysis
Crude protein (min.) 32%, crude fat (min.) 21%, crude fiber (max.) 3%, moisture (max.) 10%, ash (max.) 7%, magnesium (max.) 0.1%, taurine (min.) 0.15%, omega 6 fatty acids* (min.) 2.3%, omega 3 fatty acids (min.) 0.23%.
Not recognized as an essential nutrient by the AAFCO Cat Food Nutrient Profiles.

Iams Weight Control Adult Dry

Ingredients
Chicken by-product meal, corn grits, corn meal, ground whole grain sorghum, chicken, fish meal (source of fish oil), dried beet pulp (sugar removed), dried egg product, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols, a source of vitamin E, and citric acid), natural chicken flavor, potassium chloride, dicalcium phosphate, brewers dried yeast, salt, dl-methionine, vitamins [vitamin E supplement, niacin, ascorbic acid, vitamin A acetate, calcium pantothenate, biotin, thiamine mononitrate (source of vitamin B1), pyridoxine hydrochloride (source of vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin supplement (source of vitamin B2), inositol, vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid], choline chloride, calcium carbonate, minerals [zinc oxide, manganese sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, cobalt carbonate], l-carnitine, rosemary extract.
Chicken provides a natural source of taurine.

Guaranteed Analysis
Crude protein (min.) 28%, crude fat (min.) 11%, crude fat (max.) 13.5%, crude fiber (max.) 3%, moisture (max.) 10%, ash (max.) 7%, magnesium (max.) 0.1%, taurine (min.) 0.13%, l-carnitine* (min.) 80 ppm, omega 6 fatty acids* (min.) 2%, omega 3 fatty acids (min.) 0.2%.
Not recognized as an essential nutrient by the AAFCO Cat Food Nutrient Profiles.

Iams Indoor Weight Control & Hairball

Ingredients
Chicken by-product meal, corn grits, chicken, corn meal, ground whole grain sorghum, powdered cellulose, dried beet pulp (sugar removed), fish meal (source of fish oil), dried egg product, natural chicken flavor, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols, a source of vitamin E, and citric acid), sodium bisulfate, potassium chloride, dl-methionine, choline chloride, brewers dried yeast, vitamins [vitamin E supplement, niacin, ascorbic acid, vitamin A acetate, calcium pantothenate, biotin, thiamine mononitrate (source of vitamin B1), pyridoxine hydrochloride (source of vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin supplement (source of vitamin B2), inositol, vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid], calcium carbonate, dicalcium phosphate, minerals [zinc oxide, manganese sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, cobalt carbonate], salt, l-carnitine, rosemary extract.

Chicken provides a natural source of taurine.

Guaranteed Analysis
Crude protein (min.) 28%, crude fat (min.) 11%, crude fat (max.) 13.5%, crude fiber (max.) 6.5%, moisture (max.) 10%, ash (max.) 7%, magnesium (max.) 0.1%, taurine (min.) 0.13%, l-carnitine* (min.) 80 mg/kg, omega-6 fatty acids* (min.) 2%, omega-3 fatty acids* (min.) 0.2%.
Not recognized as an essential nutrient by the AAFCO Cat Food Nutrient Profile.

Although it has a higher amount of fat, the less carbs and the more protein actually make the regular formula better for dieting - you just feed less. The higher the meats (and preferably not by-product meat) and the lower the carb on the list - generally the better.

[luvthemhorses09]

We are using purina indoor.