[Padunk]

Weighed Punky today... I suspected she was getting overweight, but it's hard to tell since we got Elly, because of course Punky looks huge compared to her. I wasn't sure if it was my imagination or not.

Anyhow, she's overweight, and it's time for a diet. My problem is it's near impossible to keep the cats from sharing their food. Elly is 4.5 months old, so I don't think she should have the low calorie food.

I will try to feed them in seperate rooms, but I don't think it will work out well. Any suggestions on how I can keep them out of each others food?

 

[Aonir]

A high-quality food could solve this problem. They get enough nutrition and eat less - good for BOTH cats. Feeding separetly has always been hard for me. I ended up feeding my cats on the counter to keep the dog out of their food, lol. I still have to get Oreo away from the dogs food occasionaly.

 

[Padunk]

I mix Sensible Choice and Purina One. I'm thinking I'm should dish out some extra cash for that upper eschelon of food. The only one that I recall seeing at my local petstore is Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul. I live in a semi-rural area and next "big" town is 30 miles away, not too interested in going out there for cat food.

 

[Maleke]

I think Chicken Soup is supposed to be really good food....... :wink:

 

[shlanon]

Felidae is also an all stages food. For overweight cats, you are supposed to simply feed them less.
Is there any way you can just not free feed? Just give them as much as they will eat at that time and feed them several times a day. That way there would be no food left in the healthy weight kitties bowl for the overweight kitty to munch on. This may be hard if your cats are like mine and really enjoy nibbling just a little bit throughout the day.

 

[Padunk]

Is there any way you can just not free feed? Just give them as much as they will eat at that time and feed them several times a day.

That's exactly how I've always fed her. Thing is, she's ALWAYS hungry, I obviously don't underfeed since she's overweight. She's also quite active for an indoor cat.

I spoke to the vet about it today, we decided to put her on a high protein, fish based diet. So I picked up a bag of Wellness, Salmon and Turkey formula... $30 for a 16.5 lb bag was a bit out of my budget but I love my cat

 

[AngelZoo]

PaDunk: I hope the wellness works out for you, that's a great food, and unfortunatly a lot of vets have never even heard of that food, let alone know enough to recommend it! lol

Typically, in most cases when your cats eat a higher grade food, they will eat less of it because their nutritional requirements are filled up more adiquitly. Some of the premium foods out there cost less then the expensive lower grade foods even!
So in the long run, more often then not your not spending any extra money for better food, you might even be saving a little sometimes.

I also agree with the feeding 2 meals a day, don't cave in to your little kitty when he tries to tell you he's hungry. He'll adjust to the diet, and you can feed him a healthy little treat once in a while in between daily meals. Excersize is also a must, keep her active.
And being a food with a more digestable protein source, and lower fiber can certainly help her with the obesity!

Cheers!

 

[shlanon]

How exactly does fiber contribute to a cat being overweight exactly? Why do we want to keep the fiber in a cat's diet low? I'm not disputing, just wondering.
Fiber in humans is good because it keeps things regular if you know what I mean. It seems like in humans or cats, less fiber would equal food sitting in the digestive tract for longer, more absorption of fat/protein and thus weight gain.

 

[AngelZoo]

shlanon: Fiber has it's good and bad advantages, don't get me wrong. But for weight loss reasons in cats, it's important to have it fairly low. In my personal opinion 3% or less. But this need to go along with controlled feeding and proper exersize.
While fiber can make them feel fuller, and sometimes lead them to eating a bit less at meal times, and theoretically resulting in weight loss, a lot of the light or weight loss specific formulas add in too much fiber (5-7%) when this happens often times you are loosing valuable protein sources, and increasing the amount of products which the cat can really gain little to no nutritional value from. And sometimes this can result in the cat not loosing any weight at all, and also can lead to the problem of an improper diet, effecting their over all health.
The source of the fiber (carbohydrates) is also important. Using something like white & brown rice or millet is far better then corn products or peanut hulls etc.
About the fiber for the allowed absorbtion of nutrients, it can slow down the fast metabolizm of our cats, and this is a good thing, so that they can absorb and utilize more of the ingredients which are included in pet foods. The fat and Protein content are not the main causes of weight gain in a cats diet.
For any human needing to bulk up for a good exersize or weight lifting diet, they eat foods full of carbohydrates (aka fiber), this is added weight mind you. However, humans are more able to utilize more forms of fiber and more of it then cats. Cats are oblitorate carnivores, not omnivores, and it's best to keep as close to that train of thought as possible diet wise, while making sure they are not lacking any other requirements at the same time.

It's really a matter of how much fiber, the source, and the use for the individual animal that you have to take into account.

PaDunks vet was very smart to include a diet with a good protein source, a lot of vets do not know to do this, due to contradictions in teachings, or lack there of.

I hope this wasn't too confusing for you. I had a very stressfull evening at work tonight (we almost lost some poor little jack russell due to spontaneous and hard seizures, so I am very tired). If you'd like I can give you links to more information and research on this when I can. Or perhaps someone here has some usefull information too.

 

[Padunk]

Thanks Angel, I fully trust my vet to do and tell me the right things.

What really attracted me to being to see her was that her pamphlet said that she enjoys working with dogs and horses, but cats are her true passion.

 

[queen of the nile]

All three of my cats have weight issues, one's just overweight and the other two are obese. The weight loss regime through my vet has me feeding as much wet food as my cats will eat - it makes them feel full but has a high water content, therefore they eat less of the more fattening dry food. It has been hard to bear listening to my cats cry, but honestly I think that Cleo (the REALLY obese one) just eats because she is bored. With time they have gotten better with this strict regimen of 2 dry meals and 2 wet meals a day, spaced out. All together, they have lost only about 2 lbs, but they are much more active and happy. I am still feeding Science Diet so this is NOT helping the diet and soon will be switching to vet prescription Hills R/D. If you calculate the price/cat/day, it comes out to about 3X the $ of Science Diet. Expensive babies! But hey, Diabetes is expensive too, and I do not want to have to be giving my girl a shot everyday just because I was too cheap! :lol: I'm pretty sure Punky is not having the weight problem to the same degree, so feeding Wellness will probably help. I guess I was just trying to say that sometimes only feeding a set amount at meal-times is necessary and that in the end your cat will be happier for it! I guess I'm just in a rambling mood today...

 

[AngelZoo]

To touch on what Queen of the Nile just said.

Wet food can be used for control of weight loss, and weight gain, depending on what you use and how you use it. Perhaps that is something you could consider next if the Wellness dry does not work out.

Queen of the Nile, good luck with your kitties! Most people don't have the gul to take care of diabetic cats.

 

[queen of the nile]

I hope I can avoid the diabetes issue altogether, but who doesn't! It's not really a guts thing, more just that I can't watch an otherwise healthy cat suffer. The two obese cats are only 3 and 7 years right now, so I hope to be able to get them to a normal weight before they are at a really risky age.

 

[dinkers]

Dieting

Since I have so many cats I had the same problem. I used to leave food out for them all day and then my vet suggested feeding them for 1/2 hour in the morning and 1/2 hour at night. One of my males was up to almost 20# and by doing this he's down to 15# which is alot for a cat. It does take awhile though but loosing weight fast is not good for a cat because it can cause liver problems.

 

[kristi]

All my cats were getting pudgy, but with 4 the thought of separate feedings is just too much. So I switched to Nutro Weight Management. They're all slimming down. Daisy a little too much, actually--I may have to start supplementing that girl with some Fancy Feast! :lol:

 

[AngelZoo]

Kristi: Becarefull with weight management diets, always get concent from your vet first. For the most part, weight management or lite diets are not intended for life long use. After said pet had achived a designated weight, you are to try and slowly switch them back to a regular diet, and see how mantaining their weight goes with a combination of proper porportions and exercise.
I would worry about the one cat getting too skinny, or malnourished.

I have 3 cats, and have had more, I so know what a pain it can be to feed them all different foods, and different amounts 2x daily lol. :roll: