Help!! FAT <span title="CAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?">CAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...</span>

Question

My cat is really fat and I thought maybe I was feeding it too much so i fed it less but it was still fat. Any ideas on how i can get my cat to lose some weight??

Answer 1

Talk to a vet. Getting animals to lose weight can actually be really hard, as you&#039;re starting to discover. People just say &#039;feed less food&#039; but it can be more complicated than that.

First of all you need to determine your cat&#039;s ideal weight, which a vet can help you with. The you need to look at the brand of food you&#039;re feeding. Tip: all pet foods found in supermarkets are completely useless for weight loss. Cats can easily maintain excess weight on really small amounts of things like Fancy Feast or Felix - it&#039;s because these kinds of food are so dense in calories with all the fat and sugar!

Talk to your vet about a better brand of food for your cat. They can provide you with specific weight-loss diets which I can vouch provide excellent results. Sure they&#039;re more expensive than supermarket food, but they go quite a long way when you feed according to the guidelines i.e. the correct daily amount for the weight you want the cat to be, not the weight he is! Goes without saying; feed the diet food only, NOTHING extra - not even &#039;oh but it&#039;s just a little bit of this&#039; - cats are little animals, a little bit of treat to us is a huge portion for them!

Chalice

Answer 2

Both of my adult cats are overweight, due to the fact that they are indoor cats and lazy as heck :o)  The vet&#039;s recommended that I play with them more, hence they are getting excercise, and putting them on Purina One indoor formula which is a lower calorie/fat diet for the cats.  Also, I do not free feed the cats, but give them a small measured amount 2x a day.   It is much easier (as with people too) to gain weight then to loose it, so be very patient.  Loosing a 1/2 pound in a cat is equivalent to several pounds for a human, since cats only weight 5-15 lbs total.  They shouldn&#039;t loose too much too fast, and they won&#039;t loose much in  total.  Ask your vet for a feeding plan and what the recommended safe weight is for your specific cat!!  

Answer 3

I have 2 recommendations for you

1:  Get your cat some light or less active food and feed according to the package of what you think your cat should weigh  or:

2:  Take your cat to the vet this could be a serious problem like diabetes or a thyroid problem(simple blood work could detect this) these are problems that can be resolved by giving it medicines daily to control

Answer 4

Play with it to help it get some exercise.  

Answer 5

Get him on some indoor diet food and get him some toys to play with. Feed him only twice a day and only the recommended amount. Make sure he exercises. He will be slim and trim in no time(or maybe a few months).

Answer 6

its tottally normal dont worry but just keep playing with it and buy some diet food!

Answer 7

Buy diet food. Or talk to a vet. Good luck! Fat cats rule!

Answer 8

Ten Steps To Help Your Cat Lose Weight

      There may not be a fancy, brand-name diet program for fat cats yet, but there are other ways to help your cat drop those extra pounds. Follow these ten steps from Dr. Dan Carey, a veterinarian and director of technical communications at The Iams Company, to help your cat reach a healthier weight. First, always check with your veterinarian to establish goals and make sure your cat is otherwise healthy. Then, continue follow-up visits with your veterinarian to monitor progress.

1. Let the games begin! Help your cat burn calories by encouraging her to play. Toss her toys for her to chase, wiggle a wand for her to jump up high, or provide a taller cat scratching post for her to climb.

2. Go for a walk. Show those dogs a thing or two, and take your cat for a walk-even if it&#039;s just inside the house. Many cats learn to enjoy walking on a leash, especially if trained while still young. It&#039;s a great excuse for you to get more exercise, too.

3. Ease into shape. Watch how your fat cat handles increased activity. Don&#039;t let your cat become exhausted, overheated or out of breath. Also remember that older cats may not be able to exercise vigorously.

4. Replace treats with praise. When your cat is begging for treats, it could be that she&#039;s just begging for your attention. Substitute play, grooming, stroking or conversation for food treats as expressions of love. You can also try catnip as a non-food treat.

5. Resist those pleas. Is your cat an expert at begging for table scraps? If you find it difficult to ignore those &quot;sad eyes&quot; (or wailing!) at mealtime, keep your feline in a separate room.

6. Feed cats individually. If you have more than one cat, consider keeping them in separate rooms during their mealtime. This will prevent the greediest cat from overeating, and ensure that slower cats get fed.

7. Play fetch. Toss dry food kibbles to your cat, one piece at time, to combine exercise with mealtime.

8. Avoid fiber overload. Many reduced calorie pet foods include increased levels of fiber that can interfere with a pet&#039;s ability to absorb and digest nutrients. Food with the proper balance of animal-based protein, fat, carbohydrates and moderately fermentable fiber sources, such as beet pulp, is a healthier choice. Try new Eukanuba® Weight control Formula for Cats-which also has a unique Feline Fat Burner systemª, which promotes health and well-being while helping cats to burn fat and lose or maintain weight successfully.

9. Smaller meals, more often. As with people, several smaller meals each day vs. one large serving help cats burn more calories. This is through meal-induced thermogenesis-heat produced by the body during digestion, absorption, metabolism and storage of nutrients actually causes more calories to be used.

10. Tip the scales. A baby scale works great for keeping track of your cat&#039;s weight, or alternatively you can take your cat in your arms, step on your own scale and then subtract your weight from the total weight shown to find your cat&#039;s weight. Check weight loss progress every two weeks.

Any cat that is overweight should have a physical exam performed, exact weight measured and blood and urine tests run.  It is vital that normal thyroid hormone levels are present and that the cat has no physical or metabolic dysfunction.  If the cat is physically normal, other than the abnormal body weight from fat deposition, then a gradual and careful weight loss program can be instituted.

       Many cats are fed “free choice”, which means there is food available all the time and the cat eats whenever it wants.  (Pretty unnatural for a true carnivore that evolved as a hunting machine!)  Free choice feeding has probably been the biggest single factor contributing to feline obesity.

      Feed two to four small portions daily and control the amounts fed so that over a period of time the cat does not gain weight.  Many pet owners must downsize what they think is a “normal” portion.  A meal for a 175-pound human might weigh 16 to 24 ounces.  A seven-pound cat weighs 1/25 of the 175-pound human.  So a cat’s meal should proportionally be about 1/25 of a human meal.  That comes out to between 0.6 and 1.0 ounce of food per meal for a seven-pound cat… about the same weight as a mouse.  Cat owners must stop thinking in terms of “cups of food” and start thinking in terms of ounces of food.

      Cats, unlike most mammals, have no carbohydrate-digesting enzyme called Amylase in their saliva.  Humans and dogs do and actually begin the digestion of carbohydrate in the mouth.  In the intestine, amylase secreted from the pancreas breaks down large carbohydrate molecules into absorbable smaller units of glucose.  Cats have measurably less amylase activity than humans or dogs.   Nature did not intend the kitty to be a carbohydrate consumer.

What we do…

We purchase convenient, attractively packaged and preserved dry foods mainly because we can pour it in the bowl and forget it.  Dry pet food must have higher levels of flour and sugar than canned foods so that the kibble will stay uniform and not fall apart.  Spoiling doesn’t readily occur because of the preservatives so the kitty can eat whenever it wants and we don’t have to prepare cat meals very often.  Unfortunately, especially with dry diets, because of the metabolic biochemistry that converts the high carbohydrate content in almost all of today’s commercial cat foods into stored fat, the cat is really at risk for weight gain.

What we should do…

Feed a diet consistent with the nature of a true carnivore… a meat based diet.  An ideal feline diet will have a high protein level in the 35 to 45 percent range on a dry matter basis (meaning the percent in the diet when the water has been removed) and moderate fat content with a low percentage of carbohydrate (grains).  A multitude of research reports have proven that diets high in protein and fat are most beneficial for carnivores.  Cats cannot handle large carbohydrate loads efficiently.  After a meal rich in carbohydrate the feline’s blood level of glucose tends to stay higher than normal for long periods of time.  They become persistently hyperglycemic and this long term stimulus on the beta cells in the pancreas… the cells that produce insulin… renders those cells less sensitive to the blood glucose.  As a result less insulin is secreted to bring down the blood sugar level.  Nutritionists call this “down regulating’ of the beta cells; the insensitivity of the insulin secreting beta cells leads to what is termed “insulin resistance”.    This scenario is a prelude to diabetes.

      We all know how cats crave mice and birds as a food source.  A natural source of nutrition for carnivores, mice and birds are a perfect diet for a cat.  Did you know that a mouse or a bird is composed of only 3 to 8 percent carbohydrate?  And most of that is actually from what the prey was eating and is in the prey&#039;s digestive tract.  The rest is water, a few minerals, and mostly protein and fat.

What we do...

Many of us purchase dry cat foods, some with food coloring to make it look like meat and with flour and sugars and preservatives.  We buy these dry foods partly because  they state that it is COMPLETE  and BALANCED for cats and because it is convenient for us to pour a few days&#039; worth of food into a bowl for the kitty to eat whenever it wants.  Unfortunately, most dry cat food brands are relatively low in protein... especially the less expensive brands that state a grain  such as corn as the first (major) ingredient.  Another associated problem is the myth that we often feed our cats (and dogs) too much protein.  This indefensible myth... that protein causes kidney problems... is totally unfounded and has caused more dogs and  cats to suffer from poor diets than just about any other cause.  Go here to see reasons why this myth is just that... a myth with no scientific affirmation.)

What we should do...

We must feed cats a diet with high percentages of protein and fat and low percentages of carbohydrate (grains) if we expect them to maintain optimum body weights and a proper state of nutrition.  Protein is THE key nutrient in a carnivore diet.  On a dry weight basis... where the percent of ingredients is determined without any water in the ration... a feline&#039;s diet should contain 35 to 45 percent protein, 40 percent fat, and possibly just a small percentage of carbohydrate.  (Remember... a true carnivore needs NO carbohydrate in the diet.)  Some nutritionists suggest 25% carbohydrate---50% protein---25% fat.  Click the link to see a window that shows how to calculate the dry weight percentages in dry and canned food because if you look at the label of any canned food you will never find a food with high percentages of protein or fat because of the high moisture content of canned food.   These low percentages DO NOT indicate a lack of high nutritional content.

       CAT TREATS

We seem to think we need to reward our cats with food... and that&#039;s why cat treats are so popular.  Nearly very cat caretaker has relented, too, when our cat has begun to vocalize, roam restlessly and seem to &quot;need something&quot;.  This is normal interactive behavior for a cat and has no relationship to the cat being hungry!  But we perceive the kitty to be hungry so we give it a treat as a snack.  And most cat treats are specially flavored to be irresistible to cats, otherwise they wouldn&#039;t sell well and there&#039;d be no profit for the manufacturer.  Give your cat a treat for vocalizing and you have rewarded it for vocalizing... and you have just taught the cat to vocalize even more.   If you MUST give cat treats to your cat, read below how to do it logically and nutritionally.

What we do…  

As sensitive and caring humans, we always want to reward our ki