My cat is getting really fat, what should I do?

Question

I don't even feed him that much, he never really gets treats that often...I dunno how to really get him to be active, he's really lazy. he weighs about 11 pounds and is almost a year old (in Sept.) He has a smaller build, but a BIG saggy belly. any suggestions?

Answer 1

He might have a certain problem, like a tumer on the things that make him grow. Talk yo your vet.

Answer 2

feed him a diet cat food. and give him more excercise. (play with him)

Answer 3

let it walk around the house or somewhere because that can lead to diseases.

Answer 4

The answer is really simple. Feed the appropriate food for the species and you will have a good weight healthy active cat. You won't even have to limit food. This means no more kitty crack. (dry foods)





Nutrition since there are so many bad things out there is very important to your cat’s health

Contrary to what you may have heard; dry foods are not a great thing to feed a cat.

Please read the label on what you are feeding? What are the ingredients? Do you know what they mean? Is the first ingrdiant a muscle meat like chicken or meal or other things?

http://www.catinfo.org/#Learn_How_To_Rea...

http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring04...

Dry foods are the number 1 cause of diabetes in cats as well as being a huge contributing factor to kidney disease, obesity, crystals, u.t.i’s and a host of other problems. Food allergies are very common when feeding dry foods. Rashes, scabs behind the tail and on the chin are all symptoms

The problems associated with Dry food is that they are loaded with grains and carbohydrates which many cats (carnivores) cannot process.  Also, Most of the moisture a cat needs is suppose to be in the food but in

Dry, 95% of it is zapped out of dry foods in the processing. Another thing, most use horrible ingredients and don't use a muscle meat as the primary ingredient and use vegetable based protein versus animal. Not good for an animal that has to eat meat to survive.

http://www.catinfo.org/#My_Cat_is_Doing_...

You want to pick a canned food w/o gravy (gravy=carbs) that uses a muscle meat as the first ingredient and doesn't have corn at least in the first 3 ingredients if at all.    The best food for cats does not contain any grains at all.

Fancy feast is a middle grade food with 9lives, friskies  whiskas lower grade canned and wellness and merrick upper grade human quality foods. I would rather feed a middle grade canned food then the top of the line dry food.

Also, dry food is not proven to be better for teeth. Does a hard pretzel clean your teeth or do pieces of it get stuck? http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/bp...

Please read about cat nutrition.

                               http://www.newdestiny.us/nutritionbasics...

                               http://www.catinfo.org/feline_obesity.ht...

      http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.ht...

Vetinarian diets  The reason your vet thinks so highly of the pet food they sell probably has more to do with money than nutrition. In vet school, the only classes offered on nutrition usually last a few weeks, and are taught by representatives from the pet food companies. Vet students may also receive free food for their own dogs and cats at home. They could get an Iams notebook, a Purina purse and some free pizza.  http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring04...

Answer 5

go to the vet and see whats wrong.

Answer 6

Do check with your vet - he will be able to tell you if you cat is overweight or not.  Some cat breeds are larger cats, and it is a normal weight.  What you think is a saggy belly, may be just part of their body makeup.

To keep a cat active, play with him.  Use wands with toys on the end and let the cat chase it around the house - or just take some yarn and drag it around, let the cat chase and pounce on it.  Also invest in a cheap laser pointer (do NOT point it at the cat's, or anyone's, eyes). Add catnip to the toys to make it more interesting.  

Answer 7

It's great to know that you realize that you cat has gotten more weight than he could handle and needs help. However, this has to be done slowly and gradually. There are a lot of things that you need to keep in mind and one of the most important is to never cut out his food too much, too soon. With an overweight cat, weight loss has to happen gradually to prevent fatty liver disease.

Here's a great website with well researched info and guide on how to properly create a diet plan:-

http://www.thepetcenter.com/imtop/catwei...

A Short summary:-

To get a cat to lose weight, do the following after consulting with your veterinarian:

1.) Have a thorough physical exam, lab tests, and accurate weigh recorded. Be sure to rule out hypothyroidism or other metabolic disorders.

2.) Feed less food than you have been

3.) Feed foods high in protein and fat and low in carbohydrate

4.) Feed small portions at intervals (2x to 4x per day) rather than continuous free access/ free choice

5.) Increase the cat’s activity/exercise by enriching the cat’s environment

6.) Reweigh the cat at three to four week intervals to assess your weight loss diet’s progress

7.) Reconsider the total daily amount fed if weight gain or no weight loss is noted

8.) Once the cat is at an idea weight, adjust the total amount fed so that the cat’s body weight remains stable.

Kindly read through the important tips and you can start him on the road to a better body and healthier life!

Answer 8

Go to the vet, because it sounds like your cat may have a problem with worms. The vet could tell what is wrong with it, or if it is just over-weight.

Answer 9

Talk to your Vet and see if he recommends any diets. Try getting your cat active by having it go outside to play or if that's not an option through a toy around the hallway and he/she might run and chase it and give a treat as an Award.

Answer 10

Many cats develop a "pooch" after being fixed.. not sure exactly why, but it's common

if you had your boy fixed a couple months ago, or even more recently, You could now just be seeing that "neuter belly" develop

No big deal.. just continue to watch his weight and activity level and make sure you're not overfeeding.

Answer 11

Feed him small amounts of a good quality dry cat food.  Any cat food that has corn or wheat in the first 3 ingredients is bad.  It's strictly filler and will make them fat.  They need 3 types of meat in the first three.  

Measure out the amount that you feed him.  On the back of your cat food package it should tell you much he gets a day (goes by weight).  

Cats generally are fat because you feed them too much.  

You can also buy weight control dry nibbles.  

Answer 12

Take him to the vet and get him checked out.

My aunts cat has the same thing, except she waited to take it to the vet and now its extremely fat.

I know you might not want to get him checked out because of a little belly fat, but it might turn into something serious like diabetes.

Until you take him to the vet, try tie-ing  a toy mouse to some string and moving it around so her tries to play with it.

Hope I helped.