Putting my cat on a diet

Question

shes a fatty not too bad 13.5 pounds but the vet even said shes a little overweight we cut down her food when she hit a year old but shes still seems to be getting fatter. anyway my question is whats a good way to cut her food down i was going to only give her very small amounts breakfast lunch and dinner time is that good or is there a different way. shes pretty smart and i figure shes gonna ration herself and make the little bit last because thats what she did when we first cut her food down she used to get like 3 bowls a day and the first day we didnt refill it she started making one bowl last all but any suggestions besides not giving into her cute little face lol?

Answer 1

It's all about portion control (just like for us).  If she is on wet food (which is better for them), feed her a third to half a can at a time.  If she is on dry food, feed her the suggested serving size for her weight that's on the package.  Whatever she doesn't eat after 30 minutes, take it from her.  Feed her about 2-3 times a day.  That is the advise my FMIL got from the vet when she took one of her overweight cats in for a checkup/shots.

Edit:  That's the serving suggestion if you feed her ONLY wet food.  If you're giving both, you should pick one or the other, like just feed her dry food.  There's really no point to giving her 1/2 of a teaspoon, that's like the size of your fingertip.  Just cut that out altogether and switch to a diet dry food.  However, Ken is right.  Wet food is much, much better than dry food.  It is so much healthier for cats.

Answer 2

Try feeding her only dry food. Wet food is very palatable for cats, which makes them eat more.

Just like people, cats need exercise to lose weight. Does your cat get exercise and play time often? My cat loves to chase around laser pointers and toy mice, but every cat prefers a different kind of toy.

Answer 3

Well, you have named the problem. Feeding less kitty crack isn't the way to go on a doet. Feed the right food for the species an normal amounts and your cat will be healthy and lose weight Stop feeding 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 ingredient a muscle meat like chicken or is it meal or other things? Learn what meal and other things mean here.

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

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 of food allergies probably from the grains. Constipation? Dry food, not enough moisture. Blockages? Again not enough moisture in the food and you are risking something serious. People on this board say feed fiber but this is a cat not a dog and cats are obligate carnivores unlike dogs an they don't eat cereal and don't need fiber.

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

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 all or grains  at least in the first 3 ingredients if at all. Fancy feast is a middle grade food as it uses a muscle meat as the first ingrediant. 9lives, friskies whiskas are lower grade canned but still better then dry and wellness and merrick upper grade human quality foods.

Many foods are not mentioned here but if you read the labels you wiull know if it is qualaty. The price offers no guideline.

The optimum food to feed cats has no grains whatsoever, cats have no use for them and many have trouble processing them as well as the carbs. IBD is another disease that is rapidly becoming common amoung cats because of the inappropriate diets being fed.

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? Why do people constantly repeat this old wives tale and put teeth over the organs like the kidneys?? (I have no clue)   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...

Answer 4

You should take her outside more. You could walk her w/your new puppy. Only feeding her 2x per day should help. That's how often I feed mine. When you feed wet food, make sure to subtract the amount of dry food to compensate. 1/8 to 1/4 of a can is a serving. Since you don't want a hungry cat, slowly cut her food back.  

I have the same problem w/my cat. He's overweight, & he goes outside most of the day. We've started feeding him separately, which is hard b/c after he eats his food, he begs to go outside to eat the other cats' food!  

Answer 5

Dry food is fattening and make your cat more susceptible to kidney and urinary-tract problems. No-grain premium wet food is best. (Raw food diet is ideal.) If you are going to do that, make sure the change is gradual, though.

Answer 6

From my blog:

Why do cats get fat? It can be a combination of issues, or just one. First the obvious - overfeeding. This may happen either because you're giving in to the begging or because you're free-feeding (keeping food available all day) and your cat is not self-regulated. The second reason is feeding inappropriate, low-quality food (most dry foods). The third would be medical reasons I'm not qualified to discuss, but they're rare. Most cats are fat simply because they're fed the wrong food and are fed too much.

Is it bad for cats to be overweight? Of course! It's very bad. It often leads to diabetes, not to mention that fat cats probably don't feel very cat-like. Who would when dragging around extra pounds?

Why is dry food bad? With very few exceptions, dry food is not appropriate food for cats. It's chock full of carbs/sugar, doesn't provide enough meat-based protein, and is often loaded with grains such as wheat or corn (which provide those carbs/sugars). Wheat, corn and soy are known allergens and in many cats will cause digestive upsets. Not to mention most also contain "meal" and "byproducts." Cats are obligate carnivores who need to eat a diet high in protein (from meat) and fat and very low in carbs. The mouse is the perfect cat food - meat, organs and bones, with perhaps a tiny bit of grains that may exist in the mouse's stomach. In addition, dry food leaves cats dehydrated. They do not instinctively drink enough water because they're designed to get it IN their food. This results in concentrated urine which can lead to all sorts of problems. And it DOES NOT CLEAN THE TEETH! Really - think about - does dry food clean OUR teeth? If it did wouldn't dentists prescribe cookies instead of brushing?

What should cats eat? Cats should eat a species appropriate diet which very much resembles Atkins (Catkins). A raw diet is the very best, so long as it's properly supplemented to meet a cat's nutritional needs. There are many raw feeding forums available through Yahoo Groups that one can join to learn more. The next best choice is a good quality canned food (or even a commercially prepared raw diet such as Nature's Variety). These foods will have meat listed as the first ingredient, will not contain corn, wheat or soy, may include organ meats, and will not list "meal" or "byproducts." See the What to feed link for suggestions. Additionally, the brand By Nature Organics is a very good food, and at 150 calories per 6oz can, is a very good choice for weight loss.

What about supplements for weight loss? The addition of L-Carnitine to a cat's diet may assist with weight loss. 250-500 mg per day can be added to assist with weight loss. It is probably best to start with a lower dosage until you see how your cat reacts.

How soon will I see results? Cats need to lose weight slowly, at the rate of no more than 1 pound per month, and often less. This is because rapid weight loss may cause hepatic lipidosis (fatty liver) which can be fatal.

Why is this info different from what my vet told me?  Many vets haven't been properly trained in feline nutrition.  They may attend basic small animal classes, but the only cat-specific training they receive is sponsored by Hills.  Not surprisingly, they are taught to reach for a bag of Hills __/d when a cat presents with a particular problem (k for kidney, d for diabetes, etc.).  I am not a nutritionist but I've gathered this information from people who DO know what they're talking about.  (See links below).

So what should I do?  The solution is to switch the fat cat (and any others in the household as well) to a good quality grainless canned food (or research raw feeding). Because these foods are species appropriate, the cat will lose weight at a safe, slow pace (no more than 1 pound per month). Switching foods needs to occur slowly, and if you're trying to get a kibble junkie to eat canned food, that will happen naturally.

How much should my cat eat?

This varies. Average cats may eat between 20-30 calories per pound per day. But note that that is IDEAL pounds. Using 25 calories per day for example, an 8 pound cat could eat 200 calories per day. By the same token, a cat who weighs 20 pounds but should weigh 10 could eat 250 calories per day. You multiply the ideal weight by the calories to arrive at that figure. When working toward weight loss, it's perhaps best to start at the lower end of the scale (20).

How do I find out how many calories are in cat food? See the link "Values in canned food." If it's not listed there, you'd need to contact the manufacturer.....I believe that link provides some help there as well.

How will I know it's working?  Because this takes time you probably won't "see" any results for quite a while.  You may not even be able to feel them.  If dragging kitty off to a clinic to be weighed once a month is not an option, then you might want to consider buying a baby scale.  The best scale will also list ounces in addition to pounds, so you can really see what's happening.  But if that's not an option, just jump on the human scale yourself and note your weight.  Add cat and repeat.  Then do the math.

That's it. Easy as pie. Not only will fat cats lose weight, but it and any others in the home will reap many benefits of eating a speciies appropriate diet.

See the links below for detailed information on this topic.

UPDATE: Sophie lost 2 pounds in a year following this plan.  She was already at a healthy weight but the new diet fine tuned her.  Poppy lost 5 pounds the first year which wasn't bad.  The following year when I switched her from canned to raw she gained back a few pounds but that was due to a number of different factors - all of them user error on my part!  But she's almost back down to where she was, and THEN it's only 4 pounds to go!

Answer 7

Sounds like your on the right track with diet and exercise. A half a teaspoon of wet food is not too much. Some other things you might try are:

1. A raw meat diet. Cats are designed to digest protein, not carbohydrates. Sometimes putting them on a raw meat diet can help them lose weight. However it can be complicated because they need added supplements and be sure to check with you vet first. If you google "raw meat diet" cats you'll come up with many sites and recipes. Be sure to switch her over slowly.

2. For additional exercise try using some dry kibble and have her play fetch, combining eating with exercise.

3. I trained my cat to a harness and leash and she loves going on walks around the neighborhood. Maybe you can get in more time walking her with this.  

Answer 8

I agree with not giving her wet food. I don't know if you do, but if so, only give her dry from now on. I would continue lessening the amount you give her and in addition to that, I would feed her some of the weight loss dry cat foods they have out. Pretty much every main brand makes a diet cat food that you can get anywhere. Does she get any exercise? Try playing with her. Buy one of those feathers on a stick they have in the pet aisles in stores and she'll jump around and burn a lot of calories.  Good Luck!

Answer 9

not only give her dry food, you have to give her only 1 bowl per day.  i I do to the same to my THREE cats.

They seems fine they dont ask for food.

try giving 3/4 of the bowl to your cat of dry food and you will

see that she would not get fatter.

good luck with the cats!

  

Answer 10

I would suggest to get her a dry food. But when you change her food mix in just a little of the new stuff with her wet food starting with 1/4 dry 1/2 dry and then 3/4 dry food untill your giving her all dry food because it could up set her stomache. Then i would suggest only feeding her in the morning and the night and feed her regular amounts and slowing cutting back on how much you give her. I would suggest in about a month see should be eating (depending on her bread)1/2 to  3/4 a cup of food. Keep her active and remember dont give into her cute little face! lol

good luck

kendall