Strategies for dealing with an obese cat?

[NNadir]

A few months back, my wife and I adopted a cat and her son from a shelter.

She was still nursing at the time, despite being spayed. As soon as she got here she forcefully weaned her son.

The thing is was that she was clearly way over weight when we adopted her; her son, Harry, is just fine.

We took her to the vet, as required by our adoption contract, and the vet said she was healthy, but overweight.

She is always trying to eat Harry's food. Harry is a diffident eater; he walks away and comes back, and if he walks away, and we don't take the dish away, his Mom will finish it off.

We are trying to count calories, to limit her intake to 200 calories a day. It isn't working though. We're feeding her Purina One high protein, suggested by the vet, said to be good for obese cats, but we think she's even fatter now than when we got her.

We know from her history she'd been a street cat while pregnant, and maybe the memory of her hunger makes her gorge as she does.

I'd be interested in any advice from anyone with experience in this issue.

[SuzyandPuffpuff]

1. Retired vet tech

Never ez but yr going to have to feed them separately. I don't ever free feed bcz 1) I can't witness who eats and who doesn't. And 2) it encourages gorging. Cats are fussy. Multiple small meals a day is the best way to monitor . If the son is a nibbler put his food in one place and close the door. When he wants to eat he'll let Yu know. Obese cats are likely to get diabetes which is tough to manage and or fatty liver disease which is extremely painful and eventually deadly. Good luck. I've worked with cats for years. Love em and hate em at the same time lol

[NNadir]

7. Thanks. We feed twice a day, and never free feed. We do keep a separate stash for the youngster in my downstairs...

...office. He knows exactly how to ask for it when he wants it, a kind of dance, sometimes with a leap to the desk, that we both understand. He's always looking over his shoulder to see if his Mom's around.

For him, I guess, it borders on "free feeding." However he's not obese, is very active, and is still growing. My wife and I are having a debate over whether he's still a kitten (her position) or a cat, my position. (He's 7 months old.)

We'll be more controlled if we see him taking after his mother.

[Nigrum Cattus]

2. have her thyroid checked

my youngest is a slow eater and I have to feed her
separate in my bedroom, it takes her hours to finish
just a single sheba

[NNadir]

6. Thanks. I think they did that during the first checkup. She was OK then.

[crud]

3. we put a little chart on the refrigerator

and we feed our single cat about 1 oz of dry food at a time. Each time we move a magnet on the chart to keep track. He also gets 1 oz of wet food in the morning and evening. So he can't just graze whenever. some days the magnet gets moved 4-5 spots, some times less. Our kitty is basically maintaining his ample girth, and not gaining at this time. Hope it helps.

[SheltieLover]

4. My departed rescue girl was elderly & 16 lbs

She was not a big cat, but she had an outsized appetite.

To make matters worse, she absolutely would not play. At all.

I bought her a super sturdy cat tree, which she loved, so at least she got a little bit of extra exercise climbing up it. She loved it

Also another DUer, whose nane I have forgotten, suggested this food which, after researching it, I put on auto ship with Chewy:

Evanger's Organics Braised Chicken Dinner Canned Cat Food, 5.5-oz, case of 24

Many thanks to the DUer who helped me.

It is pricey, but even my very picky girl would eat it without hesitation consistently.

Chewy has some great deals going now for the holidays. 35% off on 1st autoship on this food at the moment.

Also, the 1 toy even she couldn't resist sometimes is called the Cat Dancer. It's little pieces of cardboard on a wire.

I think the suspect ingredient in cat food that the other DUer shared about was carrageenan. The evanger's food does not contain this potentially problematic ingredient.

Like all mammals, controlling diet & increasing exercise are key to weight mgmt.

I had also tried the Doc & Phoebe's Cat Co. Indoor Hunting Cat Feeder Kit. These are little plastic "mice" that you fill with dry food, which is supposed to provide the cat with the opportunity to hunt for their food, get more exercise & feel more fulfilled.

Not sure if it would've worked because Pittie sniffed them out and destroyed them. lol

When Trixie was about 7 yrs younger, she began having idiopathic UTIs, which vet said are often caused by being oveweight. Vet reccommended to limit food i take & put a small amt, I think it was 1/4 tsp of a product named Pet Kelp on her food.

Seems there had been recent research reflecting that glucosamine can help prevent idiopathic UTIs.

Also tried compounded anti-depressant vet rxd to try to help with appetite control. I didn't notice a difference, other than nearly being shredded daily when I rubbed it into the inside of ear tip.

I hope this helps.

Good luck with your kitty.

[NNadir]

5. Thanks. They have lots of toys - my wife buys them compulsively - and, in fact, she sometimes gets the zoomies with...

...her son.

We have lots of cans of wet food - kitten food - when we cat sat our son's cat before getting these two. (There was a brief unhappy overlap.)

We had to feed our elderly cat canned food in her last years, we have some left. My wife understands quality better than I do; she doesn't like to spend money but she will for quality. It's probably good stuff.

We lost the old lady early this year, at the time of the first "No Kings" demonstrations.

The Evanger's sounds like an idea to discuss with my wife however.

Thanks again.

[SheltieLover]

8. Kitten food might have higher calories

Try to get her to play more.

Catnip to encourage it? My girl was immune to catnip, sadly.

Good luck!

[3catwoman3]

9. 2 of our 4 cats, both altered boys, were getting a bit chunky.

We switched from mostly dry food to mostly canned pate' for everyone. We feed everybody 4 times a day - 3 of the feedings are the pate', which we mix with enough water to make a slurry. The vet says the wet food fills them up more, and sticks with them longer, and the water also helps fill them up more as well as helping with hydration.

They get a more generous amount of the pate' for breakfast, and smaller amounts at 2 PM and 10PM. A small scoop of kibble at 7 PM, in the slow feeder dishes that make them work for it.

Everyone is fed in a separate location because the younger boy eats like a dog - pretty much inhales his food. He'd be done and going to everyone else's bowls before they'd be half done.

Both boys slimmed down noticeably in just a few months.

Good luck.

Just remembered - I saw a type of slow feeder dish for canned food on an episode of Jackson Galaxy's My Cat From Hell show. The dish had sloping sides with textured surfaces that you mash the pate' into. Don't have a link - sorry.

[NNadir]

10. Thanks. These sound like good ideas. I'll talk it over with the household head cat mistress, my wife.

Unfortunately, our schedules allow for only two feedings a day.