Fat cat: thin cat...been told off

[Millys Mum]

I think its mean to go from free fed to 2 meals aday, would probably encourage them to scavenge. 12 hrs is a long time for a cat to go, they digest things much quicker than us.

Cats soon get used to being fed at 'mealtimes' like Susanne said, if you phase it in gradually. Cats won't scavenge if they know they are getting regular mealtimes. If you feed morning and evening and then a small meal at bedtime, thats not a long time between meals - no cat is going to starve just because food isnt available through the night!

I meant going straight to 2 meals if they are used to snacking. I feed at set meal times and they go overnight without free food to eat so i agree they wont melt away.

[Maddiesmum]

They say in the article I posted the link to that you can give chicken breast if you MUST give a treat?

[Tan]

Thanks for that link Chrissie hun Good read

I have been a bad mum and been to soft with Garfy and he now has a whiskers tempation addiction and is a bit too chubby  so we are both on a diet soon.  I really need to find something to wean him off tempations that is health and not treats!  Garffy's gotta go to Rehab!!  No no no!!!

Marl on the other hand is a good weight and is more enerjetic than Garf  He likes wet food more so i am wondering if it is the dry (and the tempations) that is storing fat on Garf chub chub)

[zoe (tiggy + pipins mum)]

I have had 6 cats in the past, 2 on diets, 2 underweight and 2 that were perfectly fine, and I managed to get the overweight cats to lose while the underweight cats didn't. There was never any biscuits left down, and the underweight cats had an extra meal while the overweight cats were in a different room. I dont rate light dry foods, although Zi has senior food in an attempt to help her lose weight, but in other cats, limiting dry food and increasing wet has helped - and with some, senior wet food helped more than normal wet.

I have just done this exact thing with tiggy she only used to eat dry food but now she  only has a very small amount of dry food and 2 and a half pouches of food a day and she has gained weight nicely last year she was a worrying 2.7kg last week she went to the vets and is now 3.4kg which considering she is only little i dont think is too bad on the other hand patch is 6.2kg and i cant get her to loose weight how ever hard i try 

[Mark]

Mark, I wonder about trying Willow on a grain-free diet?

Also, although Orijen looks expensive they never waste any and they eat less of it.

I have tried them with Orijen but they aren't very keen. For quite some time, Willow was on RC sensitive but has decided she doesn't like it now (after I ordered a big bag  ), Last week I had a delivery of RC Renal and Arden Grange Sensitive which is also grain-free. It's pretty much the same as Orijen, only cheaper. I don't know if you saw the thread but Willow was diagnosed CRF 2 weeks ago so I am trying to get her to eat that. Kylie who is overweight is being given the Arden Grange but hardly touches it.

[CarolM (Wendolene)]

 I had no idea that it's useless comparing meat/protein % in wet and dry food without taking into account moisture levels.  Am I the only one  ?  

I doubt it    I came across how to calculate the equivalent dry matter on www.felinecrf.org which also has tables showing relative protein and phosphorus content of most of the available cat foods.

[Rosella moggy]

Very interesting link Maddiesmum esp "HOW TO CALCULATE THE PERCENT DRY MATTER IN A PET FOOD"  I'm now rather more impressed with protein level in Felix AGAIL.  I had no idea that it's useless comparing meat/protein % in wet and dry food without taking into account moisture levels.  Am I the only one  ?  

[Gillian Harvey]

I think its mean to go from free fed to 2 meals aday, would probably encourage them to scavenge. 12 hrs is a long time for a cat to go, they digest things much quicker than us.

Cats soon get used to being fed at 'mealtimes' like Susanne said, if you phase it in gradually. Cats won't scavenge if they know they are getting regular mealtimes. If you feed morning and evening and then a small meal at bedtime, thats not a long time between meals - no cat is going to starve just because food isnt available through the night!

[moiramassey]

One of cats, Mini, has always been skinny to the point of being boney. Even feeding her kitten food did not help. She has never shown much interest in any food.

Changing to Orijen dried (from Science plan) changed that. She really likes it and is putting on some weight for the first time in her life (she is 9). It is down all the time (and no, none of the cats are overweight).

I also give them an evening treat of Applaws, one 156g can between four, and Mini actually squeaks to be given her share! Strangely enough, she wasn't that keen on chicken breast or tuna before I started feeding the Orijen. Maybe her digestive system is just working better.

Also, she is producing many fewer hairballs.

Changing to a non-grain food was a really good idea for all mine but for Mini in particular. Mark, I wonder about trying Willow on a grain-free diet?

Also, although Orijen looks expensive they never waste any and they eat less of it.

[Maddiesmum]

you can never win with cats!

[fluffybunny]

Thanks Maddiesmum, that's really interesting 

The new problem I have encountered is that the RC ultra light obviously smells delicious, and Milly is now refusing her food and wanting to eat Geoffreys    I have some pouches of RC sensitive in the cupboard that I keep on hand, so I gave her one of those instead.  I think I might have to invest in some other RC pouches for Milly for the duration of the weight loss phase of this diet! 

[Maddiesmum]

http://www.thepetcenter.com/imtop/catweight.html

Found this site re obesity in cats, makes quite interesting reading.  Only scanned it quickly but am going back for a good read later today.  You might find it helpful?

[Kally]

I go to mixure of 2 vets cause were on benefits if we can make it to RSPCA we can usually for boosters but sometimes we go to private vet and if you get the younger one you get told nonsense but if you get the older one your fine we were told missy was a big built cat but was underweight well its wrong shes fluffy which makes her seem bigger and we cant get her weight any higher no matter what we do and we were told that salem was average build cat and was overweight no ive checked with the older vet and vets at RSPCA and they agree with me that salem is over average  weight of 4kg but is not overweight and missy is not underweight at all wouldnt mind but you could tell by missys paws shes a tiny cat and tbh same with salem his paws are huge i tend to find it surprising that the vet pics on me about them two cause i tend to get complaints from neighbours that riff looks under weight (hes purrfectly fine)

[fluffybunny]

I don't free feed at the moment anyway because Geoffrey will just eat everything that is left, so I don't think it'll make a huge difference in that respect...I will see how it goes but hope I have enough common sense to find a solution that works for everyone if this doesn't seem to work for them. 

Geoffrey ate some of the new RC wet light for dinner so it obviously doesn't taste as bad as the hills 

[Millys Mum]

Yes this is what my vet has told me to do - she said there will be some whingeing for a few days but they will soon get used to the idea that food goes down - 15 minutes later bowls come up...and the same thing again in the evening.  She said although it sounds counter-intuitive for Milly, she will soon learn that dinner time = the only opportunity to get fed and in the medium term it might help keep her weight more stable as she is more likely to eat the food when offered rather than leave it for later (and then Geoffrey eat it in the meantime!)

I think its mean to go from free fed to 2 meals aday, would probably encourage them to scavenge. 12 hrs is a long time for a cat to go, they digest things much quicker than us.

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

Fortunately  mine are both an ideal weight and have always been fed set meals.  It did take Mosi a while to get used to that concept as he was used to free feeding dry food, but as he was a kitten I just gave him extra meals when he was little.  He gradually got used to the idea that he was only going to get it at meal times and if he didnt' eat them he would have to wait.  I do think he'd do ok with free feeding but Jaffa wouldn't so I can't leave food down.  Jaffa is a gannet and I had to stop leaving food down all the time when he was still very small.  He'd eat whatever I put down as soon as I put it down.

[Kay and Penny]

I have a fatty and a skinny - though it's fatty who picks at her wet food, while skinny wolfs his down and then sits politely waiting until she walks away before cleaning up what she leaves - I swear she pretends to still be eating just to test him

but she always eats up her dry, while he only eats a small amount of it - and I think it is the dry which piles on the pounds

[Michelle (furbabystar)]

My Lilly (cat) is hugely over weight and i have tried the diets but nothing works ....I guess she is just destined to be fat 

[Kirst]

I too have two gannets and one that wont eat - I have to feed Beavis seperately as one look from the others is all it takes for him to leave his dinner and he cant afford to really. I cant leave food down or Gizmo will be morbily obese so I have to feed Beavis on the work surface and literally stand guard over him to make sure he eats!

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

that sort of feeding does not work here and ws tried when i was trying to train sasa to not be so scared, as food was used to train.

my cats graze over a perios and if they eat everything in one go they get sick.

its not right for all cats and like mark i know whats best for mine..........except i wish i could get franta to eat more...........sigh

[fluffybunny]

Whereabouts in the country are you Fluffybunny?  I have 8 boxes (96 pouches) of Royal Canin obesity management looking for a good home.  I would be prepared to deliver them up to 20/25 miles.  I am in the northwest, just north of Bolton.

You're very kind Carol, but I couldn't really be further away, I'm an Essex girl innit  I bet there'd be a rescue that would gladly take them off your hands if they're going begging 

I have been to PAH and bought some RC ultra light, so I shall give that a go.  It will be interesting to see whether Milly takes to the new routine or whether she's like Mark's Willow.  She is a healthy weight now though so the vet was happy to go ahead with changing the routine even though she might miss a meal or two to start with.  Knowing Milly she will just eat some mice instead 

[Desley (booktigger)]

I have had 6 cats in the past, 2 on diets, 2 underweight and 2 that were perfectly fine, and I managed to get the overweight cats to lose while the underweight cats didn't. There was never any biscuits left down, and the underweight cats had an extra meal while the overweight cats were in a different room. I dont rate light dry foods, although Zi has senior food in an attempt to help her lose weight, but in other cats, limiting dry food and increasing wet has helped - and with some, senior wet food helped more than normal wet.

[Mark]

Try it for a few days anyway Mark. You will be surprised at how well our furbabes train us ...

I really do know Willow well enough to know it won't work. I can't afford experiements with her as I can feel her ribcage. She is the kind of cat that if you have been out all day, she will appear with the others to greet you but unlike the others, if you put food in front of her, she will sniff it and walk off.

[CarolM (Wendolene)]

Yeah I was going to have a look for the RC one, apparently RC have just brought out an "ultra light" pouch diet so I thought I'd see if I can find that. 

Whereabouts in the country are you Fluffybunny?  I have 8 boxes (96 pouches) of Royal Canin obesity management looking for a good home.  I would be prepared to deliver them up to 20/25 miles.  I am in the northwest, just north of Bolton.

[Beth]

Mark, I have had this problem in the past. I fed each cat separately and removed the food once they were done. It worked, but its annoying if you have to do it long term. And never leave food down all the time (I can't anyway because the dog vacuums it up). Worked for me ...

It works if you have cats that eat at mealtimes but Willow grazes over 24 hours. 4 or 5 nuggets at a time, 2 or 3 chunks at a time. She is underweight so we can't afford to restrict her access to food. She has never been any different so there is no way of teaching her to eat when the food is there. She never asks for food - if you didn't put food out, I'm sure she would just starve without any fuss.

Lucy, my cavalier, was like that, so i had food down for her all the time, as she was also very slim. Interestingly, as soon as i restricted her access to food she began to eat properly.

[blackcat]

Try it for a few days anyway Mark. You will be surprised at how well our furbabes train us ...

[Mark]

Mark, I have had this problem in the past. I fed each cat separately and removed the food once they were done. It worked, but its annoying if you have to do it long term. And never leave food down all the time (I can't anyway because the dog vacuums it up). Worked for me ...

It works if you have cats that eat at mealtimes but Willow grazes over 24 hours. 4 or 5 nuggets at a time, 2 or 3 chunks at a time. She is underweight so we can't afford to restrict her access to food. She has never been any different so there is no way of teaching her to eat when the food is there. She never asks for food - if you didn't put food out, I'm sure she would just starve without any fuss.

[fluffybunny]

Yes this is what my vet has told me to do - she said there will be some whingeing for a few days but they will soon get used to the idea that food goes down - 15 minutes later bowls come up...and the same thing again in the evening.  She said although it sounds counter-intuitive for Milly, she will soon learn that dinner time = the only opportunity to get fed and in the medium term it might help keep her weight more stable as she is more likely to eat the food when offered rather than leave it for later (and then Geoffrey eat it in the meantime!)

[blackcat]

Mark, I have had this problem in the past. I fed each cat separately and removed the food once they were done. It worked, but its annoying if you have to do it long term. And never leave food down all the time (I can't anyway because the dog vacuums it up). Worked for me ...

[fluffybunny]

Yeah I was going to have a look for the RC one, apparently RC have just brought out an "ultra light" pouch diet so I thought I'd see if I can find that.  I don't really like giving dried food to fat cats (and Geoffrey invariably vomits dried food back up again - good for diet but bad for my carpets!) and I can't stand the smell of Hills  

[Mark]

I am really wary of light foods such as Science Plan as that is how Kylie got to the size she is. I think RC might be better but a lot of them cut down the fats and up the carbs which are harder for kitties to process whereas they are made to process fats 

Also the vet annoys me when he tells me off about Kylie as WSillow is underweight. How can you keeps cats from eachothers food? 

[fluffybunny]

Geoffrey and Milly have been for their boosters today, Geoffrey has put all the weight he lost back on, he's back up to 7.1kg    Milly is nice and stable and in good condition at 3.5 - although she is a smaller cat overall anyway.  My vet (who I see loads with all the rescue rabbits so she knows me well) looked at me sternly and said "I'm not going to tell you off, because you already know, don't you) 

So a new food regime starts very soon.  I'm going to go back to PAH to see what light diets they have in stock, I'm going to go at 2.30 as they are holding a 'rabbit awareness' session then and I'm curious to see what they are telling people