my kitten starting to get fat

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

Also, with dry food be careful with the quantities as it is very calorie dense so if the amount you feed starts creeping up it can very easily lead to weight gain.  I woud recommend swapping one of the dry meals for a wet meal if you can.

[Desley (booktigger)]

I would definitley change the kitten to adult, as they have less calories in, and try and just do the mid and end range.

[kem]

We feed them three different types of dry each day - to make sure they dont get bored of having the same thing over and over!

They get the cheap adult supermarket stuff in the morning, a middle range kitten food one for lunch (which contains more meat - 25% i think), and then the really expensive one for dinner which has 80% meat and is for kittens which doesn't have that much grain in.

Would love to feed them this all the time, but its just too expensive for us to do this for every meal.


Will look into Da Bird - she used to love jumping up to catch things, so this may get her interested again. We actually got her a panic mouse a while back which she loves! Used to run round after it, jumping into the air etc. But now she just rolls on her back and waits for it to pass close enough to her! 

[Desley (booktigger)]

Is she on kitten food or adult food? I would keep them on the higher meat content foods, as the lower ones will have more grains and they tend to be the culprits in weight gain. Good on you for trying to do something at such an early stage though, it is much easier to control weight at this stage than wait till they need to lose loads.

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

At 9 months, they are past that fast growing stage and do tend to need less food (esp when neutered as the metabolism slows down then).  However, it's difficult to tell whether they're overweight as they do have a habit of growing upwards, then outwards and so on so can go through periods of being a little chubby.  I would reduce her food ever so slightly and make sure she runs around a lot - is she as active as when she was younger?  9 months is also an age where they can become a bit less active as they are generally past that manic kitten stage - but mainly just keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't grow into a chubby adult.

[snarf]

my girl has a tendancy to be a little on the porky side- mainly in the winter but still  shes also not usually that energetic with a few exceptions- ping pong ball in the bath  , "Da Bird" , and escaping the cat proofing!

Da Bird is this

http://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/catalog/da-bird-uk-gocat-da-bird-cat-toy-part-easy-store-rod-p-38.html

theres some great photos and ive brought it for quite a few mates cats and its been a hit everywhere so far and it deff gets them moving!

[kem]

I read somewhere that females that are neutered tend to gain weight easily - which is why i'm keeping a close eye on her, but its hard to tell if she's starting to get overweight or if its just her having another growth spurt. They are so big now i can’t actually imagion they could get much bigger!

Will ring the vets tomorrow to see what they suggest - it could be that I'm just being paranoid and she will grow into it. But I do need to keep trying to get her to actually do some exercise!

Found a piece of string today which she went mental over, and now both of them are playing in and out of the curtain - taking it in turns to be the one behind it.  Just need to keep this up for the next 20 odd years!

[Millys Mum]

She could eat her fill on wet food but consume less calories as its not as concentrated, would ease the scrounging.  There are foods around now that smell alot less  not liking the smell is a small sacrifice to make for her future health. If she is overweight now it doesnt stand in good stead for her adult hood, increasing her chances of illnesses such as diabetes and urinary crystals.
I'd rather not have the house pong of cat meat but its all part of owning carnivorous animals!

[Lottie (Team Svartalfheim's)]

Definately take her to the vets and get her checked and then if they do advise she needs to lose weight you know what her starting weight is to judge progress by. Have you considered changing her onto a diet especially designed for neutered cats or putting her onto adult food as neutered kittens do not require as many calories as entire kittens.

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

pleased she is neutered 

brothers and sisters are often quite different in behaviour and looks, so not always right to do a direct comparison, better to get her weighed to start with 

[Rosella moggy]

Female cats who have been spayed are prone to putting on weight and esp less active ones on a 100% dry food diet but I agree with Gillian that it's not normally the case in a kitten of only 9 months.  Is there no way you could get over your aversion to feeding them wet food as, if she is overweight already, I think that is the likely cause.  Even if she is not overweight now, she may well be in time on a dry only diet.   Whether or not they were wormed a few months ago, it wouldn't hurt to worm them again but it doesn't sound like that is the problem. 

Your vet probably has a fat club that you could take her along to for a vet nurse to check her out?  Our fat club is free 

I really do sympathise.  It's so difficult to ignore the pitiful bleating of a beautiful pud who rolls over to reveal an even more beautiful tummy to break your resolve    Our Noni is such a cat.  It is incredibly difficult and a long journey trying to get a cat to lose weight but so easy to let them put it on esp indoor only puds.  We have had to be really firm feeding Noni separately for the last year.  She has lost a little and you do eventually get into a routine but it's a real trial     

[kem]

We were feeding them slightly more than the recommended amount as her brother has getting really hungry and was pushing her out the way to eat her food! so we started to feed them both a bit more as we thought they must be having a growth spurt.

So now we have put her back on the recommended amount for her age, making sure her brother doesn't eat any of hers.

I havent seen any evidence of worms - been checking their poo everyday, but might be worth me taking her to the vets to check.

I've never had cats before so bit embarressed to take her to the vet for just being overweight when the obvious answer is for her to get more exercise and to eat the right amount of food.

Just a shame she isnt more like her brother who plays all day - although who could resist a cat who loves her belly tickled!

And yes - we have taken her to the vets before, and they are both neutered, had their jabs and been de-fleed - just can't remember if they were wormed at the same point as well.

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

when yoiu say you havent taken her to a vet yet...................does that mean never?

Are her and her brother neutered? If not she could be pregnant!

[Gillian Harvey]

You shouldnt be restriciting a 9 month old kitten's food unless your vet has said so, I would be very surprised if a kitten that age was overweight - have they been wormed recently?

There are ready prepared raw diets you can buy that contain the right balance of meat, organs and bones - this is a good company, I use their meats. Don't be put off by the fact it says dog food, they do meats for cats too, you just have to ring them. http://www.darlingsrealdogfood.com/

[Dawn F]

have you tried puzzle feeders - personally I'd be warying of putting a kitten on a diet but that is just me

[kem]

I havent taken her to a vet yet (but will do if it gets out of control), but i've found a website where it shows you what they should look like from the top, and shes defiently fat according to that. Her mid section is fatter than her shoulders.

We feed them dry food, as I can't go near wet cat food as it just makes me feel sick. We've got one which is 80% meat which we feed them in the evenings, and for the morning and lunch we feed them ones that contain less - 25% and 12%(?). (I didn't want them to get bored of the same flavour all the time!)

I was looking into feeding them raw food but I just wouldnt know what I had to feed them to give them a balanced diet.

[clarenmax]

It can be hard, my bridge baby Max had to go on a diet for a while as he was getting rather chunky!!

What food are you feeding?  I know that dry food is supposed be worse for putting weight on than wet?

[Dawn F]

has the vet said she is fat?  what is her outline like if you look down on her from above

[kem]

I’ve got two indoor cats – or rather kittens as they are only 9 months old, and I’m worried that one of them is getting too fat. I did originally think she was just having a growth spurt, but she now just doesn’t look right and starting to waddle slightly.

We’ve been feeding her less than her brother for about a month now and this seems to have helped, but she now seems hungry all the time – constantly crying for food, and rushing into the kitchen to see if she can find any scraps, which is making me feel really guilty!

We’re also been trying to play with them more each day, but it’s very difficult to get her to play. She starts playing but then prefers to watch her brother play or to roll over on her back for cuddles.

We’ve even tried catnip to get her going – but all with no luck, she just eats it and walks away!

Anyone got any ideas how to get her weight down?