Overweight cat - advice needed!

[viking_snail]

Thanks for everyone's help!
Well, we've just discovered that the 'light' biscuits she's had are actually fattier than the regular ones! So that can't have been helping    But I think cutting out or at least reducing the biscuits is a way to go.
At the moment she eats mainly Encore, Almo Nature and Science plan stuff - most of the stuff she gets is high meat content and low in carbs so we're already on to that one!

Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if the vets just try to sell stuff to us - the main reason we're going is to rule out any underlying health issues, of course we'll take on board any diet advice of theirs, but if what the nurse said is anything to go by I don't hold out much hope!

Yes we have a laser pen, unfortunately she lost interest in that! Not that I don't keep trying though! I'll  make a point of getting her to exercise at least once a day though, her favourites at the moment are a foil ball, some toy which resembles a feather boa on some string attatched to a stick (there are some crazy toys out there! :D ) and a simple piece of string - I'll drag it along the garden floor and get her running.

Hmm, I'm pretty sure she doesn't eat anywhere else - she doesn't like to leave the comfort of her garden really, so I would doubt she would stray much further than our street, and none of our neighbours have cats. She's more in and out than out for long periods too, plus she's always asking for food when she gets in!

[Fire Fox]

I wonder if your Barry is getting fed anywhere else on her morning and afternoon trips out? Does she have a collar, or could you put a note on wrapped in sellotape saying please don't feed me for my health and your phone number?

I have been reading that some cats will tend to put on weight if they eat too many carbohydrates, as cereals (rice/ wheat/ maize) are not a natural part of a cats diet. I know from my work (NHS) that some humans can also tend to gain weight this way. Maybe you could try a high meat/ low grain dry food such as Applaws or Orijen?

[Michelle (furbabystar)]

Hi Viking and Barry -

I too am the Mother of a fatty 

I have 8 cats of normal weight and then Lilly who is a tad large !!

Lilly was one of 4 kittens but the other 3 are fine 

I have tried alot of things but sadly i have given up now.......I'm no help either am i 

[Christine (Blip)]

  to Purrs, viking_snail: glad you found us and decided to join.

Barry is beautiful, although I can see there's a little too much of her.  Our Blip is currently on a weight reduction regime, which involves reducing her dried food and increasing her exercise.  JaneyK's link will give you a lot of good advice.

Good luck and keep us posted!

[Kay and Penny]

I too have a ginger female of more than ample proportions, who will not eat any fresh meat or fish, and only a  very small amount of wet cat food

but show her a dish of biccies and she's in her element, alas

in her case the damage was done, I think, while she was a kitten, and didn't get fed regularly - some days nothing, then too much - so she learnt to clear her dish however much was in it in case that was going to be all she got for a few days

I imagine this is true of quite a few rescue cats

[Rosella moggy]

  to Purrs Viking Snail and Barry of course 

Apart from substituting cat names and "normal" size of cat, I could have written your post and I feel for you.  I've been battling to no avail with the weight of my "little" 3 year old female (see said lady in my avatar). 

It's no different to humans. People (i.e. vet) will try to sell you diet food (lite this and that) when the only things to help are reduced intake and more exercise.   If you're like me you will struggle mightily with the awful cruelty of withdrawing dry food and reducing wet food  (reducing to 80g a day is a bit OTT though  )

One things for sure though, exercise can only happen with the best toys and you simply must take a peek at our shop to get the best (Da Bird with various other attachments esp Da Mosey)

No use am I? 

[Millys Mum]

If she will eat just a wet diet she will be better off, she can eat a bigger portion so feel fuller and consume less calories, dry food is high in calories.
If you can change her to a high meat low/no grain wet food that will also help.
Then you need to up exercise, have you a laser pen? Also da bird is fab for getting them moving, both of these can be found in the purrs shop 

The vets will probably tell you to feed her just dry and sell you a diet biscuit 

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

i definately wouldnt slash her food like that and gradually is the best.

i would start reducing the biscuits slowly and then leave some biscuits and reduce rhe wet food.

treats and human food should stop and maybe biscuits used as a treat eventually.

its a hard thing to do and i am trying to reduce my two big cats weight too, one is over 6.5 kgs and the other has reached 6kgs grrrrrrrrrr

[Janeyk]

Hi and  to Purrs! glad you found us 


  Barry is lovely!  Ths link has some info which may help:

http://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/index.php/topic,4832.0.html

[Dawn F]

I've got a ahem slightly portly cat myself lol!  her main problem is that she will only eat biscuits - lots of people here will recommend wet food only to help with weight loss - also toys that make them run around a bit da bird from the purrs shop or the laser pointer go down well

welcome by the way!

[viking_snail]

Hi - I've come here looking for some advice about our overweight cat. We've been trying to help her lose weight, but so far haven't achieved much.
Our cat is a female moggy called Barry (thought she was a boy when she was a kitten but the name stuck!) and she's 3 years old. She has been spayed and I'd say she'd be a medium-large cat if she weren't overweight. We have two other cats with no weight problems.

She used to eat 'regular' cat food (whiskers, felix etc) - around half a can a day plus biscuits, the same as our other cats. We noticed she was getting quite overweight, and have switched her food to light food. Recently she's been getting a light pouch/can twice a day plus some light biscuits - around 180g of food per day, although at the moment we're trying cutting out the biscuits as they're alot fattier and giving her another small can a day instead.

When we started monitoring her weight she was 6.8kg, and her weight has fluctuated each week by around 100g, the lightest she got was 6.5kg, but at the moment she's at 6.7kg, so we haven't got very far. We've been making an effort to play with her more so she gets more exercise, and she goes out morning and night so she's fairly active.
She seems well in herself, and is still capable of washing, jumping, running etc.

We're taking her to the vets on wednesday to rule out any health issues causing/affecting her weight, but today the nurse reccommended giving her just 80g plus a few biscuits of food per day. Well, we didn't think much to that - cutting her food so dramatically seems cruel and from what I've read putting a cat on a diet must be a gradual thing.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Ooh, and here's a pic of our lovely Barry: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v673/help_im_a_snail/barry-1.jpg