Topic: Too Fat (Read 15088 times)

Elaine · « **Reply #31 on:** May 09, 2007, 12:10:25 PM »

My vet said that he would like to see her down to just under 5 kg's. I personally think thats too much. He didnt say how much he expected her to lose over the next few weeks, he just said if she hadnt lost anything then we should get into the obesity clinic and get a plan of action. If I can get her down to just under 6kg, obviously not in the next few weeks but over a period of time, then I think I would be happier with that. But we'll see how it goes.

CurlyCatz · « **Reply #30 on:** May 09, 2007, 12:04:30 PM »

what do they want her to lose in weight terms elaine, tbh i'd say 500g would be fine from the look of her.

My seb is a very big lad and we always think of fraser as little but actually frasers a pretty good sized cat too its just most cats (and some dogs lol) look small next to seb but fras can look rotunned as he's a pretty normal length whereas seb is really long aswell as tall and heavy build if that makes any senses LOL.

Cody looks titchy compared to both of them but he's a good size for a laperm boy (they arent a massive breed & should be lean since they're semi foreign class)

Elaine · « **Reply #29 on:** May 09, 2007, 10:31:27 AM »

Quote from: Liz on May 09, 2007, 10:20:55 AM

The Diva is lovely and like all the things you do elaine it will be done with her best interest at heart but can you cope with the chaos mayhem and destruction which will accompany her diet

Good Luck

No and thats why she is coming to stay with you Liz

Liz · « **Reply #28 on:** May 09, 2007, 10:20:55 AM »

One hates to mention one should not discuss a ladies weight in front of men - ear defenders now required for Bernie!

The Diva is lovely and like all the things you do elaine it will be done with her best interest at heart but can you cope with the chaos mayhem and destruction which will accompany her diet

Good Luck

Elaine · « **Reply #27 on:** May 09, 2007, 10:07:06 AM »

Quote from: Desley (booktigger) on May 09, 2007, 08:21:28 AM

I would be concerned at a vet saying to reduce by 30% immediately, that could result in serious health issues.

I know that Desley, which is why I had said I was going to reduce by 15%. I talked with the vet again today about it and he is fine with the 15% reduction because I said I felt 30% was too much too soon.
The good news is Bernie is just fine and weighed in at 4.4kg which every one is happy with.

swampmaxmum · « **Reply #26 on:** May 09, 2007, 09:51:02 AM »

She's a large girl but looks great to me! Mine were too porky after an elderly catsitter I used to have (lovely lady but....) gave them snacks all day. They were 1kg overweight! They were on Hills diet food and the co gave me a booklet for them both to monitor their weight on a weekly basis. A 3 month diet and they were down by about 3/4 kg I think....was a while ago. I remember my then wonderful vet telling me slowly is best with weight loss and that they shouldn't eat diet nosh for more than about 3 months. They found it very palatable. There was quite a bit of yowling at the beginning as the tums rumbled though

good luck! Summer's coming (er, maybe it's been and gone!) so she may not want as much nosh anyhow?!

Kittybabe (Ruth) · « **Reply #25 on:** May 09, 2007, 09:42:11 AM »

Eva looks fabulous Elaine, Lexy has the overhang too, she's a little smaller than Eva structure wise. I agree with Des, do it slowly, a sudden reduction is not good.

Desley (booktigger) · « **Reply #24 on:** May 09, 2007, 08:21:28 AM »

I would be concerned at a vet saying to reduce by 30% immediately, that could result in serious health issues. I found with Tom though, that the vet wanted him to weigh less than the vet nurse did, so wonder if it is best to see a nurse rather than the vet. She still doesn't look all that bad on that photo Elaine - but then I am comparing to fat cat Lucy. Good luck with Bernie

Elaine · « **Reply #23 on:** May 09, 2007, 08:18:37 AM »

My vet wants her down to under 5kg's, personally I think thats too light as she is a very large cat. He did say to reduce her food intake by 30% imediately but I am airing on the side of caution and will reduce it by 15% initially and see how that goes.
She looks deceptive as she carries her weight well and looks alot smaller than she actually is.

Now you can see her underhang.
Got to go and get Bernie ready for the vets now. Catch you all later.

Liz · « **Reply #22 on:** May 09, 2007, 08:14:44 AM »

The Diva is a lovely girl and she is a big cat - I can say that as some of my boys are clocking in at 20lbs+ and don't carry any excess weight they are just big.

Having said that Miss Gracie is 6.2kgs and we tried the diet well all 37 did and it wasn't good so then we tried feeding her away from the others - not good as she was Queen of her colony and loves company so then back to the vets she hasn't gone up or down in 9 months maintaining her tortie rugby ball shape and she does play and uses the stairs but is nearly 17 so the vet said if it floats her boat leave her, she also corners well in games of chasee as she has a low centre of gravity!!!!! Miss Gracie also lives in fear of her food source disappearing as she was outside for 14 years till we got her in a trap now I have a lovely if somewhat large dribble chops!

Elaine come and see us for food and we can get the RC for you if you want - we are using indoor currently and Fit 32 so have samples for her Divaness to try if not can get samples to.

Desley (booktigger) · « **Reply #21 on:** May 09, 2007, 08:07:20 AM »

She doesn't look too bad there Elaine, but obv the vets scales say different. I read your initial post that he wanted you to reduce by 30% straight away, which is what concerned me. I do hope you can manage to get her to lose some, and maybe you will be more successful than I am being with Lucy (although have noticed her pinching Shabbas biscuits a couple of times, so that wont help, he is on full fat compared to her low fat!!)

CurlyCatz · « **Reply #20 on:** May 09, 2007, 08:05:48 AM »

She's lovely elaine and doesnt look too bad at all..I dont think you'll have much problem getting her to lose a wee bit of weight.

Elaine · « **Reply #19 on:** May 09, 2007, 07:42:35 AM »

Here you go Gill a piccie of my very portly Diva

Gill (sneakiefeline) · « **Reply #18 on:** May 08, 2007, 22:48:04 PM »

I would love to see Eva the diva

I hope that she loses weight slowly and successfully.

I am sorta dreading the summer health chack cos big boy Misa was 6.5 kg last year, he is a giant cat, but thought he was getting larger during winter, but then thought he lost it again, hopes!

As for Sasa the untouchable, she was heavy last summer but they werent bothered cos they were pleased to be able to chip and jab her and were hoping she would be more friendly in a years time.............ummmmmmmmm noooooooooooo she isnt.

Franta was weighed a couple of months ago cos i thought he was losing weight but he was only a couple of grams differet to a year ago! I know Ducha is the same too, so its 4 dinners Misa and Sasa that could be a prob grrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Rosella moggy · « **Reply #17 on:** May 08, 2007, 20:53:19 PM »

They're all different aren't they? Our little Billy Whiz has always preferred dry to wet (altho he eats both) and initially turned into a little tubby fella (during last summer too Lynn) but, even though he still prefers dry, he has visibly lost weight. I think he plays a lot more now he has been here a while and is less shy. At least I hope it's that!

Unfortunately I stand no chance of weighing the little man without a great deal of TROUBLE so can't be precise. You can usually tell whether they're too tubby or too lean if you concentrate and try really hard to be objective

OH always plays with the 2 younger boys with string about 8pm for about 1/4 hour. No wish to start the indoor/outdoor debate but think, with younger cats, they may burn off more energy if they are also outside and Freddie is chasing them

I hope Eva's progress is steady and slow. As with us humans, getting stressed about dieting doesn't help at all so it all needs to be nice and gradual for Eva not to overreact to getting less food.

CurlyCatz · « **Reply #16 on:** May 08, 2007, 19:27:22 PM »

my cats must be weird then..they put weight on in summer and with wet food LOL.

Millys Mum · « **Reply #15 on:** May 08, 2007, 18:52:59 PM »

Feeding more wet than dry helps to fill them up and with less calories, if shes the type of cat whose going to notice the lack of food

A good toy to get is a laser pen, it never goes under the furniture and you dont have to run around either

Elaine · « **Reply #14 on:** May 08, 2007, 18:41:27 PM »

Thanx all

Will keep you posted on her progress

Kittybabe (Ruth) · « **Reply #13 on:** May 08, 2007, 18:05:17 PM »

Dawn that's what I did too. I just cut out extra fish and treats and sticking to her diet which has been the 30g of dry a day plus one serving of wet. I do think 30% is high though, but Elaine don't stress yourself I think that you are taking this in the right direction because you love her so much.

Ros, yes, I am weighing Lexy once a week, though she's only 4 and not yet at senior level so we're less worried about taking bloods for her, though vet wants to see if she puts on weight before we take blood.

Have to say it freaked me out when I saw her trying to clean herself and saw her pouch...freaked me out that I may have (or probably have) to my baby's diet so Elaine am totally with you on the guilt factor.

Dawn (DiddyDawn) · « **Reply #12 on:** May 08, 2007, 17:52:56 PM »

Poor cuddly Eva

I'm not very clued up on dieting cats, it's usually my dogs that need to lose weight

I would reduce her food very gradually and her tummy should shrink accordingly so she doesn't really feel like she's having less food. I do think 30% seems abit excessive in one go

Good luck with her, xxxxxx

Elaine · « **Reply #11 on:** May 08, 2007, 17:39:52 PM »

Quote from: lynn on May 08, 2007, 17:33:25 PM

I maybe miss read, elaine were your vets suggesting to come back in a few weeks to see if you had achieved the 30% wgt loss by then ??

No, he said to reduce her food intake by 30%. Is that too much to reduce her food intake by do you think? Have been reading up on it and can only find a few that actually mention what % of food reduction is recomended. One said 15 - 20% and another said up to 30%

If so then that is crazy. I took it to mean for you to go back in a few weeks to see if ANY weight loss had been achieved and if not then start off some brand of prescrip food.

Yes, I have to take her back in a few weeks to see if there has been any change to her weight, if not then its the obesity clinic

CurlyCatz · « **Reply #10 on:** May 08, 2007, 17:33:25 PM »

I maybe miss read, elaine were your vets suggesting to come back in a few weeks to see if you had achieved the 30% wgt loss by then ?? If so then that is crazy. I took it to mean for you to go back in a few weeks to see if ANY weight loss had been achieved and if not then start off some brand of prescrip food.

Rosella moggy · « **Reply #9 on:** May 08, 2007, 17:28:10 PM »

Quote from: Kittybabe (Ruth) on May 08, 2007, 16:21:59 PM

In 3 weeks Lexy put on 200g. This was during and after the period of "Stelly" and we think that her anxiety and then maybe fear of losing her food may have prompted her to overeat. I also think Elaine that is my fault as I did give her extra fish to compensate, but the vet thinks that 200g is 3 weeks is huge. She weighed in at just over 4.5kg beginning of April for her MOT, and then last week Thursday at 4.73kg.

As our Tom will be 18 this Christmas (can't quite believe it!), I was concerned at how skinny he started to look last year so invested in some digital scales and have been weighing him every so often when I think to and jotting his weight on the calendar. Following your post Ruth, I just went back and looked at weights this year (last year's calendar now in bin). It seems he was 4.7kg on 22 February (which is low for him) and 5.3 on 3 March which is a lot bigger difference than 200g. Have to say I was dead chuffed that he seemed to be doing so well. I must have c**ked it up? He was 5.1kg on 1 May and as thin as a rake but they do tend to lose muscle tone in later years, don't they. I certainly don't think he needs to lose any weight at all as he is quite a tall chap and am happy that he has been stable weightwise for the last couple of months. Just a bit concerned that vet thinks 200kg is huge amount to put on in a short time. I will probably ask vet to do another geriatric blood profile and thyroid check sometime during the summer to put my mind properly at rest.

Elaine · « **Reply #8 on:** May 08, 2007, 16:22:10 PM »

Yes I meant to ask for peoples opinions on the 30% as that is what the Vet recomended. It wasnt a figure I had plucked out of thin air. I know it's a slow process, reducing a cats weight and I also know the risks of a) Not reducing her weight and b) Reducing her weight too fast.
I love her too much not to do this properly, you should have seen her jump into my arms and cling to me for dear life at the vets. Its all such a trauma for her.

Kittybabe (Ruth) · « **Reply #7 on:** May 08, 2007, 16:21:59 PM »

In 3 weeks Lexy put on 200g. This was during and after the period of "Stelly" and we think that her anxiety and then maybe fear of losing her food may have prompted her to overeat. I also think Elaine that is my fault as I did give her extra fish to compensate, but the vet thinks that 200g is 3 weeks is huge. She weighed in at just over 4.5kg beginning of April for her MOT, and then last week Thursday at 4.73kg.

I used to feed her Hills light wet, but she hates that so her diet is this now:

Morning 20g of mix JWB Light either Turkey or Lamb flavour and Perfect Fit In-Home Dry.
Evening around 6pm either one dome of Sheba (they are complementary and not high in fat) or one tin Gourmet solitaire which is also low in fat.
Bed time 10g of the dry mix.

I had to space this out as Lexy was gulping all her food down which she has never done. I used to be able to leave all her food out for her all day except the wet at night and she paced herself.

Since I changed the routine at the vets advice (and strict, no extra fish or chicken, no treats) she has started to pace herself again.

I also forked out for a Marsden vet scale so that I can monitor her weight rather than pay the vet to do it. I think she lost 10g this week so I am very very pleased. Its working and I know the vet is ok with her food.

The vet recommended r/d but she doesn't rate it with Lexy since my madam is particular about what she likes.

Desley (booktigger) · « **Reply #6 on:** May 08, 2007, 16:12:54 PM »

Elaine - I didn't rate r/d, Tom didn't lose any weight with it, so have gone for Proplan light with Lucy (she doesn't like JWB), although she hasn't lost a lot on it, so I have pretty much cut her dry out. Dont know if hte vet mentioned it, but you can't reduce by 30% in one go, you are risking HL with anything more than a 15% reduction, as it is a shock to the system. I would have said a few weeks is too soon to notice that much of a difference, I have found the first few months hard with the ones I have had, as it takes a while to get the right amount of food and exercise - although that might be as mine are rescues and I dont know their habits. Good luck, there are lots of little things like making them eat upstairs to get them moving more, throwing food individually, using treat balls etc.

Elaine · « **Reply #5 on:** May 08, 2007, 15:30:01 PM »

Thanx again Lyn. I have just called the vet and will be discussing it in more detail tomorrow when Bernie is in for a check up. Just looked on Bestpet Pharmacy for it too. Neither cat is very fussy with food, Eva used to steal Winstons k/d on occasion. They eat a mix of wet and dry foods.

CurlyCatz · « **Reply #4 on:** May 08, 2007, 15:24:28 PM »

Tis prescrip elaine but you can buy it online without prescrip.

It does cats no harm if they eat it when they dont need to but the only thing you have to watch is obviously they dont lose weight LOL. Do your babes eat dried ?? Tinned hills is A) very expensive and B) didnt use to be very appetising. If they did you could always feed both the diet and take bernie aside for seperate add ins.

Cats should lose weight quite slowly so your probably looking at 6 months + to get it off. You also get the "maintenance" food after r/d which is w/d..this is basically the same but not so low fat, it is good for the hungry cats as its higher in fibre etc and makes them feel fuller. Of course there are other brands of similar but i only have my nutrition certificates in hills.

Elaine · « **Reply #3 on:** May 08, 2007, 15:18:03 PM »

Thanx for that Lyn. I have Bernie booked in for tomorrow morning, I think he's actually just a fine weight although all will be revealed tomorrow I guess. Would the r/d food be okay for both of them to be on? Is Hills r/d prescription only?

CurlyCatz · « **Reply #2 on:** May 08, 2007, 15:11:50 PM »

Elaine it happens very easily esp when you are seeing them everyday its just harder to notice when it creeps on.

Speaking from a wealth of experience both in running my own obesity clinics and having used low cal on my own big boys i do find hills r/d very good when you can use it properly ie stop them eating others food.

I put my own boys on r/d end of last year as their weight had shot up during an extremely lazy summer of sunbathing..i was VERY VERY strict and both lost weight during the 3 or so 5kg bags of food i bought...fraser didnt go down to desired weight but sebastian lost what i wanted him to. They are now back on normal food and seb hasnt re gained..fraser possibley yes a little bit but not as bad as he was.

Elaine · « **Reply #1 on:** May 08, 2007, 15:06:51 PM »

My Eva is a very large female, always has been and by that I seriously mean she has big bone structure. Her average weight has always been around 6kg, which meant she was a little over weight but nothing too serious. Just back from the vets today and she weighed in at a whopping 7.6 Kg which is concerning me greatly. I am as a rule quite carefull and strict with my feeding and am very angry with myself for letting her get this fat.
I have to reduce her food intake by around 30% and get her more active. The vet wants to see her again in a few weeks and if she hasnt lost any weight he wants her to go to the obesity clinic.
How good are the low calorie foods? I currently feed Royal Canin Sensible or Indoor and aplaws cat foods.
I take the health of my cats very seriously and dont want her to end up unwell over my neglegance.

Author Topic: Too Fat (Read 15088 times)