Mickey, my 27 lbs foster and his journey back to a healthy weight

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mschauer

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Update

Mickey weight in at 17:4 (lbs:eek:z) this weekend.  


He is averaging losing 1 oz a week and Charlie & Susan (and me) are happy with that rate of loss. At that rate it's going to take him a long time to get to a healthy weight but at this point at least there isn't any urgency about it.
 

tiliqua

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Wow - I just found (and read) all of this story!  Thank you for sharing all of this!

I'm glad I just joined, otherwise it would be like waiting for the next book to come out in a series (is he losing weight?  will he get below 20 lbs this week??  Are the tumors benign??).  I was just as furious as everyone else with the vet recommended Purina crap food, so glad he is off of that.  Thank you for all you have done for this cat (and continue to do behind the scenes!).  This is an incredible story, very glad I found it.  :)
 

catwoman707

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Mschauer, it has been months since I read up on the latest with Mickey, and I just saw his picture, WOW!!! He looks incredible!

Gosh I feel like such a bad mom to Krissy, she is of course, still fat.....maybe not quite as barrel-ish looking, but fat. She's probably around 5 lbs overweight, but that's alot for a small critter to carry. She's not a big girl either. I have tried to get some weight off, but obviously not hard enough.

Just wondering, are you available to hire as a personal cat coach? :)) haha, bet not :) For you to get a foster cat to lose so much weight, and spent so much time and energy, and effort for him, it makes me feel like crap that I don't crack down and do something for her once and for all, she is my special girl, the reason for all my cat madness and rescuing hundreds of cats and kittens, and my rescue group saving 2,000.

Seriously, it's all for the love of Krissy. So why do I think I am so stuck?

I give in for one. Not bad, but I feed her the type of canned she wants, and I give her a small amt of dry too, plus treats before bed. Keeping her fat....She looks and appears healthy, but is sluggish and doesn't play at all. Nada..Sleeps lots.

Mickey looks so healthy and amazing!! What a lucky cat, you saved his butt, literally.
 

trishasmith

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Great information and thread to follow! Thank you for sharing this. I am going to be following this to see how it goes. My mom has an overweight cat and hasn't had success in helping him lose. She tried to cut back his food as per the vet's directions, but it didn't work.  I sent her the link to this thread so she could see what you are doing.

Trisha
 
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mschauer

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Mickey is under 17 lbs!!!!

He weighted in at 16:14 (lbs:eek:z) yesterday!  
 
 

They're still feeding him 180 calories of Fancy Feast. Obviously he is doing well on it. I was reading over my old posts and was reminded of something. Weruva is very low in calories and at one point I was mixing some of it with other foods to get the calories down so he could have a bit more to eat. I'd forgotten about that. I don't like feeding Weruva by itself because I think it is too low in fat but it works well when mixed with another food. I told C&S about that and they might give it a try. They're reluctant to make any changes to his food at this point though since he is doing so well.
 
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catspaw66

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Way to go, Mickey. I have been following this thread from the very beginning and amazed by the change in him.
 

otto

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That's just wonderful. I've got tears in my eyes I'm so happy. Regarding Weruva, the one issue I have with it is the carb content. Most of the formulas are very high in carbohydrates.

I use it sparingly with Jennie, originally it was for weight control for her, I thought, since she's so hungry all the time a low cal food would be just right for her, she could have more to eat. Somehow it didn't work out that way.
 
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mschauer

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Regarding Weruva, the one issue I have with it is the carb content. Most of the formulas are very high in carbohydrates.
Several of the Weruva products are quite low in carbs. The Paw Lickin Chicken is 4% (DMB) carbs and the Peking Ducken is 11%. Those are the 2 I recommended to C&S.

http://www.catinfo.org/docs/FoodChartPublic9-22-12.pdf
 I use it sparingly with Jennie, originally it was for weight control for her, I thought, since she's so hungry all the time a low cal food would be just right for her, she could have more to eat. Somehow it didn't work out that way.
The lack of fat in the Weruva products is why I wouldn't use it exclusively for a meal. From what I've read fat is needed for a feeling of satiety. That's why I recommended mixing it with FF rather than just using it by itself.

I almost forgot that once Mickey got down to 17 lbs he was eligible for a side by side comparison photo. I'll be visiting him tomorrow and will try to get a good shot. I'll post it as soon as I can.
 

mrsgreenjeens

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This is so exciting, and I can hardly wait for the newest side by side photo
 
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mschauer

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I visited with Mickey at Charlie and Susan's house on New Years day. He continues to do great with them! They are still feeding him Fancy Feast 3 times a day and are carefully weighting how much he gets at each meal.

I tried to get a video of him chasing after a toy but in true kitty fashion as soon as I started to record he stopped moving. 

Here's our boy at 17 lbs compared with 27 lbs when I first got him:


And here he is compared to 19 lbs:


Here he is just looking all cute and happy:

 
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vball91

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Wow, what a tremendous difference! He looks great, and so happy. Thanks for the update.
 

andrya

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Wow, that is really amazing. Lucky little guy that he found you!

lmagine the relief his poor joints must be feeling after carrying around an extra 10lbs. 10lbs is heavier than any of my cats - he was carrying around a whole other cat!

Great job, l'm so happy his new family is being so proactive.
 

oneandahalfcats

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@MShauer : I read a good deal about your journey with Mickey yesterday, and just wanted to say what a wonderful, amazing job you have done! Such an inspiring and valuable experience for others who are working to reduce their cat's weight. The recent before and after shots are quite dramatic. Mickey looks amazing, healthy and happy and is truly a good-looking guy. The new parents must be thrilled with him.

My male Max (avatar) had crept up to 17+ pounds (at times) in the seven years that we have had him, mostly due to the dry food he had been on. He is a big-boned cat who should weigh between 12-14 pounds ideal. He weighed in at 15 and a bit at his last vet visit, so we are on the right track.  Slow and steady.

Thank you for sharing this amazing journey here. All the best with your rescue work.
 
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mschauer

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Update

Mickey weighted in at 16:9 (lbs:eek:z) this past weekend. A month ago he was at 16:12 so that's a loss of 3 oz in the last month. Charlie and Susan are satisfied with a much slower rate of loss than I was. As long as he keeps going down it's OK but man 3 oz in a month isn't much. I probably just need to adjust my expectations and not compare with how much he was losing when he was with me.

I plan on posting updates about once a month from now on. Hopefully next month he will have lost more than 3 oz! C&S have been having some work done on their house during the last few weeks and Mickey has gotten into their other cats food at least a couple of times so there is a change he'll lose more this month. 

 
@MShauer : I read a good deal about your journey with Mickey yesterday, and just wanted to say what a wonderful, amazing job you have done! Such an inspiring and valuable experience for others who are working to reduce their cat's weight. The recent before and after shots are quite dramatic. Mickey looks amazing, healthy and happy and is truly a good-looking guy. The new parents must be thrilled with him.
Thank you! Yes, Charlie and Susan just love him to death and he loves them. 

My male Max (avatar) had crept up to 17+ pounds (at times) in the seven years that we have had him, mostly due to the dry food he had been on. He is a big-boned cat who should weigh between 12-14 pounds ideal. He weighed in at 15 and a bit at his last vet visit, so we are on the right track.  Slow and steady.
Congratulations! Were you free feeding him dry food before? Have you stopped feeding him dry food entirely now or are you just giving him less now? Sometimes just switching from free feeding dry to feeding a measured amount of food (wet or dry) is all it takes.
 
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