One Fat Cat, One Normal Cat

Minxrat

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Ok. Poppy went to have her nails cut yesterday and the vet weighed her. 7.12kgs!!! Ouch! She is two years old.

Milo is 18 months old and weighs just a bit less but he is rangy and muscly.

Now. Poppy is blind so she can't exercise and run around the house as much as Milo (they are both indoor cats). When the weather gets better I can take her out on a harness but she's still limited as to how far she can walk when she doesn't know the terrain.

I have to put her on a diet - vet wants her under 7kg in five weeks.

Help!

Both are fed wet and dry food - she prefers dry but looks forward to the wet, whereas he prefers wet and supplements with the dry.

Last night she woke me up about 7 times prodding me, as she wants dry food, and wouldn't stop.

I can't shut her out of my room. Not happening. She likes to be near me at night.

I could do with some pointers without having to search the whole site as I'm time limited at work.

Thank you all!
 

lisahe

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If Poppy likes her wet food, I'd gradually cut back on the dry food so she's eating more (or, better yet, only) wet food. A wet food that's low in carbs (for example, minimal or no grains/cereals, potato, peas, etc.) and high in meat protein is particularly good. Meat protein and fat -- plus the water in wet -- can help a cat feel full and satiated.

I'm not good on calorie calculations but I'm sure someone else will help you out with that: you don't want to cut her calories (and weight) too fast.

Good luck! Which cat (very lovely!), by the way, is in your photo?
 

FeebysOwner

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I am sure other members will come along with a more methodical approach, but to start off since that is not a huge amount of weight Poppy needs to lose - could you consider seeing if they have a diet version of the dry you are currently feeding her?

Since wet food is typically less calories than dry, you could also test getting her to eat more wet by adding a few dry morsels on top of a little bit of wet. If she eats it that way, you could add more wet and a few more dry pieces just to increase the overall amount - and repeat. Then, you could start reducing the dry and increasing the wet. Over the time you are transitioning her, feed them both their last meal a little later in the evening, and leave dry (preferably diet) out over night.
 
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Minxrat

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If Poppy likes her wet food, I'd gradually cut back on the dry food so she's eating more (or, better yet, only) wet food. A wet food that's low in carbs (for example, minimal or no grains/cereals, potato, peas, etc.) and high in meat protein is particularly good. Meat protein and fat -- plus the water in wet -- can help a cat feel full and satiated.

I'm not good on calorie calculations but I'm sure someone else will help you out with that: you don't want to cut her calories (and weight) too fast.

Good luck! Which cat (very lovely!), by the way, is in your photo?
Poppy loves both wet and dry unfortunately and I gather dry is good for her teeth! I’m cutting back to just a tablespoon of wet as she loves to lick the gravy/jelly etc! Until I work out what to do. Luckily she drinks water really well. Especially if I feed it to her.....

No the vet said about liver damage if the food is cut down too quick but I don’t think poppy would let me lol.

Thank you - the picture in my photo is Poppy when she was six months old. She’s a beautiful girl. Hopefully I’ve uploaded a photo of Milo here.
 

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Minxrat

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I am sure other members will come along with a more methodical approach, but to start off since that is not a huge amount of weight Poppy needs to lose - could you consider seeing if they have a diet version of the dry you are currently feeding her?

Since wet food is typically less calories than dry, you could also test getting her to eat more wet by adding a few dry morsels on top of a little bit of wet. If she eats it that way, you could add more wet and a few more dry pieces just to increase the overall amount - and repeat. Then, you could start reducing the dry and increasing the wet. Over the time you are transitioning her, feed them both their last meal a little later in the evening, and leave dry (preferably diet) out over night.
Sadly the under 7kg by next visit is just the start! Vet wants her about 5.5-6kg - eek!

I’ve been splitting two packets of wet between them over three meals but today I’m just trying the one over two meals and let them eat some dry. It’s trial and error until I get her out of begging during the night lol. I need to find a decent light dry food too. Vet was ok with Felix Gravy Lover wet and Purina dry.
 

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Sadly the under 7kg by next visit is just the start! Vet wants her about 5.5-6kg - eek!

I’ve been splitting two packets of wet between them over three meals but today I’m just trying the one over two meals and let them eat some dry. It’s trial and error until I get her out of begging during the night lol. I need to find a decent light dry food too. Vet was ok with Felix Gravy Lover wet and Purina dry.
Actually, I'd do the opposite - I'd gradually cut the dry food and even increase the wet, cats generally loose weight when they don't eat dry. Dry food does nothing good to the cats' teeth, this is a common misconception and marketing plot. Typically vets are horrible cats' dietitians.
I would reduce dry but also I'd change it to the better quality, high protein low carb, I don't think Purina falls in this category? When I was transitioning my kitten from dry to wet, I bought them high protein dry that they didn't particularly liked (Power of Nature, German brand)... so that they ate less of it. Yes I'm that horrible :) Plus since it was higher in protein, they naturally needed less to be full. Yes, there was some occasional begging but it stopped after few weeks. But - he was 6-7 months old, and although addicted to kibbles, well, it was still easier to fight the addiction.
At night, I would give them big meal of wet food - hoping she wouldn't wake you up that often during the night.
 

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I've got a fat one and a skinny one, too. I agree with everyone who has said to switch Poppy to all wet, and as time goes on, reduce the amount you give her, little by little until she starts losing.

Lily weighed 11 pounds when I got her, and I got her down to 9 pounds by only giving her a Sheba (3 oz) for one meal for almost 9 months. I have increased her food now, and she is about 10 pounds, but she looks good, not emaciated.

Mingo never gains an ounce, no matter how much I feed him.
 
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Minxrat

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It's a hard one this. Re the dry food, even the vet encouraged dry with wet.

Poppy LOVES dry food. I replaced treats with it as she wanted it so much. She can't play as much as Milo due to blindness, or run around and I think this is her "thing".

I've been splitting two pouches of wet over three meals between them - 7am, 5.30pm and 10pm. I give her less as she takes forever - she loves licking the liquid more than the meat. The vet even suggested liquid over the dry food. And she was happy with the Purina brand. I bought the light version today so I can feel less guilty whilst I work out a diet plan.

I think it would be too hard to stop the dry for her - and for Milo. They both enjoy wet AND dry.

I think I'm in for a long journey here.
 

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One way to give a cat the illusion of dry food without dry food's typical empty carb calories is to use freeze-dried meat treats -- our cats love them. I'm not sure what might be available in the UK but there are several brands here, including Pure Bites and Bravo.

I hate to say it but light/lite/diet dry food doesn't necessarily help with weight loss. Our previous cat (who looked a lot like a slightly darker version of Poppy!) was about Poppy's size and diet food only worsened her weight problem -- some diet foods have less meat protein, which can leave cats hungrier. Her weight only stabilized (thought didn't drop) when we started feeding her more regular wet food. (Looking back, I wish we'd cut all her dry food.)

I wonder if there are other things you could do for/with Poppy to help take her attention away from her treat and dry food "thing" before it gets to be even more of a habit for her. (I understand what you mean about the "thing": Brooksie, our cat, had a horrible "thing" about her evening treats. She was obsessed with them, so much that I swore we wouldn't feed our new cats treats. We don't and I'm so glad!) Many cats love to be brushed (or can learn to love to be brushed since it means attention) and ours thoroughly enjoy the treat of catnip! :) A little sprinkled on the floor is good; rubbing catnip toys around their noses make them very happy! Poppy might especially like toys that make noises, like crackling.
 

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As everyone stated do everything you can to get rid of as much dry from their diets as you can and replace that with canned food. Dry food doesn't nothing at all for their teeth, I hope it wasn't the vet who told you that. I add water to my cats canned food to increase her water intake. Dry food is packed with carbs and starches which lead obesity, diabetes, kidney damage and in makes also urinary issues and blockages.
 
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Minxrat

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One way to give a cat the illusion of dry food without dry food's typical empty carb calories is to use freeze-dried meat treats -- our cats love them. I'm not sure what might be available in the UK but there are several brands here, including Pure Bites and Bravo.

I wonder if there are other things you could do for/with Poppy to help take her attention away from her treat and dry food "thing" before it gets to be even more of a habit for her. (I understand what you mean about the "thing": Brooksie, our cat, had a horrible "thing" about her evening treats. She was obsessed with them, so much that I swore we wouldn't feed our new cats treats. We don't and I'm so glad!) Many cats love to be brushed (or can learn to love to be brushed since it means attention) and ours thoroughly enjoy the treat of catnip! :) A little sprinkled on the floor is good; rubbing catnip toys around their noses make them very happy! Poppy might especially like toys that make noises, like crackling.
Well my gorgeous little fluffball is a fussy mare; she loves noisy toys but goes off them really quickly. And she doesn't like the freeze dry meat treats, although Milo does. She won't eat boiled chicken either. Moobag. She's ok with brushing but has a tendency to matt so I have to be ultra careful with her. And she doesn't react to catnip, although Milo does!! She's so contrary lol.

One thing I did think, tho, is that she's not a fan of Aldi dry food. I know it's harsh but I'm wondering whether the answer is to give her one she's not keen on so she stops demanding it.

Milo has a "thing" about catsticks, he adores batting them around the room in the morning before finally eating them. Poppy, however, doesn't like them......anyone sending a theme......
 
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Minxrat

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As everyone stated do everything you can to get rid of as much dry from their diets as you can and replace that with canned food. Dry food doesn't nothing at all for their teeth, I hope it wasn't the vet who told you that. I add water to my cats canned food to increase her water intake. Dry food is packed with carbs and starches which lead obesity, diabetes, kidney damage and in makes also urinary issues and blockages.
The vet encouraged it and said it reduced build up on the teeth.

We have packet food as they won't touch canned, fussy monsters.

She loves her water though.

We're still working our way through the feeding issues......
 

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my cats like to lick their food too, so I feed them pate style, add water and squash it with the fork into a sauce like texture - maybe this is something they would enjoy too?
Dry food does not reduce any build up on the teeth. Your vet got it all wrong :(

To gradually reduce dry, have you considered scheduled dry feeding instead of free dry feeding them? That alone should help. Then you could gradually replace the scheduled dry with a wet meal if you decide to. Your cats are still young, it's not too late to change their habits. My kibble lovers does excellent on a wet only food.
The light dry food may cause them to eat more of it, unfortunately, as it's likely less filling.
Good luck, it can be done!
 

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Stick to both wet and dry at least for now, just see if you can lessen the dry and increase the wet. You might also look into a light, low sodium canned tuna water to add a little on wet - and the dry for that matter - to see if that might help. It will help moisten the dry for extra liquid (however slight that might be), and possibly encourage eating more of the wet. You can even do gravies with the wet, as the total calorie count is likely to still be under the dry calories (you can do a little bit of label research for that).

You will have to do whatever changes you need to do over a long haul - this isn't an 'automatic change-over to something else' endeavor. For one, food changes should always be done gradually, and two, you can't make a cat that doesn't like wet just eat wet only - at least not without some playing around with the combination of things you try.

As far as the teeth health and dry food debate - it will going on long after we are gone. There is no absolute either way. I will tell you that of my three cats, the only one who had problems with his teeth was the one that was never fed dry food. You also have to take into consideration that there are some cats that are more prone to dental issues than others regardless of what they eat - just like humans, so genetics also play a role.
 

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Yes to what FeebysOwner FeebysOwner said. Dental issues are more about genetics, not brushing, and skipping much needed dentals, it really has nothing to do with dry or wet food. Cats just don't CHEW their food, they give the kibble a crunch to break it up and swallow for the most part. Same with people, our teeth will rot no matter what we eat if we don't take care of them.
 

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Here's a Cat Site article about dry food and tooth cleaning: Does Dry Food Actually Clean Your Cat's Teeth?
Basically: don't count on dry food keeping teeth clean.

FWIW, our vet recommends feeding wet food and brushing a cat's teeth; she also recommends a probiotic that apparently can help with dental health. We brush our cats' teeth (pretty much) every day and they like the toothpaste so much that toothbrushing is actually a treat. On the occasional days when I skip the brushing, Ireland runs to the bathroom to ask for brushing! Also, yes, to genetics, as FeebysOwner FeebysOwner mentioned: our cats are Siamese mixes -- our vet said they're known to have more dental issues.
 

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Here's a Cat Site article about dry food and tooth cleaning: Does Dry Food Actually Clean Your Cat's Teeth?
Basically: don't count on dry food keeping teeth clean.

FWIW, our vet recommends feeding wet food and brushing a cat's teeth; she also recommends a probiotic that apparently can help with dental health. We brush our cats' teeth (pretty much) every day and they like the toothpaste so much that toothbrushing is actually a treat. On the occasional days when I skip the brushing, Ireland runs to the bathroom to ask for brushing! Also, yes, to genetics, as FeebysOwner FeebysOwner mentioned: our cats are Siamese mixes -- our vet said they're known to have more dental issues.
what kind of probiotics does your vet recommend, any particular strain? And did he/she said how does it work, is it because the immune system works better? I'm into probiotics and so is my vet, so I like this idea very much and I'm ready to test it :)
 
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