My Cat is Fat:(

iPappy

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Things I have learned from watching Simba the Tubby Tabby and other fat cats on Instagram lose weight: it's a long, very, very slow process. Like an ounce or less a week slow. For one, they gave him green beans in his wet food as something to bulk up the food without calories. Another they had him had to run up and down stairs for his food.
Yes, fast weight loss on an overweight cat is bad news. The last thing they and their owners need is a fatty liver case! It's probably like weight loss in humans. As tempting as it might be to go on a crash diet and lose 50 pounds in 15 minutes, it's going to mess with your entire body in a bad way, and you'll just regain it (and more) the minute the crash diet is over.
 

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I would like to join this conversation as I am getting very concerned about one of my cats. I have attached photos of him. I feed him with two sachets (weighing 85 gms) of wet food every day. I am not in the US so I don't know if the manufacturers are the same. I use Felix, Whiska's, Multifit etc. I cannot afford to buy expensive wet food. Thanks to the energy crisis cat food has gone up nearly 30% in the past six months and I have another cat also.

In addition to the two sachets he gets about 10 to 20gms of dry food mixed in with his wet food twice a day - that is 20gms in total per day.

My other cat eats twice the amount that the fat cat does and is still thin.

This weight only started to pile on when he was neutered two years ago.

When I last managed to get him into the vet, he weighed in at 6.8kg and hes' gotten fatter since.

I play with him twice a day but what he does is lie on the floor or lawn and uses the wand like something a baby would play with in its cot. He will move a small bit but then lies down.

I stand over him and the other cat during feeding time and as soon as my other cat is finished eating I whip up the bowl so the fat cat cannot get access to it and eat more. My other cat the bicolor who was neutered around a year and a half ago eats double what my obese cat eats and has not put on that much weight since being neutered.

I don't know what else to do - he is clearly obese. He likes to hunt and I live in a rural area but I don't think he does much of that now. He does not stray since neutering so is not visiting other houses for food. We are too far away anyway from other houses.

Should I just reduce him to two sachets of wet food a day and leave out the dry food of which he is getting at most 20gms per day?. That is well under the recommended guidelines of feeding for a cat weighing above 5 kg. His fur is very thick and he is not cold to touch so I don't think its hypothyroid.

Before anyone says bring him to the vet - anyone who has ever owned a feral cat will know - this is no longer a runner. The cat trap was sprung and will never be entered into voluntarily again; neither will he enter a cat carrier since I managed to shut the door on him and the other cat and get them in while eating to get them to the vet. I tried feeding them in the carriers subsequently to get them acclimatised - never worked. Cats are not stupid. My obese cat gets aggressive if approached from the front and will slash anything in his way but I can now pet and rub him from behind just as long as he does not see my hand at any stage.

Any advice at all would be much appreciated.

Pudner1
 

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Alldara

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tyleete tyleete I also have a dry food addict who has attempted starvation. I was able to move him from fully dry to mostly wet. Any bit helps (I didn't read all, so maybe you've done this).

I tried everything and nothing worked. I actually had to have him on a bag of weight loss food to kick start the process. He was 25lbs and eating his lean weight amount of food (17lbs - he's half Maine coon). No weight loss.

Many years later he's now down at his lean weight. He still looks chubby in some positions from the "hang". We could have probably gone down to 16 but the process is so slow that he got old and now he loses muscle mass instead which was time to stop.
 

Eca

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One of my cat used to be quite fat as well. When I adopted her, she's stick thin and very gluttonous. After getting spayed, she got fat very quickly. She won't eat wet food as well. It's dry kibbles or nothing at all. She's a tabby, not a big one but she used to weigh nearly six kilos. I reduced her kibble amount very slightly but I played with her a lot. I knew if I suddenly reduced a lot of her food intake, she'll be hungry and probably not willing to play at all. I asked everybody in my house to play with her whenever they got some time, no matter how short. She got tired very easily in the beginning but as time goes by she got stronger so we can play with her for longer. She lost exactly 1 kilo over the period of 8 months.
 

Furballsmom

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Should I just reduce him to two sachets of wet food a day and leave out the dry food of which he is getting at most 20gms per day?.
I would try this.
Eliminate the dry from one meal at first or even just decrease the kibble if one meal, do that for a few days, then eliminate it, then decrease it from the second meal and after a while eliminate it entirely (with an obese kitty things have to be done very gradually). Hang in there!
 

segelkatt

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Yes, fast weight loss on an overweight cat is bad news. The last thing they and their owners need is a fatty liver case! It's probably like weight loss in humans. As tempting as it might be to go on a crash diet and lose 50 pounds in 15 minutes, it's going to mess with your entire body in a bad way, and you'll just regain it (and more) the minute the crash diet is over.
After having lost my part Maine Coon Chamouti at the age of 18 due to kidney failure I adopted an altered 8 year old part Maine Coon from a sanctuary, not a shelter, where they only take 3rd chance animals from no kill shelters or one that has been there before, including horses and burros that have been rescued from unsavory conditions. No animal will be taken from a private party.They will take any animal back for the rest of their lives if necessary, strictly no kill so I don't have to worry about him if I pass before he does.
His picture showed him to be a big longhaired cat which I expected but I did not expect a male cat to look like a pregnant queen about to have kittens. Nevertheless , I did adopt him with the intention of slimming him down asap before he develops weight related diseases. I do not know how much he weighs as he objects to be picked up but I am guessing at way above 20 as I can barely pick him up, it is probably uncomfortable for him, but he is a lap cat that lays across my legs and purrs up a storm.
He had been eating Hills Science Diet 4-6 adult. He would eat his and then eat all the other cats' food and that of a bunny that was sharing one of the big 12x12 rooms, no cages here. About 30 cats reside there but only 10 per room plus those which are quarantined for some reason and live in a smaller room by themselves until they can join the others. Also got a meal at lunch of canned food plus assorted treats when the volunteers, visitors or other personnel would play with him every day.
I put dry food down for him and he has nibbled on that but there is a lot left over after 2 days. It seems he had been eating from boredom although the sanctuary has two huge catios the size of Gibb's, the bobcat, accessible to the cats anytime where they can watch squirrels, birds and whatever else comes by, the sanctuary is in the mountains pretty far from civilization at 5,000 ft., he is now practically at sea level.
He does jump and run if necessary but prefers to be a couch potato, so I have started a routine of 10 minutes play minimum every per day with DaBird or a lazer pointer. He seems to be pretty worn out after that. He sleeps all day from ca 8 am to 6 pm. He pesters me when I am sleeping either head bumping my body and hands or thrusting his face into mine.
His previous caretaker died, I think it must have been an old lady like me as he took to me the very first night as if this was what he had always done.
What should I do to get him down to a proper weight asap without endangering his health? Should feed him something different? I will not give him any more treats which should be a reward for doing something right, nor will I feed him more than twice day which so far has not been necessary as he only nibbled at what I gave him which is what he is used to eat. Should I switch to canned only and if so what kind so he can lose weight?Any other suggestions? He is up on his shots and has a clean bill of health.
 

segelkatt

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I would like to join this conversation as I am getting very concerned about one of my cats. I have attached photos of him. I feed him with two sachets (weighing 85 gms) of wet food every day. I am not in the US so I don't know if the manufacturers are the same. I use Felix, Whiska's, Multifit etc. I cannot afford to buy expensive wet food. Thanks to the energy crisis cat food has gone up nearly 30% in the past six months and I have another cat also.

In addition to the two sachets he gets about 10 to 20gms of dry food mixed in with his wet food twice a day - that is 20gms in total per day.

My other cat eats twice the amount that the fat cat does and is still thin.

This weight only started to pile on when he was neutered two years ago.

When I last managed to get him into the vet, he weighed in at 6.8kg and hes' gotten fatter since.

I play with him twice a day but what he does is lie on the floor or lawn and uses the wand like something a baby would play with in its cot. He will move a small bit but then lies down.

I stand over him and the other cat during feeding time and as soon as my other cat is finished eating I whip up the bowl so the fat cat cannot get access to it and eat more. My other cat the bicolor who was neutered around a year and a half ago eats double what my obese cat eats and has not put on that much weight since being neutered.

I don't know what else to do - he is clearly obese. He likes to hunt and I live in a rural area but I don't think he does much of that now. He does not stray since neutering so is not visiting other houses for food. We are too far away anyway from other houses.

Should I just reduce him to two sachets of wet food a day and leave out the dry food of which he is getting at most 20gms per day?. That is well under the recommended guidelines of feeding for a cat weighing above 5 kg. His fur is very thick and he is not cold to touch so I don't think its hypothyroid.

Before anyone says bring him to the vet - anyone who has ever owned a feral cat will know - this is no longer a runner. The cat trap was sprung and will never be entered into voluntarily again; neither will he enter a cat carrier since I managed to shut the door on him and the other cat and get them in while eating to get them to the vet. I tried feeding them in the carriers subsequently to get them acclimatised - never worked. Cats are not stupid. My obese cat gets aggressive if approached from the front and will slash anything in his way but I can now pet and rub him from behind just as long as he does not see my hand at any stage.

Any advice at all would be much appreciated.

Pudner1
Maybe he does hunt and so gets plenty to eat. With you feeding him on top of that it would mean packing on the pounds. Try not to feed him and see what happens within a few days. You said yourself that he is feral so I doubt that he would starve to death.
 

Alldara

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segelkatt segelkatt canned only could really help him out. It's less calories for sure.

I mentioned above, for my half Maine coon I had to ultimately get a bag of weight loss food from the vet to kick start him loosing weight. I was against this step and refused it for years.

Everything else was happening already, he was eating his lean weight amount, playing twice a day, still had zoomies.

I would never recommend starving (not feeding) a fat cat, especially not a feral one. You could create many problems.
 

segelkatt

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segelkatt segelkatt how long have you had your new cat? The scenario of overeating at a sanctuary is not uncommon.
I picked him up on Tuesday afternoon, put down some kibble which he finally finished by this morning. Put down 1/3 of a large can this morning, he slurped up the juice and left but by noon he had eaten about 1/3 of what was left which is now covered in the fridge next to the covered can. The food had sat on a cold ceramic tile floor in a stainless steel dish.
There were several plump kitties there but most were just regular size. One was separated to lose weight and was due to be reunited with the other cats within a few days. Mine should have been there as far as I am concerned. He is a dark grey tuxedo and I have named him Jabot because he wears a big frilly one.
 
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fionasmom

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Sometimes in a sanctuary situation (and this is not blaming anyone who was working there to save the animals) it can be hard to control feeding amounts and locations and sometimes a resident cat (or dog) just decides that it is free feeding. I asked because you might first of all see if he slows down as he realizes that the food at your house is for him. I also agree that you might want to cut back at first, as opposed to putting him on the strict proportions that he is supposed to be fed. Let him work down to that amount as he learns that the food will always be there.
 

segelkatt

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Sometimes in a sanctuary situation (and this is not blaming anyone who was working there to save the animals) it can be hard to control feeding amounts and locations and sometimes a resident cat (or dog) just decides that it is free feeding. I asked because you might first of all see if he slows down as he realizes that the food at your house is for him. I also agree that you might want to cut back at first, as opposed to putting him on the strict proportions that he is supposed to be fed. Let him work down to that amount as he learns that the food will always be there.
He got up at 4 pm and looked at the spot where the dish had been and then at me like "what happened to it?" That boy learned fast where the feeding spot is. I brought out the refrigerated food, he looked at it, walked away but came right back to eat a little more but there is still food left over so it went back into the fridge. I'll bring it out again around 7 and see if he finishes. If he does then I know that one can per day is just right and I can divvy it up like that, maybe into 4 parts:breakfast, lunch, dinner, nighttime snack.
He really is smart: I have a LitterRobot3, maybe he had one before but he used it the very first night that he was here and I had not even shown him where. He must have just been exploring his new territory and found it.
 

iPappy

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Sometimes in a sanctuary situation (and this is not blaming anyone who was working there to save the animals) it can be hard to control feeding amounts and locations and sometimes a resident cat (or dog) just decides that it is free feeding. I asked because you might first of all see if he slows down as he realizes that the food at your house is for him. I also agree that you might want to cut back at first, as opposed to putting him on the strict proportions that he is supposed to be fed. Let him work down to that amount as he learns that the food will always be there.
We brought in one once who was borderline food aggressive, but he was very skinny. We opted to free feed him on his own and let himself eat to his fill for awhile, and once he would eat and leave some behind (we fed much more than he needed), we fed less and less until he was eating his normal portions and wasn't frantically inhaling it. It took awhile but it worked and really seemed to drive the point home that he'd never be hungry again, and there was no need to flip out whenever food was involved.
 

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When bringing food out of the refrigerator, try warming up the portion you’re about to serve in hot water from the tap. Seal the portion in a Ziplock baggie and place it in a bowl of hot water for a few minutes. You can get your cat involved with this process to build the anticipation.

Cat food should be a little warm and at least room temperature.
 

segelkatt

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When bringing food out of the refrigerator, try warming up the portion you’re about to serve in hot water from the tap. Seal the portion in a Ziplock baggie and place it in a bowl of hot water for a few minutes. You can get your cat involved with this process to build the anticipation.

Cat food should be a little warm and at least room temperature.
He does not like shreds or anything that has chunks, just slurps up the juice. So I got pate, big can, gave him half for breakfast and he ate up almost all of that, a little later came back and ate what was left. Now he is hanging around the empty dish claiming that he is at death's door. He will have to wait for the other half of the can until dinner which is 5 hrs away, I am sure he will survive. With all this whining he is also walking around which means he is getting some exercise instead of sleeping 20 hrs out of 24. A little later we will have another play session which really wears him out but I stop when he starts flopping down and just moving his ears and not reaching for the toy again, would not want that fat cat to have a heart attack.
He really is a good boy, no scratching furniture but shredding the cardbox scratcher, the scratching post leaves him cold, oh well. No counter surfing, no begging for people food, faithfully using the LitterRobot , what more can I ask for? Finally got up the nerve to go out on the balcony, he has been slow exploring places where he has not been before, my bedroom is still the place where he hangs out the most. It looks like we will have a really good relationship, Jabot and me.
 

segelkatt

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he is now getting one large can per day divided into 3 meals, no treats, no snacks. He takes a few bites, walks away but returns after a few minutes to eat most of it, then an hour or so later he eats the rest and loudly complains that there is not enough to feed the hummingbirds outside and that he is starving. Sorry buddy, gotta wait til the next meal. he goes around after that grumbling like a curmudgeon, lol!, before deciding that it will do no good and he might just as well take a nap.
 
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