Cat weight problem

[Lectrice]

I adopted a five year old male cat named Jack just this past March. Jack is what I think is called a Tuxedo cat—mostly black, but with white paws and white on his face and neck. Jack gets some wet food in the mornings, kibble left out in a bowl next to water and 6 Greenies twice a day. When I adopted him he was about 9 lbs. Now, 4 1/2 months later, he weighs about 12lbs. Obviously this trend cannot continue. Also, he loves to be in my lap when I’m sitting and follows me around when I’m moving. Jack is an indoor cat, and I probably have not played with him enough. I have never had a pet before in my life and I am 73 now, so I am on a major learning curve. Does anyone have any tips for me? Thank you.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! Good for you that you are seeing the issue - are you weighing him every couple of weeks or so? You've had him in to the vet lately?

I think that he might be eating too much kibble, perhaps you can cut back on the kibble and one serving of Greenies, and add a meal or two of wet food, increase his activity and see how things go for his weight. Very slowly is the key when getting a cat to lose weight, it can impact their health negatively to have them lose weight too quickly.

This is from a post you made back in May- it doesn't sound like you are following your own advice ?
I will give him wet food 3 times a day and have some dry kibble nearby to see if he eats that. I just don’t want him to feel hungry.

Scroll to the right or left in that photo at the top of the web page, and then click on the chart
Fit or Fat: Your Pet's Body Condition Score (BCS)

How Much Food Should I Feed My Cat? – TheCatSite Articles

This was posted for you before but I'll give it to you again, it's a really good article;
First-time Cat Owner’s Guide – TheCatSite Articles

There might be something in here, such as a fishing-rod type of toy, or a laser pointer, that might help;
Playing With Your Cat: 10 Things You Need To Know – TheCatSite Articles

17 Best Toys For Lazy Cats – TheCatSite Articles

 

[molly92]

I love that you decided to adopt Jack!

Unfortunately pet food companies do not do a good job of making food appropriate for an extreme carnivore like a cat, so weight gain is common. Any ingredient that comes from a plant instead of an animal is not going to give a cat a lot of nutritional value because they just aren't set up to digest it, and it ends up being stored as fat.

The best thing you could do is to eliminate dry food and only feed wet, because wet food is closer to a cat's natural diet. Also keep track of portions and how many calories Jack consumes a day. If he's still gaining weight or staying the same, then cut back a little. Importantly, cats are at high risk for fatty liver disease if they go into starvation mode, so you want to monitor the weight loss and make sure it's gradual, just a few ounces a week. If he loses a lot quickly, you need to up the calories.

Every cat is different so you're going to have to experiment to see how many calories he needs, but 200 per day is often a good starting point for weight loss and you can adjust from there.

He will be hungry, which is the hardest part, but he will be less hungry if he's eating mostly animal meat, so avoid foods with carbs like rice, potatoes, wheat, tapioca, corn, etc in the ingredients. Pate style canned foods usually have the best track record for this, but double check the ingredients. Dividing his food into multiple small meals a day is often also helpful, if you can.

Exercise is of course helpful, but diet is where you're going to get the best results. As the weight comes off, you might find that he naturally gets more active and playful.

Check in with your vet along the way to confirm that he's on the right track.

It takes determination and patience, but you can get him to a healthy weight! And it will be great for him to be more comfortable, and reduce his risk of developing diabetes. A wet food diet will also be helpful in reducing his risk for urinary tract problems because he'll be much more hydrated!

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I agree with trying to switch him to an all wet diet, and the more meat the better. And perhaps you could simply break those Greenies in half so he doesn't feel too deprived. That way you can still give him treats, just smaller. But don't forget to count them in his daily calorie count.

If he likes following you around, he can do just that for his daily exercise. That way the both of you will get exercise. Who doesn't need that? And you might even try tossing his treats down the hall to make him run for them. That's what I do for my little pudge. He always gets smaller portioned treats than his brother, and he has to work for them. He's turned into a great little outfielder!

Jack certainly doesn't need to have food to chomp on over night. He'll be just fine. He may think he needs to eat because he's been a little spoiled lately, but he'll get over it soon enough. You could feed him small meals in the morning, a few times during the day and early evening, and then right before bedtime (I'm guessing you're retired) while he's getting used to not having free flowing kibble, then put him on a more reasonable schedule once he's down to a better weight. I think most cats who are on scheduled feedings eat three times a day. Mine do. 8 ish, 2ish, and 10:30 ish.

Oh, one more thing. IS he actually overweight? I have one male cat who is 9 lbs, and another who is almost 15 lbs. Both are actually their perfect weight, although the one we have to work at pretty hard to keep him there . But I'm just wondering whether or not Jack was underweight when you got him?

 

[Furballsmom]

But I'm just wondering whether or not Jack was underweight when you got him?

I agree, I was wondering the same thing

 

[orangeversion]

I adopted a five year old male cat named Jack just this past March. Jack is what I think is called a Tuxedo cat—mostly black, but with white paws and white on his face and neck. Jack gets some wet food in the mornings, kibble left out in a bowl next to water and 6 Greenies twice a day. When I adopted him he was about 9 lbs. Now, 4 1/2 months later, he weighs about 12lbs. Obviously this trend cannot continue. Also, he loves to be in my lap when I’m sitting and follows me around when I’m moving. Jack is an indoor cat, and I probably have not played with him enough. I have never had a pet before in my life and I am 73 now, so I am on a major learning curve. Does anyone have any tips for me? Thank you.

Don't cut the potion of food suddenly. It can cause a bad impact on your cat. He may get sick. You can try some physical activity with your cat. Like moving around. Like the others have said, you can give wet food to your cat. Moreover watch what you are giving to your cat to eat. Make sure your cat is healthy even after losing weight.

 

[di and bob]

Instead of treats twice a day, offer shaved deli turkey meat instead. It is low in calories and cats love it. Keep feeding the wet food and change his kibble out to weight control kibble. I get Science Diet weight control because my cats love their kibble and they do well on it. It is a little expensive, but well worth it. Cheaper kibble is full of carbs and grains. I get it at farm supply stores like Orscelns or Tractor Supply. Be aware that sudden changes in diet and too many treats can definitely bring about vomiting and diarrhea, a lesson I learned myself.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Personally, I would stay away from ANY kibble, even weight control, IF he is wiling to eat wet food. I tried to go the weight control kibble route with my pudgy guy when we were advised he should lose weight, and that didn't work at all. He just continued to eat as much as he wanted of THAT food, since all our cats were being free fed at the time, and continue to put on the pounds. The only thing that worked was to put all my cats on scheduled feedings, and since we did that we decided to transition them to a more natural diet for cats as well (raw). That was certainly a shock to their systems, but I'm hoping they are more healthy for it. And our once tubbo got down to a nice healthy weight, although as mentioned earlier, we have to fight to maintain that. I guess cats can be like people in that some of them just tend to be on the heavy side.

 

[molly92]

Instead of treats twice a day, offer shaved deli turkey meat instead. It is low in calories and cats love it. Keep feeding the wet food and change his kibble out to weight control kibble. I get Science Diet weight control because my cats love their kibble and they do well on it. It is a little expensive, but well worth it. Cheaper kibble is full of carbs and grains. I get it at farm supply stores like Orscelns or Tractor Supply. Be aware that sudden changes in diet and too many treats can definitely bring about vomiting and diarrhea, a lesson I learned myself.

I'm not sure exactly which SD weight control version you're using, but the ones I know about are FULL of corn, grain, and wheat.

Weight control foods almost always (with a few exceptions) fill their kibble with extra fiber. Fiber makes people feel fuller without extra calories, which seems to make sense, but cats don't digest fiber as well, and along with fiber comes carbs. Yes, it's fewer calories per cup, but that's because there's less meat and more plants. It's much healthier to feed a high animal protein food in smaller portions and control calorie intake that way.

Also I wouldn't go straight to deli turkey either if you don't need to. Yes, cats love it, and if you desperately need a cat to eat or take a pill, it's useful, but it has a lot of sodium. Plain boiled chicken breast is good, and also stage 2 meat baby foods without added ingredients, and there are many freeze dried pet treat options that are 100% meat.