Giada is fatter even though she's on a diet

[Antonio65]

As you might know, I have two cats, Giada (2 years old), and Freya (nearly 11 months old).
I have the habit to weigh them weekly. I started when Giada was a young kitten, and I maintained it so far.

Lately I had noticed that Giada was getting heavier and heavier. She had been steady with her weight for months (around 8 lbs / 3.6 kg), then in the last month or so she suddenly gained lot of weight (in excess of 8 lbs 11 oz / 3.9 kg). Her belly is visibly rounder when seen from the above, and I wouldn't like to end up with a fat cat.
So I thought I could cut on her meal a little, and tried a first approach, I cut 25% on her wet food and 10% on her dry food.
Well, the result, after two weeks, is that she is even heavier, about 2 oz!

They are both eating top quality monoprotein wet and grain free dry food (at least, I think it is top quality), same food for both. Have always eaten the same food. They don't have access to other food between their meals, they don't eat each other's food.
I don't think that I could cut on her diet more, but I wonder how it is possible that her weight has gone up?

Any idea?

 

[verna davies]

Is she an outdoor cat, could someone else be feeding her?. If not, I would try cutting out all the dry food and just feed wet, it fills them up quicker.

 

[StanAndAlf]

My first question: Is she neutered?

300 grams in a month isn't a lot of weight gain in that amount of time, in my opinion, so I wouldn't be too concerned.

You say that both of your cats are on the same food at the moment, and always have been. Does that mean Freya, who is a kitten, hasn't had kitten food? Or that both are currently on kitten food? Also, are you certain Giada doesn't eat Freya's food? Do you monitor them? How many calories a day does she get? It's possible she has finally finished growing and so requires less calories than what she is currently getting, hence the weight gain. Why can't you cut her diet more?

The 50 grams she gained after you put her on a diet could be attributed to a full belly, bladder or bowel, and there is every chance she maintained rather than actually gained.

You may want to explore the possibility of bloating. This can be caused by a number of things such as intestinal worms or something more serious such as fluid build up in the abdomen.

 

[Antonio65]

Hi V verna davies ,
Thanks for the reply.

Yes, I forgot to add some more info.
Both cats are indoors only, unless I take them out on the leash.
Nobody else but me feeds them. My wife occasionally does, but she knows what to do.
Both cats are spayed, fully vaccinated, regularly checked. No particular issues known. Giada has a clotting issue (long clotting times), other than this she's fine.
I'm feeding her (them) two wet meals (breakfast and dinner), 60-65 grams each, and two dry meals (around midday and midnight), 8-9 grams each, for a total of 170-180 kcal per day.

 

[verna davies]

From the articles I have read, an indoor cat, moderate activity, should eat about 20 cals per pound to maintain the weight so the amount of calories you are feeding her sounds right. How active is she, are you able to increase her activity, do Giada and Freya play a lot. Do you weight her before eating and roughly the same time every week and in the same spot,

 

[Kflowers]

Did you have her checked for worms? Even indoor cats can get them from stuff that comes in the house, like your shoes and pants' cuffs, also flies and other insects.

It maybe time to consider that she has an allergy.

 

[Antonio65]

My first question: Is she neutered?

Yes, she is, spayed September last year. She's an indoor cat, fully vaccinated.

300 grams in a month isn't a lot of weight gain in that amount of time, in my opinion, so I wouldn't be too concerned.

Well, she retained her weight for months, at least since last Christmas, then in just one month she went up quickly.

You say that both of your cats are on the same food at the moment, and always have been. Does that mean Freya, who is a kitten, hasn't had kitten food? Or that both are currently on kitten food?

Freya had been on kitten food until Easter or so (till 6 months of age), then she showed me she was fed up with that and wanted something more

Also, are you certain Giada doesn't eat Freya's food? Do you monitor them?

Yes, I am sure, because I feed them in two separate rooms. Giada eats faster than Freya, so I have to keep them in two rooms for about 5 minutes. Once or twice it happened that I forgot to keep the door between them closed, and Giada might have eaten part of Freya's meal, but it's very unlikely that two episodes can make any difference.

How many calories a day does she get? It's possible she has finally finished growing and so requires less calories than what she is currently getting, hence the weight gain. Why can't you cut her diet more?

She's getting 170-180 kcal a day, which should be right for her weight. She's young and still active during the day, she plays a lot, runs, jumps, so I don't think she should require less than that.
She's already crying for food all day, I wouldn't like to have her "starve" by cutting her diet more. This morning she woke me up at 5 a.m. because she was hungry!

The 50 grams she gained after you put her on a diet could be attributed to a full belly, bladder or bowel, and there is every chance she maintained rather than actually gained.

If I have understood your sentence well, you say that she might have some food in her belly when I weigh her?
It is possible, but I usually weigh her first thing on Sunday mornings, before any meal, and I'm even sure her bowel is empty, because she uses the box at dawn.
Furthermore, once it can happen that these conditions do not occur, but the trend has been constant till the end of July.

You may want to explore the possibility of bloating. This can be caused by a number of things such as intestinal worms or something more serious such as fluid build up in the abdomen.

She's under strict control, I'm a helicopter dad
And she's been fully checked only a month ago. She's regularly treated for worms though she's an indoor cat.

 

[Antonio65]

From the articles I have read, an indoor cat, moderate activity, should eat about 20 cals per pound to maintain the weight so the amount of calories you are feeding her sounds right. How active is she, are you able to increase her activity, do Giada and Freya play a lot. Do you weight her before eating and roughly the same time every week and in the same spot,

She's very active, she plays a lot with Freya. Well, actually, Freya is keeping her very active, because they play chasing each other a lot, then she jumps and moves a lot on her own too. And when it isn't too hot outside, I took her out for a wlak in the yard. Yesterday she was out for 30 minutes.
I always weigh her before the first meal on Sunday mornings, and she has her bowel empty almost always.
I weigh her always in the same way, in her carrier that has a known weight.

 

[Antonio65]

Did you have her checked for worms? Even indoor cats can get them from stuff that comes in the house, like your shoes and pants' cuffs, also flies and other insects.

She's treated for worms. And anyway her poop is alright.

It maybe time to consider that she has an allergy.

What do you mean, exactly? Can an allergy make a cat get fatter?

 

[Kflowers]

An allergy could lead to the bloating and gas and trapped gas could lead to an apparent increase in weight, though probably not over a stained amount of time.

I'm with S StanAndAlf about the possible reasons for her increased weight. Have you weighed her on several days and gotten the same increased weight? Do you weigh her at the same time every day? What does the vet say?

Even at her smallest adult weight, which the vet said was right, our cat's stomach swings side to side when she runs. It also gives her a sort of triangular shape when she sits up.

 

[Antonio65]

An allergy could lead to the bloating and gas and trapped gas could lead to an apparent increase in weight, though probably not over a stained amount of time.

That's fine, but gas is gas, it doesn't have any weight, does it?

Have you weighed her on several days and gotten the same increased weight? Do you weigh her at the same time every day? What does the vet say?

I have weighed her weekly since I have her (20 months). The trend has been up in the last month. The weight session is early in the morning on Sundays.
I haven't talked to the vet yet.

Even at her smallest adult weight, which the vet said was right, our cat's stomach swings side to side when she runs. It also gives her a sort of triangular shape when she sits up.

She's showing a rounder belly even when she standing and I see her from above, vertically.

This is the table of the her weight [kg]

Jan 10...... 3.590
Feb 7...... 3.580
Mar 7....... 3.670
Apr 4...... 3.700
May 2...... 3.665
Jun 6...... 3.725
July 4...... 3.750
July 18...... 3.780
July 25...... 3.785
Aug 1...... 3.940
Aug 8...... 3.960
Aug 15...... 3.910
Aug 22...... 3.970

The first part of the table carries the weight monthly because I didn't want to bore you.

 

[Kflowers]

You are probably right about the gas, it just takes up so much room it seems as though it should have weight.

Do you have pictures of her from above when she's standing? Our SG is currently on a diet - she is a small cat and 12 pounds ( I think that's 5.44kg) the vet thinks she should be 10 pounds (I think that's 4.53kg. I don't usually convert the numbers so could be off.)

With weight and diets in cats it's really important to consult the vet. It does sound to me as though you have made a very sharp cut into her calories, again I could be wrong, but perhaps you'd like to consult the vet about that, too.

 

[Antonio65]

I'll try and take a photo of her standing. But you know how cats are when it comes to being photographed

 

[lisahe]

Hm, the gas makes me wonder what foods Giada is eating. I mention this because our cat Edwina had terrible gas and bad breath until we figured out that she had a sensitivity to potato. It also made her barf.

Maybe Giada's food includes something that she's not digesting well? I've noticed over the years that other Cat Site members have mentioned that ingredients like lentils, chickpeas, peas, and other vegetables that are (very unfortunately!) often used in cat food have caused gas and other digestive problems in their cats. "Grain-free" doesn't necessarily mean that a cat food is low in vegetable matter and/or carbs, which cats aren't really designed to eat. Cats are hard-core carnivores.

To get back to your diet point: beyond the carnivore point, the meatier Giada's diet, the more likely she is to feel satiated after eating. And some diet foods (like the dry stuff we fed to our previous cat) only cause more weight gain, particularly as cats age and slow their activity a little. Since dry foods tend to be very calorie-dense and use more carby fillers (to make the food extrudable, into little pieces) than wet foods, like V verna davies , I'd look at cutting dry food rather than wet food, which tends to be meatier and, of course, moister. As K Kflowers says, cuts in calories should be made slowly. And I'd also suggest talking with your vet. Edwina, for example, looks like she's verging on overweight but she's fluffy and, hm, stocky, almost blocky. But I can feel her spine and ribs. The vet's last exam report put her at ideal weight. (Her weight is somewhere in the 8-9 pound range, a lot like Giada's.)

Good luck!

 

[Antonio65]

Hm, the gas makes me wonder what foods Giada is eating. I mention this because our cat Edwina had terrible gas and bad breath until we figured out that she had a sensitivity to potato. It also made her barf.

Giada is eating monoproteic wet food. We started with one protein (hake), then I slowly introduced new protein (Trout, then Chicken, and now Pork), that I change weekly so that she doesn't get bored and also because we're ready to switch to something else should one of them be a problem for her.
She has never thrown up her food so far, but when she was much younger she went through a long period of bad poop, until we found out it was the previous wet food.

Maybe Giada's food includes something that she's not digesting well? I've noticed over the years that other Cat Site members have mentioned that ingredients like lentils, chickpeas, peas, and other vegetables that are (very unfortunately!) often used in cat food have caused gas and other digestive problems in their cats. "Grain-free" doesn't necessarily mean that a cat food is low in vegetable matter and/or carbs, which cats aren't really designed to eat. Cats are hard-core carnivores.

Peas and lentils are among the ingredients of the dry food she and Freya are eating. But I haven't noticed any other issue, no vomit, no bad poop, no bad breath, nothing.

Since dry foods tend to be very calorie-dense and use more carby fillers (to make the food extrudable, into little pieces) than wet foods, like V verna davies , I'd look at cutting dry food rather than wet food, which tends to be meatier and, of course, moister.

Dry food is already reduced to a mere snack twice a day, 8-9 grams of dry food per meal, midday and midnight. This contributes with about 35 kcal per meal.

 

[klunick]

I got one currently on a diet as well. Last night was day 4 and it hasn't been too bad. The only thing I am cutting out is their late night snack. I think last night was the first night they actually noticed they weren't getting a snack when I was going to bed. They just kind of walked around the kitchen like, "umm... what the heck??" when they saw me go into my room and close the door a little. I was peeking through the opening to see what they'd do. They both came into my room and jumped on the bed but a few minutes later, they decided that chasing each other was better and off they went.

Vet said Boone needed to lose 2lbs and he isn't about activity so cutting out the snack was really the only thing I could do in hopes of getting him down to 14 lbs.

 

[Antonio65]

I've managed to take a photo of Giada. She wasn't standing, I wasn't able to have her standing. For the time being, this is the best I can show you

I agree with you that this photo doesn't tell much, but I think that a little of round belly can be noticed here.

 

[Kflowers]

the little round belly isn't fat, it's a pouch that cats have to protect their internal organs if and when they get in fights with other cats. One of a cats most serious fighting moves is to use their back feet to rip open the other cat's stomach. They need to pouch to survive in the wild. If you get rid of the pouch you will have starved your cat to death.

nice picture, pretty kitty.

 

[Antonio65]

the little round belly isn't fat, it's a pouch that cats have to protect their internal organs if and when they get in fights with other cats. One of a cats most serious fighting moves is to use their back feet to rip open the other cat's stomach. They need to pouch to survive in the wild. If you get rid of the pouch you will have starved your cat to death.

nice picture, pretty kitty.

Yes, unfortunately this is a "side view" of the cat, if only I could have her standing... I would put her on her four feet, and as soon as I was going to take the photo, she would lay...

 

[Willowy]

Try replacing at least one dry snack with an equivalent amount of wet food. Carbs can really pack it on for some cats (and people. . .). Try that for a week or two, if nothing happens you can go back to dry snacks.