Keeping a cat from getting fat

[CatGuyAZ]

I've had three cats before my current little girl, Dakota, and all three were overweight for most of their lives. It turns out I am a pushover for a plaintive meow for food, and the cats know it! Dakota has learned quickly... she started out (as an adoptee from the shelter) afraid of everything, but now she meows at me for food constantly, and she wants a good deal more than what the feeding suggestions on the food say. Right now she's getting the individual servings of Sheba cuts and gravy style, as she has shown to really dislike getting cold leftovers from the refrigerator, and she much prefers the cuts and gravy style to the pâté style. The individual servings make it unnecessary to refrigerate anything, and it is the only style of cuts and gravy I have seen in that packaging.

Dakota is 10 months old and weighs a bit under 7 pounds. I am unsure as to whether I should be feeding her more than the suggested amount because she is still a kitten for two more months, or whether the adult feeding guidelines should be used now. According to the box, she should be getting 5.4 servings per day, and if I feed her when she acts like she's starving (I know she's not!), she's easily into 8 servings a day, which would probably be okay for kitten mode, but for an adult, it is quite a bit more than suggested. The way she eats, I could give her whole cans of Fancy Feast and she'd inhale them in just a few minutes, and I am not sure if it's because she felt food stress at the shelter and now that she's able to eat more, she wants to, or because she's still growing, or some other thing.

Are there foods that anyone knows of that would allow her to enjoy eating without as much potential for weight gain? I've never had any obesity related illnesses in any of my cats so far, but I know that I'm taking a chance by letting them get fat, so I want to do better this time. Any suggestions welcome!

 

[MissClouseau]

Maybe the problem is rather the food is low-calorie and she doesn't feel full after a small meal? Small meals throughout the day are definitely better but she's supposed to not feel hungry in between two meals. So maybe you can split 8 servings into less to try to get her eat more at once. That might help her feel full.

 

[CatGuyAZ]

RIght after she finishes one of the single servings, she wants more right away. If I give it to her, she will ask for still more when she's done. At that point I have been resisting, so she just keeps on asking until she gets it (even if it is much later). She hasn't yet hit a point where there's wet food left and she walks away. Sometimes she will leave some food and ask for more anyway, at which time I redirect her attention to the food she has, and then she finishes it.

She was a shy and frightened cat when I met her at the shelter, so I wonder if the more pushy kittens got their fill first and made her feel nervous about getting her share, and now she's always afraid she's not going to get enough! If that's the case, in time I think she will get the message that she's going to get food here, but am I extending that nervousness by not feeding her when she acts like she's famished after just having a good sized meal? I also don't want her to get in the habit of just eating whenever she's bored, and that she can make me feed her at will!

I have been giving in and feeding her more than the food container says, but I have not been feeding her all she wants. She's still at the same weight she was when I adopted her, which was about three weeks ago now. I don't really know how much bigger (if any) she will get.

 

[SpecterOhPossum]

RIght after she finishes one of the single servings, she wants more right away. If I give it to her, she will ask for still more when she's done. At that point I have been resisting, so she just keeps on asking until she gets it (even if it is much later). She hasn't yet hit a point where there's wet food left and she walks away. Sometimes she will leave some food and ask for more anyway, at which time I redirect her attention to the food she has, and then she finishes it.

She was a shy and frightened cat when I met her at the shelter, so I wonder if the more pushy kittens got their fill first and made her feel nervous about getting her share, and now she's always afraid she's not going to get enough! If that's the case, in time I think she will get the message that she's going to get food here, but am I extending that nervousness by not feeding her when she acts like she's famished after just having a good sized meal? I also don't want her to get in the habit of just eating whenever she's bored, and that she can make me feed her at will!

I have been giving in and feeding her more than the food container says, but I have not been feeding her all she wants. She's still at the same weight she was when I adopted her, which was about three weeks ago now. I don't really know how much bigger (if any) she will get.

What do you feed exactly?

 

[Talien]

Do you let your Cats free feed on dry food at all? If so, eliminating that would go a long way to preventing her from getting fat. Other than that, yeah, just don't feed her more than she should be eating. She is still technically a Kitten so letting her eat a little more is ok, but decrease the amount over the next couple months until she's eating what an adult should.

It could be that she does have food anxiety. It would explain it, but if that is the case the good news is she can be broken of that by feeding her a set amount at the same times every day. She will eventually adapt to the routine and stop begging for more.

 

[Telstar]

Edit: Nevermind, she is still a kitten, but keep calories and weight in check.

 

[di and bob]

I would get some shaved deli turkey that most cats love, and it is low in calories, to feed in between. I feed Sheba too, but my cats only get three a day. But of course, they get a weight management hard food Science diet in between. I wouldn't feed her more Sheba, but maybe offer low calorie treats in between, like roast beef, roast chicken, etc. Then at a year old cut her down to what is recommended. my cats would eat all day long if I let them!

 

[MissClouseau]

I have been giving in and feeding her more than the food container says, but I have not been feeding her all she wants. She's still at the same weight she was when I adopted her, which was about three weeks ago now. I don't really know how much bigger (if any) she will get.

Is she domestic short hair? For them a female ADULT cat's average weight is 10 lbs. Of course body condition score is more important though...

2-3 hours between meals are better IME. Of course it depends on how long the cat stays awake and other factors though.

When my cat eats a wet food that is enough calories for "2-3 cans a day for a 4kg cat" as the box recommends, I give half a can at once. That makes four meals with 2 cans. (Mine doesnt eat more than 2 cans a day of any wet food.)

Mine is an adult though. Sounds like Dakota isn't overweight and if a 10-month old kitten isn't clearly overweight, not eat too much that she pukes... my vet recommends free-feeding until 15 months of age or so. They don't get to be overweight overnight so you can cut back the amount if you see an alarming weight gain based on Body Condition Score

P.S. Did she get checked for intestinal worms or did you see any sign?

 

[lisahe]

Maybe the problem is rather the food is low-calorie and she doesn't feel full after a small meal? Small meals throughout the day are definitely better but she's supposed to not feel hungry in between two meals. So maybe you can split 8 servings into less to try to get her eat more at once. That might help her feel full.

It could be that she does have food anxiety. It would explain it, but if that is the case the good news is she can be broken of that by feeding her a set amount at the same times every day. She will eventually adapt to the routine and stop begging for more.

I think there may be something to what MissClouseau says here: a portion of Sheba is fairly small and low-calorie so probably isn't keeping Dakota sated for very long.

I'm also totally on the "food anxiety" and "small meals throughout the day" that MissClouseau and Talien mention: though it takes a little time, cats get used to the routine and know there's another meal coming, which really helps. This is really important for cats with food anxiety. We have one! She's anxious about her food and eats very quickly and if we feed her large meals, she'll barf. The upshot is that our cats get five small meals a day. I hope Dakota will be different and grow out of her food issues but Edwina is still somewhat anxious about her food even now, six years after we adopted her as a scrawny, underfed ten-month-old kitten.

Personally, I'd stay away from in-between meal snacks, particularly anything that's not cat food or tiny amounts of plain boiled meat, because (at least with Edwina) even very small snacks would have a very high likelihood for causing even more food anxiety and expectations. It's very hard to cut back on meals with cats like her! I would really love to reduce meal service here to only (only!) four meals a day but it's a tough sell. Treats can also be a hard habit to break so we really limit those, too, after our previous cat got totally addicted to Temptations, an infernal pet food industry invention. These cats only get freeze-dried chicken treats, which are also great to crumble on top of food they don't really want to eat. (A bit of treat dust might entice Dakota to eat those Sheba pates! Or even cold leftovers. Small amounts can work wonders.)

One other thing: I'd also stick with (calorie-dense) wet food only with as few carbs as possible, since it's protein that kittens need rather than the fairly empty calories of carbs, which cats don't always process very well.

Good luck!

 

[CatGuyAZ]

Wow, thanks for all the input, everyone!

Dakota is a domestic medium hair, according to the shelter. Her hair is shorter than Onyx's was (he was DLH) on the body, but both had/have really bushy tails and long fur on the stomach and chest. She may well fill out a little bit as she completes her kittenhood. The vet said that her body condition right now (well, at the time she saw Dakota she said that a couple of weeks ago, but she still weighs the same now) is ideal.

I like the idea of feeding her freely until about 15 months and watching her for signs of being overweight. If she is going to grow some more, I certainly want her to have the protein she will need for that.

I will also try feeding in better defined meals rather than responding to her whenever she asks for food. Onyx was really skinny in his last months, and he didn't like large meals at that point, so I ended up pushing food as much as I could, and I guess the habit still remains.

I bought some of those freeze-dried chicken treats a while ago for Onyx when I was trying to entice him to eat, and he rejected them. I still had them when I got Dakota, and she likes them! I never thought of adding them to the pate food to make it more tasty; another thing to try.

I have long kept some dry food around in a gravity feeder for free feeding. With my previous cats, they would not eat much of the dry; a 4.5 pound bag would last months. The main purpose was to aid in keeping their teeth clean, and since they much preferred the wet food, they would not eat a great deal of the dry. Cats need as much moisture as they can to keep their kidneys healthy and to prevent bladder stones, so wet food is to be the main food. I've heard of cats who prefer dry, but I've not had one yet. I will have to keep an eye on that... she does eat more than Onyx did, but that could be related to the food anxiety.

Dakota is a totally different cat compared to the shy, frightened little girl she was when she first moved in. I think there's still a little bit to go, but she's already far more confident and is noticeably happy now, which tickles me pink. For anyone who remembers my introductory message, I had written that she was sneezing... I took her to the vet for that as soon as I could get her in, and the vet said it may be feline herpes, which is super common among shelter cats, and that she'd get over it on her own, when the virus would go dormant like the form that causes human cold sores does, perhaps emerging in a time of stress down the road.

She got worse, with coughing (productive) and her sinuses were making bubbling snorky noises when she breathed, so I brought her in again on an urgent-care basis, and the vet put her on antibiotics. It was a different doctor at the same clinic as the previous one. This doctor said he would have put her on antibiotics from the start if she'd seen him, since even if it was herpes, it could easily cause a secondary infection, and the antibiotics would prevent that. That may have been what happened.

She got a shot of Convenia, which I since learned was probably a bad idea (I was very concerned when I read up on it; he had not told me about the down side, but I know now), but I guess he did that rather than prescribe oral antibiotics because she was fairly fractious for the exam and probably would not let me pill her as easily as Onyx had. I could have given her Orbax easily enough, if that was something that would have been indicated, as it is a liquid that does not (apparently) make cat food taste bad. Onyx would reject any food that had been laced with any medication other than Orbax, even the so-called chewables, but Orbax was no problem. Giving it to Dakota, with her strong appetite, should have been easy.

The vet also gave her an injection of hydrocortisone. That was supposed to be for the inflammation in the respiratory tract, but I guess it could also have been helpful if she had a bad reaction to the Convenia.

Anyway, she didn't have a bad reaction to the Convenia, and the symptoms went away completely really quickly. After about a week, the sneezing came back, but not the coughing or the stuffy/congested nose. Still could be feline herpes, or allergies, and of course I will keep an eye on it.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Talien]

Dry food, despite the claims, does nothing to keep teeth clean. It would be like us eating granola to clean our teeth, it just doesn't work that way. It's nothing but a BS marketing tactic.

 

[RangersMom]

Get her a cat tree and play with her actively every evening. 7lbs isnt very heavy, but for a young cat she is 'slightly' heavier than average. Just play with her and keep her active and she'll probably lose her 'baby weight' in a few months and even out.