Losing weight without changing the diet

[NabilBen]

Hello guys
I need your help. Yesterday my cat had his teeth cleaned and boold sample taken for his passport procedures. As the vet was checking him, he advised me to change his diet as he weighs 6.800 Kg.
The problem is my cat is on a special diet (Royal Canin Gastrointestinal cat dry) he is thriving on it. No more vomitting, healthy skin and coat. but apparently the dry food is high in calories. We don't have the moderate calorie version in Morocco.
Yes he does look chubby. Yet he is healthy and all. He eats 50gr of dry daily and he loves drinking water. I tried changing his diet before but he refused to eat for 24h and when he did, vomitting came back. As I was highlighting this to the vet, he told me to make him go hungry for more than 24h and leave his bowl of new food there.
I brush him daily, play with him daily too. i know that he needs to lose some weight but is there any way I can do that without changing his food, also, he isn't a fan of wet no matter what quality.

Side note: he was 7kg in May. he seems to have lost 200gr but that's it. He stopped losing weight afterwards. He used to have 60gr a day then we moved to 55 then now 50gr. The vet told me that 50gr is perfect and I can't go down.

 

[cheylink]

Hi! I would try reducing his portions of food. And it is ok he doesn’t eat wet, some kitties, like my Maia simply love their dry food. In my opinion better for their tooth health as well.
Maia went from hyper thyroid , 10 pounds, and after treatment for hyper thyroid to now just under 14 pounds! She’s 15 years old now…. But still her weight is part of her health . No free feeding portions. A measured amount morning and night….. and stimulating play time.

 

[NabilBen]

Do you think I should reduce his portion again? He eats 50grm of dry daily

 

[cheylink]

Do you think I should reduce his portion again? He eats 50grm of dry daily

I am not a vet, but suggest if this is a good food you finally found he is happy to eat, smaller portions spread out through day, and try to encourage play activity. Does he have window perches? Or places he jumps up…… toys that make him happily play with you…. Like Da Bird….

 

[FeebysOwner]

I can't imagine that he should be eating less than what he is eating now! Have you compared his body condition to any of the charts? I've included one below for you to use, if you haven't already done so. He may just be a bigger cat than some. Right now, Feeby weighs just over 12 pounds (5.4 kg) at ~17 yo and is just fine there. Most would say 12 pounds is too much, but for her it is not.

You could always take away a few morsels - just a few - and then weigh again after a couple of weeks. I have heard of people who actually count out the number of morsels in dry food so they know how many are in their serving (for you that would be counting out how many equals your 50 gr measurement), and then reduce it by just 2-3 pieces at a time.

Have you considered contacting Royal Canin and asking if there is anyway you can get the moderate calorie of what you are feeding him now?

 

[NabilBen]

cheylink Yes I do encourage play time. I just ordered tons of new toys

 

[NabilBen]

FeebysOwner I'll definitely try ur advice and my mom also said that maybe he's only a big cat. I don't thnik RC will do something about this tho but I'll give it a try for sure

 

[NabilBen]

Thank you guys so much. I really appreciate it

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I have two male cats, both the same age. One weighs 9 pounds, the other 14 pounds. Neither is overweight. this is just to show you how cats can be different in size.

Isn't it your Vet who put your cat on the RC Gastrointestinal food? And they understood you when you told them he vomited on the new food? I don't quite understand why they want you to switch if it's going to make him vomit ?

You could try tossing his food,, one piece at a time, down the hall, or just across the room, so he has to run for it to get more exercise. Or even do that with some of the pieces. Exercise burns calories. And if you have some toys where he really needs to run and jump around, that works great too. You said you bought him more toys, but unless he really plans with them by MOVING around alot, they won't help him lose weight

 

[NabilBen]

Exactly. The vet told me that it's time to change his diet.
Make him strave in order to eat the new food
But I don't believe in this. I know for a solid fact that he won't eat anything else and he'll start vomitting again.
As for the toys, I bought him toys that move around this time.
I was also thinking of cat wheel but I can't afford it especially with the shipping. It'll cost me 500$ and even more, and he may not use it

 

[Kflowers]

I think you need a new vet.

Cats will starve themselves past the point of return.

 

[FeebysOwner]

I agree with K Kflowers . Your vet apparently has no real clue about cats, and obviously doesn't understand that the food you are currently feeding him is something he likes and it doesn't cause him to vomit. Stick with the food you have and try all of the above suggestions. As long as he is not extremely overweight, let him be.

 

[NabilBen]

Will do
Thank you again

 

[BlackCatOp]

Don’t starve an overweight cat. Cats are good at hunger strikes and trying to starve them into liking a food doesn’t work.

 

[MissClouseau]

Have you tried other brands' Gastrointestinal food? Like Pro Plan or Hill's? Another thing you can try is to check if they are maybe lower in calories.

50 grams of food daily doesn't sound too much to me either though.

 

[NabilBen]

Yes I tried some others brands but unfortunately Royal Canin is the only one he's thriving on. I won't go below 50gr. He is doing great for now