Low calorie treats to prevent plastic chewing?

Beholder

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This is a bit long and I apologize for any typos--I'm currently only getting 4 hours of sleep a night due to college classes, so I'm having a hard time with just about everything. :creampersian:

My lovely boy Po has had a weight problem ever since we adopted him. The shelter we adopted him from literally named him Tubby Wubby.

He is currently about 14 pounds and not a very "big" cat, so I estimate his ideal weight at around 10-11 pounds. We have had him on a strict 180 calorie diet for 2 months (and 200 calories for 3 months) but he's still maintaining his weight. What's kinda weird is that he's actually super active and loves to run around and play with our other cats. However, I'm sure he'd benefit if we had the time to play with him more, but lately me and my fiance just can't. He's working 12 hour days and I'm taking a course load for summer of 21 units, which equates to about 4 full time jobs for myself. :headshake:

That aside, he's still not losing weight! We adopted him at 3 years old (he's now 6-7), so he learned from his previous owners (that abandoned him in a parking lot) to jump on counters. Occasionally, he'll get into the sink before I have the time to wash dishes--but I can't imagine he's finding much. What's worse is that whenever he's hungry he'll find some sort of plastic to chew on. Examples are: shower curtains, trash bags, the plastic casing on a Gatorade pack, casing on toilet paper, casing on paper towels, ziplock bags...etc. He really makes me aware of how much unnecessary plastic is on everything. Anyway, he needs highly dense/low calories foods. Currently he eats mainly wet food with some occasional raw. Morty has a lot of food issues, so my other two boys (Po/Goose) are going through our stock of canned wet food until they are fully switched to raw/home cooked.

So basically, my question is, what treats can I give Po in-between meals so that he doesn't try and find something to chew on, like our shower curtain? Does anyone have any recommendations? I've tried many different freeze dried treats but they don't fill him up. I kinda need the equivalent of celery for humans--super low cal and very filling. Po doesn't have any dietary restrictions other than calorie limit. We also feed our boys separately 4 times a day to prevent acid vomits (at 9am, 1pm, 7pm and 12am) and leave the food out for about an hour at a time. Po usually inhales his in the first 5min, but since Morty has early stages of cancer we try and give him 45min-1hour.

I've tried to rid the place of chewable plastics, but some things, like shower curtains and trash bags (in the trash can), can't be hidden/removed.

Also, is it not a bit strange that he's maintaining 14 pounds at 180 calories a day?
 

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My 8 y/o cat at 15 lb (edit: was 18.5 when we adopted last August) is currently eating 130g daily to lose weight very slowly, so I don't think it's strange for your cat -- they all just have different metabolisms. You can test going down 10 calories for a few weeks and see if there is any change in weight.

Does Po chew on things throughout the day? 12-9 can be kind of a long time for a cat to go without eating. If it's centered around a specific time or after a specific food (e.g., less full after raw), then that gives you some more variables to flex and play with.
 
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Beholder

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My 8 y/o cat at 15 lb (edit: was 18.5 when we adopted last August) is currently eating 130g daily to lose weight very slowly, so I don't think it's strange for your cat -- they all just have different metabolisms. You can test going down 10 calories for a few weeks and see if there is any change in weight.

Does Po chew on things throughout the day? 12-9 can be kind of a long time for a cat to go without eating. If it's centered around a specific time or after a specific food (e.g., less full after raw), then that gives you some more variables to flex and play with.
That good to hear! My other cats are eating about 300 calories a day and maintain a healthy weight and are considerably less active than Po, so I wasn't sure.

Unfortunately he does it all day whenever he's hungry. It will often be before mealtimes but that's just because it's when he's the most hungry. Occasionally, if I give him a canned food that he doesn't like very much, he won't touch the food and will go straight for the plastic. :disappointed:
 

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Have you tried breaking whatever treat it is into lots of tiny pieces? My kitty seems to be just as happy (if not more happy) with 10 sequential teenie tiny pieces of chicken, collectively equal to one human bite-sized piece, as she is with a couple human bite-sized pieces. And chicken, for one, can be pulled into really small pieces.
 

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Are you home to feed them, or are you using a timed feeder for them? Just wondering if there is anyway he is getting into the other cats' food? I think at 180 calories for an active cat, he should be losing at least a little bit of weight. That being said, our 15 pounder was eating 180 calories and not losing anything (he was very sedentary though) and our vet didn't want us to go any lower in his calories. She DID, however, suggest we add some pumpkin to his diet to make him feel fuller, since he was always trying to get into everyone else's food. (he was a raw eater, BTW) We just kept plodding along without pumpkin because he didn't like it, and I played with him more to get him to exercise, and he finally lost a little weight.

The eating of plastic could actually be Pica, which could be a behavioral issues. Have you discussed this with your Vet? It could also be some sort of deficiency, like maybe he has an absorption issue, and that would explain why he seems to always be hungry. Here is a thread about pica: My cat eats plastic

To your initial question, I'm not aware of any low calories, filling treat. But you might try pumpkin mixed with a little wet food to see if that keeps him fuller longer. Cat food comes in a wide variety of calories. Maybe, if you're home, you could feed him lower calorie wet foods more often? The point is to feed 180 calories, but you could spread it over more meals, possibly?
 

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The eating of plastic could actually be Pica, which could be a behavioral issues. Have you discussed this with your Vet? It could also be some sort of deficiency, like maybe he has an absorption issue, and that would explain why he seems to always be hungry. Here is a thread about pica: My cat eats plastic
My first thought was pica, too. It sounds like your cats, B Beholder , have a few things in common with ours: Edwina licks plastic bags and just chewed at a lamp because she's hungry! We feed the cats five times a day, in large part to prevent her from having bile/acid vomits. And from scarfing and barfing. Frequent meals seems to keep her from chewing too much, though she does seem to get some enjoyment chewing certain toys... oddly usually soft things like catnip-stuffed socks. Sorry to say that I'm not sure I have much to suggest. Other than PureBites, freeze-dried raw chicken breast treats that our cats love.
 
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Have you tried breaking whatever treat it is into lots of tiny pieces? My kitty seems to be just as happy (if not more happy) with 10 sequential teenie tiny pieces of chicken, collectively equal to one human bite-sized piece, as she is with a couple human bite-sized pieces. And chicken, for one, can be pulled into really small pieces.
That could be an idea. He's actually really good at slowly eating and chewing up his food thoroughly, but perhaps that could slow him down and make it more satiating for him.


Are you home to feed them, or are you using a timed feeder for them? Just wondering if there is anyway he is getting into the other cats' food? I think at 180 calories for an active cat, he should be losing at least a little bit of weight. That being said, our 15 pounder was eating 180 calories and not losing anything (he was very sedentary though) and our vet didn't want us to go any lower in his calories. She DID, however, suggest we add some pumpkin to his diet to make him feel fuller, since he was always trying to get into everyone else's food. (he was a raw eater, BTW) We just kept plodding along without pumpkin because he didn't like it, and I played with him more to get him to exercise, and he finally lost a little weight.

The eating of plastic could actually be Pica, which could be a behavioral issues. Have you discussed this with your Vet? It could also be some sort of deficiency, like maybe he has an absorption issue, and that would explain why he seems to always be hungry. Here is a thread about pica: My cat eats plastic

To your initial question, I'm not aware of any low calories, filling treat. But you might try pumpkin mixed with a little wet food to see if that keeps him fuller longer. Cat food comes in a wide variety of calories. Maybe, if you're home, you could feed him lower calorie wet foods more often? The point is to feed 180 calories, but you could spread it over more meals, possibly?
I'm currently home to feed him all day while classes are all online. He gets fed in the bathroom and when he's done I'll move him to the bedroom with Goose so that Morty can finish his food. It's tedious to do 4 times a day but he would be REALLY big if we didn't lol.

Pumpkin could be worth a shot. I remember a long time ago I had gotten some Tikicat pumpkin purees but everyone hated them. While Po is a big foodie, if he doesn't like the food he definitely won't touch it. I have spoken with multiple vets about his weight and they all tell me to continue cutting the calories. I think maybe they don't believe me and think I give him extra treats or something.

I haven't spoken to our current vet about possible pica. I'm inclined to think it may be different because he never swallows any plastic, he just chews on it. Goose definitely went through a pica stage (he ate everything, including cat litter) but this seems different to me. Back a couple years ago when we free fed him he didn't do it--it only started after his diet. I would love to get him a full blood panel to rule out a deficiency but after Morty's 4k vet bill and their 2k tooth bills my credit card is kinda fried at the moment. :(

He previously had dental work done about a year ago to clean his teeth and pull three teeth so I've had thoughts that maybe it's a tooth issue...but then again he only does it when he's hungry.

Trying more meals is an idea...or maybe even mixing the food with water. I just fear that he'll dislike the water or pumpkin, avoid his food and go straight for the shower. Meh. We will try it out though. I wish I had had him as a kitten and trained him to eat raw bones. I have these rabbit ears that Goose loves to chew because we started him early. Sadly, the other boys don't really know what a bone is.

My first thought was pica, too. It sounds like your cats, B Beholder , have a few things in common with ours: Edwina licks plastic bags and just chewed at a lamp because she's hungry! We feed the cats five times a day, in large part to prevent her from having bile/acid vomits. And from scarfing and barfing. Frequent meals seems to keep her from chewing too much, though she does seem to get some enjoyment chewing certain toys... oddly usually soft things like catnip-stuffed socks. Sorry to say that I'm not sure I have much to suggest. Other than PureBites, freeze-dried raw chicken breast treats that our cats love.
A lamp?! That sounds exactly like something Goose would do. Luckily he's mostly grown out of it now that he's out of kitten-hood, but my god he would chew/eat everything. With him though it didn't involve hunger.

If only cats could eat vegetables!
 

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Trying more meals is an idea...or maybe even mixing the food with water. I just fear that he'll dislike the water or pumpkin, avoid his food and go straight for the shower. Meh. We will try it out though. I wish I had had him as a kitten and trained him to eat raw bones. I have these rabbit ears that Goose loves to chew because we started him early. Sadly, the other boys don't really know what a bone is.
More meals and more water are two of our approaches, too. As for pumpkin, there are lots of options for pure pumpkin so it might be worth trying different things. Weruva, for example, sells pouches of pumpkin that are yellow/orange, hm, almost shreddy looking. But Beechnut's organic baby food pumpkin (which is cheaper by the ounce than the Weruva pouches, at least where I buy) is more orange and much smoother. Our cats don't seem to care either way -- they like pumpkin -- but other cats may be pickier about their pumpkin. I just bought some Tiki pumpkin pouch food and the cats already like a Weruva chicken/pumpkin pouch food, though it has a fair bit of tapioca so I don't feed it too often.
A lamp?! That sounds exactly like something Goose would do. Luckily he's mostly grown out of it now that he's out of kitten-hood, but my god he would chew/eat everything. With him though it didn't involve hunger.
Yes, a lamp! The neck has a plastic covering, like this one.
1629383512998.png
When Edwina starts gnawing on that I know it's time to feed the cats. Our other cat, Ireland, was the one who ate everything as an adolescent: a rubber band and a little dish of pine nuts stand out because I remember cleaning them up. She also chewed through bread bags to get at the bread. There are lots of things we keep locked away or don't let into the house. I have to wonder if part of the problem is that the cats came to us skinny, underfed, and very hungry.
 
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Beholder

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More meals and more water are two of our approaches, too. As for pumpkin, there are lots of options for pure pumpkin so it might be worth trying different things. Weruva, for example, sells pouches of pumpkin that are yellow/orange, hm, almost shreddy looking. But Beechnut's organic baby food pumpkin (which is cheaper by the ounce than the Weruva pouches, at least where I buy) is more orange and much smoother. Our cats don't seem to care either way -- they like pumpkin -- but other cats may be pickier about their pumpkin. I just bought some Tiki pumpkin pouch food and the cats already like a Weruva chicken/pumpkin pouch food, though it has a fair bit of tapioca so I don't feed it too often.

Yes, a lamp! The neck has a plastic covering, like this one. View attachment 392304When Edwina starts gnawing on that I know it's time to feed the cats. Our other cat, Ireland, was the one who ate everything as an adolescent: a rubber band and a little dish of pine nuts stand out because I remember cleaning them up. She also chewed through bread bags to get at the bread. There are lots of things we keep locked away or don't let into the house. I have to wonder if part of the problem is that the cats came to us skinny, underfed, and very hungry.




I will definitely give those two a try! Thanks for the ideas. Hopefully we can find one that he likes that is low enough in calories. I've been feeding him more wet than raw lately because it tends to provide a larger portion for the calories. Back before Morty had his medical issues, Po was completely on raw and he could only have like a nickle sized portion at mealtimes because it was so calorie dense. He wasn't happy to say the least.

Oh my! A rubber band? Was she able to throw it up or did you have to take her to the emergency vet?

I wouldn't be surprised if it did happen because she was underfed. I've heard so many stories about cats craving human food because they came from an environment with little food. There's a few episodes from My Cat from Hell that stand out in my mind. Goose loves human food, but again I think it's probably his kitten-hood pica. I'm just glad he stopped eating cat litter. When I saw him doing that I was really scared because...well...cat litter clumps. I can't imagine what it could of done to his insides if I hadn't stopped him. After that he got switched to non-clumping/natural litter for a while.

Morty once ate some plastic grass that I had drying out after cleaning the fish tank too. He clearly thought it was real, poor guy. I was so relieved when he vomited it up! I never made the mistake of leaving that out again. :(
 

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Oh my! A rubber band? Was she able to throw it up or did you have to take her to the emergency vet?

I wouldn't be surprised if it did happen because she was underfed. I've heard so many stories about cats craving human food because they came from an environment with little food.
Yes, she threw up the rubber band. (I found it in a puddle on the kitchen floor.) Ireland also loves sticks, strings, shoelaces, and ribbons; most toy mouse tails get cut right off before the cats can play with them. I've watched the litter box more times that I can count to be sure that various ribbons and strings came through. When Ireland was still strongly into chewing, we could often distract her with a Petstages Wiggle Worm. I guess the fact that we haven't had to give her that in a long time must mark progress!

Good luck with your cats' diet!
 

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B Beholder , for your shower curtain issues, have you though about tossing it up over the curtain rod after use to make it shorter? That might help stop Po from chewing on it. I guess you can't just close the door to keep him out since you feed him in there huh? We keep some of our bathroom doors closed just to keep the boys from playing with the TP :lol:. I feel bad taking their toys away, but after the TP shortage last year, I don't want to waste it, just in case :wink:
 

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We have to keep the toilet paper out of the cats' reach, too! But we do let them have the tubes, which they also enjoy.
Thank God my kitty is too dumb to understand the toilet roll (despite supervising me often in the bathroom). She would unwind it if she only knew.
 
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Yes, she threw up the rubber band. (I found it in a puddle on the kitchen floor.) Ireland also loves sticks, strings, shoelaces, and ribbons; most toy mouse tails get cut right off before the cats can play with them. I've watched the litter box more times that I can count to be sure that various ribbons and strings came through. When Ireland was still strongly into chewing, we could often distract her with a Petstages Wiggle Worm. I guess the fact that we haven't had to give her that in a long time must mark progress!

Good luck with your cats' diet!
Well thank goodness it came back out! Goose swallowing a hair band is one of my biggest fears after he mysteriously found one under the bed one day and tried to eat it. I tried those teething toys like the wiggle worm but he seemed quite disinterested. He was instead more interested in chewing on his bed or his litter box. 🙄 Come to think of it, we never found one single tooth from his teething stage. I checked his mouth to be sure there weren't any compacting issues, but I'm pretty sure he ate every single tooth he lost. Either that or he never had a set of baby teeth to begin with.


B Beholder , for your shower curtain issues, have you though about tossing it up over the curtain rod after use to make it shorter? That might help stop Po from chewing on it. I guess you can't just close the door to keep him out since you feed him in there huh? We keep some of our bathroom doors closed just to keep the boys from playing with the TP :lol:. I feel bad taking their toys away, but after the TP shortage last year, I don't want to waste it, just in case :wink:
OMG. Wow. That seems so simple I can't believe I didn't think of that!! Sometimes the simplest solution is the best one. Thank you! That should entirely fix that problem. Maybe for the trash cans I can try and get some protective lids that cover up the bags as well.

Lol and I feel you on the TP. Sadly it looks like another shortage might be coming soon based on the shelves I've seen lately where I live. Luckily my cats haven't ever been too interested in it, but occasionally they have their moments if they get too much catnip. :) I've been growing it fresh for them and they pretty much swallow the leaves whole.
 

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We keep ALL the trash cans behind either closed doors or inside bathroom cabinets which technically is behind closed doors, just smaller doors :lol: . Luckily mine haven't figured out how to open cabinet doors, but if yours know how, you can always install childproofing on them. I know many people do.
 

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We keep ALL the trash cans behind either closed doors or inside bathroom cabinets which technically is behind closed doors, just smaller doors :lol: . Luckily mine haven't figured out how to open cabinet doors, but if yours know how, you can always install childproofing on them. I know many people do.
Some of our bathroom cabinets that don't close tightly are bungee corded! :lol: (Edwina has a thing for Q-tips...) I suppose we could have gotten some of this childproofing thingamajigs but, well...
 

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Some of our bathroom cabinets that don't close tightly are bungee corded! :lol: (Edwina has a thing for Q-tips...) I suppose we could have gotten some of this childproofing thingamajigs but, well...
Whatever works. Bungee cords are probably a lot less expensive. My hubby is VERY OCD so he wouldn't go for that, but thankfully we don't need to keep them "locked"
 

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Maybe for the trash cans I can try and get some protective lids that cover up the bags as well.

Simple Human trash cans are pricey but there are some cans that have no bag hanging out. Trash Can - simplehuman

Putting a small trash can under the sink or in another cabinet may be an option. I have this one hanging on the inside of a cabinet door: simplehuman in-cabinet door mounted trash can

Have a basement door or mudroom next to the kitchen? Place the kitchen trash can in there and keep the door closed. Have a "garbage bucket" to put ktichen scraps into as you're cooking and cleaning up afterwards. Then dump the bucket out into the main trash can. My parents have a trash can just outside the basement door on the small landing before the stairs.
 
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We keep ALL the trash cans behind either closed doors or inside bathroom cabinets which technically is behind closed doors, just smaller doors :lol: . Luckily mine haven't figured out how to open cabinet doors, but if yours know how, you can always install childproofing on them. I know many people do.
They don't know how and that's where we used to keep them. But since moving into this apartment there's no room under the cabinets because of the pipes.

Btw your shower curtain idea seems to be working!!

We also weighed Po in again today and I think he's finally losing weight! I cut back his calories to about 160-170 and he seems to be down .25 to .50 a pound. It's difficult to be sure because we weigh ourselves and then weigh him, but other than the possible +/- .2*2 fluctuation (because the scale only goes from like 13.2 to 13.4 etc and we use it for two measurements) it's a highly accurate scale. The last time we weighed him was roughly three to four weeks ago and he was 14.2. Now he's weighing in at about 13.2. So I'm thinking (after accounting for the possible +/-.4 in each direction) he lost a minimal from .2lb to a max of 1.4lb. Although he's not looking much thinner so I think it's closer to .25lb. I've thought about investing in a baby scale for more accuracy, but they're so expensive. I also think we can get a good judgement just based on how he's looking as well.

Simple Human trash cans are pricey but there are some cans that have no bag hanging out. Trash Can - simplehuman

Putting a small trash can under the sink or in another cabinet may be an option. I have this one hanging on the inside of a cabinet door: simplehuman in-cabinet door mounted trash can

Have a basement door or mudroom next to the kitchen? Place the kitchen trash can in there and keep the door closed. Have a "garbage bucket" to put ktichen scraps into as you're cooking and cleaning up afterwards. Then dump the bucket out into the main trash can. My parents have a trash can just outside the basement door on the small landing before the stairs.
Wow, those are nice! I see a $50.00 one on there that doesn't look too bad if I could convince my fiance. I'm not entirely sure I understand the "custom fit liner" though. Is that supposed to be something you trash bag goes inside? And if so do would you just wrap the trash bag around the liner? It says-

"We have a custom fit liner for every can we make (that’s a lot of cans). They’re extra-thick and double-seamed. No slipping, leaking, or ripping — and they stay neatly hidden under the lid"

The cabinet mounted one is a good idea as well but unfortunately it won't fit in ours. It's literally all pipe down there, the only thing that would fit is a small wastebasket. We cook/eat everything at home and our area doesn't have composting so trash builds up quickly around here. And sadly no other rooms. Just a 500 sqft one bedroom apartment with a ton of cat trees lol.
 
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Here's a before and after from April. I'm not sure I can see much difference...if anything he kinda looks fatter. :( Maybe it's just the position.

Before:
IMG-9310.jpg
IMG-9309.jpg


After
IMG-0316.JPG
IMG-0321.JPG
IMG-0322.JPG
 
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