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.
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.
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?
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.
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?