Mickey, my 27 lbs foster and his journey back to a healthy weight

[pushylady]

He looks fantastic! It's amazing to see this transformation, and wonderful to know that it's possible to achieve. Kudos to you and Charlie & Susan for caring enough to help him.
I can't get over the difference!


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[lokhismom]

This story makes me cry happy tears

 

[kitcatmeow]

Oh my, this kitty weighs more than my 2yr old daughter! Good luck getting the weight off him.

 

[maxcat08]

Hello.....I've read your story with keen interest. I took my male cat, Cameo, to the Vet the other day. He weighs 19.3 pounds. The Vet wants him to lose 6 pounds at least. I'm to go in for nutrition counselling and I just know that they will want me to feed him the diet dry food that the Vet places sell. I'm so against dry food for cats. I feed him Wellness and Friskies.  We have the Friskies because I have another cat, Venus, who is also in the same weight range and she won't touch Wellness, but loves Friskies.   I will go for the nutrition counselling and listen to her.  But I won't feed him dry food.  My cat is quite active although I've noticed that he's become more of a 'cat' during the day...ie sleeping. He'll be 7 yrs old in June. He only goes outside in the summer and not for long periods.  He likes to lay in the cool grass and eat dragonflies.

My sister's cat had to lose weight too. But she went for the dry diet food because she doesn't care as much about cat nutrition...or bother with it...they're just cats to her.  But...her cat did lose weight, but cried for food all day long she told me.  She would even try to eat the dog food.  I certainly don't want an unhappy cat like that.

I've never measured the cat food...maybe I will take your lead and start to measure the food and keep better records. Might chase him around the house sometimes too, he'd love that!!   

Your foster is beautiful and I'm so glad that he found a forever home.  

 

[maxcat08]

I see that it is Fancy Feast Classics that you fed Mickey. Not Friskies.  Mickey looks so much like my Cameo. He's a Fawn Tabby.  I think Mickey's face is a little rounder than Cameo's, but other than that, they could be brothers!!!  I'll see if I have a picture of him to post.

I'll go out tomorrow and hopefully find the food.   Thank you again for documenting your efforts. They not only helped Mickey, they helped me as well 

 

[maxcat08]

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• maxcat08
• Mar 22, 2015

Here's a picture of Cameo....he's not really quite that orange...more of a very light beige.

 

[mschauer]

 
I see that it is Fancy Feast Classics that you fed Mickey. Not Friskies.  Mickey looks so much like my Cameo. He's a Fawn Tabby.  I think Mickey's face is a little rounder than Cameo's, but other than that, they could be brothers!!!  I'll see if I have a picture of him to post.

I'll go out tomorrow and hopefully find the food.   Thank you again for documenting your efforts. They not only helped Mickey, they helped me as well 

I'm glad you've found Mickey's story helpful. I think measuring his food is a great start but remember to consider the calorie content of the food in addition to quantity. If you consistently feed the same foods
with consistent calorie densities it isn't as important. But if you feed foods with varying calorie densities you could find yourself frustrated and wondering why he isn't losing even when you decrease quantity.

I don't think there is any reason why you can't feed Cameo Friskies. I fed Mickey a variety of foods. As long as I was careful about how many calories I was feeding he lost weight no matter what I fed him. Charlie and Susan feed him just Fancy Feast Classics mostly because the calorie content is fairly consistent among the various flavors.

Also, we found we had to feed Mickey at least 3 times a day to prevent him getting too hungry between meals. When Charlie and Susan tried feeding him only twice a day he would throw up bile in the afternoon.

Cameo does like a lot like Mickey! Mickey does have quite a large head though. 

Good luck!

 

[maxcat08]

Thank you again for that information. Perhaps I'll get a bit of both. I want to keep him on the Wellness too. I could give him a 'variety plate' LOL

I obtained Cameo from the local Humane Society. They neuter all their animals before adopting them out. He was done at about 6 weeks. I've read that males who are neutered early don't develop the big male head like we're used to seeing. I don't know if that's true, or if Cameo just naturally has a smaller head. It hasn't stopped him from having all sorts of inquisitive ideas and letting him think that he's the boss around here....

I'll let you know how things go. Venus will benefit from this new way of eating too.  She doesn't go for her Vet visit until September, so I'll see if she can slim down as well.  Running outside whenever our snow decides to leave will also help in the process.

Thank you again !

 

[jman_in_mn]

Haven't checked in on this thread in along time, the weight loss story is still amazing to me.

 

[catlover100]

Someone posted a comment about how could someone be so 'dumb' to let that cat get that big. Sometimes you need to hear the 'other side of the story'. My cat is probably that large. And now I am living with the guilt and for 6 mos have been trying to do something about it. You have to consider some things happen in a persons life where everything gets out of control. In my case a divorce and a move away where I knew no one. I was in shock I think and I actually don't think I noticed he was putting on so much weight. I know many may find that hard to believe but when you are depressed and just trying to survive things like this can happen.

So I just wanted to say there are always instances where these things can happen and the owner was sick and didn't  mean it to happen at all.

 

[AbbysMom]

Hi mschauer!

I'm curious. How is Mickey doing?

 

[mschauer]

Mickey is doing great. Thanks for asking.

He has been stuck at his current weight of slightly over 14 lbs. Frankly I don't think Charlie and Susan are making any real effort to get him to a lower weight even though their vet says he needs to lose about another 2 lbs. He is happy and healthy so I don't think they feel much pressure to get his weight lower.

 

[Kat0121]

 
Mickey is doing great. Thanks for asking.

He has been stuck at his current weight of slightly over 14 lbs. Frankly I don't think Charlie and Susan are making any real effort to get him to a lower weight even though their vet says he needs to lose about another 2 lbs. He is happy and healthy so I don't think they feel much pressure to get his weight lower.

Going from 27 pounds to just over 14 is amazing. He looks fantastic especially after seeing his old pictures. 

He's a really handsome boy! 

 

[donutte]

I've read the first few pages of this, and will eventually read all of it! Just wanted to say this is helping me a lot. I have a pretty big girl named Maple (she's almost 14 years old) who really needs to lose weight. I think we officially started the "lowering calories" part yesterday. The scale arrives on Tuesday so she'll get an official first weigh-in that day. 

I've been over-analyzing cat foods lately for other reasons, so just added calories to the mix. I have a CKD kitty as well as two 8-month-old kittens. So trying to keep everyone's needs in mind. I can't completely cut out dry food but trying to do more of the wet. That also started yesterday.

Anyway, you did such a great job with this guy! I look forward to reading the rest of this.

 

[catlover100]

Donutte,

I can tell you what has been going on this past year with my 11 yr old obese male cat. I didn't have any scales and I think it would have upset me so much to know how much he weighed . But he probably started off at 28 lbs. He was on all dry Purina Indoor Food that I think was one reason that he put on the weight in the first place. I switched him to Tractor Supply 4Health measuring it and feeding him separately every day. He still only probably lost 4 lbs this whole last year. I am just estimating.

Then another male cat I have got a urinary blockage so he is on a Vet prescribed diet so I decided to put all 3 of my male kitties on canned food. It has only been two months and he is losing weight faster now. I am measuring out how much he gets each day so I know he is getting enough.

Unfortunately all canned even the cheapest is too expensive so I am going to have to add some dry food in his diet.

But I wanted to let you know that maybe your cat would do better on any canned food. I think it must be the added carbs in the dry that keeps them from losing weight. At least it seemed to be for my kitty. 

 

[donutte]

 
Donutte,

I can tell you what has been going on this past year with my 11 yr old obese male cat. I didn't have any scales and I think it would have upset me so much to know how much he weighed . But he probably started off at 28 lbs. He was on all dry Purina Indoor Food that I think was one reason that he put on the weight in the first place. I switched him to Tractor Supply 4Health measuring it and feeding him separately every day. He still only probably lost 4 lbs this whole last year. I am just estimating.

Then another male cat I have got a urinary blockage so he is on a Vet prescribed diet so I decided to put all 3 of my male kitties on canned food. It has only been two months and he is losing weight faster now. I am measuring out how much he gets each day so I know he is getting enough.

Unfortunately all canned even the cheapest is too expensive so I am going to have to add some dry food in his diet.

But I wanted to let you know that maybe your cat would do better on any canned food. I think it must be the added carbs in the dry that keeps them from losing weight. At least it seemed to be for my kitty. 

I'm in the same boat, can't ditch the dry 100%, just not doable $$-wise. I'm trying to increase the level of canned food, and decrease the dry. But I'm afraid of giving too little food now. 

 

[catwoman707]

I will always have a great big soft spot for chunky cats because of her, I adore them! Not unhealthy overweight like poor Mickey, but sqeezeable nice to snuggle and sleep with type.

Canned diet will really help, and of course limiting dry.

 

[catlover100]

 
I'm in the same boat, can't ditch the dry 100%, just not doable $$-wise. I'm trying to increase the level of canned food, and decrease the dry. But I'm afraid of giving too little food now. 

Yes, The Urinary Vet food costs about $55-60/month alone. Then when I figured in what the others were eating it was going to come to over $100 at least. I just can't do it.

I have tried to read as much as I can on this forum about Nutrition and how much to feed them. Somewhere I got a link to a Vet that gives this formula for how much to feed an overweight cat. He says to feed the amount for their desired weight and less if they are indoor cats. So if you want your cat to get down to 12 lbs you would feed the calories for a 12 lb cat. Although I think I probably started decreasing it gradually he was begging for food so much.

This is the calculation :  12 divided by 2.2 = 5.45 kg

5.45 kg x 30 = 164       164 + 70 = 234 x .08 (80%) = 187 calories a day

I was looking back in my posts but can't find the article. It was a good article and I will post it if I can find it. 

The overweight cat eats all of his food each day but my other two don't eat quite their required amount. But I guess that is ok. They are not active so that plays a big part I am sure. 

 

[donutte]

 
Yes, The Urinary Vet food costs about $55-60/month alone. Then when I figured in what the others were eating it was going to come to over $100 at least. I just can't do it.

I have tried to read as much as I can on this forum about Nutrition and how much to feed them. Somewhere I got a link to a Vet that gives this formula for how much to feed an overweight cat. He says to feed the amount for their desired weight and less if they are indoor cats. So if you want your cat to get down to 12 lbs you would feed the calories for a 12 lb cat. Although I think I probably started decreasing it gradually he was begging for food so much.

This is the calculation :  12 divided by 2.2 = 5.45 kg

5.45 kg x 30 = 164       164 + 70 = 234 x .08 (80%) = 187 calories a day

I was looking back in my posts but can't find the article. It was a good article and I will post it if I can find it. 

The overweight cat eats all of his food each day but my other two don't eat quite their required amount. But I guess that is ok. They are not active so that plays a big part I am sure. 

Just going by how you formatted that, I think I saw that article! I think it's the decreasing part I'm a bit nervous about. I don't want to decrease too fast. If they are not supposed to lose more than 2% a week, then that means decreasing by something like 5 calories. I can't even calculate to the nearest 5 calories for myself. But then I read they shouldn't lose more than half a lb a month, and if Maple is 25lbs (I will know tomorrow for sure), then 2% is half a lb. So that meant lowering by 1.25 calories a week.

Yeah, I can do math, but sometimes it confuses me, lol.

 

[mschauer]

 

If you give it a try I think you'll find it isn't as complicated as it might seem. Start by calculating about how many calories she is eating now. Then decrease it by about 10% a week until she starts losing. Give it a full week at each calorie level before you decrease it again. If you do this you'll find the highest calorie level you can feed and still have her lose weight. Otherwise you risk feeding her less than necessary.  I had to get Mickey down to 150-160 calories before he would lose consistently.

 Also, I found with Mickey that once I got him down to a calorie level that he would lose at that he would get very hungry between meals if I didn't feed him 3 times a day.  I fed him as soon as I got up, as soon as I got home from work and again when I went to bed. 

I didn't feed Mickey any dry food but I really don't think it is necessary to cut it from the diet entirely; at least not for weight loss purposes. I think the only problem with using dry would be that you have to be very careful not to feed too much. It takes a far less amount of dry food to equal the same calories as an amount of wet food. You just need to be sure you know how much dry to feed. It will probably be less than you think.