- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #101
great picture! You can really see a difference.
Thanks guys! I wasn't entirely sure I wasn't just seeing what I wanted to see!Yup! I think he looks quite a bit smaller in his neck/shoulder area!!
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Mickey, my 27 lbs foster and his journey back to a healthy weight
- Thread starter mschauer
- Start Date
You are NOT imagining that! 
You can totally see a difference! 
I can definitely see a difference!!! :nod: Way to go!!!
Oh Yeah! I can totally see a difference! He looks great! Long way to go, but I can't wait to see the pictures as he continues to lose weight.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #105
I jumped the gun a bit this time but my intention is to post updated pictures with every 2 lbs lost.
Once I get him established with losing at the rate I want him to, and I'm not there yet, I'll post general updates less often than I have been so far but I'll always be back!
Aw, but we need our Mickey updates!
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #107
Well hopefully the updates are going to start to get boring. Something like "He lost another 6 oz this week, same as last week and the week before."
Of course it's entirely possible that I never get to that point.
Of course it's entirely possible that I never get to that point.
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I don't think I would get tired of updates at all. I especially enjoy the pictures. I still go back and watch the video every now and then. lol
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #109
OK, but you know the old saying: Beware of what you ask for, you might get it!
I love that video too. he's so cute!
I love that video too. he's so cute!
And we'd LOVE "boring" updates of "he lost six ounces last week."
I've been offhandedly watching this thread for a while and thought I would give some advice and encouragement since I have a cat going down the weight loss path as well.
I know that you are worrying and stressing about how much Mickey is losing, but 3-5oz per week is really good. Over Grim's journey he's gained, lost, and stayed at the same stubborn weight for months. It happens. You just have to keep pushing through.
I wouldn't recommend trying to count calories, you are going to drive yourself insane. :lol3: Figure out how much you can feed him without him losing, and then slowly reduce from there. You don't want to cut down his calories so much that he ends up with a slowed down metabolism, that wouldn't be any good. *shakes head*
Something that I never would have predicted myself is that even though I have kept Grim's food amount the same for months and months, he still continues to lose. The healthier wet food plus exercise really does most of the work for you once you get below around 18lbs.
It's also to be expected that he will be grumpy about food. Essentially you will be making his body think there is a food shortage for the next year or so. Don't give in though. As you see the pounds shed away and a brand new cat come out of its cocoon, it will be all worth it.
I'm attaching a photo of my chart of weights. You'll see that he lost about a pound a month for a while, then was stuck at 16 for more than 3 months. A temporary cut of his food to a little less than a can a day and more consistent exercise has put him back on the right track.
I know that you are worrying and stressing about how much Mickey is losing, but 3-5oz per week is really good. Over Grim's journey he's gained, lost, and stayed at the same stubborn weight for months. It happens. You just have to keep pushing through.
I wouldn't recommend trying to count calories, you are going to drive yourself insane. :lol3: Figure out how much you can feed him without him losing, and then slowly reduce from there. You don't want to cut down his calories so much that he ends up with a slowed down metabolism, that wouldn't be any good. *shakes head*
Something that I never would have predicted myself is that even though I have kept Grim's food amount the same for months and months, he still continues to lose. The healthier wet food plus exercise really does most of the work for you once you get below around 18lbs.
It's also to be expected that he will be grumpy about food. Essentially you will be making his body think there is a food shortage for the next year or so. Don't give in though. As you see the pounds shed away and a brand new cat come out of its cocoon, it will be all worth it.
I'm attaching a photo of my chart of weights. You'll see that he lost about a pound a month for a while, then was stuck at 16 for more than 3 months. A temporary cut of his food to a little less than a can a day and more consistent exercise has put him back on the right track.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #112
I'm not actually worried or stressed at all. I agree that as long as his weight is consistently going down everything is fine. But, Mickey is a foster. The reason I'm trying to get him losing at a faster rate is because the sooner he gets down to an adoptable weight the sooner he will get into his forever home. I am thinking I might have to be satisfied with a slower rate of lose though. But I'm not quite ready to give up yet on my target of a lose of about 1.5% of his body weight a week. The difference between him losing 3 oz a week or 6 oz is the difference between him losing 10 lbs in 12 months or in 6 months.
Maybe I should emphasis more that I'm really happy he is consistently losing!
That is essentially what I am doing. I'm just tracking the amount of food he gets in calories rather than just as ounces. The reason for doing that is that different foods can have very different caloric densities. That is important because when it comes to weight lose it is really calories that matter not food quantity . For instance, say you you have your cat consistently losing weight on 6 oz a day of some food or mix of foods. Then you add a new food to the mix and he suddenly starts gaining weight. Most likely the new food has a higher caloric density and should be fed in a lower quantity in order to achieve the previous rate of lose.I wouldn't recommend trying to count calories, you are going to drive yourself insane.Figure out how much you can feed him without him losing, and then slowly reduce from there. You don't want to cut down his calories so much that he ends up with a slowed down metabolism, that wouldn't be any good. *shakes head*
As for cutting calories too much, I've been keeping a close eye on how he reacts when I give him food. So far he starts eating right away but he always stops without finishing and eats the rest later. That tells me he isn't getting excessively hungry between meals. That and monitoring how fast he is losing should prevent me from underfeeding him.
That doesn't surprised me. Cutting caloric intake will result in weight lose until the weight is reached that that caloric intake is needed to maintain.
Yup, I expect Mickey will get more active as he loses and that will certainly help with the weight lose. At some point I may even need to increase his food so he doesn't lose too fast. Boy do I look forward to that day!
Really I don't think there is any difference between what I'm doing with Mickey and what you did with Gus. I think maybe you read too much into my calorie counting.
Great job with Gus by the way! I'm sure he is a lot happier now!
And thanks for sharing Gus's story. I think those with overweight cats need as many success stories as possible for motivation and encouragement.
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I WISH either of my cats were like this when I fed them - EVER. Mine act like they are never fed and eat it so quickly. They've never left food uneaten.
I can see how you can be happy about his weight loss yet disapointed that you aren't hitting your marks. It's frustrating, I think
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #114
For an obese cat Mickey is not very food oriented. I thought it was really strange that when I use trying to train him to use the cat door that I couldn't use food to entice him through the door even when I knew he was hungry. He will eat anything and that has been a tremendous help but he just doesn't seem overly interested in food most of time.
Yup, that sums it up nicely. I'm a little frustrated that I can't get him to lose at a faster rate but really as long as he is losing at all I can't be too disappointed. If he weren't a foster I wouldn't care at all. But at the rate he has been losing it could take another *year* for him to get to an adoptable weight. Am I really going to return him to the shelter after a year?! He'll be almost 9 years old!
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Ah.. Okay, I see.I'm not actually worried or stressed at all. I agree that as long as his weight is consistently going down everything is fine. But, Mickey is a foster. The reason I'm trying to get him losing at a faster rate is because the sooner he gets down to an adoptable weight the sooner he will get into his forever home. I am thinking I might have to be satisfied with a slower rate of lose though. But I'm not quite ready to give up yet on my target of a lose of about 1.5% of his body weight a week. The difference between him losing 3 oz a week or 6 oz is the difference between him losing 10 lbs in 12 months or in 6 months.
Maybe I should emphasis more that I'm really happy he is consistently losing!:lol3:
Cheers for Mickey!
Probably so. All I know is trying to count calories would make me lose my head. :lol3:
His name is Grim.Great job with Gus by the way! I'm sure he is a lot happier now!
And thanks for sharing Gus's story. I think those with overweight cats need as many success stories as possible for motivation and encouragement.
He is a lot happier now. Runs and jumps all around more every month, causing a ruckus whenever he can. =P
I just did the (long and super boring) calculations and even if he lost 2% of his body weight every week, it would still take him 7 months to get down to 14lbs. I think you may have a failed foster on your hands.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #116
You need to learn The Joy of Spreadsheets.Probably so. All I know is trying to count calories would make me lose my head.
Oops. Sorry!His name is Grim.Great job with Gus by the way! I'm sure he is a lot happier now!
And thanks for sharing Gus's story. I think those with overweight cats need as many success stories as possible for motivation and encouragement.
You could have saved yourself some pain by looking at the spreadsheet I linked to in post #2.I just did the (long and super boring) calculations and even if he lost 2% of his body weight every week, it would still take him 7 months to get down to 14lbs. I think you may have a failed foster on your hands.
He's definitely a candidate for my first foster failure. But I've always said that my first foster failure would be my last foster. Keeping them can get out of hand in a hurry!
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- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #117
Mid week update
He weighted in at 24:15 (lbsz) tonight. That's 4 oz lost in 4 days.
That's pretty much the rate of lose I have been shooting for.
But, starting a few days ago he stopped finishing all the food I give him. He always ate about 3/4 of it but more often than not quite a bit was left from the last meal when I put fresh down. I think I have abused his "will eat anything" attitude by not giving him enough variety. For his four meals a day I've just been cycling through 3 flavors of by Nature mixed with 2 flavors of Weruva. But the 2 Weruva
flavors aren't all that different from one another. One is Paw Lickin' Chicken an the other is Peking Ducken. But the Peking Ducken is really just the same as Paw Lickin' Chicken with a bit of duck added, not enough to really alter the flavor I don't think. So really I've only been giving him 3 flavors.
To test that, his last 6 meals have been:
1 rehydrated Stella and Chewy's Chicken and Salmon (freeze dried raw)
2 Weruva/by Nature mix
3 Darwin's Naturals Chicken dinner (raw)
4 Weruva/by Nature mix
5 by Nature mixed with bonito flakes
6 Darwin's Naturals Chicken dinner (raw)
Sure enough, he ate all of everything *except* the Weruva/by Nature mix. #5 is by Nature mixed with just bonito flakes. I wanted to try that because bonito flakes have a pretty strong flavor so should make any food it is mixed into taste quite a bit different. Also, from what I've seen I *think* he may not be too crazy about the Weruva. It sometimes looks like he is eating around the chicken bits in it. I'll test that by giving him just Weruva or maybe Weruva with bonito flakes added.
Anyway, it's obvious I need to come up with a more varied meal plan for him. That's going to be a little challenging if I want to stick to low calorie foods. Besides the by Nature and Weruva foods I'm already feeding there aren't many low calorie offerings out there that aren't fish heavy. I don't mind feeding a little fish but I don't think it is good for a large percentage of a cats diet to be fish. In the short term at least I'm going to add a couple of fishy foods, probably Soulistic brand.
I'm also thinking about adding a raw meal here and there. He *loves* raw. When I first got him and was testing what kind of foods he liked I would put some raw on his plate beside something else and he always ate the raw first. The problem with raw is that the raw I make includes lean meat and organs and comes in at between 33 and 35 calories per oz. The Weruva/by Nature mix is 22 calories/oz. I'm currently giving him 45 grams per meal of the Weruva/by Nature. I'd have to cut that to only 24 grams of raw to keep with the same number of calories. That ain't much food! Maybe it doesn't matter though. As long as he is getting the calories he needs he should feel satisfied with the smaller quantity I would think.
The bonito flakes are only 5 calories per 2 tablespoons and I wouldn't use any where near that much so that is a good option to continue to use to "amp up" the flavor of his food.
Now that I've written this I see I actaully have quite a few options for feeding him. Maybe it won't be as challenging as I thought to make a more varied meal plan for him.
Note: This is where calorie counting comes in handy. Since I know how many calories I've been feeding him I can determine how much of a new food I can give him while maintaining the same calorie intake.
Reply to:
He weighted in at 24:15 (lbs
z) tonight. That's 4 oz lost in 4 days. That's pretty much the rate of lose I have been shooting for.
But, starting a few days ago he stopped finishing all the food I give him. He always ate about 3/4 of it but more often than not quite a bit was left from the last meal when I put fresh down. I think I have abused his "will eat anything" attitude by not giving him enough variety. For his four meals a day I've just been cycling through 3 flavors of by Nature mixed with 2 flavors of Weruva. But the 2 Weruva
flavors aren't all that different from one another. One is Paw Lickin' Chicken an the other is Peking Ducken. But the Peking Ducken is really just the same as Paw Lickin' Chicken with a bit of duck added, not enough to really alter the flavor I don't think. So really I've only been giving him 3 flavors.
To test that, his last 6 meals have been:
1 rehydrated Stella and Chewy's Chicken and Salmon (freeze dried raw)
2 Weruva/by Nature mix
3 Darwin's Naturals Chicken dinner (raw)
4 Weruva/by Nature mix
5 by Nature mixed with bonito flakes
6 Darwin's Naturals Chicken dinner (raw)
Sure enough, he ate all of everything *except* the Weruva/by Nature mix. #5 is by Nature mixed with just bonito flakes. I wanted to try that because bonito flakes have a pretty strong flavor so should make any food it is mixed into taste quite a bit different. Also, from what I've seen I *think* he may not be too crazy about the Weruva. It sometimes looks like he is eating around the chicken bits in it. I'll test that by giving him just Weruva or maybe Weruva with bonito flakes added.
Anyway, it's obvious I need to come up with a more varied meal plan for him. That's going to be a little challenging if I want to stick to low calorie foods. Besides the by Nature and Weruva foods I'm already feeding there aren't many low calorie offerings out there that aren't fish heavy. I don't mind feeding a little fish but I don't think it is good for a large percentage of a cats diet to be fish. In the short term at least I'm going to add a couple of fishy foods, probably Soulistic brand.
I'm also thinking about adding a raw meal here and there. He *loves* raw. When I first got him and was testing what kind of foods he liked I would put some raw on his plate beside something else and he always ate the raw first. The problem with raw is that the raw I make includes lean meat and organs and comes in at between 33 and 35 calories per oz. The Weruva/by Nature mix is 22 calories/oz. I'm currently giving him 45 grams per meal of the Weruva/by Nature. I'd have to cut that to only 24 grams of raw to keep with the same number of calories. That ain't much food! Maybe it doesn't matter though. As long as he is getting the calories he needs he should feel satisfied with the smaller quantity I would think.
The bonito flakes are only 5 calories per 2 tablespoons and I wouldn't use any where near that much so that is a good option to continue to use to "amp up" the flavor of his food.
Now that I've written this I see I actaully have quite a few options for feeding him. Maybe it won't be as challenging as I thought to make a more varied meal plan for him.
Note: This is where calorie counting comes in handy. Since I know how many calories I've been feeding him I can determine how much of a new food I can give him while maintaining the same calorie intake.
Reply to:
Awesome job on the weight loss :-)
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #119
Thanks! I bought 11 cans of Soulistic yesterday, each one a different flavor. He wouldn't touch the one I opened and put down for him! So much for "will eat anything".
Since the Soulistic was a bust I gave him some by Nature with the bonito flakes mixed in and he ate all of it. His midnight meal (in the timed feeder) was raw. This morning I saw he had eaten it all but he acted like he was starving. His breakfast was Stella and Chew's, rehydrated. He scarfed it up in seconds so I gave him some by Nature without the bonito flakes. He ate all that before I left for work.
He really seems to like the by Nature. Maybe he just doesn't like the Weruva mixed in it.
My advice is to Not give in to this.
When I first started Grim on his wet food diet he was the same way; ate everything I put down and then all of a sudden he didn't quite like his favourite food anymore. And then he didn't quite like another. And another. I ended up with this huge list of foods that he liked, didn't like or maybe liked. And then I realized this was ridiculous and stopped worrying about it. I put down what I wanted him to eat and didn't budge so he wouldn't end up a "picky cat." He now eats anything I put down.
I'm really glad I did because now he has allergies so there are only 3 different cans of food he can eat and there is no room for him to be picky.
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