My Big Fat 2 Year Old

[kikilove]

Hello all! I'm sure this has been addressed in other threads but here we go again!
So, I have a two year old who is already overweight. I know it's my responsibility to address this and to ensure that she doesn't continue this trajectory. Diabetes in cats is a very real threat and I don't want her to spend her older years having to endure daily insulin injections.
I've made a couple of adjustments- blending her regular kibble with a low cal version of the same brand (2 parts regular to 1 part low cal) and vastly reducing treats. I keep trying to introduce canned food but she's not on board for that (yet? any suggestions...?)
The added problem is that this is a 4 cat household. They all get fed together and I try to pick up the bowls w any unfinished kibble (from the others... her bowl is always empty). But I can't do this 100% of the time and every time I don't, she's after their stuff in a heartbeat. The whole situation stresses me out. I hate looking at her and thinking "I'm ruining her youth!" She should be playing and bouncing around still... she's only 2. And yet (to my crazy mind), she seems to have slowed down. She's not obese, but she's fat. We have a 3 year old who is very lean, very self regulating... and she has twice the energy as Rose. She also eats wet food so maybe there's a connection there?
Anyway, I'm open to all feedback. Thanks in advance!

 

[Topherius]

Portion control and calories is very key. Also canned and wet food have different calorie amounts usually so be aware of that when feeding. Is she spayed? I know my vet recommended reducing my cats food amount by about 10-15% after spaying to compensate for the metabolism difference after the spay. Take the daily recommended amount for an adult cat and divide it into two to four feedings and avoid any free feeding. Some one on one exercise (playtime ) and maybe a weigh in once a week to keep track of your progress together. Cats also get accustomed to things and will fight change a bit but hold the course its in her best interests and YOU control her food, not her lol

 

[orange&white]

It is tough in a multi-cat household. My senior became fat when his brother/littermate started to refuse any food but kibble and would not eat in a room by himself. He's on an all-wet (raw) diet now.

You can try feeding your heavy cat in another room from the others. If nothing else, that may remind you to pick up the extra food your thin/normal cats don't eat.

The "low calorie" kibbles usually substitute more carbohydrates for meat protein/fat, so your cat may end up losing muscle weight as much as fat. Still, I think lalagimp used low-cal dry to get weight off two of her cats.

I'm a proponent of all-wet food for dieting a cat, and just slowly cutting calories back every 1-2 weeks until the cat starts slowly losing weight. My cat Tangent's weight loss has been a long, slow process, but he has dropped from 16.5 pounds to 15 pounds over about a year. He gets stuck in weight plateaus where he doesn't lose for weeks, then slowly starts losing again. Wish it was faster, but with cats, slow weight loss is healthier than quick weight loss which can be dangerous.

Tips for getting your cat to eat wet? Try tempting her with toppers: crushed kibble, bonito flakes, Fortiflora probiotic, parmesan cheese, a drizzle of tuna water....to name a few things to try.

Keeping a good chart of calories per day plus weekly weigh-ins is helpful.

 

[kikilove]

Thanks Toph- I'd never heard that about the post spay change. She was spayed over a year ago.
The play thing has been tough lately. I'm really good about engaging the lil monkeys in play. I mix it up a lot to keep things interesting, but she's not interested in anything these days. Except chasing with the other kitkits, so that's great. Thank god for other kitkits! We rescued a kitten from living under a porch about two months ago and planned to find her a forever home, but we worked so hard to bring her along socially and, after two months of watching her bloom, we simply couldn't let her go. So now Bunny is calling the shots regarding who chases whom. I'm wondering if this has caused Rose to withdraw a bit?
Have you ever used those puzzle ball thingies? Any thoughts on those?

 

[kikilove]

More great ideas... thank you Orange! I'll definitely try the enticement tactics to encourage wet food eating. I'm a fan of the idea of wet food, I just can't get THEM on board. But this should help. And I wasn't aware of the carb thing with the low cal stuff. Ugh. It really is time to get serious about wet food.

 

[Topherius]

Another cat is always good companionship/exercise for another. My cat is a basic bitch with toys lol She likes non conventional toys like socks and scrunched up paper she can "hunt and kill". Keep trying new things with her and make sure she knows shes still important with the others around. I think its mostly going to be down to diet change and portion control, which is gonna be kinda like training yourself too not to give in to meows or begging until she gets used to lower portions at set times. It wouldn't hurt to get a vet look over as well to determine an ideal weight goal and work toward that.

 

[lisahe]

More great ideas... thank you Orange! I'll definitely try the enticement tactics to encourage wet food eating. I'm a fan of the idea of wet food, I just can't get THEM on board. But this should help. And I wasn't aware of the carb thing with the low cal stuff. Ugh. It really is time to get serious about wet food.

Yes to wet food! Low-carb is the way to go, so watch for foods without fillers or thickeners like potato, peas, grains, rice, and tapioca. Fancy Feast classics, the pates, work very well for a lot of cats.

Feeding cats in separate rooms can be very helpful: we do it because one cat tends to overeat. It works well and lowers everybody's stress level, especially mine.

 

[kikilove]

Thank you Lisa- sounds like the wet food and feeding separately are the way to go. It'll be stressful during the transition but, as you mention, no more stressful than when I hear her eating Jack's kibble.

 

[lalagimp]

I used low cal kibble on the boys because they went from free feeding, down to restricted portions, and they love to eat. Low cal let them eat a little more throughout the day. We worked on it for a few years. It may have been easier to get them to lose on wet, but hindsight. They eat homemade raw now from 5-6.5 oz.
I have a cat that has always refused wet food. I tried to get her to eat it after a bunch of teeth were extracted, and she refused. They told me years later that she's got struvite crystals and this time I tried her on commercial raw, and she refused. But, now, the girl she eats with had a teeth cleaning that left her gums bloody so I put pate in a split bowl with the kibble in their feeder, and now she's been eating it just because I guess I kept it around? I think I could get her to eat shreds if I wanted to try that too because I know she likes fried chicken and wings.

 

[kikilove]

Poor dear with her tooth problems :0(
So raw foods huh? I'll have to go read up on that- seems many folks on thos forum do the raw food thing to great results.

 

[orange&white]

How much does she weigh....and how much should she weigh? I expect that you will have a relatively easy time with her diet since she is still a young adult, especially since I doubt she has become horribly obese in 2 years.

 

[lisahe]

lalagimp -- haven't you feed the new Dr. Elsey's dry food? (This stuff) Based on the ingredient list, that food must be very, very low-carb. If I had a cat who was hard-core, no-can-do about wet food, I'd try that. lalagimp, I'm glad you had success with low-calorie dry food: we did not with our previous cat! The vet recommended it and the cat kept gaining; thank goodness we had her partly on wet food or she would have completely ballooned. I also wish I'd known then what I know now about cats and diet!

orange&white and Topherius have a good point about a vet visit to get a sense of what your cat's ideal weight should be.

kikilove -- the great thing about separate feeding is that it's not stressful for long! The cats got used to it quickly and the most interesting thing is that the faster eater has slowed down some (she's less anxious about getting to her sister's dish) and the slower eater has speeded up (she's less anxious about her sister invading her dish). I hope your situation works out as well!

And since you asked about raw food, I think it's a key element to keeping our cats feeling full without overeating: we feed three raw meals a day and two homecooked meals a day, with an occasional canned meal replacing a homecooked meal. There are lots of good commercial raw foods and homecooked (or raw) is easy with "pre-mix" supplements. One of the best things about these homemade and raw foods is that our cats don't get bored with them like they get bored with canned foods. That's one of the reasons I've phased out most canned foods.

 

[lalagimp]

lalagimp -- haven't you feed the new Dr. Elsey's dry food? (This stuff) Based on the ingredient list, that food must be very, very low-carb. If I had a cat who was hard-core, no-can-do about wet food, I'd try that. lalagimp, I'm glad you had success with low-calorie dry food: we did not with our previous cat! The vet recommended it and the cat kept gaining; thank goodness we had her partly on wet food or she would have completely ballooned. I also wish I'd known then what I know now about cats and diet!

The low cal food was Nature's Variety Healthy Weight 385 calories per cup and Dr Elseys Cleanprotein I keep out for the girls along with their canned food is 544 calories per cup. My girls are just super cool about everything because they manage their weights just fine even though their low carb food is so calorically dense.
The boys started out with prescription diet food and I just got sick of feeling like I was feeding them junk. The first four ingredients are chicken byproduct meal, brewer's rice, corn gluten meal, and powdered cellulose. Still, they effectively lost weight on it because of the calorie control, but after a year or two I went to NV. I'm 98% certain Tommy's calories were at 220 and with his goal at 13 lbs. Stewart always got 5 grams less kibble per day than Tom because his goal was 12 lbs.
I'm not seeing great reviews on the chicken cleanprotein canned so far but I think the turkey is doing ok from what I read. I haven't tried my ladies on Dr Elseys cans. I got them some Blue Buffalo on an influencer campaign last month and they hated it. They're on Nature's Variety Instinct chicken, which isn't optimal because of the peas and carrots, but at least I have them eating wet food together.

 

[_spadekitty]

Have you considered a prescription diet for weight loss? I work at a clinic and clients see a lot of success with the royal canin/hills weight loss diets. Then once the weight is under control, you can swtich her to whatever low-cal brand you'd like or keep her on it for maintenance. They have wet food as well of course if you wanted to try it.

Since you have 4 cats, it may not be economical for you to feed it to them all though....

 

[lalagimp]

Have you considered a prescription diet for weight loss? I work at a clinic and clients see a lot of success with the royal canin/hills weight loss diets. Then once the weight is under control, you can swtich her to whatever low-cal brand you'd like or keep her on it for maintenance. They have wet food as well of course if you wanted to try it.

Since you have 4 cats, it may not be economical for you to feed it to them all though....

the large bag of Hills Metabolic is now $79.99(was $67 on autoship years back) on Chewy.com for 17 lbs, and that's the brand I was using as my example on what I used to feed them. I switched them when Tommy needed to lose about two more pounds, and we had success with over the counter Nature's Variety which is around $40 for what was 12 lbs, but I'm sure they just made their bags smaller with the redesign. Metabolic was a tool that made it fool proof, for me, to get them on board with a program to lose. Once I understood how to do it, I was comfortable trying something else. What was most useful out of the entire thing was a free visit with the tech at the vets before starting Metabolic, where she measured my boys and told me what their goal was in accordance with their body type.