My Raw Fed Cat Is Fat.

[1 bruce 1]

Yep, I know everyone here thinks I'm a pretty together guy (...silence....) but I mentioned it in another thread that Baby Girl is fat. Baby Girl is raw fed, spoiled, and our Queen Bee lost some weight and we decided to give her a mid-day meal to put weight on her (which has done the trick) and Baby Girl decided SHE needed a lunch too and got fat.
Queen Bee's lunches consisted of fattier cuts of dark meat poultry, egg yolks, and goat milk. Baby Girl apparently is cute and was able to be cute and beg and entire portion out of me (I'm a weak man) and got fat.
Her joint health is not good to begin with (she gets cosequin for cats and fish oil) but she's fat now, and her joints can't take it so her diet now is strict.
I feel bad because the weight crept up and we didn't notice it until she was struggling to jump and not as active. When she trotted over to me one day I noticed she had no waist.
So we've been giving her a lot of leaner proteins and much less fat.
We've been letting her run to her hearts content after toys, laser pointers, etc. (she will chase anything, which is good).
So yeah, if anyone here has a raw fed cat that's struggling with weight issues, I feel for you.
Signed, over indulgent cat owner that can't say "no" to a cute, chubby cat face begging for a snack.

 

[daftcat75]

My Krista has IBD and pancreatitis. Maybe if we merged our kitties, we would get an ideal body condition score.

She’s 20% raw right now. Taking the transition slower this time while we end her hairball cycle. But then when she’s back to 100% raw, I fully expect to tie turkeys up on the deck so she doesn’t have to wake me for food anymore. Sadly I don’t think my apartment lease will allow that.

 

[lalagimp]

Tommy gets a three pm feeding to keep his weight up, but it's Stella and Chewy.
Stewart believes in "what's fair is fair" so he gets a few freeze dried snacks like rabbit, chicken heart, turkey liver, minnows, mussels. He hasn't put on any weight.
And then the girls caught on to this 3 pm snack time. They each get 4 pieces of Party Mix. They don't believe in raw foods or even PureBites. Just crappy old Party Mix. They manage their weights fine. They eat low carb Dr Elsey's along with whatever wet I put out into their split dish in their feeder where they free feed.

 

[1 bruce 1]

She's snubbing the crap out of me.
I fed Queen Bee her weight-gain lunch and BG walked in the kitchen, looked at me, then walked out.
Rewind my life 20 years, and tell me my life will someday be ruled by a tiny, square shaped cat and I would have laughed and probably beat you up.
Now...

She doesn't get carbs or kibble or even canned food. I can understand the increase in calories causing this, but I'm almost tempted to have the vet check her out just in case something is metabolically messed up.

 

[orange&white]

A thyroid check wouldn't hurt, but if you only started giving her leaner meats and less fat recently, then you might see how it goes for a few weeks.

When I had Tangent on a diet, I kept cutting the quantity of food every couple weeks when he plateaued at a weight where he still needed to lose 2 pounds. I got worried that I was feeding him so little that he didn't have enough grams of protein to maintain muscle weight. That is when I switched his mix to a very low fat content (mostly chicken breasts) temporarily, so that he could have more ounces of food per day. That did the trick.

He got down to his target weight and is now able to eat the same higher-fat mix of food as the two young cats. I do weigh every meal the cats eat on the kitchen scale so I can monitor any weight gains/losses and adjust.

Are you weighing Baby Cat a couple times a month and weighing her food portions per meal?

 

[1 bruce 1]

A thyroid check wouldn't hurt, but if you only started giving her leaner meats and less fat recently, then you might see how it goes for a few weeks.

When I had Tangent on a diet, I kept cutting the quantity of food every couple weeks when he plateaued at a weight where he still needed to lose 2 pounds. I got worried that I was feeding him so little that he didn't have enough grams of protein to maintain muscle weight. That is when I switched his mix to a very low fat content (mostly chicken breasts) temporarily, so that he could have more ounces of food per day. That did the trick.

He got down to his target weight and is now able to eat the same higher-fat mix of food as the two young cats. I do weigh every meal the cats eat on the kitchen scale so I can monitor any weight gains/losses and adjust.

Are you weighing Baby Cat a couple times a month and weighing her food portions per meal?

I've got chicken breast in the freezer, about 10 pounds. I'm giving her these and the others thighs, and I've got some really lean rabbit she likes that's bone in.
I have a scale but I don't know where it is. The last time I saw it, it was on the other side of the house because a few buddies of mine and I had one (6) too many and thought we should do a before and after paint-can weigh in when we were painting some guest rooms.
If I can't dig it up, I know a neighbor of ours has one and will let us borrow it. I can't believe I didn't think to weigh her. When your IQ hits the negatives...

 

[orange&white]

I was mixing breast meat, gizzard, hearts, liver, bones and non-GMO beef gelatin (hi-protein, no-fat) and only half the egg yolks as normal for a little while to get Tangent down to where he needed to be.

That's probably not a healthy weight maintenance diet, but he was able to go back to a regular lean/fat ratio as soon as he hit his target without gaining the weight back again. He's so much more active now. His metabolism is working again.

 

[1 bruce 1]

I was mixing breast meat, gizzard, hearts, liver, bones and non-GMO beef gelatin (hi-protein, no-fat) and only half the egg yolks as normal for a little while to get Tangent down to where he needed to be.

That's probably not a healthy weight maintenance diet, but he was able to go back to a regular lean/fat ratio as soon as he hit his target without gaining the weight back again. He's so much more active now. His metabolism is working again.

I've been running her with the only toy she lives to murder, the laser toy. (She likes her little felt toys, but she only carries them around at a walk, and screams at me that she has babies, or maybe a kill, and why aren't I adoring her, etc.)
She's fed twice a day. I don't want to do once with a cat, is twice OK do you think?

 

[orange&white]

Yes, I feed my cats 3 meals a day. I wouldn't want to feed less than 2 meals a day for the cats. The dog only eats one meal a day, but their digestive system works a little differently.

 

[1 bruce 1]

Yes, I feed my cats 3 meals a day. I wouldn't want to feed less than 2 meals a day for the cats. The dog only eats one meal a day, but their digestive system works a little differently.

Queenie and IBD cat are eating 3 times a day. Now I feel bad. =(
We usually feed VERY early and later (7-8 pm). Maybe an extra snack around 1 would help keep her metabolism normal?

 

[orange&white]

I think twice a day is "okay", but why would you have them on different schedules. Just as easy to feed all three kitties 3 meals, isn't it?

I stack 3 saucers on the kitchen scale, and spoon each cat's portion out, zeroing out the scale in between each saucer. The younger cats eat in each of the two bathrooms, and Tangent eats in the kitchen. That way I know everyone is eating the food they're supposed to eat. They all eat in less than 5 minutes per meal. That's just the routine I got into that works here. Tangent would eat the younger cats' food and gain weight again if I didn't separate them.

 

[1 bruce 1]

I think twice a day is "okay", but why would you have them on different schedules. Just as easy to feed all three kitties 3 meals, isn't it?

I stack 3 saucers on the kitchen scale, and spoon each cat's portion out, zeroing out the scale in between each saucer. The younger cats eat in each of the two bathrooms, and Tangent eats in the kitchen. That way I know everyone is eating the food they're supposed to eat. They all eat in less than 5 minutes per meal. That's just the routine I got into that works here. Tangent would eat the younger cats' food and gain weight again if I didn't separate them.

It is. But with Queenie's recent GI problems and IBD cat obviously needs this, I didn't even think that everyone needs a mid day meal or even a snack.
Aside from Ms. Fatty vom Cuteness, everyone else seems to be at an OK weight so I guess it never crossed our minds to separate their meals.
Barn cats are fed once a day but they can (and do) hunt their own.

Just when I think I've got this "cat thing" down to a science....

 

[orange&white]

LOL No need for the sadz face. You're a great cat dad!

 

[1 bruce 1]

LOL No need for the sadz face. You're a great cat dad!

Thanks. I just feel like shit knowing my best kitten (not a kitten, only to me) is fat. If her joints weren't crap to begin with...

 

[KarenKat]

When we first got Olive, she was free-fed kibble like our boys (before I knew much about cat nutrition, I was more concerned with what color bag the BF bought so I would "get it right"). I started noticing her getting rather round in the waist, and I expressed my concern to BF that my cat was getting porky. He thought she was fine. I put her on strict kibble rations and told the BF not to overfeed her.

I go to visit my parents for a week across country during Christmas and BF was having trouble dealing with the stress of unintegrated cats begging for his attention from opposite ends of the house. He kept feeding her more to keep her quiet, and I believe texted me something like "porky cat is your problem". Well, she was barrel-shaped when I got back and had to go back on her diet.

 

[1 bruce 1]

When we first got Olive, she was free-fed kibble like our boys (before I knew much about cat nutrition, I was more concerned with what color bag the BF bought so I would "get it right"). I started noticing her getting rather round in the waist, and I expressed my concern to BF that my cat was getting porky. He thought she was fine. I put her on strict kibble rations and told the BF not to overfeed her.

I go to visit my parents for a week across country during Christmas and BF was having trouble dealing with the stress of unintegrated cats begging for his attention from opposite ends of the house. He kept feeding her more to keep her quiet, and I believe texted me something like "porky cat is your problem". Well, she was barrel-shaped when I got back and had to go back on her diet.

I'm just glad I'm not alone!
Normally a slightly pudgy house cat doesn't bother me, but we've seen vets who say "This cat has crappy joints. REALLY bad. Keep her LEAN" and I go and forget this and indulge her food obsession.
I feel bad indulging her, but I feel bad restricting her.
I know, food doesn't = love and I need to man up and stuff.
But *******(!!!!) she's so cute. ALL my cats are cute, but this one....damn.

She love playing laser toy, loves fetching felt toys (on her terms) and is very active. She chirps at me a lot, and gets joint supplements and fish oil, etc.
Since dieting her for a week I notice she's jumping easier. A week ago, jumping onto the ottoman to crawl into my lap was a mess. Now, she's leaping onto it and crawling into my lap (and blocking my book....)

 

[KarenKat]

Sounds like you are doing perfectly right by her. We felt bad today ... opened a can of tomato soup and Olive expected second breakfast. She got over it though, lol.

 

[1 bruce 1]

Sounds like you are doing perfectly right by her. We felt bad today ... opened a can of tomato soup and Olive expected second breakfast. She got over it though, lol.

I think it's that can opening sound that makes them go crazy. Even if I pop a preserve lid, former canned food cats are like "FOOD" and run to their spots, then meow nonstop until I leave or yell "HERE" and chuck them a piece of whatever I have.

Baby Girl usually weighs around 7.5 pounds. She was almost 9 when we weighed her a few days ago.
That doesn't sound like a lot, on a Mastiff a gain of 1 1/2 pounds wouldn't be much, but on a very little frame that isn't well built ...it's a lot.
We aren't weighing daily, maybe we should. She's an adult and I'm sure can fluctuate. We're doing twice weekly weigh in's.
We've been giving her lean meats (lean beef heart, lean chicken breast, non-fatty chicken hearts, etc.) with her regular fish oil (no fatty cuts for you, Missy) and cutting back only slightly on bone content and adding in the dreaded weight loss veggies. 1/8 teaspoon daily of raw, pulverized to mush green things, which she actually kind of likes.
She's weird.

 

[KarenKat]

Gohan likes asparagus ... and cotton candy apparently.

 

[1 bruce 1]

Gohan likes asparagus ... and cotton candy apparently.

Don't tell her that cotton candy thing.
A fat little Tortie with attitude on a sugar high is not something I'm ready to deal with.
The asparagus...I can deal with that.
She had some lean turkey breast with veggies tonight... and ate it all (with her fish oils) and then gave me a "...is this ALL?" look.
If she could talk, I'm convinced she'd sound like Hilary from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air.