Obese Male cat HELP?!?!

[misszeta]

Hi Everyone!
I'm new to the board, and I have a seriously obese male cat. He's about 27 lbs. Mickey is an unusually large cat to begin with, but I know he's overweight. I bought a harness and a leash so the I could try to walk him around the neighborhood, and I moved my other cat's food to the counter, so that Mickey can't snack on it. I've been playing with him for at least 30 minutes a day, but he gets tired, and stops playing. He is an absolute doll of a cat, and I just don't want him to die prematurely...does anyone have any other suggestions?

 

[valanhb]

Welcome to the site Miss Zeta!

I'm sure you are already controlling the amount of food Mickey is getting, not letting him free feed. Have you talked to your vet about this? There are some good weight control formulas out there for food, and your vet will be able to give you better guidance for a food schedule to help him lose weight.

As for getting Mickey more active, have you tried breaking up the play intervals into shorter intervals, more frequently? Like 3, 10 minute sessions? That way he can built up his stamina while still getting 30 minutes of exercise/play per day.

One other "game" I have heard people use to help kitty lose weight is during meal time. When it's time to feed, take his food and toss a piece of kibble across the room so he can chase after it. They say that it quickly becomes a fun way of feeding and exercising kitty at the same time.

P.S. I'm moving this to the Health and Nutrition forum where you will get more help from our members.

 

[dragonlady]

You may also want him to be checked out by a vet. If it isn't anything physical then you may need to place him on a low cal kibble. Follow the directions on the package as to the amount to feed daily.

The "toy" my kitties seem to find irresistable is a laser pointer. They seem to send silent messages to one another because when we bring it out to start the game, all the cats seem to magically appear!

Good luck with the weight loss program!

 

[misszeta]

Hi!

I put him on diet food a few months ago (science diet light), but I think he was sneaking food from his brother, so I moved his food away from Mickey.

My vet said that since he is a large cat anyways, he shouldn't lose more that 4-5 lbs. I was thinking about asking about the prescription foods, do they really work?

About 3 weeks ago, I bought a laser pointer and he loves it!. I will try to break up the exercise/play time into smaller intervals, that's a great idea! Thanks for all of your help!

 

[hissy]

You can also start making him work for his food. By that I mean once he has been checked out to not have anything wrong medically- start putting his food bowl up on things so he has to work to get them.

Another thing is to get him a nice cat condo, and start feeding him at the top platform. If you go to this website, and look at the different categories, you will find all kinds of cat furniture, and also check out the category of feeding solutions. A really good product to get your cats exercise is called Katwallks- you can do a search for him on the page as well. Good luck! 27 pounds is a BIG kitty!

Meowhoo.com

 

[misszeta]

The vet said that he is 100% healthy now, except for the extra tonnage!

One thing I did forget was that he was a victim of Tropical Storm Allison that hit Houston in 2001. The vet said he was literally 10 minutes from death.

The vet had to put an iv feeding tube directly into his tummy and he was fed liquids for 6 weeks. He had to re-learn how to eat solid food. He gets very scared when his bowl is completely empty, so we've divided his daily food into 4-5 small feedings, so he doesn't get so worked up about not having food in his bowl.

I have a 7 1/2 foot tall cat condo that is absolutely immense, but he can only get on the first level, and he has to take a running jump to get there. He looks at the second level when he is on the first level, and you can just tell by the look in his little face, that he wants to get up there, but he doesn't have the strength to pull himself up.


I like the idea of throwing his food, so he has to go get it in order to eat... I'll try that one tonight...

 

[hissy]

Poor kitty sounds like he is post traumatic stress and who could blame him?

 

[misszeta]

This is my baby

 

[misszeta]

okay...nevermind... apparently i can not attach the picture..it's byte size is too big....

 

[valanhb]

Pics have to be less than 400x400 pixels and less than 33Kb. If you have a photo editing program, just find the Image Size controls and adjust it from there. If you don't, there is a good Freeware photo program you can download at www.irfanview.com. If you install that, open your pic, go into the Image pull down menu and choose Resize/Resample. In the first set of boxes on the left side change the size so your largest side is less than 400 pixels. Save, and wha-la! You can post it here!

We would love to see pics of your big guy!

 

[misszeta]

here it goes AGAIN!

 

[yola]

Hey, he don't look that big too me (small pic I mean).

Pretty kitty though . . .

 

[misszeta]

Sorry it's so small! You can see his size in relation to the end of my flip-flop in the upper left hand corner... he's my huge hearted kitty!

 

[valanhb]

He's a big boy, but a very pretty boy! More of him to love.

Looks like he could stand to lose a bit around the tummy, but he also looks very healthy.

 

[charlottiek]

Your Mickey looks exactly like my friend's cat, Max! EXACTLY! I always tell my friend that I am going to kidnap him because he is so sweet and adorable- just like Mickey...



charlottiek, Ninikitty, Lila

 

[bodlover]

Goodness!! He's big, but he's soo beautiful!!! Hope you have some success with his weightloss!! (maybe try "Slim Fast"!?!?

:laughing: JOKE!!! don't really try it!)
Don't get him too skinny though... I'm always partial to chubby kitties...