Overweight Cat! Suggestions?

[gangsta chanca]

Hello! I'm new to the forums, and this is my first post.

So, my cat is a very large, Domestic Medium Hair. "A plain old fat black cat:"

Now, he is only about 12lbs, but for his frame that is too much. He has fat that sloshes around when he walk, and makes a whistling type noise when he is sleeping, which i have been told (so they think) that it is because he has fat on his lungs.

I have tried playing with him, but he only plays for a few minutes before he stops. Is there anything else than I can do and help him lose weight?

 

[lazer]

Have you considered giving him less food? I think that'd be a safer bet to have him lose weight rather than just playing with him.

 

[ruaryx]

What are you feeding him currently?  Has he been checked out by the vet?

If he is otherwise healthy, you will want to slowly transition him over to a high quality food.  I would recommend an all canned diet, which has less carbs than kibble.  Talk to your vet and make a plan on how much to feed him and how to slowly lower the amount of calories that he gets. Key word SLOWLY.  Overweight cats are at risk of developing fatty liver disease if they suddenly don't get enough to eat so any change will have to be gradual. 

He isn't playing much because he probably doesn't feel well being an overweight cat.  As he starts losing weight, he will probably show more and more interest in playing.  Find different kinds of toys and see what he likes. Even a little bit of activity is better than nothing!

It's great that you want to help your kitty lose a few pounds.  He'll thank you for it!

 

[gangsta chanca]

Well, I try not to give him a lot but when i don't give him enough he starts being very bad. I feed him wet food and dry food.

his normal schedule:

Wet (Morning)

Dry (Morning)

Wet (Afternoon)

Dry (Afternoon)

 

[gangsta chanca]

The last time he was at the vet was for a urinary problem, and they said he needs to lose some weight.

I feed him Hill Science Diet Prescription. (cd Urinary Care), which is the same for both dry food and wet. Is there a better brand to feed him? Thank you for the suggestions too, Ill try them out!

 

[karmahcat2013]

i would recomend giving your cat a palm full twice a day of wild prarie cat food you can order it online at there website if you google it. it has helped alot with her weight im still looking for some changes and improvment from it but some people have seen a difference already. i got her when she was fixed and she is 13 pounds so i have been trying so hard to get her on this diet to help her loose wieght so she can play more and not have such bad breathing issues. the other way the food has helped is with her shedding she only sheds what she is supposed to before she would do both so the food has helped with that also.it is a all organic food so good for your kitty

 

[talkingpeanut]

You could try feeding smaller amounts more frequently. High quality cat food is a good choice. Raw food would have no fillers.

 

[lisahe]

First off: I'm not familiar with how to feed a male cat who's had urinary problems. But it's easy to look at the nutritional information on Hill's c/d foods and see they're extremely high in carbs. The dry food is 43.7%, thanks to lots of corn, wheat, and rice in the food, and the wet food known as c/d multicare with chicken is 26.5% carbs because the food has rice, corn, and oat ingredients. That food may be great for your cat's urinary tract but that food is not going to help your cat lose weight. I try not to feed our cats anything over 10% carbs: I go by "dry matter" figures, which make it easier to compare various foods.

Even feeding your cat just the wet food might help some because it would be reducing his overall carbs significantly. I don't know what's best for urinary issues if you feed non-prescription foods. But for the weight, I'd try to feed wet food and avoid as many wheat, corn, rice, potato, pea, tapioca, and oat ingredients as possible. A food like Tiki Cat, for example, has super-low carbs and very high protein, though (again!) I don't know if it would be appropriate for your cat's urinary tract. And I second what @Ruaryx says about going slowly with the weight loss.

In any case, good luck!

 

[gangsta chanca]

Thank you, ill check it out! I feed my cat with a prescriptioned c/d food that the vets provide. Before the urinary problem he was fed Fancy Feast, and when he switched to his prescription, he did have a hard time switching, so I'll be sure to keep that in mind!

 

[jaco0207]

When I first got my cat she quickly became very overweight due to free feeding, and according to the vet, at risk for diabetes. Free feeding did not work for her. The vet suggested she eat a quarter cup of high quality kibble a day, however the problem was she would bug me for food constantly. The best purchase I made was an automatic feeder. Instead of bugging me, she would wait by the feeder for her food. She got dry food from the feeder mid day and I would give her wet food at night. There are a lot of options, but I used the petmate le bistro, it was a little spendy, but worth it for me.

 

[karmahcat2013]

Now matter how much she bugs u don't give in at all