Overweight Senior Cat

[Ghani]

We inherited our cat when my mother passed. He is ~ 9 yo. When he arrived he weighed 29#, he’s down to ~20-21 now, but we can not get his weight down. He is obsessed with food. We feed him 1 can of Ocean whitefish & Tuna a day (110 cal) - split into am/pm feeding plus a sprinkle of vet recommended dry food during the day. He is a big guy so the vet thinks 18# is a reasonable goal. He has routine blood work and had a CT scan when he arrived because the vet was astonished at his size & was looking for a tumour. He has now licked all the fur off his stomach and patches on his body. He is sweet, but we don’t want to decrease his food anymore - he was down to 19.5 then the dry food put on weight. He goes walkabout in the yard, doesn’t eat grass. Sits on a chair & watches birds & squirrels within 1’ of him & has no urge to attack/eat - real time cat video.

A trip to the vet requires a bath at the vet and back home - he has terrible motion sickness with every orrifice ejecting. Fortunately he doesn’t mind a bath. The meds for anxiety or motion sickness make him bonkers, very distressing to him.

The fur mowing is new to us & we try to interrupt if we see him “mowing”; he has a big house & yard & food, but is clearly unsettled. He was pair bonded with my mother and 18 months later he still seems in mourning. Pheromones have no affect on him.

Is there anything else we can do, or just let it be. Poor guy. I’m worried he just wants to be with my mother (silly I know and we do anthromorposize)

Thank you in advance for any advice. He is our 8th cat; all were long lived, deeply loved and had excellent vet care. Z has us stumped.

 

[Furballsmom]

In my opinion, he's missing your mom, even still. One thing I found is that store bought frozen raw food did bring my big guys' weight down, also have you tried some other flavors and brands? Ocean fish can cause stomach issues, and yes I agree, you really don't want to cut back any more. I'm looking at the photos again, and he just doesn't look that badly overweight, considering that his emotional distress is possibly still fairly strong, plus he's indicating that he's very hungry.

 

[Ghani]

In my opinion, he's missing your mom, even still. One thing I found is that store bought frozen raw food did bring my big guys' weight down, also have you tried some other flavors and brands? Ocean fish can cause stomach issues, and yes I agree, you really don't want to cut back any more. I'm looking at the photos again, and he just doesn't look that badly overweight, considering that his emotional distress is possibly still fairly strong, plus he's indicating that he's very hungry.

Thank

 

[Furballsmom]

by the way, that top photo indicates a relaxed content cat, so maybe/hopefully a food adjustment helps with the fur mowing. Regarding the weight issue, you want to be able to lightly feel his ribs but not see them. Best of luck. Also, is he eliminating all that hair from his tummy? You might want to double-check with a call to the vet regarding whether they think it's bad, and a means to help cats get rid of ingested hair. I don't want to suggest anything as I'm not sure the best thing for that.

 

[Ghani]

Sorry, that was a miss the first time. I stand corrected, my husband feeds him 2 cans of food per day. Plus a smattering of dry. The whitefish & tuna is the lowest calorie - I did not know about the stomach issues. I think I will go to Tomlinson’s and get a variety of canned. The fur mowing is surely stress. He had lived in a studio until my mother went to hospice. I’m not sure she knew how much she was feeding him with her blindness & dementia. She was in Oregon we are in Texas. It’s a sad story. I truely appreciate the responses & the caring.

 

[Ghani]

by the way, that top photo indicates a relaxed content cat, so maybe/hopefully a food adjustment helps with the fur mowing. Regarding the weight issue, you want to be able to lightly feel his ribs but not see them. Best of luck. Also, is he eliminating all that hair from his tummy? You might want to double-check with a call to the vet regarding whether they think it's bad, and a means to help cats get rid of ingested hair. I don't want to suggest anything as I'm not sure the best thing for that.

We don’t see any elimination problems nor fur in the solids - I’ll call the vet. He’s does not vomit either. I think he’s happy - just a foodie. No ribs visible. Our last cat, Chester, went from 23 to 12, he thought he was a dog. If the doorbell rang he’d run growling to the door. The vet loved him, he purred when he ate. Poor baby, kidneys finally failed. He was 23.

 

[Furballsmom]

Every time I read about a cat living to such a grand old age, I firmly tell my big guy to pay attention/listen up and learn LOL

 

[lalagimp]

Tommy had to start dieting when he was 3 or 4. He'd went up to 21 lbs and was tons of love. We lost the weight on dry at 220-225 calories per day until he reached 13 lbs over 4 years. I did see a huge difference in his metabolism when he was taken off of dry for urinary issues and moved to homemade raw. At one point, he actually started to lose weight again but his blood panel came back okay, so I was giving him 6.5 oz of food to get him slowly back up to 13 so he could get his anesthesia for his teeth cleaning. Then he was at 6 oz for awhile. Now he's back to 5.5 oz. Each ounce is around 45 calories.

 

[xcourtney3]

Have you considered he is having a reaction to something in the food? (the fur licking)

 

[duckpond]

I feed fish quite a bit, but i know it is one food that a lot of cats can developed an allergy to. I would suggest trying some different proteins for him, chicken, turkey and beef are my cats fav, other than fish you know what his calorie count should be, so you could calculate it with the other foods? maybe a 4 oz can of something, and then a 3 oz can of something else? keeping his calories where they should be? and watch the carbs, even some wet foods are high carb, which is not good for a cat trying to loose weight, in my opinion. i check the values of a lot of my foods on CatFoodDB - Cat Food Reviews to help you find the best cat food for your cat there is also a converter you can use if your food dosent show there. Cat Food Nutrition Calculator | Elizabeth C Scheyder

I am sorry for the loss of your Mother, im sure he may still be missing her. Best wishes for all of you.