Suggestions for Helping Senior Cat Lose Weight

[GreyLady]

Hello.

Grey Cat needs to lose some weight. Last time we took him to the vet he weighed 17 pounds, they said he needed to lose 2 since he is a big boy. He probably has only gained a pound or so in the last year. The problem is he loves food and I suspect he eats the lions share out of the three of my cats.

He's 12 years old. Since he was young he has had meow mix dry free fed (parents choice- he came to live with me about 3 years ago) in addition to wet food in the morning and in the evening. All 3 of the cats get fed the same and I would like to keep it that way since I feed them before going to work in the morning. They get a big scoop of dry food (which is maybe 1 1/2 cups?) in the morning which I do not replenish. They get 1 can of fancy feast in the morning too which they all share. Then at the end of the day another can of fancy feast for dinner. I have experimented with more wet food but they never finish it so this is the amount I landed on.

Not sure how to feed them less, they eat all the food I give, except for the dry they always leave some in there, sometimes more, sometimes less. They never act hungry. But I don't think they get so much food that I could feed them less and feel like I was doing right by them.

I was at the store and bought Purina Cat chow this time because it has 2 percent more protein. But then looked online and everyone says its no good... I'm at a loss. Cant spend more than $20 on a 15 pound bag of food. (a little more is ok.)

I was thinking of Purina One indoor formula. SInce it says its good for weight loss. And has 38% protein compared with 34% if my memory serves me right that the cat chow has. Does anyone feed this? Suggestions? Thoughts? Since we moved from the apartment to the house and he's been able to go out and get more excersize. Plus all the stairs. But I can tell its not enough and I want to in general just see if I can feed him better.

I should also mention just for a total picture we are having a peeing issue (peeing a ton outside the litter box. A problem he has always intermittently had especially with stress like moving but its ALOT so I want to be sure) he is seeing the vet for in November. I'm also calling them every day when they open to see if we can get in sooner.)

 

[Furballsmom]

Purina One indoor formula.

I used to use this, I liked the higher protein.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Since you have multiple cats that you are allowing to share food, the first thing I would do is set up a camera and see if your big guy is actually eating the lion's share of the dry food. You can reduce calories overall by the food you buy, but it won't do much good if he is the one eating most of it. Once you know that, then there are a ton of (not necessarily so easy) options on how to address the issue.

Do they all eat from the same bowls? After you see what is going on through the cameras, you can start by giving them separate bowls - and once again watch what is going on with the food.

The peeing outside the litter box is most likely unrelated, so good that you are taking him in for a check up. At 12, that is an absolute necessity.

 

[GreyLady]

Yes I agree I wish they had a sooner appointment.

Glad to know the higher protein in the Purina One is good. if you dont mind me asking Furballsmom why do you no longer use it?

I should also mention it doesnt need to be a grocery store brand if I can get it on chewy, ect. thats fine too. Very open to suggestions the meow mix was like 11 dollars a 15 pound bag so Im hoping for double that (or a little more if its 25) I can get something alot better. All i really know is protein is good. I dont know about what a good fat content to lose weight is.

They do all eat from the same bowls. I put the dry in a short wide tupperware. The wet is in a little stainless steel bowl. Grey cat and Noodle just stick their faces in there together and eat . Then Bonnie usually eats after. Sometimes its the other way around where Noodle waits but Grey always eats first. They leave alot in the bowl for her, nobody is stuffing their faces to hoard the wet food.

I am certain Grey eats more. They never eat it all, but I see him there munching more than I see them munching by a long shot.

They all drink a healthy amount of water. Grey drinks more water than them lately which is another thing I will bring up at the vet and which makes me think his peeing isnt all behavioral anymore.

Another subject is treats. How many treats should he be limited to a day? I know he eats more treats than he probably should. He goes nuts for them and freinds always come over and give him a lot of treats and when I give treats to all of the cats he always scoops up some that were intended for the others since he is quicker/more exited for treats. Thats definately something I need to get strict with myself on. He just loves them so much. Those blue buffalo treats. What about things like likable treats we do give those out maybe once a week.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Well, high protein, low carb is definitely the way to lose weight, but it's also calorie driven. And with free feeding more than one cat, there is really no easy way to determine how many calories your big boy is consuming. You can try using the new food for awhile, and try getting him to exercise more with the stairs, more room, etc. and see how it goes, or you can feed them separately. Is he still able to jump up high? If not, could you feed the girls up high and feed him on the ground? This might be a start. And for exercise, you can even try walking all around your house carrying his food dish so he'll follow you, if he doesn't want to run around on his own. Or try tossing his food to him, one piece of kibble at a time, so he has to go after it rather than have it just "there" for him.

As to the urination issue, is he also drinking more? Oh, I see you just posted that he IS! That's definately a sign of something is going on . there. Could be a UTI, could be diabetes, or kidney disease (or something else) . Let's hope UTI over those other two. I would call the Vet back and tell them he is drinking more than usual and is 12 years old! My boy recently was drinking WAY more than usual, so of course urinating more than usual, but always in his box. I never dreamed a UTI, but that's what it was. (with a UTI, often then will urinate outside the box to try to let you know there is a problem)

As to treats, I limit treats to just 4 per day, and I only feed 100% protein treats like freeze dried chicken or turkey. NO carb treats. I get that your friends are probably wanting to make friends with your cats, but they should probably just pet them, not feed them. And treats definitely count with you are counting calories. If you give those lickable things, you just need to count those too as calories for that day if you actually start him on a specific calorie counting diet.

Oh, one more thing on the litterbox issue. How many boxes do you have? You probably should have at least four. One per cat, plus one is the rule of thumb.

 

[GreyLady]

Thanks for your thoughtful reply and diet info. The vet was concerned and did say they thought it would be a UTI which they said would be uncomfortable, so they instructed me to call in every day at 8 to see if someone cancelled or if they could do an emergency appointment and are aware of his age since he regularly goes there. I think he's licking his groin more often too so that would also point to that. I didnt want to use another vet but maybe I should try just to see if they could see him sooner. I think for this week I will keep calling daily. His regular vet is GREAT but also super popular.

I weighed him last night subtracting his weight from mine and he was 16 pounds. I could definately use food to get him up and down the stairs even more. He would do that in a heartbeat. He's 10x more food motivated than the girls. He does jump up high and there's nowhere the girls can go he cant get to. he really doesnt act his age, he frequently travels between all the floors, plays with toys on his own and when I play with him and also plays with the girls.

I wouldnt mind feeding them differently but its the logistics of it all. Cant think of a way to get senior food for Gray and not have him eat the food for the girls anyway. I have Grey who will hoover anything, Noodle who mostly seems to like the wet food, and skittish skittish Bonnie who I cannot rely to do anything at a particular time and place since we moved 2 months ago. She still isnt completely herself. She used to follow me around in the morning and be the first to eat with Grey. Now its questionable if she will come down before I leave for work, though she has started to skittishly hang out by the bathroom and come downstairs while I open the can. Noodle will attempt to growl her off if she gets there first though. So its preferable to have Bonnie eat first since Noodle simply wont come near until shes done in that case. Its a one sided aggression thing.... Noodle hates Bonnie and Bonnie gives her nothing but good body language and seems to just want to get along. This has been the case since day 1... it was getting better before we moved, Noodle could tolerate Bonnie if she was about 3 or 4 feet away but has taken a few steps back and now Noodle hates being in the same room again.

I think 4 treats sounds great. Some days he gets no treats but other days when our freind Shane comes over he probably gets at least 10. I guess I have allowed this because Shane just loves Gray cat so much he actually buys treats for him and Gray sits on his lap the whole time he is here (Im sure the treats have something to do with it!! But not the whole thing.) Ill just tell him we're trying to help him lose weight and crack down it.

 

[di and bob]

I feed Science Diet Weight Control (buy at Tractor Supply on sale) and feed Purina One healthy metabolism as an alternative (buy on amazon) I also feed one can of Fancy Feast split amongst them twice a day. For treats I give shaved deli turkey which is low in fat and calories. So far so good, they have been maintaining pretty well. I keep them slightly overweight in case they get sick with their leukemia. They get one shared package of Delectable Lickables each morning to give their meds. Canned food is better, but most cat people aren't home all day to feed canned, and cats love to nibble.

 

[GreyLady]

Thank you Di & Bob. Yes I also want there to be some dry food for them to nibble on during the day and when I'm asleep.

I actually got the idea from one of your previous posts about feeding medicine in lickables to give Bonnie her joint supplement (coseqin) this way. I give it to her in half a pouch whenever she appears during the day.

Took a look at science diet since Tractor Supply is on my way home from work. Interestingly I found their weight control formula is considerable different from Purina One despite both being weight loss. 30% protein and 8% moisture 18% crude fat compared to 42% protein and 12% moisture 8% crude fat for purina weight loss.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...mal-care-original-cat-food-16-lb?cm_vc=-10011
Purina ONE® Ideal Weight High Protein Dry Cat Food | Purina

I'm thinking of leaning towards the purina for the price and protein...but of course not as convenient I will have to order it.

 

[di and bob]

You're right! I may switch to Purina too! With this Covid mess it sure takes longer to get things. I may check at Target. They seem to be the fastest. That's where I get my Whiskas Purrfectly Chicken and my Delectables.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

GreyLady , since you mentioned Bonnie should probably eat first, can you feed HER separately, either upstairs (since you mentioned she sometimes just stays up there and you never see her before you leave for work) behind a closed door, or lure her into the bathroom where you are getting ready for work? Could that somehow work. Maybe should would eat better if Noodle weren't there, since Noodle doesn't like her. Perhaps you could try it on a day you are home all day so you don't need to keep her locked up all day.

 

[GreyLady]

Yes I could try that. I could put 1/3 of the wet food in her room (my guest room...lol) and then close the door while I got ready to give her some time to eat before hand. Part of me doesnt want to do this though because Ill miss seeing her in the morning and dont want to encourage her staying in the room more- and I know she does get her wet food.

 

[GreyLady]

Well we were able to get him in sooner, yesterday. It was awful because we had to wait in the car for a long time and he had more than one accident due to us being there for almost 2 hours.

They did blood work and a urine sample.
Blood was all normal they said.
But the urine they said he had a UTI and a lot of blood and it loooks like he has crystals.

I feel really awful for not thinking it was medical sooner. His past behavior of peeing outside the box combined with the move really threw me off, it wasnt until I could really tell he was drinking more and the peeing was only getting worse that I started to think it wasnt :/

Vet said they will recheck him a week after his meds are done (we pick up liquid medication tonight) and depending on what they see we should talk about changing his diet.

They also said he actually lost 2 pounds (my method of weighing us together on the scale wasnt too acrurate)and we dont need to do anything to help him lose weight, hes losing it getting more exersize.

So ive been reading up on threads around here. I want to ask the vet about the Purina One Urinary food and feeding him less dry and more wet... I hope I don't get an answer that expensive prescription dry food is the only way :/

I am trying to dig back in old threads and read on it. Alot of people said they switched them to wet only or got the non prescription urinary food.

I also wonder if some cases of crystals are worse than others.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Compare the ingredients (which you can do online/internet) between the prescription foods and the Purina - just to give you some idea. They say wet food is better because of the moisture, but Hill's, Royal Canin, and Purina all have canned versions of their urinary care foods. Getting a cat to drink more is as nearly, if not more, important because it flushes the bladder, prohibiting the build up of urine in the bladder that can cause the initial irritation, and crystal formation.

As far as I know there are generally two kinds of crystals - struvite (most common, I think) and oxalate. The former can be dissolved with urinary care foods, generally speaking. The oxalate cannot, and if bad enough, require surgical removal. Your vet should know which ones are impacting your guy.

Stress can cause inflammation/infection as well, including blood from the irritation to the bladder/urethra lining. It can also contribute to crystal formation. So, talk to your vet about if stress might actually be the primary driver in your case.

I hope they did a urine culture in addition to the urinalysis, as that can help to identify the best antibiotic to eradicate the UTI.

 

[Furballsmom]

if you dont mind me asking Furballsmom why do you no longer use it?

This is after the fact of your post just above, but I changed the brand of kibble since some of his wet food is made by purina (which he won't allow otherwise ) and I like to have a variety of brands on his menu.

Hang in there with this!!

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I also would like to suggest a urine culture, just because with my guy, we went thru 14 days of a very strong antibiotic for his UTI, only to find out that it didn't work. So the next time around I asked for a culture, and sure enough, whatever bacteria he had, there were only three antibiotics that work on it, and two are rarely used because of one reason or another. Anyway, we used the one left for another 14 days, and voila. UTI free

Also, wet food is definitely the best thing for a cat who has had crystals, either kind. And of course, since stress IS a big factor too, trying to keep stress down. Hopefully now that you've got the move under your belt, stress is reduced. Do all the cats have hidey holes they can retreat to? How about high up places they can go to? (cat trees, cat condos, cat shelves, even bookcases, etc.) Do they have access to look outside your windows (window seats). Do they get plenty of playtime? These are all stress reducers in cats.

And finally, if he does have crystals, the prescriptions foods do a good job of getting rid of them (at least the struvite crystals), then many people opt to simply go with high quality low carb wet food vs prescription foods.

 

[GreyLady]

Thank you all for your thoughtful advice and well wishes. I will look at the ingredients and compare the different foods and definately look into the urinary wet food. I will have more time to do this tomorrow. Good to know there are wet alternatives. Thanks FeebysOwner Maybe I can switch to feeding them all mostly wet and leave some healthy/urinary kibble in the food ball during the day if they really need a nibble. I know I cant leave dry out for the other 2 and grey not eat it sooo... that will need to be addressed.

Thanks for the tip on eliminating the crystals with the prescription food and then moving to the healthy non prescription food after mrsgreenjeans!

I honestly am not sure if they did a urinalysis or a culture. They have an in house lab and it was done in a day. I didnt know there was a difference so I cant recall the word they used and I left without waiting for them to bring the receipt out because he had another accident and I just wanted to go home. I could call and find out.

Giving him the oral medicine didnt go as well as I hoped tonight. I think tomorrow I may put it in half of a lickable treat and see if he eats it.

edit: Forgot to address the question about hiding places. Yes there are plenty of places for him to hide as well as many cat trees and windows for him to go in.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Hows the medication giving going today? When my guy was on meds, I had pills and crushed them and mixed them into Fancy Feast Broths and he lapped them right up. Did you try the lickables? I've got other tricks up my sleeves for pills, but you said you were getting liquid, right?

 

[GreyLady]

Yes we had an option between liquid and pills so I chose the liquid. It has gone great yesterday and today, thanks for asking!

I just put the medicine in the lickable and he has eaten it up every time. He gets 1 ml twice a day. That's a lot of treats of course but I read the package it seems to be mostly water/broth and protein. its 90 percent moisture and 8 percent protein so I figure it cant be that bad when he's sick and needs moisture and his medicine anyway. I also added another large water bowl in the basement so its easy for him to drink more even when he's not upstairs.


I'm relieved its so easy to medicate hi,. We had a trip planned for a long time for next Thursday and the weekend so if the medicine isn't gone by then our friend (who Grey and all the cats love- he always watches them and will stay over at our place.) will need to medicate him which shouldn't be a problem with how easy it has been.

He peed on the shag carpet yesterday though. It was really aggravating to clean that one up. But this morning he had so much energy he was running back and forth between the rooms with Noodle playing before breakfast. So maybe he feels a ~little~ better I hope?

 

[GreyLady]

Grey buddy seems to be doing a little better. No accidents today or yesterday and he has a lot of energy, chasing Noodle and Bonnie around and playing with his Banana. I think he feels a little better and its making him happy maybe? I hope? I dont know if cat antibiotics work as quickly as people ones. He wasnt especially lethargic before or anything but hes had a lot of energy the last 2 days.

And he definately appreciates the extra water bowl. He looks out the sliding door in the basement alot and I put it right by the door where he hangs out.

Sat on the couch today and smelled amonia and realized I must have missed some of the carpet pee... I was reeeeally hoping he wouldnt pee on that rug it's new and its a deep shag so very annoying to clean.

Update on the feeding situation I started using 2 food bowls. I put most of the wet food on the ground in 1 bowl and then put 1/3 of it in another bowl on the counter and Noodle will eat there even when Bonnie is below her without growling. I think this is better for everyone. Especially since Bonnie has been consistently hanging out with me when I get ready and coming down at feeding time this week.

 

[Furballsmom]

woohoo, what a (mostly) great update - good for you!!