I have been reading Mickey's and it's inspirational, but as it is 35 pages long and quite old and I didn't want to distract from Mickey I thought I'd start one for the cat I adopted (last Thursday, so today is day 7) and who weighs 23.4lbs.
He gained weight in the shelter. When I weighed him after he ate at home after a few days with us, he weighed 23.59lbs (we weigh in kgs, I converted). 10.7kg.
But then we took him back to the vet because we were concerned about how he was eating, and he weighed 23.4lbs (10.6kg), so I think his higher weight (he weighed 23.4lbs at the vet the day I brought him home as well) was due to just having ate.
He is big enough he's not much for playing, but we have a bell toy he kind of chases with his paws while lying down. I'm getting him used to a harness so that I can take him into the hallways and stairwells of our building for exercise and maybe eventually outside? I'm not loving how secure his harness is at the moment though.
We are feeding him wet food, though he's very interested in kibble (grain free, but I know kibble is not best for weight loss, our vets want us to feed wet and that matches everything I've researched), so now we are feeding our other two guys more wet and just putting kibble down when we can keep it away from Timothy.
He's getting a mix of President's Choice wet food (cans vary from around ~90-110cal, depending on the formula) which is grain free, and Go! Petcurean Fit and Free wet food (also grain free and recommended by a friend whose cat has lost weight on it) which seems to be a bit more calorie dense.
We are having trouble getting him to eat a full meal at one sitting. He's very flighty about what he eats. We were concerned about hepatic lipidosis (why he went back to the vet on Monday), but his weight was stable, he looked great, and his bloodwork was fine. So false alarm.
The first vet we saw at the practice calculated his daily calorie needs for weight loss at 329!!!! So you see why we were concerned he wasn't getting enough, as I think he's probably eating around 150-200 calories a day, though it's difficult to say for sure as he never finishes his food.
We did try him on The Honest Kitchen dehydrated raw - not fan, but as he settles in, I'll try it again - and I have some Stella and Chewy freeze dried raw stuff I haven't tried him with yet. Who would think such an obese cat is a picky eater (except for kibble apparently, though that's new over the last couple of days).
I've read some stuff from Dr. Pierson, which was good, and have been googling how to get a cat to lose weight. Based on online stuff, I'm guessing he should be eating ~250 calories for weight loss (assuming he should weigh 14lbs - probably less, but he is also a BIG cat even if he wasn't overweight, so I figured 14lbs until he gets closer to that weight and then we can see how much he needs to lose.
But using the formula of 14*13.6+70=260.4cal. He's not eating that. I noticed Mickey ate a lot less and didn't seem to get sick (unless I missed it in that huge thread). We'll see. I think he's still adjusting to a wet food diet.
He was brought into the shelter in mid-May after his owner died and they don't know how long he was alone for. He'll be 9 in October and was neutered at the start of June. The second, more established vet we saw at our clinic (the other I think is filling in for vacations, she's not a regular vet) was shocked that an unneutered cat could gain that much weight.
So! Timothy's weight loss thread! I figure I'll weigh him in every few days, once I'm in the habit (right now I'm tired from him cuddling all night (aww) and on autopilot in the morning and just head to the kitchen to feed the cats.
He gained weight in the shelter. When I weighed him after he ate at home after a few days with us, he weighed 23.59lbs (we weigh in kgs, I converted). 10.7kg.
But then we took him back to the vet because we were concerned about how he was eating, and he weighed 23.4lbs (10.6kg), so I think his higher weight (he weighed 23.4lbs at the vet the day I brought him home as well) was due to just having ate.
He is big enough he's not much for playing, but we have a bell toy he kind of chases with his paws while lying down. I'm getting him used to a harness so that I can take him into the hallways and stairwells of our building for exercise and maybe eventually outside? I'm not loving how secure his harness is at the moment though.
We are feeding him wet food, though he's very interested in kibble (grain free, but I know kibble is not best for weight loss, our vets want us to feed wet and that matches everything I've researched), so now we are feeding our other two guys more wet and just putting kibble down when we can keep it away from Timothy.
He's getting a mix of President's Choice wet food (cans vary from around ~90-110cal, depending on the formula) which is grain free, and Go! Petcurean Fit and Free wet food (also grain free and recommended by a friend whose cat has lost weight on it) which seems to be a bit more calorie dense.
We are having trouble getting him to eat a full meal at one sitting. He's very flighty about what he eats. We were concerned about hepatic lipidosis (why he went back to the vet on Monday), but his weight was stable, he looked great, and his bloodwork was fine. So false alarm.
The first vet we saw at the practice calculated his daily calorie needs for weight loss at 329!!!! So you see why we were concerned he wasn't getting enough, as I think he's probably eating around 150-200 calories a day, though it's difficult to say for sure as he never finishes his food.
We did try him on The Honest Kitchen dehydrated raw - not fan, but as he settles in, I'll try it again - and I have some Stella and Chewy freeze dried raw stuff I haven't tried him with yet. Who would think such an obese cat is a picky eater (except for kibble apparently, though that's new over the last couple of days).
I've read some stuff from Dr. Pierson, which was good, and have been googling how to get a cat to lose weight. Based on online stuff, I'm guessing he should be eating ~250 calories for weight loss (assuming he should weigh 14lbs - probably less, but he is also a BIG cat even if he wasn't overweight, so I figured 14lbs until he gets closer to that weight and then we can see how much he needs to lose.
But using the formula of 14*13.6+70=260.4cal. He's not eating that. I noticed Mickey ate a lot less and didn't seem to get sick (unless I missed it in that huge thread). We'll see. I think he's still adjusting to a wet food diet.
He was brought into the shelter in mid-May after his owner died and they don't know how long he was alone for. He'll be 9 in October and was neutered at the start of June. The second, more established vet we saw at our clinic (the other I think is filling in for vacations, she's not a regular vet) was shocked that an unneutered cat could gain that much weight.
So! Timothy's weight loss thread! I figure I'll weigh him in every few days, once I'm in the habit (right now I'm tired from him cuddling all night (aww) and on autopilot in the morning and just head to the kitchen to feed the cats.