Weight Loss Advice

[lunch]

Looking for some advice -- I'm starting a weight loss regimen with my female cat who currently weighs 12.4lbs. She's a total food thief stealing from my other cat.

Curious, how long should I expect it to take to get her back down to 10.5lbs? I'm not looking to rush it, just wondering what the healthiest pace is.
Thanks!

 

[Babypaws]

I also need some advice on how to get a cat to lose weight…I have a multi cat house, which is tough. My cat is well over 20 pounds..I can’t get any of my cats to eat something other than Friskies wet and they also eat Friskies dry, which I mix in with the wet…have been trying to get them to at least learn to eat Chicken soup for the soul/ Dr Elsey/Orijen trim and fit ( which they do eat) but they’re not low in carbs…
HELP

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. From all that I have read, a cat should lose no more than 1 pound in a month's time, and ideally half of that. The slower the loss, the easier - both physically and mentally - it is on the cat. Reducing food intake needs to be slow so the cat gradually adapts to less food over time in order to avoid feeling deprived. It is also generally recommended to only reduce the food amount by 5%-10% at a time, and weigh weekly to monitor progress. As the weight is lost, the 5-10% is recalibrated to fit the new weight and quantity of food.

To start off the process, one needs to know the actual caloric count the cat is eating before the diet starts. There is a lot more to it, such as protein and carb intake, but it really is better if you can keep it as simple as possible so that it doesn't become overwhelming. I would also not change out all the food a cat is used to eating at the same time as starting a diet. Too many changes can also lead to adaptation problems for the cat.

If a cat is free feeding, that is another hurdle to deal with because to control intake it is not usually something that can coincide with free feeding. Timed feeders are one way to control when a cat eats, how much, and how often. It becomes harder with a multi-cat household unless the feeders can be programmed to each cat's microchip. Other members separate their cats at feeding times to help prevent food competition issues.

I could go on, but I think you get the gist.

 

[Babypaws]

I’ve read that a cat needs to lose weight very slowly. This is my daily routine for feeding. I feed them around 7:30 in the morning. I mix some dry food in with the wet food and each have their own dish but most of my cats will eat half or 3/4 of it and then walk away for a while and they might come back later, but the cat that is overweight, he eats most of his, and then he’ll walk around to see if there’s any food left in somebody else’s dish and start eating it. I’ve been trying to keep an eye open and pick up the dishes that have food left in it.
But a few hours later, there’s a couple of them that come crying to me as if they’re still hungry. Sometimes I feel guilty and I’ll give them no more than a tablespoon of the dry food. I know it should be more “tough love”. I feed them again around 5 PM, same routine, mix dry with wet food and the same thing happens. When I go upstairs around 9 PM I got in a habit of giving them some dry food. I give them a little of the Dr Elsey and a little of the Orijen and a little of Friskies dry….Oh, I know that was stupid of me to get them in the habit of that at night…but they still look hungry…I’ve been trying to cut down on the amount at the night time feeding, gradually.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

I’ve read that a cat needs to lose weight very slowly. This is my daily routine for feeding. I feed them around 7:30 in the morning. I mix some dry food in with the wet food and each have their own dish but most of my cats will eat half or 3/4 of it and then walk away for a while and they might come back later, but the cat that is overweight, he eats most of his, and then he’ll walk around to see if there’s any food left in somebody else’s dish and start eating it. I’ve been trying to keep an eye open and pick up the dishes that have food left in it.
But a few hours later, there’s a couple of them that come crying to me as if they’re still hungry. Sometimes I feel guilty and I’ll give them no more than a tablespoon of the dry food. I know it should be more “tough love”. I feed them again around 5 PM, same routine, mix dry with wet food and the same thing happens. When I go upstairs around 9 PM I got in a habit of giving them some dry food. I give them a little of the Dr Elsey and a little of the Orijen and a little of Friskies dry….Oh, I know that was stupid of me to get them in the habit of that at night…but they still look hungry…I’ve been trying to cut down on the amount at the night time feeding, gradually.

I would say to slowly cut back on the amount of dry food that you give them when you think they might still be hungry, or substitute the dry for wet. Wet food is less caloric and typically less carbs than dry. Even Friskies wet food, especially if you feed them the pate versions.

 

[alysker]

My new cat is a bit over 13 lbs and we just adopted her. Our plan is to cut down on the food just a little bit. She used to get 80 grams of food daily in addition to kitten food she would steal from others. So starting with 75/70 grams daily. I'll let you know how that works! Also curious to hear what works for you in the future

 

[Alldara]

From what my vet (cat only hospital) has told me, it's better not to restrict calories as nutritional deficiencies can happen quickly.

So they said to use current weight to give the calorie count and increase movement. (Obviously stop the food stealing too, as possible.)

So they encouraged me to do "movement for food" whenever possible. We did kibble toss and similar, food puzzles etc.

The did also encourage me to temporarily use a weight loss food. I did that for Nobel with very good results and then we moved to sr food which has less calories for the nutrition. (Usually)

Creating a Weight Reduction Plan for Cats | VCA Animal Hospitals

Edit just to add, this is the advice that worked for Nobel. It's also the advice that I gave my friend who adopted a 25lb rescue and that is working for her too. So I encourage giving it a try!

PS. Doing wet food in the diet to reduce dry food really helps too as mentioned above.

 

[lunch]

Sorry I missed all the replies until now. Such juicy info, thank you! I'll provide a little more info about my situation.

Both cats eat the same diet, and eat canned wet topped with freeze dried raw only, fed on a schedule two meals per day. As a treat they do get Dr. Elsey's kibble, but hand fed only about 5 kibbles each at bedtime, so I don't think the dry food is a significant issue.

I've been working out how to get on top of the food thieving. It's mostly because my male cat goes through periodic finnicky spells, and just walks away from his food. He is a little dopey, prone to distraction, and generally less food motivated than her, so during these kinds of moments, the female takes the opportunity to out eat him. BUT I cannot get them to eat separately. For a year now they have been sharing a large double sided metal bowl that is wide and flat, it looks like a two compartment lunch tray. They really like it and it works most of the time. If she starts taking from his side, he hops over to hers. It works as long as he keeps the same eating pace as her. If I try to feed them in separate bowls or plates, either across the same room or in different rooms behind closed doors, the boy cat is too distracted to eat. He seems to take cues from her. Sometimes I try to buy time by holding her to give him a head start eating, but I don't think this is a long term solution. I switch up the food periodically to keep the boy interested. They both recently started rejecting their old food, so I just did a major switch up. It occured to me this time that in addition to getting tired of the same old same old, the boy's food needs may be shifting. Could his metabolism is shifting now that he's almost two?

They both get roughly 230 kcal per day.I'm thinking of adjusting the feeding schedule from twice daily to three times. Maybe since boy cat eats less at one time, three smaller meals might work to limit the female's food stealing.

I definitely want to heed what has been said about malnutrition. I will up the playtime and not cut calories needlessly. I do want to better understand their calorie needs as individuals. The online calculators all tell me different things. Can anyone shed any light on this? The range for my boy cat is 200-300 kcal per day. He is a neutered male, a little less than two years old and quite active, 12.5 lbs with a slim build. He is a long and tall cat. The gal's recomendation comes in at 175-250 kcal per day. She is maybe 3.5 years old and a little less boisterous during play with me, but the two love chasing each other. Currently she's 12.4 lbs, and bowling pin shaped. She had a litter of three kittens around 2 years old (not sure about previous litters) born right after she was trapped by a rescue organization. I fostered her and the kittens, she was a healthy attentive mom and weighed 10 lbs during her nursing time. She was spayed after her kittens were adopted, that was a year ago now. Since then she's slowly developed a little tummy waddle and gotten wider, and lost some agility. She is shorter than the male but not tiny, more medium framed.

TL, DR: Instead of calorie cutting, I'm focusing on stopping the food theivery and making sure each cat gets their ideal calorie amount only. Can anyone help in honing in the right calorie amount? The online calorie calculators are too general.

 

[Alldara]

Usually I start with the mid range 25 calories per pound and then keep an eye on body condition