Advise please on how to get my cat to loose weight

[Sunflower6]

Hi, my neutered Tom had his booster vaccinations yesterday and vet told me he needs to loose weight. The vet said cut his food down by 20%. My cat is always asking for food as it is. He has two pouches of wet food a day and some dry food. I bought my cat some James well beloved light complete dry food last night but he's not impressed so far. Would cutting out his dry food and just giving him 2 wet pouches a day start him off loosing weight. I really don't want him to be miserable we've just taken on a rescue kitten so he is already a bit put out but he does need to loose weight. I looked at the weight loss wet food at pets at home but it is v v expensive.

[OrangeSquashTallGlass]

Will he drink enough water? If so cut out the wet food completely and only use dry. We did this for our dcat and it's really helped. We use a specific 'fuller for longer brand' recommend by the vet that I cant remember the name of but will look in a mo!

[OrangeSquashTallGlass]

Aaannnddd I can't believe I just typed dcat. too much MN

[ggirl]

look into feeding raw food.
My friends dog has lost weight switching to this.
There are companies that produce it for you ,easy to give.

[ggirl]

here

[CantThinkOfAQuirkyName]

If you do decide the raw way buy a small amount first.

Cut out the dry for now and see how he gets on.

Could he be eating at a neighbours too?

[Bogburglar75]

We stopped giving Bogbastard (big neutered Tom) dry food after a couple of bouts of cystitis. He puts away four pouches/tins of good quality wet food per day (plus selected raids on tea and our ankles ...), but when we had him at the vets for boosters he had lost half a kilo. Vet was happy with that as he'd been slightly well-covered before.

so contrary to pps maybe try giving just the wet?

[Cherylene]

DB just gave his cat a diet dry food from the vet, but she wasn't allowed out so that helped.

A friend with a massively overweight cat was told to keep to set feeding times and just give attention in between, if he was asking for food. He had been finishing off the dog's dinner, so that had to be removed. .

[ThornyBird]

We have managed to get our barrel shaped cat almost down to her desirable weight by weighing out the dry food allowance into a pot each day and feeding her twice daily.

We weigh the food out for all 3 cats according to their weight (barrel cat's desired weight) then stand over them as they eat so they don't steal each other's. If one walks away from food, we lift it and put it back in that cat's pot for later.

We feed ours either Iams or Purina depending which is on offer.

[ThornyBird]

We were also told to play with her and keep her active

[Sunflower6]

Vet says he's got to loose 1 kg to 1/2 kg. I don't think he's being fed elsewhere but you never know do you. The dry food is one that keeps him fuller longer which may help but he has to eat it and he refused it earlier he can smell roast chicken cooking and he's always preferred his wet food. I've never had an overweight cat before in fact my girl cat who eats the same has always been a bit too slim.

[ThornyBird]

Our barrel cat has lost 1kg over about 6 months. We started May time (I think) at nearly 5kg feeding her as if she was 4.5kg, then when she hit 4.5kg we started feeding her for a 4kg cat. Now she is just under 4kg and being fed enough for a 3.5kg cat.

She has a waist again and the vet is happy that she is nearly where she should be. She's a lot more playful now she's not shaped like draft excluder

[ThornyBird]

Why not try different dried foods rather than a fuller for longer food? Mine definitely have preferences but now the food is limited they eat it regardless!

[yeOldeTrout]

I could join the cat diet club??!

My fat cat hoovers up what the other cats leave, sigh. Hard to control.

[abbsismyhero]

Get a treat ball like you would a dog make him work for food

Make a cat dancer ling strip of fleece and a stick flap it around to make cat chase it

[Sunflower6]

Bogburglar75 what brand of wet food do you give your cat, was he on wet and dry food before?

[rememberthetime]

I think animals should eat what they would eat in the wild. I dint mean birds and mice. ...but raw meat. That is their natural diet not pellets and pouches of roast dinner flavoured chicken and veg. ...

[Bogburglar75]

Brand of wet food - Sheba or Whiskas pouches but we also give him a tin of Applaws which is bloody expensive but does seem to fill him up well. He was hungrier and louder the couple of days we ran out of the Applaws tins and the poor deprived animal was just on the pouches.

He previously had a couple of pouches a day plus a bowl of James Wellbeloved dry stuff. I never thought he ate that much of the dry but it does appear to have had an effect on his weight not to have it.

[Bogburglar75]

PS he has also supplemented with a few baby rats of late!

[Shriek]

Only 5kg?? Oh dear. V worried bout my 6.8kg fat cat now

Its awful. So sad about the state of him. Shocked. A friend had been caring for him as noone around to keep him for nearly a year and he was tiny now he looks like literally a balloon on tiny legs and miniature head.

He has now got down to being able to feel the skin moving over his body and can finally reach his bum to clean it properly which before wld make him fall over backwards and coat got lumpy and scurfy and dull looking.

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

We have just switched to Applaws dried food, cat prefers it to wet food. I add warm water to it and it makes a nice gravy . It's 80% meat iirc. I always give him raw throughout the week.

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

**also not always

[cozietoesie]

Lots of play and attention. It takes their mind off eating a little.

[DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen]

Yep, lots of pouncing and jumping.

[Jonsnowsghost]

Cut out dry food or at least lower the amount - wet food has about 80 calories per 100g and dry food can have between 300-400 calories per 100g! The weight should be lost very gradually as losing weight too quickly can cause liver problems.

Encourage him to play with a toy like the flying frenzy or even throw bits of his dry food around so he has to run to get them!

[Shriek]

Good idea about the activity increasing I have just started to put food up that he has to jump up and down to aswell as active toys. First of all he wld just lay and stare at moving things but is now far more active. Does anyone know how much weight loss is too much and risky?