Cats on a diet - question on quantities.

[moonbells]

Well we went for the 6mo Program injection, and discovered Mooncat is even heavier than I'd thought. Vet has advised slimming her down gently by not leaving crunchies down all the time. Even the kitten is showing signs of being a bit belly-heavy apparently, though we can't see it in his case, and the vet said that given his mum's genes, we'll need to watch him for overeating in the future.

Question is, how many crunchies do we give in a day in that case? We give two pouches of wet a day each cat; don't want to give more of that, but how many crunchies are enough to help Mooncat safely and gradually lose a kilo but stop Moonkitten losing too much? I know we'll have to feed him extra portions, separately. Help please!

(I can't talk. I'm somewhat, er, round myself)

I think I'd go for increasing their exercise as well - especially if you have a kit - so I think I'd be going for some foraging toys. There's some guidance on that \link{http://www.icatcare.org/advice/keeping-your-cat-happy/making-your-home-cat-friendly\here} but they're revising all the guidance, I think, since they changed from FAB so not all the links work. There's guidance on making foraging toys on the net, though, and in the interim, you could obtain a couple of inexpensive plastic kibble balls from the supermarket/pet store/online.

\link{http://www.apbc.org.uk/system/files/private/advice_sheet_15_-_environmental_enrichments_games_for_cats.pdf\Here's} one for you - page 3 is the particular reference - but you can just google on 'cat foraging toys' or something similar for more.

PS - sorry. As to quantities, I'd put a small handful of dried in each kibble toy and see how that goes.

For the average cat two pouches a day would be there total ration no crunchies. My cats get half the daily ration of Arden grange dried food measured for their weight in the morning and a pouch in the evening and nothing else.
So I would either feed two pouches and no crunchies or one pouch and half the recommended amount of crunchies for the weight of cat you want her to be.

Thanks Cozie. I'd meant to get one of those feeder toys a few weeks ago when we realised Mooncat was going to need a bit of intervention to shrink her again. Ordered one now. I expect to find scattered crunchies everywhere and a destroyed kitchen by the end of next week :)

Meanwhile two pouches it is until the ball arrives. Thanks Lone. Given they say 3-4 pouches/day on the box for a 4kg cat, they must be encouraging some seriously overweight cats! (And it's weightwatchers for me.)

I guess that Lone sees a lot of overweight animals at her practice - and it's certainly one of the major problems for UK cats. 2 pouches/equivalent would be a bit tough for me but you're talking about a slimming diet after all - and much depends on their activity level. Will they go out at all when the weather is more clement?

Sorry - that should read ....UK pets.... (Many dogs etc are overweight as well.)

\link{http://www.icatcare.org/advice-centre/cat-health/obesity-cats\Here's} something to read.

Moonbells did your vet offer you a free weight clinic with a nurse? Most practices offer them.

Cat Weightwatchers?

No, we didn't get offered a weight clinic. Just suggestions. Mooncat is 5.9kg and when she does legless cat, she looks round! Moonkitten is 4.5kg already. They both go out quite a lot and have to climb the 6' fence to get out the garden. Only just came in 10 mins ago as I forgot to shut the flap earlier so they pegged it!

Sorry Cozie it's me who is now on WW! though I have been joking for a while that all the mummycats in the house could do with it...

Nah, that's OK - I was just jesting!