Helping chubby kitty slim down

[dinksandbinks]

Good evening!

I’ve been lurking here for a while, and you all seem lovely, so I’m being brave and asking for advice!

We have two indoor cats, one of whom is rather chubby. She is a very petite cat, but in he past year has gained 1.5kg to almost 5kg. She now outweighs her bigger older brother, and on a visual weight chart is verging on obese.

We took them both to the vet for a regular check up, and the vet advised reducing portions gradually, and also slowly switching to lower calorie food. We’ve been doing this for the last 6 months but chubby kitty has only lost 0.2kg, but our other cat has lost 0.5kg and is looking a bit skinny.

They have dry food to graze at; we weigh it out each morning so they aren’t getting too much. They also get a little bit of plain chicken, and have fresh water.

I’m fairly sure chubby cat is eating more than her fair share, but we both work, and can’t monitor them all the time. But even then, we would have expected her to lose a bit more weight. Chubster has had a lot of other health problems (water retention, slight heart murmur, undeveloped bone structure in places) so we’re wondering if the weight could be a medical issue rather than diet? She’s 8, so still relatively young (Russian Blue, so long lived breed).

The vet stresses them out so I am hoping there may be solutions that I haven’t thought of from the wise cat servants here!

Fat Girl came via CPL, and was either an old person's cat (so getting fed too much out of love and possible forgetfulness) or in a house of too many animals (so again, through love but possibly scarfing food meant for 3 or more cats!) We got told slightly different stories on 2 occasions.

Either way, poor old thing was definitely obese. But she submitted to the regime quite magnanimously. Probably helped that it was a new routine in a new house, so easier to establish the rules than to change the existing status quo? She can now leap whereas before she didn't unless she really had to, and there was a staging post in between!

Beautiful cats Op.

Our chubby tabby was ex rescue too. We bought the sureflap pet feeder and try to ration what he eats! He has full access to the garden via cat flap now so at least he's doing more exercise rather than lying on a bed which he can do all day.

I've got a similar issue with my Persians. One is 3.3kg and a bit thin. (She's lost a kilo) the other is 4.4kg and a bit chunky. She was 5kg which I thought was ok for a cat until a 3am from an emergency vet to tell me she was obese. She's lost 500g and the vet is on as long as she doesn't gain anymore. They both have measured out dry food. Microchip feeders didn't work for me or them. (Couldn't work out how to get them to use them!) they are both indoor cats and are not the most active of beasts.

Did she slim down? I think some of the pet foods are probably genetically modified. Not sure about it though. I am just assuming. GMO foods increase weight.

It’s only been a week littlekelly! We’re trying some wet food and will see how it goes in the new year.

On GMO - nonsense. The only way you (animal or human) gain weight is by consuming more energy than you expend. GMO has nothing to do with it. A calorie is a calorie. Please don’t scaremonger! It’s not helpful.

Rolly and Toddler - we bought a few more predatory play toys, and chubs is definitely getting more activity!! Hopefully it helps, along with the gradual diet change. It’s trial and error as to which toys she likes though, so far ‘da bird’ and a ‘cat dancer’ have both been good. There are a lot of toys being donated to the local rescue though ;)

Lol'd at "Chubs getting more activity". How mean to do this during the festive period

Haha Mustang it’s for her own good!! And to be fair she seems to be enjoying it, even if she does get out of puff pretty quickly! Once the Christmas tree goes up at the weekend no doubt she will add indoor climbing to her exercise regimen

Hi everyone!

Time for a wee update. Dinks and Binks had their check ups last week and good news! Binks’ weight loss has stopped thanks to the secret treats we’re giving him and Dinks is looking a lot trimmer after losing 0.5kg over the last 6 months! She has a few more (hundred) grams to lose but the vet is much much happier, and so are we as she’s got more energy.

Not great news for the bookshelves and she can now jump to the top and knock things off again. Yay

We tried the wet food in the morning plus the low cal dry food, weighed out but left for them to eat as they need. We found that the wet food in the morning made a huge difference to Dinks’ grazing habits.

We were fully prepared to go down the microchip feeder route, but looks like we may have cracked it just with diet.

Thanks to everyone for your help - so grateful!!

Happy Sunday!!

Pics or it didn't happen lol. So glad they are both happier kitties. I suggest sticky pads or Velcro for any thing likely to suffer from the fall from the bookshelf.

Lol Mustang neither are particularly flattering pictures, I’ll have to do some proper pics, but here’s a ‘before’ when she was at peak-chub (sitting with her brother) and the ‘after’ lounging on me the other night!

She finally has a waist!! And doesn’t look like a little beach ball when she sits

When my boy was a chunky monkey I started playing with him more. Discovered that he loves to play on the stairway with a shoestring. He will run up and down for a good 20 minutes. He’s kept a kilo off for several years!

Aww brilliant work to the fur parents / cat slaves

My Hcat who ive had since she was 6 weeks has literally expanded / exploded in past 6 months.

To give some idea, this is a pic of her on the floor rolling around actually taken about an hour after coming back from the vets after sedation for tests,

suspected broken tail/base of spine nothing showed on xray but she is sore when touched on certain places

I give her as much play as possible, i tend to put down one sachet of food in morning but some days she wants it some days she doesnt, same at night and a scoop of dry during day

she tends not to go out much when she does go out she doesnt go far and hobbies tend to include teasing dog in the house behind us as he is a tiny thing and she jumps on the fences / gate pillars teasing him.

Nobody feeds her around here as they know she has a home and is well looked after. (its a local thing, strays tend to be fed if needed) She is spayed, (sept 16)

I did try a regime with her food in the past which was a bit miserable for her, i set alarms for 4 times a day and left her water down all the time as normal and lifted any food not eaten in 20 mins, till the next alarm 4/5 hours later.

That was about 14 months ago, when my mobile rings since, she goes and waits at the bowl to see what she is getting

Have to say she was very good this morning, i woke up with ovary pain briefly and passed back out with it, its like a semi faint / sleep to deal with a lot of pain and she was lying across the area not moving, just providing some heat, a bit of pressure and lots of love.