Overweight cat, what could be wrong?

[DumpedByText]

My female cat is 4 years old and is 6.4kg and she looks like a barrel! She is a normal black and white moggy and was quite petite when we got her.

She is permanently hungry, and will hassle me all day and night for food unless she's asleep.

We got her from a rescue when she was a year old and within a month she was extremely poorly with FLUTD and crystals. She was in the vets for 4 days, and is now on a special urinary diet.

Barely two months after her first illness she got a severe infection in her mammary glands and again nearly didn't make it. She had one side of her mammary glands removed and she's been fine since.

Over the 4 years she's got fatter and fatter, she's on the moderate calorie version of Royal Canin food, yet she's still overweight. She gets 30g in the morning and 30g in the evening, nothing else. This is not filling her up as she is still wanting food and sits and watches us eat every mouthful!

So, either someone else is feeding her, but she doesn't go out for long in the winter so not sure how they'd have time. I've asked the neighbour across the road not to feed her as he feeds other cats and he said he doesn't. So I'm now thinking there could be something wrong with her. She seems happy enough, is affectionate and looks OK.

I called the vet today as I've got health plan with them and they won't see her unless she's unwell. I wanted a health check but they said it's not essential which is fair enough. They said to cut her food back even more, but I feel cruel doing that.

Any ideas what could possibly be wrong apart from being a greedy madam.

Your cat is overweight because you are feeding her too much. Try four meals of 10g per day (so 40g/day total) for a month. Weigh her. If she has lost weight continue. If she has not lost weight decrease her rations by 10%. Repay until your cat is a healthy weight.
Try scatter feeding, feeding toys and get her to hunt for her food. Don't just drop it in the bowl every time.

*repeat not repay

I dunno about how much you give her, but mine kill & eat things to keep themselves rotund.

Assuming she should weigh say 4kg, you need to feed her that amount of food. Don't just suddenly decrease the amount of food, a gradual reduction is better to stop the complaints. Our lad is fed smaller amounts more frequently when we're at home. It could be worth getting a "do not feed" collar or speaking to other neighbours/putting flyers through doors.
She may need a better food which fills her up more, one with a higher meat content. Puzzle feeders can be good, you can make some as a trial rather than buying them (there's ideas online-home school task if you have kids!)

Surely if a neighbour feeds other cats then she will just be helping herself to what’s left out?

The neighbour lets the cats into his house, I've seen them sat on his windowsills!

So that makes sense, I've been feeding her the amount for a 6kg cat not a 4kg, how have I got that so wrong and I feel pretty silly!

I can't give her a different food as she has to have a vet diet otherwise she gets cystitis and is really poorly. I've tried Hills Science plan which she liked but then they changed it and she refused to eat it. So I changed to Royal Canin and since then she's put weight on.

I'm going to google other makes now and compare the ingredients etc.

Just keep her food the same but feed her less as I described. You don't need to change her food.
I'm a vet. I do this for my day job. My slim cats get approximately 30g of food each per day. 60g of food is a massive amount.

@BadEyeBri, thanks so much for your help, I appreciate it. Think she's in for a shock tomorrow when she gets less, but I'm determined to get her weight down.

Lots of playing with her too with a laser pen, we also used to throw their kibble so they would run after it before eating it. Also made the meal last longer!

@BadEyeBri

Just keep her food the same but feed her less as I described. You don't need to change her food. I'm a vet. I do this for my day job. My slim cats get approximately 30g of food each per day. 60g of food is a massive amount.

Is that 30g total? I’m feeding my cat 55g of Royal Canin a day plus one 50g pouch of wet food (which she doesn’t normally eat tbf) as that’s what it says on the pack.

Is that too much?

Sorry for hijacking your thread, OP.

I would reduce the amount by say 2gs each feed so she will adjust over a couple of weeks or so.
I have to say our lad would love twice the amount of food he gets!

Definitely try feeding her the ration for her ideal weight, you could also feed some or all of her rations in puzzle feeders or slow feeders to slow her down and keep her busy.

@DumpedByText cheat her, you will be feeding less but feed it more often eg 4 small meals rather than 2 big ones.

@FamilyOfAliens is your cat fat? If it is, then you are over feeding

[quote BadEyeBri]@FamilyOfAliens is your cat fat? If it is, then you are over feeding [/quote]
Yes I’m afraid to say she is overweight- the vet said so. She’s a rescue and came to us spayed but then a local unneutered male kept trying to mate with her and it turned out she had retained ovarian tissue and had to be “re-spayed”.

Ever since then she has stopped wandering outside the house and sleeps 20 hours a day. She’s only 2!

I’ve bought a food toy and will be weighing out less food for her until she can be weighed at the vet again.

More playtime helps too, if nothing else they can’t hassle you for food while their chasing something.

She’ll feel better when she’s lighter though.

Bear in mind that cats, like humans, vary in their dietary needs and appetites. I am very lucky in that I have 2 self-regulating indoor cats, so I can leave their dry down 24/7 and they aren't fat; they also often leave some wet (1.5 pouches a day between 2 large cats). But I know of other cats who scoff every morsel however much they are fed and still beg for more.

I've been told that wet food is less calorific than dry, so if her existing conditions allow then you might try replacing some dry with wet. Also, food for indoors/neutered cats is less calorific than normal food.

Definitely play with her. She needs to be running around the house and garden daily.

I'm watching this thread in amazement at the tiny (measured) amounts that people feed their cats - not sure if this is a difference between feeding mainly wet or mainly dry?
Mine are not overweight - they eat 200-300g of wet food (2-3 pouches each) per day, have dry food to graze, plus anything they pinch from us or catch outside.

Since she has cystitis, wet food would be better for her anyway and may be more filling with a lower calorific value - could you ask your vet?

I was feeding my male cat dry food supposedly formulated for inactive cats. He was getting the smallest portion size twice a day and was still gaining weight. I’ve since switched to high meat content wet food only and he gets about 180g a day spread over 4 meals... he’s slowly starting to lose the weight but it’s been a long process... he’s a bit more active since we got a kitten but mostly just lazes around!

Definitely worth speaking to your vet about if there’s a suitable wet food. Something to do with the amount of carbs in dry food causes weight gain especially if the cat is prone.

I suppose they’re like humans in that respect, some more prone the weight gain than others??

Not a vet so happy to be corrected on this!

Im having the same issues with the royal canin moderate calorie so. I am switching mine to wet food, the cat that I have that only eats wet is a perfect weight, the biscuit guzzlers are all overweight! The vet gave me a sheet that said any wet food was better than dry for flutd.

You make feeding more interesting for your cat

• use a slow feeder so she hasn't eaten it all in 5 seconds and is then bored and wanting more
• throw each piece of kibble to her so she has to run a bit
• use one of those feeders that she has to bat about to release the kibble. Although this was a failure with my fat cat who just stood next to it and wailed until we gave in and gave her the food.

I have had a fat cat with urinary issues and I think there is a satiety food for cats prone to crystals - but the biggest issue is portion size. No treats and practice ignoring the wails and begging until dinner. Fat cat is gone now but every cat I have ever had would make you believe they had never been fed before, never in their entire lives - Silky cat would v much like to be fat but has not been allowed.

As my vet said to me, she doesn't eat too much, you feed her too much