The vet says our cat needs fat camp

[WildFlowerBees]

He's overweight apparently which I was a bit shocked about because he doesn't seem to eat much and he's a 'big' cat but there we are I'm a terrible cat slave.

He eats both wet and dry he won't just stick to one. Is there a formula to help them slowly lose weight healthily?

Is s/he getting fed elsewhere? Mine was - leftovers from next door’s many dinner parties - choice fish and chicken! - not to mention a saucer of milk every morning. It was ages before I twigged. Despite his portliness , he had evidently mastered the starving-orphan-kitten act - that pathetic little mew, with one paw raised…

You only have to look at your local neighbourhood FB group to see dozens of posts featuring glossy, curvaceous, well groomed cats with the poster asking if anyone has lost this very hungry and demanding poor unloved kitty to know just how manipulative they can be.

Mine cadges steak (steak!) from our next door neighbour several times a week

@Kat1953 we had new next door neighbours a few years ago. One day the mum mentioned the poor stray cat that hung around their garden, and that they planned to trap her and bring her to the vet to get scanned for a chip. She just likes to sit under a bush up the back! Does this look like a poor stray cat? She is obviously chipped but it would have been good luck to them getting her in a carrier tbh.

Best tip to get cat resistant cat on carrier is Chuck their favourite treat in 🤦🏼‍♀️ works in this house. Yep he's so food obsessed he dives in, you just have to be quick getting the door shut!

My wee fattie has lost 1.5kg over 18 months. I feed him one of the diet ranges of food and follow the feeding guide for his target weight rather than his actual weight.

He has a timed feeder that goes off four times a day. If I'm home then I'll get up and feed him when it goes off, but leaving it on all the time means he begs the machine for food rather than me and so I'm less likely to give in and feed him early.

He sometimes gets his biscuits in a puzzle feeder or treat ball. Not sure if he enjoys it or if he thinks it's a nuisance, but it slows him right down and watching him fish the biscuits out with his wee paws is very cute 😊

Good luck!

@Judystilldreamsofhorses oh, she is clearly starving to death! 😆

I'm wondering if it's something to do with modern cat food. Everybody I know who has a cat has had to put the cat on a diet to slim them down.
I've had 4 cats in my lifetime but the last one died in 1997 and I haven't had any since then. None of mine were ever overweight, let alone fat. Yet nowadays it seems to be an almost universal occurrence.

Ours used to eat tinnned cat food, usually supermarket own brand stuff or, very occasionally, Whiskas. Once past kittenhood the cats were fed once a day, according to advice received at the time.

There seems to be very much a trend these days towards dry cat food and two meals a day. Could it be that combination that is causing the problem of overweight cats?

Mine are on 4 small meals per day. 10g of dry food each time and half a pouch of wet once a day. They are lazy indoor cats though. The youngest is very playful and active and is big but not fat, the other is definitely chunky but I can't get her to do much. She doesn't like outside and isn't that fussed on toys. She does play with the other cat though.
But the pair of them behave like they are moments away from starvation!

I feed my boy from a dog puzzle feeder. He doesn't eat fast he inhales it. Never seen anything quite like it.

FatCatShaming

At every single vet visit with one of my cats, the vet will lift him to put him on the scales and say "oh he's a bit chunky, may need to lose some weight!". As soon as he is actually on the scales they realise two thirds of his body weight is fur and he is a perfect weight.

I occasionally think I would love to shave his fur off and see what he looks like underneath, but I don't think he would be on board with this

So cute!

I have bought lots of treat puzzles for my cat (just for fun, not diet aids) but he cannot work them out. Even if a dreamie actually falls out onto the floor while he is batting the ball around, it still needs to be pointed out to him

Last night wasn't too bad he was fine she was up and down like a fiddlers elbow all night unimpressed. Today she's sparked out didn't even lift her head when I gave her a scratch she's clearly too weak from being so malnourished 😬

The puzzle feeder is just to slow him down he is food obsessed.

Steal broccoli and other veggies from the pan on the hob as well as your plate 🤷🏽‍♀️ can't have him the kitchen if you are cooking meat or broccoli tbf