Unhappy fat cat

[KatyMac]

We adopted a Siamese cross in 21 (I think) and had her spayed - she put on loads of weight - she was born in Dec 2019

She was a pretty happy cat, loads of time outdoors - cautious with us but became friendly over time

18m/2 yrs ago the vet said she was very over weight and had to go on measured dry food and later on went on a satiety (sp?) food that is supposed to maintain her weight but fill her up - its weighed out each day

She is still over weight, the vet nags us every visit and she is miserable
she crys for food anytime we see her she could eat her entire days allowance of food in one sitting

She is sad, she wees all over the place (no infection) she is skittish & sits by her bowl looking for food; she still spends long hours outdoors climbing, chasing other cats (& dogs) and being cat like

I am also miserable, I hate that we aren't meeting her needs and that she wees everywhere

Any suggestions to make her happy - anti-depressents or HRT dont seem appropriate for cats!

MrCat was obese when we adopted him, and very food-obsessed. We reduced his intake by making him work for his food, so he ate more slowly. He received about 1/3 of his food as wet food, at fixed times, but the rest of his food was dry food in a slow feeder. We weighed out what we felt was a reasonable amount for the day, and left it out in the feeder for him to take whenever he wanted. We used the Catit Senses 2.0 Digger https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B015P13QMM?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share and the Pioneer Pet Tiger Diner Ceramic... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007DOS9C2?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share . We didn’t give him the correct amount for the weight we thought he should be, just a little bit less than he needed for the weight he currently was IYSWIM. We gradually reduced what he was being given until he reached a healthy weight. As he reached a healthy weight he became less and less food-obsessed.

There are lots of gadgets around that you can put dry food in for the cat to extract. Gives interest, activity and reward.

Mine is actually better on wet food but…
snuffle mats or puzzles for the dry food, or sometimes I trail it around the house or just throw it! Anything to make them work for it
wand toys for getting them moving
Cystease might be worth a look (Amazon) or you can medicate with antidepressants via the vet
feliway plug in?
completely off but try raw food? The amount they need is very little but it seems more satiating, something like Purrform

honestly I would probably go to the vet and say look we are both miserable, she is weeing inappropriately, what do we do?

Dry food is much more calorie dense. If you can afford it, she might enjoy getting more wet and less dry as they can have a higher volume of food? I know it's much more expensive per calorie though!

I sympathise, ours had a problem with weight gain but luckily we caught it quite early before he got very fat and he's now OK if not particularly slinky. We reduced his rations gradually until he started losing weight - this ended up being waaay less than the portion sizes recommended on the packaging for his ideal weight. We then put them up very slightly once we wanted him to stop losing weight and start maintaining. It's still a lot less than the packaging says!

I found the satiety food didn't do the trick - Tobias wasn't eating because he was physically hungry so much that it was psychological with him. He'd been a stray for years so food ad lib was strange to him, and he would try to hoover up more than he needed.

As he isn't an only cat, I couldn't just restrict what I put down as Girlcat is a "grazer", has a little nibble, goes away & comes back later for another little nibble etc, and sometimes he would scoff the lot.

So I moved on to a lightweight formula dry food, and a higher protein make wet. That way I can keep much more dry down with him indulging in his anxiety eating without as many calories.

He's eventually become a "grazer" like Girlcat, having a nibble then going away & coming back later even with the wet.

She is very active up trees on shed roofs all over the neighbourhood

I wonder if she isn't hungry

Lots to think about

I feel we are being cruel/punishing her - she is supposed to have such a tiny amount of food

Maybe wet food might work

We didn't have any behavioural issues, but our girl cat was also a greedy wee fatty - much like me, tbh. The shame of the vet suggesting we bring her to their diet club... We found a puzzle feeder really useful for slowing her down, as she would just hoover up everything in her dish, and we also used to poach chicken or oven bake white fish fillets to use as "treats" instead of Dreamie type things (although this was quite fiddly).

She was never a stray, in the family home from being a little kitten so no having to eat quickly in case it disappeared - she just really did love her food!

Try using the Five a day felix plan with the satiety food so you are making her more active and slowing down her speed of eating.

https://icatcare.org/resources/five-a-dayfelixxshortversion.pdf

I assume the vet has tested for diabetes? Obesity and hunger match the symptoms. As would excessive drinking & peeing but might not see that if he's an outdoor cat.

Otherwise is he getting fed by neighbours and hence the weight gain.