How do you put a cat on a diet? (serious question)

[denisem]

OMGosh! This is BEGGING for an LOLcat caption!

"I HAD two pair of Crocs...but I ate the front ones".

 

[kldmom2000]

"I HAD two pair of Crocs...but I ate the front ones".

LOVE IT!!!

 

[AnnR]

I have to worry about me getting it. It runs in the family. I don't want Kitty to possibly get it, too.

The problem is, her food allergy makes it harder to find food. She's going to be 7 this summer, and the bags of food I see say she should be heading towards a Senior formula.

My kitty is 16, also with food allergies. She was a fat, healthy kitty until about 3 years ago when she started to lose fur and have skin issues. She weighed about 14 lbs then, overweight for her size. I tried everything to slim her down. The diet foods didn't seem to work.

Now, after developing the skin problems she has lost weight. She also developed IBS (what a great thing for a kitty to have ) In the last 3years she lost 1/2 her body weight. I have put her on Halo food for cats with sensitive stomachs and skin. She also takes Atopica. And she is on a thyroid medicine. She is slightly hyperthyroid. The Halo food has been wonderfun, especially for the tummy problems! It is holistic. I believe that you should not look for the specific stages of food but a healthy one with no grains, beef, corn or soy. Lucy gets all the dry she can eat now, and 1/2 can of holistic canned food with none of the above ingredients. I spend about an hour in the pet store reading cat food labels

When she was overweight I bought her a timer dish and set it for the morning so she would not wake me up too early. I also limited her dry and she got 1/4 can of canned food. I wish I had known more about the holistic food then, I think it would have been better then the diet food. Natural Balance makes canned and dry food with limited ingredients. Also, I used to mix some water in her canned food to stretch it more. My vet also said as long as she maintained and didn't gain anymore it was OK. I did try to get her playing and moving more. Maybe you can find one of those treat balls that they have to chase around to get the food out.

 

[Morganpics]

Here is an update on our kitties. We stopped feeding dry altogether and went to canned Wellness. Our feed store only has 3 flavors, chicken, turkey, and turkey/salmon. Herbie, our 1/2 dog, has now lost 2 pounds, looks better, has WAY more energy, will play more. When we first put him on the Wellness, he was like - what is this?. He never eats as much as the can says a cat of his size should, but he sure seems ok. At first he hacked up lots of hairballs That seems to have stopped. His coat is shinier, he just acts much happier. The other kitty, Missy, is pretty tiny anyway, and I haven't noticed much difference in her. The funny part is each one likes to "steal" out of the other's dish, even though it's the same thing. Herbie is still overweight, but he is making good progress. I know I didn't do it "properly". I just stopped feeding dry and started feeding wet. It's been almost 2 months and we're pretty happy with the results.

 

[Tina]

That's great. Although I don't have overweight kitties (mine are young adoptees), I've been really pleased with the changes Wellness has brought about. Their coats are so soft and shiny! If you have a Petco in your area, they also carry Wellness in a variety of flavors (mine are on the grain-free). I've also started shopping at PetFoodDirect.com. Depending on where you are, the shipping can be very affordable (shipped out of PA). In combination with some of their coupons, I've been able to ship multiple cases of food to my home for the same price I would have spent in the store (I hate my local Petco, so I'd rather have it shipped).

Good luck with your kitties' continued weight loss.

 

[jackemail]

I came home yesterday with the Feline R/D food from the vet...so far the cat hasn't touched it! Naturally, though, the normal sized kitty did!