Topic: Fat Cats how on earth do you slim them down?

[theothermarg]

Heard on the news,you can be fined up to £20,000 for negleting a pet and that includes letting them get overweight!! Bob the cat on the left at the moment of posting, is a big cat (but he has a small head) the news said you had to be able to feel their ribs so I set out to find some! Bob is a very hands on cat so loved the search, and I did find some!
How on earth do you slim a cat down? if you cut down the food they go and pinch someone elses and you can hardly drag them around the block an extra time. he,s 10years old and will only chase when he gets a funny 5 minutes
how do others cope with a fat cat?

[carolinej]

Our dog is overweight, and when the vet gave us the pep talk about fat pets, he said dogs should only loose weight very slowly, and that it was dangerous to put a cat on a diet!!

Something to do with liver damage ???

Anyone else heard this, or is my vet a bit odd?

cj :)

[hellohelenhere]

Try changing his food? My sister-in-law's cats were pretty rotund and it turned out that the food they were on is notorious for getting them fat. I'll ask which one it was... possibly 'Iams'.

[flossy]

  

   Have been searching Google  ' overweight cats '  loads of stuff on there - my son and daughter-in-law
   have a very overweight two year and are desperate to know what to do.

   They love her to bits but are excercising '  tough love ' to try and sort the problem out.

    
   The vets have reccomended a low cal food with water always available - she has no treats
   and is fed regulated ammounts twice a day  ---   nothing , in fact she feels heavier.

   She has been spayed but that is no indication of obesity apparently,  but did have a serious
   condition where she could not pass water  --  the vets drained her bladder and then asked if she was
   stressed at all ?    

    She lives in an open area with other cats and there are no real bounderies,  she was attacked
    one day but it could have been a fox or a stray dog.    She has been very nervous of going out
    since, but will if the family are outside and is fine.

    
theothermarg,   I reckon help is needed for us both here  ---   are there any vets out there, of any
  '  leaning ' -  the rate of obese cats has risen in the last ten years,  since dried food was introduced?

   My old cat had a stroke when she was 21, had most of her teeth and was a joy to behold didn't
   have Iams in those days !!!

   Thanks for this post theothermarge,  we may see some light !

   floss xxx
  

[asbean]

My old Pushkin ballooned about six years ago - next door had four cats and he used to steal all their food, then go knocking on doors, plus eating what the neighbours put out for the birds, and he became ENORMOUS.  There was one thing he liked, though, and that was water, and we used to exercise hime with the hose, chasing the water.

We had already put him on a "light" dry food diet, but when our vet moved to their new premises and had a state-of-the-art hydrotherapy pool we decided to give swimming a try.  He had a checkup first, and the vet declared him fit to swim, and we started him off on a couple of minutes swim, then a rest, etc, gradually building it up till in the end he was swimming 40 lengths (Doggy paddle, in case you're wondering lol) at a time.  He didn't lose weight at first as the muscle was building up, but it gradually came off and he went down from 7.5 to 6 kg.

We've been keeping an eye on his weight, and it did creep back up to 6.5, so he went to weightwatchers at the vets for a couple of years, and with very strict dieting brought it down to 6 again.  He and his brother are both on the same food now, Royal Canin mature and with regular weighing we adjust the food according to how much he weighs.  He lurks around the 5.9 - 6.1 mark, and we do play with him a lot in the garden (weather permitting).

The only downside to the weight loss is that his coat is now a couple of sizes too big, and his undercarriage flaps from side to side when he runs.

Any diet or exercise regime shouldn't be done unless it has been recommended by a vet, the cat/dog needs to be health checked first to make sure there aren't any underlying problems.  OK, so it seems like a lot of effort for a cat, but he is very fit (shoulders like a pit bull) and healthy and hopefully we've prevented any problems that might arise from obesity later in life.

 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

[calendula]

there is a huge difference between an overweight cat and morbid obesity which can be life threatening - the best diet for any domestic cat or dog is quality raw food (tinned food has a multitude of sins in it and doesn't help an animal stay at the correct weight) but any diet should be done carefully and slowly but difficult to keep an eye on a pet that wanders outdoors

[Tin Shed]

One of our cats became overweight - intake was more that output! - and the vet put her on Hill's reducing diet  and gradually the weight has come off and she is now on the maintenance food.
The only difficulty is that we have two cats - the other one is a thin little thing and mustn't lose weight - so we have to feed them in separate areas and check they don't swap dishes!

[Borlotti]

Asbean, hope you are insured or rich.  How much did all that treatment cost!!!  I hate cruelty to animals but 'fat cat inspectors' is this a joke.  I know being overweight affects their health, but if they fine fat cat owners they ought to fine parents of fat children.  The world has gone mad.  Perhaps we should ban cat food and just fed cats on scraps, this is a new problem, kindness kills.