How often to feed an overweight cat?

Question

I have a four year old tabby, named Boo. I have had her since she was two months old. She is, shall we say, pleasantly plump. I'm to blame. I'm trying to put her on a diet. How often do you think I should feed her and how much? I have only fed her dry food, because I have heard that canned food can be hard on their digestive system. It can make them go more often to the bathroom and leave a not so pleasant smell. Not that she smells like flowers now. lol She's fairly active. Loves to play with her toys and runs around the house a lot. She's strickly an indoor cat. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

It is not how often but WHAT you feed your gal that is making her heavy. Actually canned food (meat) is the natural diet for an obligate carnivore like the cat. It is the dry food that is hard on the digestive and urinary systems.

If you feed her food from the grocery store you are giving her a diet of 2/3 corn. Corn is used to fatten slaughter animals. If you will go to higher quality brands such as Eagle Pack, Natural Balance, Solid Gold, Felidae she will take off weight. These foods have higher meat protein in their formulation and use brown rice, oats, pea, millet etc. as fillers. These fillers are not as fattening as corn.

If you use a better quality food and cut the corn out of her diet she will stop GAINING immediately and that's a plus right there. Over a period of six months to a year she will go down to a better weight and be better nourished in the bargain. Use some canned food from these producers too. The meat in the cans has very little fattening fillers in it.

Answer 2

Fuzzy,
There are lots of diet dry cat food varieties in the stores now. They usually have a feeding chart on the box or bag. I learned from my vet that the cat needs to be fed on a regular basis so the electrolytes don't get out of whack. If she doesn't finish all the food in her bowl in a reasonable amount of time, pick the bowl up and put it out of her reach. If she cries for more later just put down what was left in the bowl but don't add any more food to it.
I've been thru this with a couple of my babies and they(the cats) will tell you all about how starved they are and make a big fuss in the beginning. Be strong willed and be the boss. Don't let your cat make you crrazy because she wants more to eat. It may take a while but she will get used to it. When she's back to her beautiful trim self stay in the habit of picking up any leftover food so you don't have to do this all over again. I've made that mistake and felt like kicking myself for being so dumb. Good luck to both of you. LL

Answer 3

Rosie (the cat in my avatar) is three years old and also "pleasingly plump" (she's actually lying in my slow cooker in the picture; no, it wasn't turned on). I've put her on a diet of dry food only, given once a day, in gradually decreasing amounts. She's an indoor cat and only active when my little dog chases her, so her calorie requirements are really fairly small. I figure if she still meows after I take the food away, I'm probably giving her enough. She's been on the diet for two weeks now, and seems to have lost a little bit of weight.

Answer 4

2x a day is enough - a small bowl of food is sufficient.
You should try Iams Weight loss formula. It is dry food & it helped my cat loss weight.
Is your cat drinking enough water? If not, you should feed her some wet food or mix a little water in the dry food.
Always, double check with your vet if you are unsure about the feeding schedule.

Answer 5

search walmart.com for a diet cat food, choose one, buy it, then feed it to your cat

Answer 6

reduce the amount of food slowly, and when she is at a more healthy weight, keep her on that amount of food