What is the best diet food for cats?

Question

My cat is obese-he came in as a skinny feral cat a few years ago and gorged! After that, although he had around the same amount of food as my other (not fat) cats he continued to increase in size.
For the last year or so he has been on a weight reducing dry food as suggested by the vet. After an initial weight loss, he put the weight back on again even though he was still on the diet and just won't lose an ounce. He weighs over 8kg.

Answer 1

A couple of ideas... all assuming that your cat is now indoors only, with a special note at tip 7:

1. Feed the reducing diet ("r/d") exclusively-- don't mix it with other types of cat foods. It's okay to feed dry and canned varieties, but remember that if you offer the kitty some canned food as a treat, you need to take away a similar amount (calorie-wise) from his dry food. Also, while it's okay to give an OCCASIONAL SMALL treat, the treats need to be just that-- occasional and small, and the calories need to be subtracted from his regular food ration.

2. Speaking of ration, it's best to feed only at specific meal times, rather than just filling the bowl and letting the cats graze all day long. Let's face it-- we humans would be huge if we had free access to the buffet 24/7 while living a life of leisure! Better idea: dish out a set amount of food, in two separate bowls, and give the cats a short period to eat... say, an hour. Then pick up the food and don't put it out again until the next feeding. You can feed an adult cat twice a day and they will be fine. You can also note how much you feed in a serving and whether the cat eats it all during that mealtime. If you feed a 1/2 cup at breakfast and there is some left over, reduce the next day's breakfast by the amount that's left. Note how much the cats eat in the meal period and offer just that much-- no more, no less. And don't allow begging or stealing from human plates! And tell everyone else in the home not to give in.

3. Watch to make sure that the bigger cat isn't bolting his food then going for seconds off the other cat's meal. Feed in separate rooms, if necessary. (Bonus: your cats' teeth will benefit, as well, from having a chance for the mouth to cleanse itself rather than being constantly exposed to food. How would YOUR teeth be if YOU ate all day long and NEVER brushed? ICK!!)

4. On the subject of food types, dry food is more calorie-dense than wet food. A 1/2 cup of dry food has more calories than the same 1/2 cup of canned food. Why? Canned food has a lot of water in it. In fact, most canned food is 75% water by volume! Put another way, dry food is roughly 4 times as calorie-dense per volume as the same canned food. While there is really nothing wrong with feeding dry food (IMO), it's important to remember how rich these dry foods really are. Think about this-- a wild cat eats fresh, moist prey. Not dry pellets. While the hunter cat might score a hefty feast, he gets a fair amount of calorie-free water to go with it. Plus, the hunter has had to work a while for his meal. That's why wild and even feral cats are often rather lean. You might try feeding one meal of dry food and the other as canned food... be sure it's the r/d (or whatever low-cal diet your vet prescribed) either way. If the cat won't eat canned, don't worry.

5. Break out the laser pointer, the ping-pong balls or the cat-fishing rod. Just as good, brisk exercise helps us to stay fit and trim, it will do the same for your cat. It might take some encouragement to get them up and moving, but once they get going... they'll have a blast! Another idea: if you have a shower stall with a shower door, close the door almost all the way-- leave it open just enough for your cats to go in and out-- and lob a few ping-pong balls in there. They'll make some cool noises as they bounce around, and many cats will enjoy a game of "cat racquetball". Plus, the game can last longer in the shower stall because the balls won't get lost under the sofa. It gets boring if your toys get lost! My Tonk loves bathtub handball!!

6. If the weight still won't come off, and you haven't been cheating on kitty's diet and exercise plan, it IS worth having bloodwork done. While it's much more common for cats to have an overactive thyroid (and weight LOSS), it is still possible for them to have an underactive thyroid and weight gain. In fact, we have several cats in our practice that have underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism), and they take supplemental thyroid hormone. Cats can also have diabetes. Again, this is often associated with weight loss, but not always. There are other metabolic and endocrine problems that can cause weight gain.

7. VERY IMPORTANT!! Do NOT crash-diet your cat! Cat weight loss must be done GRADUALLY. Obese cats especially are at risk of serious liver problems if they lose weight too fast. What can happen when a cat stops eating or is on a super-strict diet is that the cat's body to begin to use fat stores as fuel. Cats are inefficient users of fat (their livers are not good at transforming fat into energy). Because the cat doesn't utilize the fat well, it begins to accumulate in the liver cells, eventually interfering with their ability to function. The medical name for this is HEPATIC LIPIDOSIS, or just "fatty liver disease". Cats that have this condition will die, in most instances, without appropriate treatment. Treatment for fatty liver disease is long and slow, requiring hospitalization at first and lots of home care-- force feeding or often a feeding tube. It's no fun for anyone. So, slow and easy is the name of the game in cat weight loss.

8. Remember that cats are individuals. Some cats have a higher caloric need than others (a faster metabolism). Your big cat may not need as many calories to maintain weight than your smaller cat. Plain and simple-- he may not need to eat as much as the smaller one to keep his weight. Also remember that your big cat went from an active, feral lifestyle where he was expending lots of calories to a life of leisure with less energy expenditure. His caloric needs changed when his lifestyle changed.

Hope this helps-- if you need more ideas, or if you have other concerns about his health, please call your vet.

Answer 2

If you are sure that he has no other food source, why not have some blood work done to check his thyroid. Some cats develop hypothyroidism and, in that case, no amount of diet control will help.

There are all sorts of references out there for this. Just do an Advanced web search for cats...unexplained weight gain. I'll give you two, but there are more available. The first one is very technical and the second is plain English. It explains that, if diet does not explain the obesity, that in older cats, though rare, hypothyroidism should be considered.

http://maxshouse.com/Endocrine_System_&Disorders.htm

http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/hypothyroidism.html

Answer 3

Vets will tell you that cats are NEVER hypothyroid so don't waste your time or money testing for that. That is common in dogs, for cats it is hyperthyroidism which causes weight loss.

The best weight reduction diet for the cat is a raw meat diet. Two of my cats were at sixteen pounds when I started that seven years ago. They trimmed down to a healthy, well-muscled and lean body weight of 12 lbs. within a year. You can learn about those types of diets at www.catinfo.org. There is an excellent article on feline obesity at www.ThePetCenter.com.

You will learn from reading there that the best diet to have a trim cat is one of high, good quality protein and as little "filler" as possible. Brown rice, millet, pea, oats are less fattening fillers than that in most cat foods which use corn as 2/3 of their product with lots of synthesized vitamins thrown in to make up for the lack of quality protein.

I do not know what quality foods are available to you in the UK or Australia or wherever you are outside the US. If you do some research and find the names of some I wish you would send me a note about them.

Answer 4

What a cat...

This cat must stop to drink beer at first...
He must stop to smoke cigarettes too...
Then make him play soccer at last...

Be sure that nobody ( a neighbourd per exemple) is giving food to him, may he can find food somewhere outside your house.

The cats that I had wasn't fat except one. After investigation, a neighbourg was giving food to him.
More, we checked that the cat could hunt his food. So when we where sure about that, I didn't give him foods. We was whasing mouse or others whood creatures and he lost wheight. But it must be slow and safe to him...

Answer 5

Well
I was interested in finding ways to naturally overcome hypothyroidism and I discovered this online resource called hypothyroidismrevolution. The author Tom Brimeyer explains an unconventional approach to hypothyroidism that I?ve never seen anywhere before. This is EYE-OPENING info for anyone who suffers from hypothyroidism and who really wants to learn the truth about how to permanently overcome hypothyroidism. Link here http://www.goobypls.com/r/rd.asp?gid=290
Have a nice day

Answer 6

My cat started gaining weight about a year ago. My veterinarian recommended giving him only an allotment of food every day. Once he eats all the food, he's done for the day. If you allow them to, cats will eat far more than they need to survive. Cut his food intake back and encourage him to exercise by playing with him.

Answer 7

Thyroid disease is one of the most common health problems we face today. From a practical standpoint, there are many ways to approach this issue. Learn here https://tr.im/3BPCx

Hypothyroidism, or underactive thyroid, is a very common problem, and there are many reasons for this, including drinking chlorinated and fluoridated water, and eating brominated flour.

Chlorine, fluoride, and bromine are all in the same family as iodine, and can displace iodine in your thyroid gland.

Secondly, many people simply aren't getting enough iodine in their diet to begin with. The amount you get from iodized salt is just barely enough to prevent you from getting a goiter.

Answer 8

Are you sure he is not being fed by other people when he wonders in their gardens and stuff? Another possibility could be that he is finding foods in bins and stuff when out and about.

If however, he does not go out then maybe you should take him back to the vets - he might have thyroid problems. Its a possibility worth checking out!

Answer 9

let a great dane walk you for 13 minutes 5 mph

Answer 10

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