What can I do to help my cat loose weight?

Question

I have three cats, all litter mates and are 6 years old. Two of them are quite active and are normal cats! The third cat is huge!! Shes tall and long and very over weight, (weighs about 8kg!). We regularly take them all to the vet and have followed their advice about her weight and bought special diet food - still she is huge! She doesn't like going out outside at all, and just eats and sleeps. She won't play with us and toys we buy her. WHAT CAN DO TO HELP HER?? I have to be careful as our neighbour feeds the cats despite our begging her not to and telling her that they are on special diets. Help!

Answer 1

STOP feeding it

Answer 2

Few vets are educated in the unique nutritional needs of cats, so the advice you've been getting might not be the greatest.

Also, weight reduction cat foods sometimes actually lead to weight gain, since they're not always formulated with those unique feline nutritional needs in mind.

Read this and you'll learn more about feeding cats than most vets know. The vet who wrote these pages had a very obese cat who got back in shape with proper diet, and this is discussed on the site.

http://www.catinfo.org

I wish I could suggest something you could do about the neighbour. I guess it's good that she loves your cats, but... There must be some way you can convince her that she's doing them harm, and to reassure her that they love her and will still be her friends if she doesn't feed them all the time. Maybe you can find some healthy treats that you can give her so she can offer them to the kitties...?

Answer 3

I have a few suggestions:
1. Keep your cats inside. Don't let them out because your "fat cat" if hungary enough will eat anything outside. It doesn't kill them to keep them inside as some people think, including my mother in law.
2. Get a schedule for the cats on feeding. This really helps. We have found that we don't keep food in the bowl all day because we have a lazy cat also. The bigger cat will eat all day if given the chance, they don't have the same stomach lining as us, therefore they never feel hungary. We feed ours twice a day. Breakfast and Dinner. Always have water ready.
3. Feed all the cats on the same schedule. Place the two smaller cats in one room while the bigger cat is in a completely closed off room than the other cats. Keeping them seperate during eating is best. Some cats are greedy (such as the larger one) therefore your other two cats might not be eating enough because the big one is eating everyones food.
4. For play: Get some cotton balls and put in a bag with dried catnip. Shake to evenly coat the cotton balls. We have hard wood floors, so the balls "fly" across the floors and our cat has to chase it. Or you can use it on a kitchen tile floor if you have one.
5. For Play: Cheap laser toys are really great! Turn the lights off at night and the cat will chase no matter what. Our fat cat did!
Hope these suggestions help! It take time for the cats to lose weight just like humans, so give it time and everything will be good!

Answer 4

Okay, put eye of the tiger on in the background, get some string and start getting her to chase it, make her an activity centre out of card board boxes. Try your best to get her to use it. Have more words with your neighbour, what's she doing is actually cruel. The cat needs to lose weight and by keeping that cat fat she decresing the cats quality of life. Last but not least most cats can't resist following something thats gone round the corner of a door or wall. Try dragging a string up the stairs and getting her to follow it. Stairs are good for Kcal burning. I was joking with the eye of the tiger thing by the way hope your not offended :)

Answer 5

If you have already talked to your vet about a special diet, and implemented it I would say the blame falls on your neighbor. Since you have already asked your neighbor to stop feeding the cat and she doesn't care about the health of your cat, you need to tell her NO. Let her know that you do not want to ruin your friendship (if one exists) but the cat's health is important to you. Tell her if she feeds him again then you will have no other option that to call the police, and file a report. I know it sounds cruel, but which would you prefer, your neighbor upset with you, or your cat dying?

Answer 6

Try giving her a massage to help stimulate the blood flow and this may help to make her muscles work more efficiently. But mostly just cut her food quantities down slowly so he gets used to it. He may become more active as he loses weight. U can't really force the cat to exercise more by making encouraging remarks and to spray him with the hose would be downright mean....so ....good luck with that...prob just take some time, I mean u wouldn't expect much diff in a human who was 'obese' (really don't know at what weight a cat would be considered obese) for at least a few mths.

Answer 7

Move house? Try talking again to your neighbour? Get in touch with a pet therapist? Supervise feeding times - make sure that you do not leave food about the house or in their bowls - make sure they learn to eat the same portion of food from their own different coloured bowls? Forget buying lots of toys and treats and try simple things like using a piece of string to entertain your cat? Perhaps put obstacles in your cat's way so that it means she has to jump over/on things? Wishing you all the best. x

Answer 8

Did the vet check her thyroid? My friend has a huge cat - 21 pounds, who plays all the time, has been to the vets, doesn't eat that much and doesn't lose any weight. I think she's just given up trying to make him lose it. How is your neighbor feeding your cats if they are kept inside?

Answer 9

It's completely on your neighbor then. You COULD threaten your neighbor, or keep your poor fatty (no offence, just endearment...) inside, so she cannot get the neighbor's food. Buy catnip, and get catgrass for her, recreate outside inside, and bring it to her. Eventually you will find a toy she likes. Try rubber bands or milk bottls caps. Sometimes the best toys are not toys at all. make sure you watch she doesn't swallow anything small like a rubber band.

Answer 10

do u have any kids? relatives who are kids? kids LOVE to play with any kind of animal.. kids would chase that cat all over the place. when i was 4 we (i have a twin brother and lil sister so we were young) took care of a friend's dog for 2 months. when it went back to its owner it had lost about 5 lbs.

Answer 11

Try getting a laser pointer for her to play with. Many cats, even lazy ones, can't resist getting up and running after that silly little red dot!