20lb cat...?

Question

how can i make my 20lb house cat loose weight? should i buy him a harness and walk him...? he is a house cat and NEVER goes outside and i really want to help him! what should i do??

oh and he just eats regular cat food..dry. but we leave it out all day because my mom works and i go to school. and YES he is like garfield he eats , sleeps ,and ocasionally plays with the lazer.

Answer 1

Start including high-quality canned food in his diet. Make the change gradually to avoid an upset stomach, giving him a little bit of the new food at first, and then gradually increasing the portion of canned until he's eating mostly canned with the dry left out for a snack. Dry food is high in carbohydrates, which is not something cats consume in nature since they're carnivores, so the excess carbohydrates contribute to obesity in cats. See these links for more info: http://www.catinfo.org/

http://www.littlebigcat.com/index.php?action=library&act=show&item=016

http://www.catnutrition.org/obesity.html

This link has recommendations for good canned foods:
http://www.catinfo.org/commercialcannedfoods.htm

Just adding high-quality canned food to my cat's diet helped him slim down from over 16 pounds to 12 pounds, gradually and safely, with no complaints from him about starving. He'd always made life miserable for me in the past when I tried to put him on diet dry foods, and never did lose weight on them. But the canned food worked wonders. He is now healthier and happier at 13 years old than when he was 5.

You'll also want to spend some time every day playing with him interactively, to encourage him to be active. Find a toy that he loves - Da Bird and laser pointers are popular with cats, or even a long shoelace - and play with him whenever you have a free moment. Buy or build some cat trees for him to climb on if you don't already have some.

The combination of good canned food and increased activity should help him to lose weight gradually and safely. Don't suddenly restrict his calorie intake, and be sure that he eats every day - overweight cats whose calorie intake is suddenly restricted, or who stop eating suddenly are at risk for serious liver problems. If you have ANY concerns about his health, check with your vet!

Best wishes!

Answer 2

Use a measuring cup to give the daily food intake, and mix "light" food with regular food. Your cat will actually sort the "regular" from "light" but will eventually eat the "light" when he's hungry. Once you've given the amount of food for the day, he gets no other food, i.e. if you're gonna give him 1 cup (already too much), you can give four 1/4 cup portions over the day. He also needs some exercise. I've seen where people build a wall, of "steps " that a cat can climb up and down. I have a cat that would wear a harness and let you walk him, but you'd have to try it with your animal. Begin with these suggestions and see what happens (but it won't happen overnight). Good luck! Wisdom Speaks!

Answer 3

walking him is a great idea... and reducing the amount of food he eats... as well as switching him to weight management wet canned food. Dry kibble contains a lot more calories then wet canned food.
You can train your cat to walk wearing harness and leash. Start inside the house before you venture outdoors - and only in your yard. Cats get spooked very easily so walking them on the sidewalk like a dog when its is busy out there is a no-no. I walk my cat (on a leash) on the sidewalk at night when it is quiet and in the back yard during the day. He was 15lbs last month and I switched him to Iams weight control canned food. I feed him 1 6oz can a day divided into 4 or 5 servings mixed with some water. It contains an ingredient that helps the cat to burn up calories. He lost almost a pound since.

The thing to remeber out getting your cat to lose weight is to do it gradually so as to avoid any health issues.

Answer 4

First, consider the breed. If it's a 20lb Siamese, he's a tanker. If he's a 20lb Maine Coon, he may only need to shed a couple pounds. Does his belly drag on the ground? That's usually a sure sign that he is too tubby for his own good, and usually 20lbs is too much for any cat (provided he's not a panther or a cheetah.)

If you have just the one cat, weight loss can be a snap. Simply feed him less food. I've been told by professionals that cats don't need nearly as much food as we think they do. Cat food companies usually exaggerate the feeding directions a bit. It's just a marketing ploy (like shampoo bottles that say "lather, rinse, repeat." Who actually DOES that???!) :)

Also, measure the food you give him (don't just fill up the bowl anytime it gets low.) Maybe you could try feeding him more times a day, but smaller amounts. For years, I used to just keep a cup in the food bag, and I'd sling cup after cup into the bowls, when really I had no clue how much I was giving them! Consistently reduced amounts are key.

Try buying your pudgy puss some cat toys for exercise (or making some yourself.) Cats LOVE to hunt and chase; it's part of their primitive nature. Cat toys, if chosen correctly, can really get them up and moving. More activity, along with a little less food, can yield a much slimmer kitty.

If you have more than one cat, it's difficult to control who eats what, and when. If the fat cat in question has brothers and sisters, try playing with him and exercising him. I don't know how well your harness idea would go over, though. Cats don't usually take as well to the "let's go for a walk" notion as dogs. ;)

If you have a little extra money, cat toys are fairly cheap. There are many affordable fabric toys you can keep refilling with catnip. Take care not to buy everything you see all at once. Experiment, to see which things your particular cat is into. Cats frequently respond to toys with bells, feathers, and things that "crinkle," but not all cats respond the same way to the same toys. Cats are definitely interested in those.

Also--RIBBON! Every time I use ribbon to wrap a gift, my cats go berserk! They LOVE to chase ribbon...especially the narrow kind that you can curl with scissors. If money is tight (or even if it's not!) here are some easy ways to make your own cat toys:

Take about a two-foot length of ribbon, curl it up with scissors, then tie it to something with a little weight on it. I use wine corks--they're the perfect weight. I wave the cork around, and the ribbon swirls behind it, getting the cat's attention. Then I toss the cork across the room, and they go bounding after it, trying to catch the ribbon streamer. One of my cats actually fetches and returns these toys, but not all cats will do that.

Corks are good because they don't have sharp edges, the cat can't swallow them, and they won't damage walls or furniture when you throw them. If you don't have wine corks, or a substitute object to add weight to the ribbon, try waving the ribbon alone around. That will usually make the cat jump up to claw at it. (Just make sure the ribbon's long enough that your cat doesn't claw YOU when he's chasing after the ribbon!)

Make it a routine, before dinner maybe, to get his metabolism pumped. Do it for a couple minutes once a day--it's easy! While jumping up to catch a ribbon isn't exactly Pilates (ha!) or intense cardio, it's SOMETHING...something to get those "jelly belly" muscles moving around for a little toning.

Lastly, I've discovered the hard way that expensive, elaborate cat toys, are usually junk. They cost a lot, often require batteries, and 9 times out of 10, when you get them home, the cat looks at you like "Are you SERIOUS???"

Start with inexpensive or homemade toys, and go from there.

Raaaaaar! :) ^..^ Good luck.

Answer 5

I know exactly your concerns! I have a cat named Simba he is now 12 years old and weighs 25 pounds.The vet warned us of the health risks of his obesity. We have tried almost everything to help him lose weight. But it is difficult for us to limit his feeding because we have other cats as well and he will eat their food. We bought him a harness but it was a waste, he hated it. The only thing I can suggest is to get some Lite cat food and try to get him to run around a little in play. Maybe get some toys

Answer 6

Get a weight management cat food and only give the cat a certain amount each day. The food bag will let you know how much. You can put that same amount out each day and let the cat have access until it is gone. A vet can help even further.

Answer 7

Bess has the right answer for you and lots of good sites to check out.

Cats on quality canned food are more satisfied than with a dry food full of fillers. One 5.5 can a day is enough to satisfy and nourish an adult cat. When you improve the quality of the cat's nutrition with high quality meat he may eat a little more at first. As he becomes trimmer and more active one can a day will be enough.

Answer 8

I *JUST* had my 21lb cat diagnosed with diabetes yesterday...it's very sad. Now we have to give him insulin twice a day, and keep his food very monitored - it is going to be tough.

I wanted to mention this because it looks like you're in the same boat as I was a few months ago. I *knew* I needed to get his weight down...but just didn't take it seriously enough. Now he's diabetic and stuck on insulin shots forever.

So whatever you have to do (humanely of course) to get his weight down to an acceptable level deemed by your vet, you really really need to start right this second. Lastly, my cat loves dry food also, but the vet said dry food is much higher in carbs than wet food -> so we are actually switching completely off dry food as the wet food has way less carbs and sugars. Please do something with him and good luck! :)

Answer 9

What does the vet say? Vet should be able to advise the safest way to help cat lose weight safely. You may need to buy some special food. If he is house cat, you won't have much success getting him outside. Play with him more.

Answer 10

If he isn't eating a low calorie cat food you might want to by some for him. Rather than trying to get him to walk outside on a leash, have him chase one of those laser lights. My cat loves chasing the red light and only stops because she is tired - not bored.