I have a lazy fat cat?

Question

Please help, my 7 year old cat willow is very lazy & I do mean lazy. Since we moved to our new house all she does is eat and sleep on the stairs, only moves if we put her outside ourselves or if she using the litter tray.
She has doubled in weight & I am very worried her hear will give up on her. I have cut her food down to dry biscuits only now and only a small cupful each day.

Anyone got any advice for me on how i can get her moving again and to lose the weight????

Answer 1

Sounds like depression. Have you asked your vet about it?

Answer 2

First off, I would look into another Vet. If you feel as though your cat is overweight, get a second opinion! I can relate here, I have had indoor cats my whole life and they often suffer from weight problems. I know that my Vet recommends Hill's Science Diet R/d (reduced diet). They key is to make a routine (which you may or may not already have). Feed her at the same place, same two times every day. And here's a trick..feed her and watch her eat. Once she walks away from the food pick the rest of it up. Do the same thing at night. This teaches her that it is not an all-day buffet, but a short meal meant to give energy. And as far as the laziness goes, once she starts to loose weight she will become more and more energetic. As for right now, make sure you set aside time each day to focus on exercising activities. I would suggest a Cat Laser..just be careful not to shine it near Kitty's eyes. Hope this helps =]

Answer 3

She is more likely to get moving again once she is down to an ideal weight.

Type of food is as important as amount. If you're not using a high quality food, she will stay fat even on a small amount of it. What brand are you feeding? I recommend Iams, Royal Canin or Hill's Science Diet - all high quality stuff that should help a cat reach and maintain a healthy weight.

I strongly recommend a trip to a vet to weigh your cat and get them to assess how much your cat should weigh, and advise a food. Average cat weight is 7.7-8.8lb. It depends on how big your cat is as to what her ideal weight should be, but you need to know so you know how much of whatever diet to feed her - you need to feed the correct daily amount for the weight you want her to be.

A vet can also provide you with a proper weight loss diet liek Hills r/d if your cat is very overweight. This stuff works great, as does Royal Canin obesity diet - they both come in wet and dry form, and both work well.

Try to encourage your cat to exercise by using toys - string, balled up tin foil - and laser pens are great! She's much more likely to want to move when she's slim though. I run weight clinics for animals and it's amazing how much cat's behaviour changes when they lose weight.

Chalice

EDIT: I cannot believe what fun-lover suggested! Getting a pet mouse to torture - yeah, that's really the best of all the options (!) People on here can be so insane.

Answer 4

Hi
The problem is not in the layness but in what you are feeding. Dry food is the reason for the obesity
Hi
Nutrition since there are so many bad things out there is very important to your cat’s health
Contrary to what you may have heard, dry foods are not a great thing to feed a cat.
Dry foods are the number 1 cause of diabetes in cats as well as being a huge contributing factor to kidney disease, obesity, crystals, u.t.i’s and a host of other problems. The problems with it are that they are loaded with carbohydrates which many cats (carnivores) cannot process. Most of the moisture a cat needs is gotten
out of the food and 95% of it is zapped out of dry foods in the processing. Also, most use horrible ingredients and don't use a muscle meat as the primary ingredient and use vegetable based protein versus animal. Not good for an animal that has to eat meat to survive.
You want to pick a canned food w/o gravy (gravy=carbs) that uses a muscle meat as the first ingredient and doesn't have corn at least in the first 3 ingredients if at all. Fancy feast is a middle grade food with 9lives, friskies whiskas lower grade canned and wellness and merrick upper grade human quality foods.Also, dry food is not proven to be better for teeth. Please read about cat nutrition.
http://www.newdestiny.us/nutritionbasics.html

Answer 5

Cats sleep more than two thirds of their lives. 16 hours approximately. More than virtually any other animal, about twice as much as most mammals. Sleeping is normal behaviour for cats. Just how much a cat sleeps depends on many factors. Their age, their degree of hunger, sense of security, temperature and weather.

In your case it would be a good idea to take willow to the vet to get checked out. Then you can get the correct advice from you vet.

Answer 6

I had that problem so i got my cat a kitty harness and started takin her for walks, i also cut down her food to the dry biscuit as you have and she is steadily losing weight

Hope i have been helpful x

Answer 7

Your cat is depressed because you moved her from her old home. That happened to me when I had to move. Eventually, they should get over it in time. Make sure you take the cat to a Vet to make sure it doesn't have an illness and consult the Vet before you drastically change her diet.

Answer 8

Ask the vet. She might have an underactive thyroid.
One of my cats is quite fat (12lbs) and greedy, but she does go out at times during the day. I play with her, with toys, to give her a bit of exercise

Answer 9

my ideas.... getting another cat will undoubtedly encourage activity, cant tell whether thats good or bad depending on temperament..... catnip is available pure, in spray and various other ways and makes cats go silly......... toys that move lots, for instance the toys on a string that you wiggle around, they find them hard to ignore..... could have an iron defficency (has it been eating its litter?)

Answer 10

i think you should try playing with her, or get something that excites her and try to get her moving again, and put her outside more often so she gets active! keep her diet, but make her want to play!!
this may be a little extreme, and I love animals sooo much, but if it gets your cat healthy and active again... try a mouse from the pet store... like put her and the mouse in the shower (while its off) or somewhere the mouse can't escape or hide or climb up, and put your cat in there and see if she chases the mouse... it's a little extreme but it might work...
good luck!

Answer 11

Do you give her a diet-control food? Supports weight loss while still giving them the nutrition and energy she needs. Is there any type of toy that she'll play with? (Strings, balls, fake mice, etc?) ---