How do i put my cat on a diet? he is 5.6kgs and vet said he should be about 5.?

Question

Lol i do weight watchers but dont think i could make him count his points lol, so how much should i be feeding him for him to loose a little bit of weight? Thing is i got him from a cat and dog shelter a little under a year ago and when they got him he was close to death as he was starved and had been abandoned. I hate the thought of him going hungry after what he has been through and i always keep biscuits in his bowl for him to eat if he wants, am i just being silly with the not wanting him to be hungry cos of his past thing or do you think it might bring back bad memories for him of being hungry. Thanks xx

Answer 1

Feed him as per the instructions on the tin/box and don't give him treats between meals x

Answer 2

Hi hun!

You're not being silly at all! I would be thinking the same thing, because he's been through a bad experience in the past. You obviously love him a great deal and have been taking great care of him. He is only a little overweight, so it shouldn't be too hard to help him out. You are showing that you love him by wanting to help him lose a little weight - it's very sad when you see really obese cats; you are doing the right thing nipping it in the bud now! Most cats get a little tubby now and again, especially if they are indoor cats (as mine are).

The best way to start is to stop free feeding him. You obviously had to do that to start with because he was so poorly before. Now that he's fine, you can just feed him 2 or 3 times a day.

My advice would be to try a 'light' cat food - I think that Purina and Iams both do a 'diet' cat food, which has reduced calories. Your vet may be able to suggest a brand if you do not like either of these brands.

Simply follow the pack instructions. I find it best to get a small container with a lid, weigh out the full daily amount and then pour into the container. Make a mark to show what level the container should be filled to - this will save you having to weigh it out every day! It sounds picky, but it's better to measure the food rather than guess, as when we guess we often give them too much! My boyfriend guessed my cat's food for a few months whilst I was away at Uni... when I saw my cat for the first time again, he looked rather tubby!

Often the packet instructions will be annoying and say something like "feed 50-80g per day". In this case, I'd go for the middle ground and give 65g per day. If your cat seems to be constantly hungry, increase it a little and see how you go.

As well as doing this, make an effort to play with him more than usual - even if he goes outside. A laser pen is great, as you can just sit on your couch whilst he tires himself out ;-) If you do use a laser pen though, make sure you finish off by using a toy hanging off a wand (or something similar) for 5 minutes. If you don't, your cat will become frustrated because he'll have been chasing a light that he can't catch or bite in to. Play with him for at least half an hour a day. If he gets puffed out, don't push him too hard, let him rest and play again later :-)

I'm sure your cat will be Hoff-like in no time!

xx Emmie

Answer 3

Dear
Uksandy,
I lost weight when I felt loved. By myself. A way for him to eat his biscuits and have them too is increase the love, maybe. Be careful, you might loose weight also. He needs more water on a low carb diet, but it made me feel better and it's good for acne. Supplements are more necessary also. I hate to change brand of food, because maybe, as they take the best and never go back. Give Betty Crocker Buscuits and we may have trouble if we run out and have to use your moms recipe again. I prefer regularity with buscuits rather than intermitently, as that's for windshield wipers. I like the canned food out between meals. Vitamins might be a nice compromise and the mdr are for some ficticious cartoon cat. I take two although, one source implied the amounts in say tree a day. Which reminds me, don't let them out off a leash. Mine goes to the tippy top. Lets see a dog do that! I hate to restrict food, they may never learn to balance on their own and feel less loved. You know how sensitive and creative cats are. We're not dumb, just artists. PS I suppose you might get the same result if he loved other things besides myself. That was I that started this discussion. We are pretty much integrated now.
luv,
Garfield

Answer 4

Most cats should be 3-4kg with bigger cats up for 4.5-5kg as a maximum (unless a large breed - main coon etc..)

I prefer to assess based on clinical examination of the animal, you should be able to feel the ribs without having to press into fat and you should be able to see a 'waist'. There should not be anything hanging down from its belly, this 'udder' as some people call it is not normal!!

Losing weight is really important to reduce the risk of other health issues particularly arthritis which is increasingly recognised in cats, in addition diabetes in cats is also increasing.

It would be best to take him to a vet and discuss your concerns, the best way of losing weight is using a prescription diet food (Hills make a good one) rather than a light food as light foods are good at keeping a weight stable but no good at losing weight. Also, they tend to scavenge more if you just reduce the amount you feed them and the weight loss diet reduces this scavenging as they feel full.

Dry foods themselves DO NOT cause health problems. There is no evidence that feeding a dry food will increase the risk of the problems mentioned above. If a cat has urinary tract problems, then a wet food can be used as part of treatment however. Obesity however is a risk factor for a variety of problems, including all of those mentioned above. Some richer foods can cause problems, and this is because of their content, NOT because they are dry.

In short, prescription weight loss diet in addition to playing and exercise is the best way to go and you should discuss this with your vet.

Answer 5

Our cats were overweight (only a little) and the vet advised we help them lose a little weight.

We feed our cats high quality dry kibble from the vet store which has all their nutrient requirements. To help them lose a little weight we put them on the diet one for a few months, and ensured they only ate in the mornings and nights. We also bought a laser pointer (yes!) and our cats love it. They run after it like mad men, and they don't understand WHY they can't catch it.

We add wet food to their dry food occassionally, but they are so healthy from the high quality food. When they have supermarket food, their poo is running and their coat is dry. On the good stuff they just glisten!

All the best!

Answer 6

Cats are carnivores, and unfortunately a lot of the dry foods out there are full of grains and other things that do nothing for them but make them fat.

Try feeding canned food only for awhile, and try to get canned food with the lowest possible level of carbohydrates. Your vet may have a list. My vet feeds her cats Innova Evo. I tried that as it has a very low percentage of carbs, but it my kitty needed a bit more fiber. She started getting hairballs and very hard stool.

I haven't found the perfect food yet... my cat needs to lose about 2 lbs, but canned food is definitely the way to go for weight loss.

Answer 7

hi
if you are in the uk you could try denes, www.denes .co.uk or james wellbeloved www.jameswellbeloved.com or oscars www.oscars.co.uk these companies do food that is dry but denes also do moist food and have loads of fact sheets and oscars have advisors who will be happy to help. personally i feed my cats dry biscuits all day in a double bowl but i have three cats and that gets a refill each night so has to last 24hrs. they also get eight pouches equivalent to 2tins of food. 1 cat requires 1x400g tinned meat w/o gravy or 4pouches if feeding dry food as well 200g of meat and 75-80g biscuits. and fresh filtered water twice daily. this is the advice given by my vet i have norwegians and my males will reach 7kgs in weight. the only other thing is play and plenty of it. my boys like these rubber balls as they can picl them up and carry them around and chase them and play fetch. my female is more sedate and likes toy mice but we encourage them all to play with a whiskas fishing toy for about half an hour each day. they get the occasional treat and some cat milk every now and then

Answer 8

Yourf notg being silly and the thing is, if you feed the correct food, your cat will get to the weight it should be. Correct food means NO DRY, canned w/o gravy.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 9

change your vet. One of my cats weighs 12lb (more than your cat) and is greedy, probably because she was a stray before we got her, and had gone for days without food.

The first vet I took her to told me to get her on a diet, but she only has 1 sachet of Felix, twice a day, plus a dozen cat biscuits at night. I make sure that she is active, by getting her to chase her toys around, and she goes out in the garden.

My other cat has exactly the same food, but only weighs 6lb.

Answer 10

my cat is really over weight i dont know why i think it is because she is getting older and not running her fat off, cats normually know when to stop eating but sometimes i'ts best to just limit the food, just cut down a little bit but not to much otherwise she will get hungary and unhappy.

Buy the way dry food isnt bad for cats, it cleans there teeth and gives then nutrients and vitemes ect, just give your cat a small handfull of thees every now and then as a treat. The food made for cats are made to be good for them not to make them ill,

Answer 11

Do exactly what Ken said. I would guess he has a sugar cat too. (One with Diabetes) Don't ask the vet about a diet as he will probably give you dry diet food. Rather like you going to Weight Watchers and them telling you to eat cookies, cakes and lots of bread. http://catinfo.org/ is written by a DVM who specializes in Cat diets for all cats.
Good Job Ken! Bonnie