Help?? Cat Diabetes?

Question

My 19 month old cat weighs 15 pounds. I don't how this is possible but i lover her so much and i am worried about her getting diabetes. If i start a weight loss program this month, and she eventually starts to lose weight, will she still have a risk of getting diabetes? What is she loses weight over a perid of a year? Does she still have a very high chance of getting diabetes during that time?? She does not show any signs but i want to prevent it before things get much worse. Thanks so much!

Answer 1

Cats can SAFELY loose 4 pounds a year so you have to watch the food intake.

If she's free feeding, take up the bowls right now. Feed her 4 times a day, putting the bowl down for only 15 minutes at a time. That gives her enough nourishment and food, but won't let her overeat.

When the weight is off, then diabetes usually isn't a factor from the overweight, but can be set off by other things--being on a steroid for long term can sometimes trigger a cat into being diabetic when you try to wean them off the steroid, for instance. But at least the weight thing won't be a cause.

It depends on the cat too--if you have a large boned cat like a maine coon, they ARE bigger cats and the weight is on their body frame in proportion. If you have a petite cat who looks like a bowling ball when she sits down, then yes, you do need to get her weight down to something healthier.

NO treats except for toys and catnip. NO junk food, no people food unless it's raw meat that's very fresh. Feed a good quality cat food (33% protein or higher) and limit the number of times she can get to the food dish.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

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Answer 4

This is very easily done and you don't have to put her on a diet as she will lose weight if fed the proper foods which means NO DRY FOODS. Take it from a diabetic cat owner. (Read my profile) You want to feed canned foods under 10% carbs. This list gives the breakdown
http://www.geocities.com/jmpeerson/canfood.html

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.
Please read the label on what you are feeding? What are the ingredients? Do you know what they mean? Is the first ingrdiant a muscle meat like chicken or meal or other things?
http://www.catinfo.org/#Learn_How_To_Read_a_Pet_Food_Ingredient_Label
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. Food allergies are very common when feeding dry foods. Rashes, scabs behind the tail and on the chin are all symptoms
The problems associated with Dry food is that they are loaded with carbohydrates which many cats (carnivores) cannot process them. Also, Most of the moisture a cat needs is suppose to be in the food but in
Dry, 95% of it is zapped out of dry foods in the processing. Another thing, 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. Does a hard pretzel clean your teeth or do pieces of it get stuck? http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/bpo_ch4a.php

Please read about cat nutrition.
http://www.newdestiny.us/nutritionbasics.html
http://www.catinfo.org/feline_obesity.htm
http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.htm#Dry_Food_vs_Canned_Food.__Which_is_reall

Answer 5

You can go to http://www.littlebigcat.com and read some of Dr. Jean Hovfe's articles on cat nutrition such as "Feline Obesity", "Why Cats Need Canned Food", "What Cats Should Eat", etc.

At http://www.thepetcenter.com there is also an excellent article on feline obesity and good information on appropriate cat diet.

Remember that if you get your cat on a meat diet right now she will stop GAINING weight immediately and then proceed to lose any weight she doesn't need for the rest of her life.

Answer 6

You really need to talk with a vet and get some ideas about the cat's nutritional needs. They can advise properly.

Answer 7

Answer --> http://DiabetesGoGo.com/?cLmk