My cat has puffed up a little lately - she’s at 13 pounds and change. Our other cat is around 12 pounds, and looks lean as a lynx. I don’t think my cat is dangerously overweight (she is very active, and burns around the house many times every day), but I think she could stand to lose a pound or two. The problem is that my cat is the food hog of the two - I suspect she eats the majority of the food we put down for both of them. They get almost a half cup a day each of high-quality dry cat food - no wet food, and very few human food tidbits. If we have tuna or steak or something they enjoy, they each get about a cat mouthful. The amount we feed them is the amount recommended on the bag for their weights.
So, how do I go about getting my pudgy girl to push back from the dinner bowl? Is it possible to get one cat to lose weight when there has to be food down for two cats?
When my cat lived with my Mum’s cat, he was the food hog. He’d clean out his dish, then set to work on hers. The vet suggested he stayed reasonably svelt ( 10-12 lbs) because he wouldn’t keep his nose out of the dog dish either, and filled up on dog food alot of the time, which is relatively low-cal compared to cat food.
Maybe leave out a bowl of dog food for her to snack on, along with the cat food? Cat food is needed, since there’s an additive in it that cats need, which is usually absent from dog chow. But for a low cal snack, dog chow didn’t do my cat any harm. As long as the thin cat isn’t dipping mostly from the dog bowl too, maybe it could balance things out.
Scheduled, measured, seperate feedings. Measure out the food into their respective bowls, put them down, and take them back up ten minutes later. They’ll both adjust to eating their meals at set times and going on and eating their full feeding instead of snacking as the urge hits them, and there won’t be food lying around for Chubs to stuff himself with. If he’s not losing weight, reduce his food until he does lose weight.
I am in exactly the same situation, with a 13-pound kitty whom the vet says should lose a pound or so by her next weighing. The other cat weighs about 9 pounds.
What I’ve been doing is feeding chubby Lucia in a separate room–the cats’ playroom at the top of the house. If I am home, I’ll close the door while she’s eating, and while I feed the other cat, Austen, down in the kitchen. It’s important that Austen finish her food before Lucia comes out (this has always been a problem, since Austen is the sort that likes to nibble her kibble little by little over the course of the day); if she isn’t finished, I’ll sometimes put her bowl up out of the way and Austen will come and tell me when she wants more. The thing is not to leave any extra food lying around where Lucia can get at it.
Her next weighing isn’t until the end of this month; we’ll see how it’s worked out.
It’s a tough call, isn’t it? I have 3 rats. One is a healthy weight, the next is a little chubby, and the last is seriously tubby. I mean, she looks like a Nerf ball with a head. It’s all in personality, too. I let them out for a run every night, and the first two are content to swing around like acrobats (acro-rats?) while the other would rather sit in her little hut and eat. Since they’re contained and are grazers and nibblers by nature, I really can’t stop the fat one from eating all the time.
Besides feeding your cats in separate rooms, maybe encourage the heavier one to be more active - get a swishy toy with catnip and drag it around. That might help her lose a bit of weight too.
Hmm, good ideas. They already have regular, measured, separate feedings (they get fed morning and night), but the two bowls are in the same room, and the food is out for them all day. I guess I’ll try picking up the bowls after 10 minutes. You’re sure the all-day nibbler (the skinny one) will get enough food this way?
I have been worried that my other cat isn’t getting enough in the mornings before I go to work; being an older kitty and rather set in her ways, she hasn’t adjusted yet to eating as much as she can at that time of day, and tends to tell me that she’s starving–starving!–when I get in. But I try to see she eats enough in the evenings. (And I suspect Lucia was getting most of Austen’s food when I left the bowl out for her anyway.)
We have the exact same problem: one cat is really fat, but scarfs down the majority of the food. It’s exacerbated by the fact that the other one is an incredibly slow, leisurely eater. She eats a bite or two over the course of a morning/evening. If we reduce their food to the point where she’s really hungry and forced to eat more quickly to get her share, she throws up. Then the fat one eats that.
So we’ve given up. We still measure out their food and give them as little as possible, but no way is fat cat ever going to lose weight.
When cats are hungry, they have a way of letting you know. I don’t think you have to worry about your domesticated, well-cared-for cat to suffer from starvation because the food is not readily available. They know who provides it for them and are smart enough to devise a way for the provider to respond to their needs. Like meowing. Pitifully. Incessantly.
IANA vet, but we have two cats as well; one heavy and not very active (Precious) and the other svelte and active (Kitty). Before the diet, we were using an automatic feeder like this for a long time. Neither ate anything but cheap dry food, whenever and as they wanted, and the occassional can of tuna or tuna water as a treat. Well, the svelte one does occasionally steal table food abandoned by our daughter, but doesn’t eat much before getting scolded.
We started to worry that Precious was destined for all-too-common feline diabetes and an early passing, so we put her on a diet. No more “free-choice feeding” for either cat. Each cat gets 1 cup of premium diet dry cat food once per day.* Kitty, who is not underweight, gets a pouch of regular food a few times per week since she’s not really on a weight-loss program. They are each fed alone and the other cat has to stay out until the feeding cat is done. If they walk away from the food without finishing it (which is rare for Precious), it’s put up until they ask for it later.
Kitty seems to be doing fine and has not indicated any need for additional food and is maintaining her weight and activity levels. Precious, OTOH, spends most of her day crying pitifully for food and will follow anyone who goes near the designated feeding area (next to the dryer) as well as harass the primary foodgiver by attempting to verbally and physically guide her to the feeding area. Even after several months on this plan. But she’s losing weight slowly and is becoming more physically active (she can actually jump on a chair without losing her balance now). Sometimes we guide her up and down the stairs a few times before putting down her food (for exercise since she’ll follow you anywhere if you’ve got her food in your hand).
We’ve also tried divvying up the cup of food into portions, so they (esp. Precious) can eat more than once per day. Feeding on demand keeps her quieter, however, also gives her the impression that we’ll keep feeding her on demand once she’s gone through her food allotment for the day. One way or another she doesn’t get, “You’re done. You ate all your food already.” Precious: “But the bag’s over there and it’s still got food in it.” That old habit of grazing dies hard.
The key to choosing the right food is making sure that the main ingredient is meat protein, not grain-based carbohydrates. Cats are carnivores and feeding them primarily grain products is simply unhealthy for them. Excessive carbs cannot be metabolized (especially by a less active cat) and just turn into fat. Grains alone do not provide the amino acids, such as taurine, necessary for cat health and cheap brands may or may not have necessary amino supplements added to the food.
Switching a cat from a grain-based economy feed to a meat-based premium feed is a good start to healthy weight loss simply by reducing the fat-inducing carbs.
On preview, I have to second Giraffe’s comment that a fast-eating kitty will throw up. Precious frequently did this in the beginning. This cat, who was used to eating as much and whenever she wanted, became so desperate for the limited supply of food she was getting, she would inhale it and just as quickly throw it right back up and then re-eat it. Blech! I think, once they get used to the new way and as long as they’re getting enough food to keep their weight loss slow or maintain their weight, the ralphing sessions becomes fewer and farther between.
try having kitty aerobic time. find a toy that the bigger likes and the smaller doesn’t care about.
i have 2 lean girls and 1 big fat girl. the bfg loves lazer pointers, the others could care less. so i have lazer time with bfg about 10-15 minutes of running her around in circles. she lost 1 whole pound. the vet wants her to lose another by next visit so i will try 10 min. in the morning and 10 at night.
i will stop as soon as she looks winded, even if it hasn’t been 10 mins. don’t want to distress her.
I have a similar problem. My girl kitty is starting to look chubby. She is still only 10 months old, though, so I am worried about restricting her food if she is still growing. She’s not due back at the vet until her one year check, though (8 months away) so I don’t know how much she weighs or how much she should weigh. I just see that her tummy is getting rounder. She gets only premium kitten food. Should I change to diet adult food? I don’t want to restrict her too much if she is still growing.
I asked a vet about kitten food once, and she said anytime after about six months it was okay to switch to adult. At ten months, she could probably go on adult food. Talk to your vet, though - maybe just a phone call?
Well, my husband’s not thrilled about putting the food for the cats up, because his cat is the all-day grazer. I’ll try cutting them both back a little, and trying to exercise mine more. She loves playing “chase”, so I’ll try to chase her around more.
This IMHO Thread is old 2005, and I am hoping some of you are still out there and can help. Both my boys are large cats they should be 15 to 16 pound cats. One is 15 lbs and the other 24.5 lbs. I have read all the posts, I have missed or have not seen a reply stating someone was successful in their attempt to have their “large” cat lose weight.
I am very concerned about my 24.5 lbs boy. He had kitty crystals and is on a pet food to keep them from forming. First, the Vet prescribed Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Urinary SO Dry Cat Food, and did not tell me cats have a 50/50% chance of gaining weight. My boy was in the 50% to gain, he climbed to 20 lbs. Then was switched to Hill’s Prescription Diet Metabolic + Urinary. It was supposed to help the deduce the weight, “NOT”, now he’s 24.5 lbs. Right now I have a timed feeder. However, I have no idea who is eating the food. I’m single, live alone and work long hours.
Before the kitty crystals, he was 16 pounds. A previous cat had crystals and was on Hill’s Prescription Diet c/d Multicare Urinary Care and didn’t gain weight. So now I am wondering if I should ask to switch my current big bot to Hill’s c/d? Can I take my cat off the prescription food and find a good quality food that will not promote the creation of Kitty crystals? This the first time I have ever had a 24.5 lbs cat. I am truly worried about future heath issues.
This Thread is old, 2005, hoping someone out there will have an update. Both my boys are large cats they should be 15 to 16 pound cats. One is 15 lbs and the other 24.5 lbs. I have read all the posts, I have missed or have not seen a reply stating someone was successful in their attempt to have their “large” cat lose weight.
I am very concerned about my 24.5 lbs boy. He had kitty crystals and is on a pet food to keep them from forming. First, the Vet prescribed Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Urinary SO Dry Cat Food, and did not tell me cats have a 50/50% chance of weight gain. Well mine was in the 50% to gain, he climbed to 20 lbs. Then was switched to Hill’s Prescription Diet Metabolic + Urinary. It was supposed to help the deduce the weight, NOT, now he’s 24.5 lbs.
Before the kitty crystals, he was 16 pounds. A previous cat had crystals and was on Hill’s Prescription Diet c/d Multicare Urinary Care and didn’t gain weight. So now I am wondering if I should ask to switch my current big bot to Hill’s c/d? Can I take my cat off the prescription food and find a good quality food that will not promote the creation of Kitty crystals? This the first time I have ever had a 24.5 lbs cat. I am truly worried about future health issues, joint and diabetes. Any success on your attempt, answers on switching food or ideas would be gratefully appreciated.