Natural Perfumery and Health

How to Help a Fat Cat Lose Weight

Filed under: Pet Health — tigerflag @ 1:15 pm

Do you have a multi-cat household where one cat needs to lose weight, but they all share the same food? I do. It’s tough to segregate cats to feed them different diets. It’s like… herding cats! A lot of households have the same problem. I’ve figured out a way to help one fat old cat lose weight under these conditions, and I thought I’d share my method with you.

My husband and I have a big, orange 14-year-old Maine Coon cross named William (of Orange). He’s more than a cat. He’s an elemental force of nature. In his youth he was an active, rugged outdoor cat, then we moved to a place where he couldn’t safely go outside anymore. We also got a succession of kittens and cat rescues who needed high-calorie food, which William always found a way to get into. So he went from a healthy 17 pounds to a very unhealthy 22 pounds.

William, Luciano and George

After several years of being quite obese, he became dull and listless, and we could tell that his shoulders and hips were hurting from the excess weight. We feed our cats natural Eagle Pack cat food. It’s the best cat food we’ve ever found. Everything in it is certified as “fit for human consumption”. Even with Eagle Pack’s “Less Active” Formula, William couldn’t lose any weight because he just wouldn’t move around. We feared he was becoming pre-diabetic. We didn’t want to put him on drugs, we needed to get him back to a healthful weight, naturally.

Since canned food contains a high percentage of water, a meal of wet food has less calories than a meal of dry kibble. I decided that we would feed him canned food for breakfast and supper, thus reducing his caloric intake without making him feel deprived. (He always considers wet food a treat!) He only gets a few tablespoons of wet food at a time- just enough to finish in one sitting. The other cats get some, too, and they love it! Eagle Pack “Lamb and Chicken” is their favorite.

Instead of keeping a free-feed bowl of dry food on the floor for all the cats, we started keeping it on top of the washing machine. The other cats are slender and fit, so they can jump up there to eat whenever they wish. William is too heavy to jump that high, so he can’t get to it. Now he can only eat what we give him, and we give him a lot less than he would eat if it were left up to him.

We keep an empty dish on the floor for William’s food. Every 3-4 hours, and just before bedtime, we give him “tiny” pinches of dry kibble. That, in addition to his wet-food meals, means he’s getting a lot less calories per day than he used to get.

William and George on their 'Frasier chair'

When he’s not sleeping he’s begging for food. William can be quite charming or pathetic, depending on what he thinks will work. Either way, we have to harden ourselves to his pleas. Glutton that he is he’s much more active now, following us everywhere in the hopes that we’ll feed him. Animals in the wild are usually hungry, usually moving around in the search for food. Nature intended cats to be a little hungry so this is good for him.

We’re careful not to make him fast completely because that can be harmful to his liver. He gets enough to keep him nourished and his blood sugar stable, but no more.

In the last year William has dropped to a healthful weight. He has a waist again and we can slightly feel his ribs. He’s awakened from an obese stupor, and his eyes once again sparkle. His joints feel better so he moves with much more comfort. Instead of aging, he is “youthing”.

If you saw him he would tell you that he’s a starving cat who has never been fed in his whole life! But I am so happy that we have “Our William” back!

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