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Advice on cat dieting please
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Steel_2
Posts: 1,649 Forumite
I need to brainstorm some ideas from people please. Apologies if this is long.
I have three FurBalls, one underweight, one normal weight and one overweight.
FB1 - 14 years old spayed female, petite, timid, abused by previous owner and hubby got her from the RSPCA 3 years old. Weighs just shy of 2.8kg and really only likes biscuits, but will have some wet food if it's a nice flavour. She has a sparrow-like appetite an is easy scared off from the food bowl (even a small cough or sneeze from us is sufficient). She does not eat everything in one go, she has a tiny stomach, so she picks all day. Adores fresh chicken, tuna and mince. At her heaviest a few years ago, she was 3.2kg so she's lost some weight which the vet believes is due to age. Not so active anymore, will sleep a lot, but is still a force to be reckoned with when she gets her loopy spurts.
FB2 - around 5 year old neutered male. Born ferral, abused by first owner, second owner abandoned him due to roaming and irritating her neighbours by stealing food from their houses. Picked up by us off the street in 2007, neutered and now a healthy, happy cat. Weighs 4.1 kg but drops some of this in the spring when the bunnies are born and he goes hunting. Will eat anything, but inside the house tends to eat a lot of wet food and then occasional snack on munchies. I know he eats once a day at a local animal rescue shelter which puts food out for stray cats - old habits die hard :rolleyes: Always outside and highly active. Loves wiggly string and chasing, loves leaping around, sometimes at waist height just because he can.
FB3 - the problem furball. Five year old spayed female. Came as an 8 week old kitten from an overcrowded house with seven adult cats and had issues getting enough food. She is a big cat for her moggy status anyway and the vet has told us for her bone structure about 5-5.5kg would be a target weight. She is 6.8kg. She will eat anything and is obsessed with food. She has been caught in other people's houses eating their animals' food. She eats both dry and wet food, although the wet she tends to eat all the jelly first. Not so keen on fresh food. Isn't really interested in tidbits. Loves tinned tuna. Will only drink rainwater outside or water from a running tap.
She has always been inactive and dislikes to exercise, if she goes outside she seeks out an appropriate spot and goes to sleep. Attempts at walking have failed. She sat on the ground and refused to move. She lets her legs go weak from under her and flops to ground making pathetic mewing noises if she thinks you're going to make her do something she doesn't want to do. Like an uncooperative toddler playing the 'limp' game. I can get her to play fetch with her rattly mouse, but she gives up after 6 or 7 retrieves. Loves a piece of string, but again gives up after a few plays. Not sure whether boredom or exhaustion.
Between the three of them, we give them 1.5 x 400g tins of food a day in two sittings and a level cat bowl of munchies, which is down all day primarily for FB1.
We have to find a way to get FB3 on a diet, maintain FB2's weight so he doesn't lose too much when he ramps up his activity in the spring, and increase FB1's weight.
I was interested to see that this source suggests bulking agents for food, in a similar vein I guess to what they suggest for human dieters. Also, it claims that biscuits are too dense and high calorie so the animals eat more to fill up and end up putting on weight. I'm thinking about switching them all to a high-quality, high-protein food and start feeding them more raw natural food to see if it satisfies them.
Any suggestions? Has anybody attempted something like this?
How often do I weigh them? Should I keep FB3 as a house cat until she loses the weight? And what is a healthy weekly weight loss for a cat?
I have three FurBalls, one underweight, one normal weight and one overweight.
FB1 - 14 years old spayed female, petite, timid, abused by previous owner and hubby got her from the RSPCA 3 years old. Weighs just shy of 2.8kg and really only likes biscuits, but will have some wet food if it's a nice flavour. She has a sparrow-like appetite an is easy scared off from the food bowl (even a small cough or sneeze from us is sufficient). She does not eat everything in one go, she has a tiny stomach, so she picks all day. Adores fresh chicken, tuna and mince. At her heaviest a few years ago, she was 3.2kg so she's lost some weight which the vet believes is due to age. Not so active anymore, will sleep a lot, but is still a force to be reckoned with when she gets her loopy spurts.
FB2 - around 5 year old neutered male. Born ferral, abused by first owner, second owner abandoned him due to roaming and irritating her neighbours by stealing food from their houses. Picked up by us off the street in 2007, neutered and now a healthy, happy cat. Weighs 4.1 kg but drops some of this in the spring when the bunnies are born and he goes hunting. Will eat anything, but inside the house tends to eat a lot of wet food and then occasional snack on munchies. I know he eats once a day at a local animal rescue shelter which puts food out for stray cats - old habits die hard :rolleyes: Always outside and highly active. Loves wiggly string and chasing, loves leaping around, sometimes at waist height just because he can.
FB3 - the problem furball. Five year old spayed female. Came as an 8 week old kitten from an overcrowded house with seven adult cats and had issues getting enough food. She is a big cat for her moggy status anyway and the vet has told us for her bone structure about 5-5.5kg would be a target weight. She is 6.8kg. She will eat anything and is obsessed with food. She has been caught in other people's houses eating their animals' food. She eats both dry and wet food, although the wet she tends to eat all the jelly first. Not so keen on fresh food. Isn't really interested in tidbits. Loves tinned tuna. Will only drink rainwater outside or water from a running tap.
She has always been inactive and dislikes to exercise, if she goes outside she seeks out an appropriate spot and goes to sleep. Attempts at walking have failed. She sat on the ground and refused to move. She lets her legs go weak from under her and flops to ground making pathetic mewing noises if she thinks you're going to make her do something she doesn't want to do. Like an uncooperative toddler playing the 'limp' game. I can get her to play fetch with her rattly mouse, but she gives up after 6 or 7 retrieves. Loves a piece of string, but again gives up after a few plays. Not sure whether boredom or exhaustion.
Between the three of them, we give them 1.5 x 400g tins of food a day in two sittings and a level cat bowl of munchies, which is down all day primarily for FB1.
We have to find a way to get FB3 on a diet, maintain FB2's weight so he doesn't lose too much when he ramps up his activity in the spring, and increase FB1's weight.
I was interested to see that this source suggests bulking agents for food, in a similar vein I guess to what they suggest for human dieters. Also, it claims that biscuits are too dense and high calorie so the animals eat more to fill up and end up putting on weight. I'm thinking about switching them all to a high-quality, high-protein food and start feeding them more raw natural food to see if it satisfies them.
Any suggestions? Has anybody attempted something like this?
How often do I weigh them? Should I keep FB3 as a house cat until she loses the weight? And what is a healthy weekly weight loss for a cat?
"carpe that diem"
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Comments
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Hi,
I'm sure Fire Fox'll be along in a bit,She Noah's her stuff.......lol!
Anyway,this sticky on Purrs might be of use;
http://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/index.php/topic,4792.0.html0 -
FB1 - 14 years old spayed female, petite, timid, abused by previous owner and hubby got her from the RSPCA 3 years old. Weighs just shy of 2.8kg and really only likes biscuits, but will have some wet food if it's a nice flavour. She has a sparrow-like appetite an is easy scared off from the food bowl (even a small cough or sneeze from us is sufficient). She does not eat everything in one go, she has a tiny stomach, so she picks all day. Adores fresh chicken, tuna and mince. At her heaviest a few years ago, she was 3.2kg so she's lost some weight which the vet believes is due to age. Not so active anymore, will sleep a lot, but is still a force to be reckoned with when she gets her loopy spurts.
Raw or cooked? Sorry for the gross question but do you know what her poops are like?
Small and firm or soft and smelly? This may indicate how well she is able to digest and absorb the food she is on.FB2 - around 5 year old neutered male. Born ferral, abused by first owner, second owner abandoned him due to roaming and irritating her neighbours by stealing food from their houses. Picked up by us off the street in 2007, neutered and now a healthy, happy cat. Weighs 4.1 kg but drops some of this in the spring when the bunnies are born and he goes hunting. Will eat anything, but inside the house tends to eat a lot of wet food and then occasional snack on munchies. I know he eats once a day at a local animal rescue shelter which puts food out for stray cats - old habits die hard :rolleyes: Always outside and highly active. Loves wiggly string and chasing, loves leaping around, sometimes at waist height just because he can.
Have you tried him with a raw chicken wing? Sounds like the perfect candidate! :TFB3 - the problem furball. Five year old spayed female. Came as an 8 week old kitten from an overcrowded house with seven adult cats and had issues getting enough food. She is a big cat for her moggy status anyway and the vet has told us for her bone structure about 5-5.5kg would be a target weight. She is 6.8kg. She will eat anything and is obsessed with food. She has been caught in other people's houses eating their animals' food. She eats both dry and wet food, although the wet she tends to eat all the jelly first. Not so keen on fresh food. Isn't really interested in tidbits. Loves tinned tuna. Will only drink rainwater outside or water from a running tap.
She has always been inactive and dislikes to exercise, if she goes outside she seeks out an appropriate spot and goes to sleep. Attempts at walking have failed. She sat on the ground and refused to move. She lets her legs go weak from under her and flops to ground making pathetic mewing noises if she thinks you're going to make her do something she doesn't want to do. Like an uncooperative toddler playing the 'limp' game. I can get her to play fetch with her rattly mouse, but she gives up after 6 or 7 retrieves. Loves a piece of string, but again gives up after a few plays. Not sure whether boredom or exhaustion.
What brands of food are you giving please? Is cat number three not keen on raw fresh or cooked fresh or both? Have you tried cat three with any toys that move like real prey - Da Bird, Da Mousey on a wire, Original Dragonfly, Cat Dancer?Between the three of them, we give them 1.5 x 400g tins of food a day in two sittings and a level cat bowl of munchies, which is down all day primarily for FB1.
I was interested to see that this source suggests bulking agents for food, in a similar vein I guess to what they suggest for human dieters. Also, it claims that biscuits are too dense and high calorie so the animals eat more to fill up and end up putting on weight. I'm thinking about switching them all to a high-quality, high-protein food and start feeding them more raw natural food to see if it satisfies them.
You need to find a way to stop free feeding, and also try to stop cat three getting food elsewhere. Does your schedule allow you to feed skinny cat numerous times a day, away from the other moggies?
Can you put a note on tubby cat's collar explaining his health means he must NOT be fed? Appreciate this won't completely solve the problem if he is stealing.
I think the raw idea is excellent if they will go for it. It is claimed that cats will regulate their own weight up or down when fed a raw diet - whether that is true remains to be scientifically proven. If they like a raw chicken wing cat three can be given it skinless to reduce the fat content. I'd be inclined to stop tuna for now, it doesn't provide the complete nutrition he needs (essential fats, minerals, taurine), and it's especially important to not miss out on nutrients when one is 'dieting'.
Grains/ carbs may also be an issue here: many cats do not process these well, this *may* mean for cat one a lot of the food she does eat is coming right out the other end. For cat three he *may* be overproducing insulin and converting the excess carbs to fat. If you want to maintain some dry for skinny cat try Orijen, Applaws, Pets at Home Purely More Meat or Fish4Cats all of which are packed with high quality animal protein and fat. I'd try to keep cat three away from the dry as much as possible.Hi,
I'm sure Fire Fox'll be along in a bit,She Noah's her stuff.......lol!
Anyway,this sticky on Purrs might be of use;
http://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/index.php/topic,4792.0.html
:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
Oh dear I've got a reputation ....
Disclaimer: I am qualified to degree level in human nutrition but only a keen amateur interest in feline nutrition, so you may get a different response from a vet.Declutterbug-in-progress.⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️0 -
Raw or cooked? Sorry for the gross question but do you know what her poops are like? Small and firm or soft and smelly? This may indicate how well she is able to digest and absorb the food she is on.
Raw and cooked chicken. Raw mince. Canned tuna. The cats share one small can of drained tuna in brine once a week. It is a treat for them.
Poops are soft and smelly. Sometimes we find it hard to believe so much can come from one small cat.Have you tried him with a raw chicken wing? Sounds like the perfect candidate!
He has had raw chicken before and love it, but but hubby does go on and on about the possibility of chickens bones sticking in his throat. I've pointed out before if he can eat a rabbit but for the furry trousers and the nose/mouth/teeth I don't think a chicken wing will pose a problem.
How much fresh raw food can you give a cat at day? Do you phase it in very slowly or simply replace once meal with 2-3 wings and see how they do?What brands of food are you giving please
At the moment, we feed all of them Kitekat and Tesco dry crunchies. They hate Tesco's own wet food and won't touch Whiskas. They go utterly barmy for Felix and start fights with each other over it, so we resorted to the second favourite brand of food Kitekat. A small tin of drained tuna in brine is shared between them once a week.Is cat number three not keen on raw fresh or cooked fresh or both?
Both. Has a feeble lick but turns her nose up. She's a fish cat through and through, preferring those flavours in wet food as well. She has an issue about the size of food too. She can't seem to pick up or tolerate lumps of food in her mouth, which may be why she eats the jelly in wet food first.Have you tried cat three with any toys that move like real prey - Da Bird, Da Mousey on a wire, Original Dragonfly, Cat Dancer?
Not yet. I'll get one this week and try her with it. I've seen her catch mice in the summer when she's outside, but she tends to wait by the hole/nest and grab them when they come out. Maximum conservation of effort on her part. She never eats anything she catches though and doesn't play with it.You need to find a way to stop free feeding, and also try to stop cat three getting food elsewhere. Does your schedule allow you to feed skinny cat numerous times a day, away from the other moggies?
Yes I can try that. She is a very quiet private cat though and trying to figure out when she eats is tough. She's a bit of a 'willo the wisp'. If I take the food off the floor in the hallway permanently and just put some food down regularly near her on the windowsill by her favourite day time bed, that may work. I'll can police her food and remove it while the others are in.
I put the other cats out in the morning at about 7:30am without putting down wet food as they don't seem interested in it until after they pee (we do have a tray but they tend to use that at night). The munchies are there anyway, but they barely sniff them. Hubby is up at 5am, and I'm sure they have some munchies then. When the others come in after their morning run I can put theirs down.Can you put a note on tubby cat's collar explaining his health means he must NOT be fed? Appreciate this won't completely solve the problem if he is stealing.
What form should the note take? I imagine it should be easy to spot so possibly on the back of her collar, but the minute I wrap anything laminated around the back of her neck she'll just try and get it off (although that could solve the whole exercise thing :rotfl:) Is there something on the market that can clip onto the collar and do the job? I should mention she has long fur so a note could disappear under the sheer volume of it.I think the raw idea is excellent if they will go for it. It is claimed that cats will regulate their own weight up or down when fed a raw diet - whether that is true remains to be scientifically proven. If they like a raw chicken wing cat three can be given it skinless to reduce the fat content.
I'd like to get skinny cat and normal cat onto raw, but fat cat's dislike of raw or cooked meat (or perhaps the shape and texture?) will be a problem for her. I have given the skinny cat and normal cat the odd ends off a pheasant bum before which they had great fun with and loved (we live in the country so get the odd pheasant turning up - when you process the carcass you're left with an odd knobbly meaty bit on the bum with the tail feathers). Also skinny cat has thieved fish carcasses before and crunched her way through a few fish heads. We eat whole mackeral, trout and tilapia and don't tend to wash up our plates after dinner straight away. "willio-the-wisp" has figured this out. She is very stealthy.I'd be inclined to stop tuna for now, it doesn't provide the complete nutrition he needs (essential fats, minerals, taurine), and it's especially important to not miss out on nutrients when one is 'dieting'
I can certainly stop the tuna treat for all three of them, but next door feeds her two cats large quantities of it and of course fat cat is in through their open windows in a flash. I have tried before to explain the imbalanced diet feeding them tuna all the time, but she just lit up a fag, squinted and gurgled 'ugg' at me. She couldn't give two straws really. Even though she knows my cat gets in through the window, she won't shut it to stop her because she can't be bothered to keep opening the door to the house to let her cats in and out.
I think fat cat will have to become a house cat for a while. It's going to break my heart to do it to her though.Grains/ carbs may also be an issue here: many cats do not process these well, this *may* mean for cat one a lot of the food she does eat is coming right out the other end. For cat three he *may* be overproducing insulin and converting the excess carbs to fat.
For skinny cat, should I be thinking about switching her to a senior food? Fat cat usually (9 out of 10 times) goes outside and away from our house so I don't know if her poo is usually runny. Occasionally she uses the litter tray and her poo is runny, but we can't rule out the possibility she's been caught short because something has upset her tummy and has to use the tray. However, all that jelly eating can't do much for bulking out her poo.If you want to maintain some dry for skinny cat try Orijen, Applaws, Pets at Home Purely More Meat or Fish4Cats all of which are packed with high quality animal protein and fat. I'd try to keep cat three away from the dry as much as possible.
Thanks for the tip. I'll hunt this out at the pet food shop and give skinny cat some to try"carpe that diem"0 -
Lol - you have you work cut out for you!
I have one normal & 1 greedy cat - unfortunately I have given up trying to reduce the girth of the fat one for now (ie have been trying various things but currently trying to get my way through a taster pack of Joe Inglis' stuff - the chicken dry didn't go down well so I gave that away - currently mixing salmon dry with Burns Dry Salmon) & concentrated on their best health/nutrition/my pocket.
You can save alot of money buy sourcing the food online.
I must admit since people have been writing about different types of foods my two have been experimented on - last year they had more raw & also Hills Dry as the ingredients seem to have massively improved (there are lots of different varieties & I always read the back of the packet before buying) - the BOGOF deal at Pets @ Home also helped alot. However I will always use Burns as the staple - as my fat one doesn't get `dandruff' with that.
Fat cat will surely lose the weight if he's not keen on raw - if you feed more of that! I think Burns has less calories if you can get fat cat to eat it - I think it's better than `light' food for overweight cats.
Good luck & well done for being such a caring owner.0 -
rita-rabbit wrote: »Lol - you have you work cut out for you!
I have one normal & 1 greedy cat - unfortunately I have given up trying to reduce the girth of the fat one for now (ie have been trying various things but currently trying to get my way through a taster pack of Joe Inglis' stuff - the chicken dry didn't go down well so I gave that away - currently mixing salmon dry with Burns Dry Salmon) & concentrated on their best health/nutrition/my pocket.
You can save alot of money buy sourcing the food online.
I must admit since people have been writing about different types of foods my two have been experimented on - last year they had more raw & also Hills Dry as the ingredients seem to have massively improved (there are lots of different varieties & I always read the back of the packet before buying) - the BOGOF deal at Pets @ Home also helped alot. However I will always use Burns as the staple - as my fat one doesn't get `dandruff' with that.
Fat cat will surely lose the weight if he's not keen on raw - if you feed more of that! I think Burns has less calories if you can get fat cat to eat it - I think it's better than `light' food for overweight cats.
Good luck & well done for being such a caring owner.
Thanks Rita. I sense I am about to embark on stormy seas!
Started the whole diet thing diet tonight anyway. Looked up a few websites that gave me the appropriate amounts of food to be feeding a cat of her weight and worked out how long it could take her to safely and healthily lose 3lbs to get her to 5.5kg (around 12 weeks). They suggested around 200 calories a day split into four meals so it doesn't trigger food anxiety in her. I have to assess her loss every 3-4 days and adjust the calories if necessary up or down while keeping an eye on her muscle tone in her neck and back.
Removed ALL munchies from the floor at around 5:30pm.
At 6pm skinny cat had a small bowl of wet food shown to her while she dozed on her daytime bed and then it was slid around the corner of the curtains nearest to her and left on the windowsill. Poke my head around the door 20 minutes later to hear scoffing. About an hour later hubby and I persuaded her to eat the rest, but we had to stand nearby and talk to her and stroke her. She was also given some small pieces of cooked chicken by hubby later on - but then she had stationed herself right next to him while he was eating dinner so she'd made her feelings clear on the matter :rotfl:
Fat cat barreled in from the cold at 6:30pm screaming for food. I put down around 2oz of wet food (apparently wet food is around 30 calories an oz) well mashed up so she couldn't suck the jelly out. She was not happy, circled round and round the ground floor looking for the munchies. Ate two mouthfuls of the wet food and then started circling looking again. Came back for a mouthful. Off looking for munchies in living room. Came back and sat on the rug near her bowl looking downcast. I sat on the floor next to her bowl talking to her and stroking her and eventually she hunkered down. Tried to escape twice more but both times I gently persuaded her back to the bowl. Eventually she ate most of it.
Normal cat zoomed in at 7pm. Ate what I put down. Went to sleep upstairs on his evening bed (my cats have 5 or 6 beds each depending on the time of day, mood and weather :rolleyes:)
I then went upstairs and spent 10 minutes playing with fatty on the bed with a homemade catnip pillow tied up with string like a parcel but with long ends so I could drag it round. She was exercising so vigorously at one point she fell backwards of the bed. The bang was so loud hubby called up the stairs to see if I was ok as he thought I'd fallen and hurt myself. But she was back on the bed in a flash and kicking the bejesus out of the pillow. Left her exhausted and dozing, lying on her back with her soft pink underbelly exposed and legs akimbo
Going to bed now and all cats are asleep. Only water down. I expect to be woken at an ungodly hour tomorrow morning by the Dawn Munchie Patrol.
I will not surrender."carpe that diem"0 -
Hope it works out for you steel. I have a similar situation in that Missy is very skinny & not particularly interested in food a lot of the time & as soon as Coco starts sniffing near her bowl (after devouring his food), she backs off and allows him to eat it.
Coco is quite possibly the looniest cat I have ever met. He will eat anything and everything, he currently weighs 5.6 kilos and is 8 months old! On the weekend I bought myself a custard tart and left it on the coffee table whilst going to make myself a cup of tea - when I came back (less than 2 mins) the entire thing was gone - well apart from the bits on Coco's face & paws! He has even been known to jump into my bin (which has a lid & so he can never get out). He is certainly not underfed, just greedy - he will drink a hot cup of tea if he can get his head far enough into the cup!
I have taken to feeding my two separately & not leaving the dry food down - it goes down for half an hour in the morning & is then tipped back into a sealed container when it is put back down for an hour at night. My vet told me not to be overly worried about his weight as he doesn't have a saggy stomach, he is quite big overall.:happylove DD July 2011:happyloveAug 13 [STRIKE]£4235.19[/STRIKE]:eek: £2550.00 :cool:0 -
At the moment, we feed all of them Kitekat and Tesco dry crunchies. They hate Tesco's own wet food and won't touch Whiskas. They go utterly barmy for Felix and start fights with each other over it, so we resorted to the second favourite brand of food Kitekat.
Poops are soft and smelly. Sometimes we find it hard to believe so much can come from one small cat.
For skinny cat, should I be thinking about switching her to a senior food? Fat cat usually (9 out of 10 times) goes outside and away from our house so I don't know if her poo is usually runny. Occasionally she uses the litter tray and her poo is runny, but we can't rule out the possibility she's been caught short because something has upset her tummy and has to use the tray. However, all that jelly eating can't do much for bulking out her poo.
Those brands of biscuits are only 4% meat, the rest is grains which many cats cannot digest properly. I wonder if skinny cat is getting little in the way of nutrition as a result, and should appear healthier if you switch her to a high meat/ low grain kibble. Noah went from three stinkers per day to one small pleasant-ish doing virtually overnight! :T I don't think there is any need for a senior food just yet, providing the vet has already checked out the weight thing and there are no issues with hormonal imbalances or kidney issues. Wean her off the grains and see what result you get.A small tin of drained tuna in brine is shared between them once a week. Raw and cooked chicken. Raw mince. Canned tuna. The cats share one small can of drained tuna in brine once a week. It is a treat for them.
Also skinny cat has thieved fish carcasses before and crunched her way through a few fish heads. We eat whole mackeral, trout and tilapia and don't tend to wash up our plates after dinner straight away. "willio-the-wisp" has figured this out. She is very stealthy.
If they like fish try Feline Fayre or Pets at Home Purely in the small 160g tins, both of which are full of identifiable lumps of fish in jelly, no salt. I think it's encouraging skinny cat has an appetite for fish bits as it means she might gain weight once you find a food that suits her.He has had raw chicken before and love it, but but hubby does go on and on about the possibility of chickens bones sticking in his throat. I've pointed out before if he can eat a rabbit but for the furry trousers and the nose/mouth/teeth I don't think a chicken wing will pose a problem.
How much fresh raw food can you give a cat at day? Do you phase it in very slowly or simply replace once meal with 2-3 wings and see how they do?
Both. Has a feeble lick but turns her nose up. She's a fish cat through and through, preferring those flavours in wet food as well. She has an issue about the size of food too. She can't seem to pick up or tolerate lumps of food in her mouth, which may be why she eats the jelly in wet food first.
I'd like to get skinny cat and normal cat onto raw, but fat cat's dislike of raw or cooked meat (or perhaps the shape and texture?) will be a problem for her. I have given the skinny cat and normal cat the odd ends off a pheasant bum before which they had great fun with and loved (we live in the country so get the odd pheasant turning up - when you process the carcass you're left with an odd knobbly meaty bit on the bum with the tail feathers).
Noah - a large indoor male - has the Food4Cats mince mixes which look remarkably like Value human mince but contain ground bone and offal too. Might suit the cat that doesn't like lumps, and the husband that doesn't like pieces of bone?
Noah has 200g (half a sausage) per day, which is probably too much. Otherwise he has half a skinless chicken wing or a couple of cubes of bone-in wild rabbit as a snack alongside a pouch plus 50g dry. Food4Cats also sell diced tongue and heart, both good for taurine and lower calorie so they are next on my 'hitlist'!
I'm afraid I don't phase anything, I just chop and change and Noah's digestion copes fine. With yours I'd phase in either high meat kibble or more tinned, and then change over to all or part raw. Going from the high grain kibble they eat now to solid raw meat might be too much.
If a cat doesn't much like raw many [STRIKE]owners[/STRIKE] slaves phase that in by mixing a little with tinned, then a little more every few days until the food is nearly all raw. If fat cat is as greedy as you say, it might be a good thing if the food on offer is not her favourite, and I doubt she will starve herself! Has her mouth been checked to ensure the dislike of lumps is not dental?
Good luck, you sound determined so should do well!! Declutterbug-in-progress.⭐️⭐️⭐️ ⭐️⭐️0 -
update - offered my two some of my leftover cooked chicken - only the fat one was interested, the normal sized tom now has decided he prefers raw (no there isn't any around so it's just boring dried food for him tonight)!0
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Hello all (esp my darling FF).
I have a 7.5kgish boy that I need to have lost his weight down by June when he nexts see vets.
Due to personal issues and also having another cat he has gained 2kg that since last June.....:o
So I am more than happy to join this thread and have a Cat Fat Club!!!! :T
Spencer hasn't been out since I moved twice within six months but he will be starting to go out again soon I hope!
Will have a proper read tomorrow but am here to moan and support!!!Now a SAHM trying to earn some spare pennies each month0 -
Well I am watching this Fat club thread with interest...having four cats ranging from 7 lb up to 15 lb. Steel---you do right to be monitoring the muscle tone and general shape of the cat as overly speedy weight loss can be dangerous for cats. From my research I understand that if a cat is fed a HIGH protein diet of wet food or raw then there is a much lower ( in fact negligible) threat of Hepatic Lipidosis. Dry or kibble diets send the liver to sleep and if calorie intake is restricted too quickly the liver cannot cope with the mobilised fat stores and can become overloaded. ( Ref, Dr Elizabeth Hodgkins)
Go to diabeticcatcare.com and look at the section about feline obesity under 'The college of Knowledge' with articles from vets experienced in feline nutrition. http://www.diabeticcatcare.com/foodeduc.htm
I think L-carnitine as a supplement is supposed to be good to aid the weight loss.
That said, Peggy has not shifted an ounce since being on wet food!0
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