Cat with weight problem.

dandelionclock30

One of my cats has an ongoing battle with her weight. I rescued her when she was run over and I think she was a stray prior to that as she was very thin.
Anyway, at one point she got really big and I managed to slim her down with Hills light, however because it was dried she kept getting cystitis.Obviously thats not very good.
Her weight is creeping up again and the vet has suggested these wet pouches that work out at £80.00 per month.Thats too much for us as we already have to pay £30.00 for my other cats tablets per month.
With normal cat food she has 1/2 tin per day and some cooked chicken but even when I cut her down to this she hasnt slimmed down. She is also constantly scavenging, eating things like cake if you leave a piece on the side or vegetables left on the plate etc. Basically if you leave anything out shes there.
I just feel a bit stuck with what to do for the best. Has anyone been in this position with a reasonably priced solution? Im thinking along the lines of getting the Hills and moistening it with water.

danih

I would go ahead and add water to the hills - should help with the cystitis.

Consider reducing or stopping the tinned food - can be bad for the teeth.

Both of my stray cats were skin and bone when they came to us, both put on a lot of weight, and within a couple of months were overweight. Oliver slimmed down again, think he slowly realised the dried food was a reliable supply, and he didn't need to store for hungry times. His wieght has been normal for a couple of years now.

Buddy was found at chip shop as a kitten has been used to eating chips, bread and so on to survive. It took a few months for these habits to settle. He now sticks to more appropriate food stuffs. However he is still overweight, and suspect he will always be on the large side.

danih

Double post

rising_from_the_ashes

You have my sympathies as it's not easy to shift weight off them

Mia is very overweight and sounds very like your cat as she eats anything in sight

Archie is very skinny and is very picky and will eat a couple of mouthfuls at a time (so have to leave food down for him all the time)


Would it be possible to do a 1/2 and 1/2 with the pouches & dry to help costs?

Also, have you priced them online as prices are usually a HUGE amount cheaper than direct from the vet (you may need to get a prescription but this can still work out cheaper)

Mia is currently on a RC "vet diet" but you don't need a prescription to actually buy it so that might be worth looking into

dandelionclock30

Right I've just ordered, Hill's Science Plan Adult Cat Light - Chicken, and
Royal Canin Light Cat - Calorie Reduction. This came to £25.00.
Im going to have a look at the pouches on the internet as well and look at the costs.
Do vets mind writing out prescriptions? or do they get funny? and also how much do they charge for doing so. Can anyone advise?

joansgirl

I think they're supposed to charge a "reasonable" sum for prescriptions but I think it varies from vet to vet. And as to how much is reasonable, I don't know.

I had similar problems to you with 2 rescue cats. One of them weighed 9kgs when I got him. I put him on Iams light (dried) and fed him a tiny amount 4 times a day and the weight fell off him. He got down to 4 and a half kgs in the end. His brother was overweight as well, but not as much, and he got cystitis because of the dried food so I put him on ordinary bog standard wet food but fed him smaller amounts with water added. He went from 7 and a half kgs to 5 kgs. He was still quite porky but much better than he was to begin with. I fed them more often as the act of eating and digesting stimulates the metabolism and helps burn off the fat faster, apparently.

You said in the op that she eats veg. Bulk her out with some if she'll eat it. I know cats can't be completely vegetarian as they need the Taurine in meat to survive but a bit of veg shouldn't hurt her.

danih

Think carefully before you pay a lot of money for pouches. While your cat is scavenging food you will be unable to control the food intake, so expensive low calorie pouches may be a waste of money.

Oliver - thankfully at normal weight now - catches birds, bats, mice and eats most of them. He eats the next door neighbours cats food. The small boys 3 doors down feed him ham and chicken.

Cubby Buddy eats the dogs food as well as his own.

For my cats I have chosen to stick to a high quality dried cat food.

dandelionclock30

I've just got her vet record out- if anyones interested.
In 2006- she weighed 6.3 kG and I got her down to 4.2 Kg.

fast forward to this year, in July she weighed 4.75 and lost a bit in August and got down to 4.59.

I think shes gone up again as shes looking bigger, the vet says she is a small framed cat.

I try to stop scavenging by not putting out food for birds like bread and by clearing all plates into the bin. Obviously its difficult like if the phone rings etc and you leave a plate.

rising_from_the_ashes

dandelionclock30 wrote: »

Right I've just ordered, Hill's Science Plan Adult Cat Light - Chicken, and
Royal Canin Light Cat - Calorie Reduction. This came to £25.00.
Im going to have a look at the pouches on the internet as well and look at the costs.
Do vets mind writing out prescriptions? or do they get funny? and also how much do they charge for doing so. Can anyone advise?

Was it the RC Light 40?

Mia gets this and loves it (unfortunately so does Archie - honestly I want him to eat the "fat food")

My vets charge £10 for a prescription BUT they can write one to cover up to 6 months supply of something so the costs are usually quickly recovered

You don't have to use it all at once (ie buy the whole 6 months supply) - many online places let you upload the prescription and then you can buy as you need to until you've used the prescription up

dandelionclock30

Its this one, http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/dry_cat_food/royal_canin/care_nutrition/13469.
It does look like the 40.

Jonboy_1984

I have used zooplus a few times and been very pleased with them.