Cats on MFP?

winwin

Here is a story for pet lovers everywhere.

My cat is almost fourteen. He has had crystals twice before the age of two (which is apparently pretty young) I used to give him a popular brand of food which you would have thought would be good for him. Now he gets his food from the vet to control the crystals. My daughter got a cat who is now five. My cat, Rusty is short and stalky and loves to eat. ( I can't just leave their food out in a bowl all day because he would just sit there until it was all gone). My daughter's cat, Brady, is long and lean and is a grazer. So whenever I feed them, Brady eats a little and walks away and even though I give Rusty only a little, he sits by his bowl and watches Brady eat what he's going to, as soon as Brady walks away Rusty finishes what's left in his bowl. Rusty is getting stalkier everyday! Two days ago I started counting out their pieces of food. Counting! One of the problems is that everyone is always home every day and I run a home daycare so I am always in the kitchen preparing food for someone. The kitties think they should eat every time I do something in the kitchen. There hasn't been much difference, yet, other than Rusty's tummy isn't as tight (fat) and they are both a lot more vocal. If we can keep this diet up for at least a week, they should get used to eating less and actually be happier and more active. Too bad I can't track their calories, carbs, fat etc. lol.

winwin

winwin

Here is a story for pet lovers everywhere.

My cat is almost fourteen. He has had crystals twice before the age of two (which is apparently pretty young) I used to give him a popular brand of food which you would have thought would be good for him. Now he gets his food from the vet to control the crystals. My daughter got a cat who is now five. My cat, Rusty is short and stalky and loves to eat. ( I can't just leave their food out in a bowl all day because he would just sit there until it was all gone). My daughter's cat, Brady, is long and lean and is a grazer. So whenever I feed them, Brady eats a little and walks away and even though I give Rusty only a little, he sits by his bowl and watches Brady eat what he's going to, as soon as Brady walks away Rusty finishes what's left in his bowl. Rusty is getting stalkier everyday! Two days ago I started counting out their pieces of food. Counting! One of the problems is that everyone is always home every day and I run a home daycare so I am always in the kitchen preparing food for someone. The kitties think they should eat every time I do something in the kitchen. There hasn't been much difference, yet, other than Rusty's tummy isn't as tight (fat) and they are both a lot more vocal. If we can keep this diet up for at least a week, they should get used to eating less and actually be happier and more active. Too bad I can't track their calories, carbs, fat etc. lol.

winwin

dragonscapes24

HEHEHE... cats on a diet... that sounds just like my grandmothers and my own cats... mine was long and lean and hardly ate and grandmas would eat anything he could get his paws on... we never thought to put them on a diet but grandma's cat did slim down a lot when I moved out with my cat... he was only getting half the amount of food as before... lol
Jenn

kjllose

Oh Winwin, I know what you mean about cats overeating. I have four, two are brothers and one is really skinny and the other is as fat as could be, not only because he steals food but my husband who is retired thinks they need to eat evertime they sit at their dish. I have had to put a measuring cup in the bag and had to post who gets how much. But I don't have time to pick up the dishes after they all eat so I don't know how to make the fat one lose weight. I have had to change to light cat food to see if that helps.It's hard to retrain hubby, lol. The cats I could control better if I were the only one feeding them. My other two are just chubby. The yellow one you see is called thumbkin because he is double pawed and can pick up items with his front paws. I also have a completely black part siamese and he is called Elwood for the blue brothers.lol kjllose

yoginimary

I would feed them in different places - maybe one side of the kitchen and another - or the skinny one on a chair. The skinny one will soon eat all it's food. It seems like at least one of mine is one a special diet, so I feed throughout the house

kerrilucko

My big guy is just like that. We have a 5 month old kitten too, so feeding them is really tough because their on different foods. If the kitten eats the weight management food she's clearly not getting the right amount of nutrients, and if the cat eats the kitten food he gets sick from it. I have to watch them every minute when food is involved! :laugh:

deanea

My kitties are fat, they have a bit of trouble with self control like their mommy!:laugh:

bunnyr

I found one of my cats "Indy" on the cement meridian of a freeway. She had been abandoned there! :mad: It was 105 that day and the cars were whizzing by but when I saw that poor beautiful kitten I couldn't stop myself. Somehow I rescued her and didn't get myself or her hit

Long story but after she recovered she came to live with my husband and I and our two kittens. My point is that even at 5 months she had a chubby belly. She was a beautiful tabby with gold an orange and black and a small head and huge ears and this round tummy. We fed all our cats the same food for indoor cats (low cal) two were thin and she was always round! She lived to be 18!!

My kids called her FAT CAT but I always said it was just her body type :laugh: Can I use that excuse too?

ColtsFan1912

bunny, your cat looks like my one cat Ian.
We put Ian on a diet,no more dry food. he lost a lot of weigt. he looks good now & plays a lot with our kitten Tigger

delanahub

I have 2 girls and they are given as much as they want they are both 15, and very thin. vet was even shocked by how old they are. If you read all the crazy cat health books, ( I am an obsessed kitty momma) wet food is best. Dry food is lots of carbs which cats do not need, I let my girls have dry but the wet is what they love. Crystals are often caused by dry food. I also know boy kitties have more weight problems than girl kitties, ah life as a human is cruel!!!

kjllose

Yeah all my cats are boy cats, and they seem to crave the dry food but turn their nose up at some of the diet wet food. In fact there is one that they won't eat. So do I let them starve till they eat it or what?One of them needs grain-free food on top of it all, I get very frustrated. I do feed them all in separate places but if I don't get to the dishes immediately then Boo Boo goes around and cleans up(he's the one who needs to lose weight). Now that winter is ending they go out and supplement what I give them with mice and birds. But at least they get more exercise:bigsmile: .

littleone68

Hi, I am a veterinary assistant of 5 years training to become a vet tech and I wanted to clear up some confusion here about cats. First, dry food does not cause crystals but may aggravate the problem due to the high mineral content (ash) and low water content. If your cat tends to favor dry food Science Diet MD would be the best choice. It is a high protein food, sort of like an Atkins for cats. You can go to www.homevet.com/petcare/cystitis.html#causes for more info on the causes of crystals. It is quite technical, but I think you can get the jist of it. As for can food being the best, it all depends on who you ask. One vet I worked for felt that a cat or dog should only be fed dry food unless they had a medical condition that required the added water contained in canned. Either way is not going to kill them, but feeding indiscriminately will. You need to get them on a schedule and stick to it. When the cat is done pick up the food and put it aside till the next feeding, don't let them pick at it all day. I give my cat a half cup in the morning, when he looks like he's done I pick it up and put it back down around dinner time. If he had food left in his bowl I add another 1/4 cup and if the bowl was empty another 1/2. A good site for advice is www.catinfo.org/feline_obesity.htm . If your going to give them treats Greenies (which can be found at Petco) is the best because it's nutritious and great for their teeth. If you have multiple cats with multiple diets it's best to feed them in separate rooms at the same time. It's a lot of work but if it were your human children you'd go through the aggravation. Also remember that 1 pound on a cat is 15 on a human. So if you cat is ten pounds over weight it's technically 150 pounds and for every pound over weight subtract 2 years off their life expectancy. :noway: All the best to every animal owner!! :happy:

littleone68

An added note ; for kjllose you can try feeding Science Diet RD which is for weight loss or WD which is for weight management. If both cats are eating the same food I'd go with the WD, which means the chubby one will stay the same and not gain and the skinny one won't lose any more weight . For Delanahub, there is no actual research that boy cats tend to be fatter than girls. There has been discussion though as to whether neutering or spaying makes them heavier. And for everyone...if you allow your cats outdoors PLEASE make sure they are properly vaccinated and if you can get them to cut down on the birds and mice (lol) all the better. The diseases they carry are frightening! If you can afford to, have them micro chipped, don't want our little darlings straying too far from home. Weird as it may sound my family actually built a run like you would for your dog and we kept the cats leashed to it. Less chance of being hit by a car or getting into it with another cat or dog. All my family's cats lived to be 22

BlazinEmerald

I have 2 fur babies. Diamond a 6 yr old boy , he's our fatty. We went thru crystals with him , poor boy was in the hosp for 2 weeks , we almost lost him. And our princess is Mocha, she is 2 yrs old and thinks she own the house. Diamond is another one who will sit in front of a bowl til its empty then go and finish mocha's if he can gain access to the bedroom. He will binge until he is sick and vomits... so he is fed 2 times a day , once around noon , and at midnight. He's my alarm clock for bed time , at 12 on the dot he comes downstairs and meows until I get up and feed him , signaling BEDTIME lol. Mocha thinks she is a fur scarf her favorite place to lay is wrapped around my neck and shoulders.

cp005e

My cats are exactly the same way - one of them is skinny and would prefer to have the food out all the time so she can have a bite here and there, while the other one will eat everything in the bowl. And she also goes to finish the other one's food before coming back to finish her own! We feed them around 9:30pm so that they won't wake us up in the morning, though they get pretty cranky starting at 7:30 or 8:00 and tend to fight more during this time. I wonder if twice a day would be better but I REALLY hate it when they wake me up in the morning - we switched to a night feeding schedule for just this reason. Sometimes I try to pick up the skinny one's food when she's done, but if I put it away completely then she will be hungry and whining in the morning. I can put it on top of the refrigerator, because the fat one can't jump on the counters or fridge, but I hate to encourage the skinny one to be up on the counters. So I am at a loss! :ohwell:

catlover

This is funny that this came up because I was just wondering if cat food had a label like people food that gave the calories, etc. I'll have to check. In the meantime, I feed my cats twice a day, once in the morning while I'm having coffee and once at night when I start winding down, that's usually about 6:30 and 8:30. They get about one cup of dry food a day and one spoonful of canned. They run around me like they are starving the rest of the day and I just let them run, pesky as it is, because I know they are not hungry, they want attention or something. We've only had them about 6 months and I've been on three road trips since then and need to leave them with a housesitter, which I don't think they like because they don't get full run of the house while I'm gone because they are too destructive and the sitter only stays with them a short amount of time. Even when my jubby was here with them last time, they freaked out horribly when I came home, they were only alone for one night, but they hate it. Poor little kitties, I know my lifestyle now is different than before and I'm wondering if now was a good time to make that committment to pets after not having them for three years, that coming in the wake of losing our last little kittie that we had for 17 years, plus various and assorted rescue cats from time to time. What was the topic??? ha ha Hubby believes if the food dish is empty, I'm starving them and is constantly reminding me they need fed. Right......I'll get right on that.

mommared53

Very interesting discussion on fat cats. My two cats a male (Andre") and a female (Judy) are both fat. I've only been feeding them twice a day - 1/4 cup each in the morning and 1/4 cup each in the evening - with Iams Weight Management cat food but they're not loosing weight. After reading these comments, I think I'll experiment by giving them canned food once a day and maybe try the Science Diet cat food and see if that helps. Andre' is such a pig. He'll eat out of Judy's dish when she leaves even though he still has food in his own dish. :ohwell: If someone ever comes up with a pet treadmill I'm getting one for Andre and Judy. :laugh:

winwin

I like the idea of a cat treadmill. Brady jumped on ours once when it was getting set up and rode it right until he fell off! We've talked about a big hamster ball that would fit them too, my last hamster used to use his to sleep in lol. That would be Rusty.


Thank you every body for your interesting posts. All the stories are great! There seems to be one fat cat in every group. Three days after starting this counting out the bits of food diet, Rusty's tummy seems just as round, but not as hard, I guess stretched. So it's coming, but again 1 pound at a time, right?

Kitty power!:drinker:

littleone68

"I know they are not hungry, they want attention or something." Right on the money catlover!!! Remember cats and dogs are EXACTLY like children. Think about when a toddler wants attention. They cry, scream, hang on to your leg, throw things etc. Once they realize that by doing these things they can get what they want, BINGO, they have YOU trained. Our animals are the same way. I am so blessed to work in this field and get into the thought process of animals, you'd be amazed at how human they are, right down to medications. Did you know that cats and dogs can suffer from depression and are given Prozac? When an animal gets car sick you can give it Dramamine, or if they have allergies you can give Benadryl. I don't recommend doing it without talking to your vet, because the dosage is based on the animal's weight. Mommared53-- definitely want to change the food if you want the cat to lose weight. A weight management formula is just that, it maintains the cat's current weight. Science Diet RD, that's the one you want to use when you get the pounds off. You have to get it from your vet because it is considered a prescription. Also for catlover and anyone who may be thinking of getting any type of animal...my advice has always been to ask yourself if a child would fit into your lifestyle right now. If the answer is no, then don't get an animal. An animal is like a child, they depend on you fully for everything including love and nurturing. Too many people think as long as I feed it I'm done, and that is why we have shelters overflowing with animals and shows like Animal Precinct depicting the abuse that these poor babies suffer. As you can see I have a strong love for all animals and I'm glad to see so many people here that feel the same. Anyone who ever has a question can send me a note and I'll be happy to answer if I can. :glasses:

ligytha

Hm, I suppose my cat follows what MFP does. The vet told me her caloric needs (weight, age, type of food, and activity dependent) and she gets that in food. I feed her twice a day and don't let extra food sit as we feed her wet food. She eats about 503 calories a day of EVO 95% Beef. Because this food is so nutritious, she doesn't have to eat a lot of it to get both her calories and nutrients. The poor kitty has a benign heart murmur and feline asthma (talk to me if yours does too!) so her vet and I view keeping her weight healthy as very important as she really doesn't need more trouble. Always talk to your vet if you plan on changing your pet's diet.

melathon

Thanks for your advice, littleone! My vet said that my 13 lb. boy cat (we have three; all indoor) just has a very low metabolism (probably due to the fact that he's neutered). He recommended the Science Diet high-protein food that you mentioned as opposed to the diet food (which has carb-laden fillers). Because we have several cats we decided to just feed them their normal dry food (unfortunately they do not speak English and we do not speak...whatever...and cannot obey orders to eat from certain bowls), but one thing that we've tried is a Laser Pointer.
I strongly recommend them! Your cats can "Lasercize"! They love it and will chase that thing around until you get tired of it or something breaks, whichever comes first.
Have you ever seen a cat panting? It's one of the funniest things ever. I almost dropped the laser pointer the first time I saw that--the little tongue lolling out. ...just like a dog, except much more amusing. :laugh:

ligytha

Thanks for your advice, littleone! My vet said that my 13 lb. boy cat (we have three; all indoor) just has a very low metabolism (probably due to the fact that he's neutered). He recommended the Science Diet high-protein food that you mentioned as opposed to the diet food (which has carb-laden fillers). Because we have several cats we decided to just feed them their normal dry food (unfortunately they do not speak English and we do not speak...whatever...and cannot obey orders to eat from certain bowls), but one thing that we've tried is a Laser Pointer.
I strongly recommend them! Your cats can "Lasercize"! They love it and will chase that thing around until you get tired of it or something breaks, whichever comes first.
Have you ever seen a cat panting? It's one of the funniest things ever. I almost dropped the laser pointer the first time I saw that--the little tongue lolling out. ...just like a dog, except much more amusing. :laugh:

Cat panting is actually very bad. Feline lungs work differently, keeping less of a reserve. My kitty, Boudica, pants quite often due to her asthma. It is NOT a good thing and means the cat is in distress. If your cat continues to pant, please see a vet.

mommared53

Thanks for your advice, littleone! My vet said that my 13 lb. boy cat (we have three; all indoor) just has a very low metabolism (probably due to the fact that he's neutered). He recommended the Science Diet high-protein food that you mentioned as opposed to the diet food (which has carb-laden fillers). Because we have several cats we decided to just feed them their normal dry food (unfortunately they do not speak English and we do not speak...whatever...and cannot obey orders to eat from certain bowls), but one thing that we've tried is a Laser Pointer.
I strongly recommend them! Your cats can "Lasercize"! They love it and will chase that thing around until you get tired of it or something breaks, whichever comes first.
Have you ever seen a cat panting? It's one of the funniest things ever. I almost dropped the laser pointer the first time I saw that--the little tongue lolling out. ...just like a dog, except much more amusing. :laugh:

:laugh: That is so funny. I'll have to get a laser pointer. My cats are both indoor only cats too so they don't get a lot of exercise. That will be fun for all three of us. :laugh:

I read the next post so I'll be sure they don't get so much exercise they have to pant.