The Biggest Feline Loser
Ralph starts his new diet today. He can only have 212 kcals a day, and they will all come from the the two Iams wet foods that have the least carbs: Ocean Fish and Turkey and Giblets. He gets a little less than two 3 oz cans a day.
Current weight: 18.9 lbs
Goal weight: 13.9 lbs
I know he can do it.
That’s his “Stud” hat and I’m not choking him, I’m helping him pose.
(post edited to make corrections to current and goal weight)
Great hat – good luck on the diet, Ralph! Usually I wait to get new clothes until *after* I’ve lost some weight ;)
Mmmmmmmmm…GIBLETS! Poor Ralph on the diet. Can he get treats like baby carrots or no extra food at all?
Oh, how cute! Can he get a little treat once in awhile? I feel so sad for him.
No treats. :(
He won’t be able to have any snacks until we see some weight loss. A few months ago I took all of the dry food out of his diet hoping he would lose some weight from that, but he actually gained weight – with less food. So the vet is pretty concerned about his size now since obese cats are at a high risk of getting diabetes and other diseases. And he’s only 3.
What I’m doing to try to make it easier on him is giving him several small portions a day instead of just feeding him twice a day with a bigger portion.
If this doesn’t work after a few months, I may need to put him on prescription cat food.
Is there any way of exercising cats? Feathers on a string?
If Maria has one of those laser pointer penlights, she can shine it on the floor and move the red spot around the room to get Ralph to chase it. This involves a minimum of movement by Maria and works especially well for most cats if you get them ripped on catnip first. Of course, then Ralph would get the munchies and that’s counterproductive here.
We have a fat cat — Casey, a calico. She’s so fat she has a hard time jumping up on the counter to get at her food. Still, we figure that it’s a self-regulating kind of thing. If she can’t get to her food, she’ll lose weight. No?
Actually, I have been operating under the apparent misconception that cats won’t overeat (unlike dogs who will eat as much as you give them). I thought that cats would only eat what they needed (and, therefore, by logical extension I suppose, that being fat wasn’t necessarily a bad thing as some cats were, obviously, fatter than others). Now, I’m going to have to start worrying about Casey. ::sigh::
Denise, here’s a link to some info about overweight cats and health problems. I hope your Casey will always be healthy. Just listening to the vet talk about the possibility of Ralph becoming sick almost made my cry.
Jami, He’s not a big fan of the laser pointer penlights – but he does love his feathers on a stick. Now if I could only get him to play with them NOT lying down. lol
He also loves little mice but he only plays with them for a few days before hiding them, and then they are never to be found again.
Thanks, Maria! OK, we take responsibility for giving her too much food. But, what do we do about it? We have three cats. One of them, Casey, is overweight (bordering on fat). One of them, Buster, is a pretty normal, healthy weight. The third, Isabella, is so skinny that when you pick her up, you’re afraid you’ll hurt her! She looks big, but that’s really just long fur. She has no meat on her bones whatsoever. ::sigh:: I guess we’ll figure out something. Thanks again for the link. Let us know how you do with your kitty.