31 May 2009
How To Get Your Cat To Loose Weight
If you have a cat that’s a little on the heavy side, you know how hard it is to get a cat to loose weight. But you’re probably also aware of the health risks associated with obesity such as diabetes, osteoarthritis, and fatty liver disease to name a few, so you know how important it is to maintain a healthy weight for your cat. Amber is a bit challenged in this area, I talked about it back in March in my post “Amber is on a diet.”
Miami veterinarian Dr. Patty Khuly posted a great article filled with good advice titled “How to get your cat to eat vegetables…and lose weight” on her Dolittler blog. Some of the comments, in particular, Anlina Sheng’s of “Abnormal Love of Cats” also contain excellent information to help with the challenge of feline weight loss.
Do you have a cat that needs to lose weight? What has worked for you?
Bailey was 20 lbs. Since October she has lost 5 lbs. We switched her food to Royal Canin 40 Light awhile back, but we still had to cut back on her portions. She does not free feed. She gets breakfast & dinner. Playtime plays a huge role for Bailey. That has what has helped the most. We have bird feeders placed right in front of a big window, so she & our other cat run back & forth from window to window. They play once in awhile, but I have plenty of wand toys to encourage her to play as well.
Thanks for your comment, Bonnie. You’re doing an amazing job getting Bailey to loose weight. I love the idea of the bird feeders as an encouragement for Bailey and your other cat to get some exercise!
Musetta is a bit plump. I’ve started limiting how much food we give her. She eats – and loves the dental T/D diet – so I don’t want to change her food. But I give her a scant scoop a day, and try to limit treats, too.
Clea, if I recall correctly from my veterinary days, the T/D diet kibbles are larger than those of most other dry cat food brands. You could even reduce her daily ration a bit more and feed her individual pieces of T/D as treats – it might make her think she’s getting more treats, but it wont’ add extra calories.
I’m probably not endearing myself to Musetta with this comment…