Am I a bad kitty mom???

[NoahsMommy]

What about low-fat food for treats?? You can give her her regular food at food time and get a different brand of low-fat food and give her a few kibbles for treat time.

You aren't a bad kitty mom, Stac! Not at all!

[carole]

Staci don't feel bad , I think there are many of us who feel just the same guilt as you do, and are guilty of loving our pets too much, my young lexie is now also getting a little on the podgy side, she has like these lean legs, small face, and this rotund belly,she weighed about seven pounds when i got her, mind you she was only 9mths old then, but now she is nearer 11 pounds, and she is a small cat in stature, my old Ash is a big boy as well, I sure wish I could fatten my hubby up like my kittys, I have been trying for 13 yrs to no avail. lol.

I know its not good for them to be overweight, just as it is not for humans either, but its so hard to monitor their habits sometimes,you have my empathy, certainly not going to blast you, I am in the same boat.

[Kirsten]

Don't feel bad, it happens so easily that a cat gains weight! Just look at my Luna!

I know it's so hard to put them on diets. I wanted to switch to a calory reduced food but I cannot seperate my cats all the time when they are eating, and there's no way I can feed skinny Lily a low fat food! It's really hard, especially since Luna is so lazy and doesn't play much!

Kirsten

[thelmalu99]

No, you're not a bad kitty mom. As many others here have said, it's really tough to keep them on a strict diet.

JD is a big chubsy and Elvis is very lean. I often think I should have named them Laurel and Hardy. Last time I weighed them, JD registered 10 1/2 lbs, and Elvis weighed in at a slim 7 1/2. The last time I took Elvis to the vet, she said, "wow, a normal weight cat! I never see those anymore!"

I free feed them, but I don't give treats very often. I try to remind myself that treat means once-in-a-while, especially since JD can easily gobble down 10 treats in the time it takes Elvis to eat 2.

Luckily, JD is pretty active. He's 3 1/2 years old, but he still thinks he's a kitten, and he will run around and chase anything you throw for him. I'm just afraid that as he gets older, the pounds will pile on. In his defense, he was a big kitten as well. He was 6 months when I got him, and he was already almost as big as Elvis, who was 2 yrs at the time. JD had those HUGE paws as a kitten, and it was obvious that he was going to be big. I just expected him to be BIG, not FAT.

Looks like many of us here have the chubby kitty problem, so we can relate.