How to put your cat on a diet??

[sirrahbed]

Can some of you who have been through this tell me exactly how to go about feeding muliple cats when only one or two need a special diet? Eliot is lean and does NOT need special food - Emily is supposed to have only 1/2 cup a day of Hill's W/d and according to weight, I figure Dylan should have 3/4 to 7/8 cup a day. Do you feed this once a day and do they finish it? Do you feed them in separate rooms? 1/2 cup is such a small amount of food - I imagine Emily will be begging all day long!! Also, if they eat it all at once, which they might if they are very hungry - do they tend to vomit?
How about Eliot, who really could keep freefeeding - I can't keep food out, but he needs to eat when he wants doesn't he? I can't figure out how to do this.
Any suggestions welcome!!
Geez - I have been freefeeding all of them and just top off three big bowls - I guess I have been grossly overfeeding! 1/2 cup?? Good grief!! It looks like NOTHING!!

[RedHedd]

It's not easy! My two rarely finish the whole 1/2 cup at one feeding, so I put it up out of reach after their breakfast and then put the bowls down again at night for them to finish it off - I feed them twice a day. Mishi sometimes reaches the bottom of his bowl; Mitzi never does. She's on a reducing diet (PetGold light) and I feed them in different rooms, although not always successfully. At first I stressed that she was eating his food and he was eating hers, but now I just don't worry about it. I know she's mainly getting the food she's supposed to (the lighter food) and is losing weight ever-so-slowly, it is going down a few ounces at a time.

Yes, they will beg at first and sometimes continue to beg. I've learned to like the attention give them extra pets and tell them they are special and cute and funny, but NO they are NOT getting any more food. They will get used to the "schedule" and learn that the food will not be out all the time. Hope this helps.

[sirrahbed]

Thanks RedHedd! So Mr. Mishi also gets 1/2 cup?? I thought he was a big cat?? Dylan weighs close to 16 pounds now but is largely flub - yet he is also a much larger cat than Emily, who is actually very petite (under the ...uh...plushness) So, I am just guessing that his desired weight is about 12 pounds or so - meaning 3/4 to 7/8 cup.
Yes, I can well imagine the begging!!! Dylan begs ALL the time, when he is done polishing off all three bowls of food!! Thanks!!

[RedHedd]

Mishi normally gets just 1/2 cup a day in two feedings; he eats almost all of it. Sometimes I do give him an extra 1/4 cup, but he seems happy the way things are now; or at least he doesn't beg too much. Because he was living on the streets before he was rescued, he never knew when his next meal was coming so he got into the habit of gobbling all that was available when it was available. Now that he's in his furrever home, he needed to be retrained on a feeding schedule.

Yes, he's a big 15 lbs. The vet had me put him on twice a day feedings as he had gained 3+ lbs. in only 6 weeks after I adopted him and had him free-feeding. The vet said that was WAY too fast for a kitty and could cause health problems. He was getting flubby when I was free-feeding him. Now he is a lean, solid muscled, hunka-hunka orangie love no flub on him now. Good luck! It's not easy.

[Craftlady]

Originally posted by RedHedd
. Now he is a lean, solid muscled, hunka-hunka orangie love no flub on him now.

Get him signed up for GQ magizine

[RedHedd]

[sirrahbed]

ah! GORGEOUS! But you probably know my weakness is for these big loveable orange males!! Mr. Mishi, Peanut Butter, Abner, Noah...many of them, should not try to name them but those are the ones who quickly come to mind!! I LOVE my Dylan.

[CatDad]

I posted to the other thread too. Which you probably already read.

I just wanted to say that Mishi sure is a good looking guy. You need to call Cat Fancy and have them put him on the cover.

[RedHedd]

Originally posted by CatDad
I just wanted to say that Mishi sure is a good looking guy. You need to call Cat Fancy and have them put him on the cover.

Aww shucks <blush> Thanks! I sure think so too! He's my big boy-bee

[sirrahbed]

Well, Emily and Eliot have now survived over three weeks of *starvation* and have grown quite used to it. The w/d prescribed by the vet ran out and being the weekend, I went to the petstore to see what they had and there was choice of Science Diet Light and IAMS weightloss. I bought the latter. The kitties do not really seem to have a preference - but also seems that eating is not the fun it used to be. They do not really like the food and don't get very excited at mealtimes and now don't even finish their puny 1/4 cup right away - though it eventually disappears. I feel like I am depriving them of that pleasure though I know they need to lose the weight for their health. Dylan, especially is more active than before! Both fluffy kitties are also more attentive! Guess food pleasure is being replaced by Meowmie attention which I do not mind!

I hate to change their food too often though - want to find a good one and stick to it. Any good suggestions as to a weight control food that is high quality, readily available and one I could also give to my slim sleek active Eliot as well? It is really a royal pain to be serving two different foods!! Especially on busier days when I need to be gone more than usual.

Thanks!!

[Denyce]

I can sympathize with the frustration of feeding cats different meals. In the past I have always fed my cats a small amount of can food in the evening and have allowed them to have a good high quality dry food during the day. However. My husbands cat who joined our household along with my husband 2 and a half years ago just can't handle this diet. She came to us at 22 pounds of loving cat. Now she should be about 17 pounds because she is a very big girl anyway..but still..much too heavy.

Just several weeks ago we weighed her and she had gained up to 25 pounds. I talked to our vet and she feels the best thing for her is to go on the Atkins diet for kittys. Since she gained 3 more pounds in 2.5 years on lite dry food in limited quantities this just wasn't working.

So now they are all on a strictly canned food diet until we can get this weight off of Kaliban. So she gets canned, ground kitten food twice a day. It is higher in protein and cats can only convert a certain amount of protien to fat and glucose while they can convert ALL of carbohydrates.

Brianna and Katie both have very sensitive tummies for canned food and I have found the only one they can keep in their tummies is the Nutros Natural Diet. It is made by Maxx cat I beleive.

Deirdre can eat anything but since she has just a high metabolism I have her on the Purina ProPlan little 3 oz cans of food. She looks just gorgeous! She has gained back all her weight and her coat is sooooo shiny and soft. She even got back the black pigment on her paws.

And they can only eat twice a day. So they are only allowed to have the food for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. If they don't finish it then tough. But both Brianna and Katie have been protesting this new feeding arrangement and have refused several meals. I can't let this go on for long because I don't wish to develope liver problems. So every once in a while I have to force feed them by putting fingerfulls of food in their mouth and making them swallow. They eventually give up the stubborness and start eating on their own again.

*sigh* Feeding time has become a challenge and a chore. But on the plus side.....Kaliban is back down to 23.5 after only 3 weeks!!!! YEA!!!

Denyce