My Overweight Cat needs help

[snowshoe2]

Cocoa is a purebred Snowshoe, 10 years old and 25 lbs!
During this past year he has gained weight despite having his molars and a top canine pulled. He just eats and eats.
We have 3 cats in the house and he goes from bowl to bowl. I have recently started picking up the others bowls when they are done eating. I also switched foods thinking that might help him get the protien he needs and make him less likely to gorge himself....didn't work.
They were previously eating Purina Indoor Formula almost exclusively. In December I switched them to Eagle Holistic Anchovy, Sardine & Salmon Meal Formula and also feed between the three of them 1 can of Eagle Holistic Canned Salmon & Shrimp Formula.
One thing I've noticed with the Eagle food is that there is quite a bit more fat in the ingredients. 20% compared to 9.5% in the Purina Indoor.
I've been studying different cat foods till I'm dizzy and only get more confused.

I've always read where the "high quality" foods are better, but they all seem to have higher fat contents. Can someone help explain if it is better fat or is fat, fat?

If anyone has had to deal with helping their cat lose weight, I'd sure like to hear about your experience as well as what you fed to help with weight loss.

Cocoa is even having a hard time walking and he is not active at all, mostly just lays around. I am taking him to vets tomorrow, so we'll see what they recommend too, but I'd sure like to hear from someone that has gone through this. Experience is the best teacher

[Catlady711]

Do you measure out the food your fatty kitty is getting each day? If not then you should be.

Most foods have a feeding scale on the side of the bag. Find out what your kitty should weigh (call your vet if necessary) then feed your kitty according to that weight listed on your bag. Break that measured feeding up like 2-3 times a day. That way kitty won't be quite so hungry as when they are fed once a day.

Keeping cats separated during every feeding, or supervising the feeding will help make sure fatty kitty isn't getting more food than he's supposed to get.

Lots of play time, even if it's just laying there rolling around after a toy, will help some.

[krazyaboutkatz]

Some of my cats would also be very large by now if I hadn't stopped free feeding. I now feed them 4 small meals a day and it seems to be working. I'm feeding all of them Innova Evo which is a very high protein grain free food. It also has a lot of calories so they don't need to eat much of it. They probably only eat about 1/2 cup or a bit less per day and one 15.4oz bag will last me about 1 month which isn't too bad considering that I have 6 cats. I also give them some of the Innova Evo wet food and some of Evanger's Organic Butternut Squash and Turkey Dinner wet food which are also grain free.

I hope that your cat will be able to start losing weight. You might also want to consider having his thyroid tested. I think that most bags of cat food also have a feeding amount for cats that are overweight so you should try to follow this. You don't want him to loose the weight too quickly though because this could cause some health problems. You might also want to buy a laser pointer to play with him. Most cats love these and will run and chase after them. Good luck.

[Catty1]

MEASURE. That has worked for me! (and my furkids)

[Tora Oni]

Measuring seems to work well but if it doesn't solve it, I might try one of thous diet dry foods, more kibbles for less calories.

[snowshoe2]

We are back from the vets and Cocoa has gained 4 more pounds since September! He's now 28 lbs.
They did blood tests and all was fine except his Glucose was slightly elevated, but not high enough to worry yet according to vet. The big thing is to get him to lose weight, so he recommended Purina OM and that is what I will try. In my opinion the Eagle Pack was just too high of fat content and that is where the extra weight came on. I got OM canned, as well as dry and will feed mostly canned, and just put some dry in his bowl for over night
It's going to be tough trying to measure and keep him satisfied throughout the day, but I have to be tough, his life is depending on it.
Wish us good luck. I have to take him back in a month for a weighing and hopefully he will have lost.