My Overweight Cat needs help

[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.

[orangemm]

My Archy is a bit "tubby" and we are trying to monitor his food intake while making sure his brother gets enough to eat (he's skinny, of course!).

What is Purina OM?

And, yes, we measure.

[Catlady711]

In response to the above poster....

Purina OM = Overweight Management (a prescription diet for tubby pets)



In response to the original poster....

If the glucose is elevated then I can see why it is very important that your cat lose the weight. Chances for diabetes increases with excess weight.

Where I work at we've had good results with the Purina OM. Feed measured amounts at set feeding times as per your vet's reccomendations and you should see improvement at the 1 month weigh in.

Good luck.

[Emeraldgreen]

Snoeshow2, I can sure relate. I have a cat who looks a bit like your Cocoa and he is also 10 and also over 20 lbs. He does the same thing your cat does, going from bowl to bowl, just a non stop eater. I'm constantly picking up and hiding bowls of food. I leave bowls out for my skinny cats but try to monitor Paddy to make sure he's not getting into them.
I'm going to try this Purina O/M food that you're trying and see if it helps my cat.
You might want to consider getting him a harness and walking him. My family sent me one (extra large) to use for Paddy but the weather has been non stop ugly so we haven't ventured out once yet! But I'm hoping the sun will start shining soon and then we're heading out. I'm pretty sure he's going to enjoy it. Might work for your guy?
I attached a pic of him in the harness. I'm guessing that finding a harness that will fit will be difficult, as it was for me. The one that was sent to me is actually for a dog but it's made in such a way that it's safe for a cat.
If you're interested in the harness, let me know and I'll give you the website for it.

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