October 04, 2009
Are my cats fat or overweight?
Posted by: admin : Category: Cats
Kelly M asked:
My two cats are both turning a year old next month. One cat weighs 11.6 pounds and the other weighs 10 pounds. Is that fat or overweight for felines their age? The vet said they’re not fat but are on the verge of being overweight. She suggested I reduce the regular amount of dry food I give them by 2/3 or 3/4. But One of them has a bronchial infection and she simply refuses to take her medicine by mouth, so I have to mix the medicine in with wet food she likes just so she can take it. But I’m concerned that giving her wet food two times a day (instead of the regular routine of once every two days) will increase her risk of being overweight. As well as my other cat. He always comes around when I mix the medicene into the wet food, and I feel guilty because I know he wants some even though he’s not supposed to have any, so I give him like a chunk of the wet food. Like i said before I’m worried giving them extra canned food will increase their risk of being overweight. But Sasha (my girl cat) won’t take it anyway except inside the wet food. What should I do?
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My two cats are both turning a year old next month. One cat weighs 11.6 pounds and the other weighs 10 pounds. Is that fat or overweight for felines their age? The vet said they’re not fat but are on the verge of being overweight. She suggested I reduce the regular amount of dry food I give them by 2/3 or 3/4. But One of them has a bronchial infection and she simply refuses to take her medicine by mouth, so I have to mix the medicine in with wet food she likes just so she can take it. But I’m concerned that giving her wet food two times a day (instead of the regular routine of once every two days) will increase her risk of being overweight. As well as my other cat. He always comes around when I mix the medicene into the wet food, and I feel guilty because I know he wants some even though he’s not supposed to have any, so I give him like a chunk of the wet food. Like i said before I’m worried giving them extra canned food will increase their risk of being overweight. But Sasha (my girl cat) won’t take it anyway except inside the wet food. What should I do?
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October 7th, 2009 at 4:13 am
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Just reduce the amount of dry food, or better yet get rid of it entirely. Wet food is lower in fat and it’s actually much healthier for the cats. My vet calls it the “Catkins diet” since cats lose more weight on wet food than on dry! The reason is that wet food isn’t loaded with as much junk as dry food, it’s mostly just meat.
The only benefit of dry food is that it’s better for the teeth. So if you take care of their teeth you will be fine- maybe sprinkle a little bit of dry food overtop of the wet food just to help the teeth out, only a tiny bit.
October 8th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
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Well your vet already answered this question. And what you need to do now is take measures so they don’t go from the “verge” of being overweight to obese.
The DRY food is what you should be concerned about – not the wet. Most dry foods are made mostly of corn and contain little to no meat and are LOADED with carbohydrates which leads to fat kitties.
If that’s the type of food you’re feeding then switch to a healthier dry food with meat as the main ingredient and with little to no grain. Innova Evo, Blue Buffalo Wilderness and Petcurean Go! Natural are all 40-50% meat and grain free. Don’t free freed as well – just put a small handful out twice a day.
And one of the smaller cans split into two servings twice a day is plenty of food for them. Pick a healthy brand – not processed chunks of unrecognizable processed “meat” in way too much gravy. Innova Evo, Petcurean, Weruva, Merricks, Tiki Cat are all very good quality brands.
edit: Julie’s right about canned food being healthier but wrong about dry being “better for the teeth”. Cats tend to swallow their food whole making little contact with their teeth
October 9th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
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Depending on the brand, it may be that the dry food is more fattening than the wet anyway: it tends to have more cereals, which are basically fillers.
You could just give the medicine in a small amount of wet and keep the rest for the next time in the fridge…
Since they are also only borderline fat according to the vet (cats vary in size quite a bit, so the vet will be able to judge a lot better than us…), I’d be worrying about her getting the medicine more than diets right now too.
Once she’s better you can get serious about the diet. Remember ‘meow’ doesn’t always mean ‘I’m hungry’. Offer cuddles, play or a brush instead. You might also want to put away the dry food bowl. Hide the food around the place instead. You can also use ‘treat balls’ to feed it in. Or put it inside small boxes and cardboarb tubes inside a larger box if you don’t want it scattered everywhere. All these tactics make the cats work harder for their food and reduce boredom eating.
October 13th, 2009 at 2:03 am
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Please learn about nutrition so you won’t need to ask this question. Proper food for the species takes care of the problem
Nutrition since there are so many bad things out there is very important to your cat’s health
Contrary to what you may have heard; dry foods are not a great thing to feed a cat.
Please read the label on what you are feeding? What are the ingredients? Do you know what they mean? Is the first ingredient a muscle meat like chicken or meal or other things?
Dry foods are the number 1 cause of diabetes in cats as well as being a huge contributing factor to kidney disease, obesity, crystals, u.t.i’s, constipation, and a host of other problems. Male cats are especially prone to blockages
from dry food. Food allergies are very common when feeding dry foods. Rashes, scabs behind the tail and on the chin are all symptoms The problems associated with Dry food is that they are loaded with grains and carbohydrates which many cats (carnivores) cannot process. ( Have a fat cat?)
Also, Most of the moisture a cat needs is suppose to be in the food but in Dry, 95% of it is zapped out of dry foods in the processing. Another thing, most use horrible ingredients and don’t use a muscle meat as the primary ingredient and use vegetable based protein versus animal. Not good for an animal that has to eat meat to survive.
You want to pick a canned food w/o gravy (gravy=carbs) that uses a muscle meat as the first ingredient and doesn’t have corn at least in the first 3 ingredients if at all.
THE BEST CAT FOODS CONTAIN NO GRAINS NO BYPRODUCTS
Cats are meat eaters not cereal or rice eaters
Fancy feast is a middle grade food with 9lives, friskies whiskas lower grade canned and wellness and merrick upper grade human quality foods. I would rather feed a middle grade canned food then the top of the line dry food.
Also, dry food is not proven to be better for teeth. Does a hard pretzel clean your teeth or do pieces of it get stuck?
Please read about cat nutrition.
Vetinarian diets The reason your vet thinks so highly of the pet food they sell probably has more to do with money than nutrition. In vet school, the only classes offered on nutrition usually last a few weeks, and are taught by representatives from the pet food companies. Vet students may also receive free food for their own dogs and cats at home. They could get an Iams notebook, a Purina purse and some free pizza.
Nutritional Education Program website page for the American College of Veterinary Nutrition. Notice who they are receiving grants from for this program
October 13th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
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I don’t know about cats! But, I do know that my friend is worrying about the well-being of her cats and I miss her!
Hi, friend! Pls email me at…