Very Fat cat

Hi
Thanks to both of you! It´s been a little while since I´ve been on the site :-(
Chips also used to try and eat all the food that was put down for him and Scampi. Before we adopted them they were fed together and Chips would guzzle down all his food in record time just to push Scampi out the way and finish that off too.
I´ve found that feeding them seperately has also helped tremendously. I usually feed Scampi downstairs and Chips upstairs (that way he also has to go upstairs to get his meals).
I look forward to a post later on where I can happily say Chips is now losing weight :-)
Thanks again!!

Hi Cat, thanks for that. thought that might be the case. i put down the Royal Canin "light" biscuits night before last and Coco promptly vomitted everywhere, so i have taken them up again anyway. its so hard having them all needing different things! my vet does a pet "weight watchers" scheme which i was interested in however it is only available if you buy the food that runs with it (which i assume is going to be something like the RC Obesity) and you have to attend the vets once a month but its on a weekday at a time i´m at work :-(

so, at present i´m feeding wet food as normal (ensuring other cats un-eaten wet foods are removed immediately so that kenny cant eat that too) along with feeding Iams Light and James Wellbeloved Light biscuits. i am restricting the amount of biscuits i´m leaving out too rather than just topping up all the bowls each day.

personally i don´t think kenny is MASSIVELY overweight. i mean, he does weigh quite a lot (6.3kg) but he is a big cat. he wasn´t neutered until he was 7 (he´s a rescue cat) and therefore he has all that "tom cat bulk" if you know what i mean. in height alone he´s about twice the size of fudge and coco (we think he might me crossed with maine coon or some other large breed).

i do have 2 of those feeding balls and i built a toilet roll pyramid too (stick lots of loo rolls together in a pyramid and place a pieve of kibble in each or some of the tubes so cat has to put paw in to get kibble out) but he won´t go near any of them! lol. however, he is going out more often now the weather is nice and he does like a good play...IF you play with him so hubby is under strickt orders to play with him every day for at least 10 mins while i´m out at work! lol. hopefully this will help

Hi Sarah,

Royal Canin Obesity is better than the ´Light´ version at getting weight off animals because it is a prescription food designed specifically for weight loss. It can only be fed under the supervision of a vet and is usually given to animals whose weight is causing significant health problems. The light diets are best fed once the animal has lost the weight to keep it off, or to animals who are slightly over-weight or prone to weight gain. The Obesity works best when it is fed on its own, so it may not be suitable for your situation, although if Kenny is very fat a change may be beneficial!

Another good way of helping animals to lose weight, especially those who are food obsessed, is to make them work for it. Several toy companies make dog and cat toys which can be filled with kibble and the animal has to play with it, and therefore use up energy, to get the food out.

Cat

am very interested in this thread as my kenny could do with loosing a bit of weight too. is the Royal Canin "obesity" different to the Royal Canin "light"? i feed mine a mixture of wet and dry food and have the added problem that all my cats are pretty much on different diets :-( however, i am managing to control all of their wet food intake quite well (by picking up food not eaten immediately and re-offering later to the individual cat in question - this also stops kenny from eating EVERYONES food, which he has a habit of doing). i have also now changed all biscuits in the house to "light" varieties. coco seems to be tolerating these and not being sick, which is good, and fudgie is ok on eating anything really...she is not too fussy and in no way overweight - just hope she doesn´t start loosing weight because of this.

at present i am feeding (dry food wise) Royal Canin Light, Iams Light and James Wellbeloved Light. i like to give them a variety of foods and they have several food bowls round the house. i have stopped just topping these up as and when and have started measuring out smaller amounts, again to hopefully restrict the general intake of kenny´s diet. just wondered if the "light" versions were not enough and there are better options available, ie the Obesity one suggested in your post.

Hi Nicole,

It is not an easy task trying to get a cat to lose weight (believe me I am in the process of dieting my cat - but it is working!) but it can be done. You sound as if you have made a great start by getting your neighbours on board and also splitting his food into several small meals a day. I think one major change you could make would be to change the food he is on. Royal Canin is an excellent quality diet and by chosing the neutered cat version you have got them off to a great start but I think you should look into changing them onto a version designed to help weight loss for a while. Royal Canin do a diet for cats called ´Obesity´ which is specifically to help animals get thinner. It will be available from your vets, who will also be able to give you advice on how much and how often to feed. It won´t to the Scampi any harm to be on this diet as well (there is nothing more challenging than trying to feed cats on different diets) and you can always slip him some extras when Chips isn´t looking!

Have a look at my blog which has more tips on how to lose weight, but I would definitely change their food as that is what has made the difference for me and my cats.
http://www.petstreet.co.uk/Blog/373431.Top%20Tips%20for%20Tip%20Top%20Weight%20Loss!

Cat