(This is reposted from last year for new readers of my blog.)
Fat Kitty needs to lose some weight.
He’s always been a big kitty, but with every year he gets a little chubbier.
Fat Kitty
The story of Fat Kitty is sort of sad but with a happy ending. About 8 years ago, I decided I wanted a cat (my first pet ever!). I was single, living in an apartment by myself and looked in the newspaper for free kittens. The first two people I called didn’t answer the phone. Person #3 answered and was available! I made a date to come check out her kitty.
He was about 5 months old and homeless. She had rescued him from some neighborhood kids who were abusing him and hitting him with sticks!! As soon as she said that, I was hooked. He was adorable and tiny! Who could abuse such a cute creature?!
I took him home with me. I didn’t have a pet carrier, litter box or food. He ran around the inside of my car the whole drive home. I stopped at Target and bought the essentials and we went home.
First Night Together
Our first night together was strange. He was scared and had an accident on the carpet but after that he was the perfect kitty and the perfect companion.
Except he started destroying my apartment!
I’d come home from work to books on the floor, plants over turned, plants EATEN, kitty vomit and just general chaos. I realized quickly he needed a playmate.
A coworker’s cat had kittens so I adopted one from her. She was the runt and totally tiny. I named her Maya.
Maya
It took 2 weeks of them fighting before they finally adjusted and loved each other. They started grooming each other and they sleep together. It’s pretty adorable.
Since I had Maya–a tiny kitten–I bought her Kitten Food. High fat food. Fat Kitty went from being a long, lean kitten of 1 year old to being a FATTY cat! He was eating all her kitten food instead of HIS food!
I had to stop buying the kitten food. He lost some weight after that.
Fast forward 7 years…Fat Kitty weighs 17 pounds. He’s very long and muscular but he also has a bit of chub. I know that part of Fat Kitty’s problem is that he’s always afraid there won’t be enough food. I’m guess that’s from being homeless as a kitten. That kind of imprinting is hard to shake.
Back in the Old Days
Fat Kitty is my soul mate. 🙂 I love him dearly and he’s the coolest cat ever. He has the personality of a dog. He follows me around the house, comes to me when I call his name. He’s playful and goofy and the most affectionate cat I’ve ever met.
My Babies
My dilemma?
1. I can’t just feel them once a day because Maya is shy and won’t eat unless no one is in the house (she’s weird and skittish). If I didn’t leave the bowl out all day, she’d never eat.
2. What kind of food do I get? I currently use the Costco cat food. Yes cost is a factor but I also want them to be healthy.
3. When I tried (several times) to feed them only once a day and take away the dish, Fat Kitty cried and scratched everything. 🙁 What can I say? I gave in…
I don’t know what to do! I want my cats to be happy and healthy and live a VERY long time. Other than the few extra pounds, both cats are very healthy and have no medical issues.
Any suggestions? What do you feed your cat? Does it have a weight problem?
kalin
I’ve gotten convinced my kitty is getting chubby-with us being gone so much around christmas i started letting her eat all she wanted and it turns out if you do that, she eats a LOT! in the past month she looks like she gained a pound or two (which on a 10 pound kitty is a lot)
we feed her a couple times a day, so we’re doing that, but less at a time. we’re getting her a friend soon though-who knows what that’ll do to the eating…
Erin
I have the same kind of issue with my cats. One is a big fatty who loves to eat and the other is normal sized and skittish and likes to hide away (I wonder if this is a black cat thing because she is black like yours). I always leave out the food for them so they can eat when they want to. I recently took the fat one to the vet and she didn’t seem too concerned with his weight, so I decided not to worry about it.
Sheri
Such a sweet story, their adorable! Cats and Dogs can get Diabetes my Mom’s Smokie got it and past on, don’t think by feeding your babies is love that is where we fail as parents and hurt our kids. Feeding them healthy and good things is showing love, so go buy yourself some IAMS or Science Diet weight control food and put them both on it. It can’t hurt your shy one, but if you find he’s losing weight then you’ll need to do something extra for him.
I know spoiling them is part of being a Mom, but we want our furbabies to live a long time we must take care of them, just like we are doing our own bodies.
Lisa
While I dont have any specific advice as such, I know my local vet has a big range of diet specific food. Perhaps you could go and chat to your local vet or vet nurse?
Diane Fit to the Finish
Our cat is 90 percent outdoors – but we give him Cat Chow, which he seems to like. Now our dog – he wants to be overweight, but we closely monitor his food allotment and keep him busy running around.
Lori
We had 2 kitties for a couple of years. They had to live separately because they didn’t get along. One was always very thin for her whole life. She ate free choice and got wet food and all kinds of treats. She never weighed more than 8 pounds her whole life (Oh how I wish I had the metabolism she did).
The cat we still have has to have very portioned out food. She gets Iams Indoor Cat food, which is reduced calorie. She gets 1/2 cup a day, 1/4 in the morning and 1/4 at night. Plus 1/4 can of wet food (aka her crack) in the morning. This is actually weight loss portions for her, but she just does not get smaller. She gets no food treats *at all*. She weighs 10 pounds and the vet said no more. She was 1 pound heavier, but did lose that.
Might be because she is the laziest thing ever, but sometimes I think she just takes after me 😀
marie
dude, having the SAME dilemma over here. We’ve got our own fat kitty and just adopted a kitten, and neither of them want to eat the food they’re supposed to eat. The vet recommended we do scheduled feedings (which we did already) but our older (fat) kitty doesn’t like eating when the kitten is eating. She weighs 11 lbs now but I sweat she’s gained weight since we got the kitten. We’re just doing our best to try to make them eat their own food, but it’s tough.
Lisa Eirene
Scheduled eating is so hard. I guess I give in to the whining from Fat Kitty because he becomes a brat if I take away the food…sigh!
Amy
I have a similar problem. My Charlotte (the one in my picture over there <–) is huge. She's meant to be a little kitty when you look at her bones, but she's weighing in at a hefty 6.2kgs!!
My other kitty Toby is tall, long and very, very lean. He needs to eat all day long or he'll waste away to nothing (he struggles to hit 4kgs and is about 3cm taller than Charlotte when on all fours).
But where there is food, there is Charlotte and for every battle I have with Toby to get him *to* eat, there is an equally tough battle getting Charlotte to stop! She's so fat she now has problems grooming her back so it has to be done for her with the brush 🙁
I wish I had some answers for you! Sadly I don't, but I can say that I empathize!
Tricia
Unfortunately, they do make a prescription appetite suppresant for pets called Slentrol. Ask your vet about it.
Lisa Eirene
No I’m not giving my cats a diet pill. That goes against everything I believe in for myself, my cats wouldn’t be any different.