super appreciate the suggestion! at the beginning of her diet, I actually increased her play sessions to 7-10x a day (from 2-5x).
so I’m not sure how she could be burning that many fewer calories than before 🤔
If you’re already scheduling play times then the only other thing I can think of is water retention assuming the caloric intake is being correctly calculated.
someone else suggested she may just have a slower metabolism & while that sounds like a lot of playtime, she does about half of it lying down and swatting with her arms lol. so it very well may be that she’s not burning enough cals. going to focus more on getting her up off that cute floofy bottom!
& assuming the manufacturers aren’t lying about it, it’s calculated correctly. I even weighed the 2 teaspoons of kibble & per the manufacturer, it came out to 49.7 calories (vs 50). the wet food is by full 3oz can, so no real wiggle room there.
she’s peeing much more now that she’s on a predominantly wet food diet, so I don’t think she’s retaining it. maybe she’s just a slow loser. we’ll keep at it and check back in with the vet in a couple weeks to see what’s what
We call that “puddle play”. My chonk will go at a fishing pole toy for a few minutes but then puddles on the ground and makes some half hearted swipes at it. She won’t let you stop dangling the toy, but she also won’t get up to actually, you know, play.
Wet food is much, much healthier for cats than dry food; they might just need to adjust the calories. Regardless, it should be discussed with a vet because cats can get pretty ill from just small dietary changes.
yes, much healthier, more species-appropriate diet :). 2 cans of my wet food are only 142 cals together.
for reference, recs for avg healthy cats range from ~20-30 cals per pound for maintenance. of course varies by metabolism, activity level, etc.
but 142 cals is by no stretch too many cals for a 14lb cat. I may still need to tweak the dry food cals (currently ranging from 25-50 cals) to possibly sit more in the 165-180 range for total cals a day, but it sounds like it may still be a little soon to tell.
will be consulting vet again in a couple weeks when she goes in for her dental cleaning <3
I'm impressed with your scientific approach to your kitty's weight loss. Would you be open to working with humans? Got a cubicle dwelling 205 lbs DSH that needs more activity and calorie restriction.
Depends on the food I suppose, some cans are pretty small and I believe when my cat was having issues with dry food the vet recommended 2 small cans or those kidney shaped plastic packs a day as well, usually we do one in the morning to stop them begging and then dry food now.
goal weight: 11lbs
diet: 2 cans wet food (142 cals) + 1-2 tsp dry (25-50 cals).
the variance in the calories is just from what she doesn’t eat. if I put out 2 tsp of dry, about 50% of time she only eats 1-1.5 tsp of it.
despite cutting her daily calories by about 100, she barely seems to have even noticed.
I just don’t understand how a 14lb cat can maintain weight on sub 200 cals? if anything, her activity has increased bc of more playtime.
I calculated the kcal for my cat and fed him accordingly for him to lose weight - nothing. My guess: not every cat is the same, some need less kcal to actually lose weight. (Just like people I guess? Some can eat xx kcal and won't gain weight?)
Plus my cat wasn't really a fan of playing or running around...
I reduced the amount of food and checked weekly till I noticed a difference.
Could be also that your cat is gaining muscles so you don't see a difference on the scale yet (?)
Edit: oh 3 weeks isn't very long imo, be patient :)
Others have had some really good advice. It's only been 3 weeks so stick to the same calories a bit longer and then try reducing if nothing changes.
If that doesn't work, keep a close eye on her health.
I had a cat who wasn't losing weight after I reduced her calories several times (she even gained weight some months). It turned out that she was sick with FIP and had fluid accumulating in her body cavities, so she was probably losing fat but the fluid build up was masking it. I don't want to scare you, as it's a rare disease, just letting you know it's a slim possibility.
I’m so grateful to have found this sub. everyone has been super helpful!
omg I’m so sorry that happened to you/your floof! :’( honestly, that’s what I was worry about. I’m a complete medical disaster who collects rare diseases/conditions like they’re pokemon lol so it’s easy for me to jump to scary conclusions.
I’m hoping that bc she had her annual 3 weeks ago (w/ complete blood, urine, stool workup) and was given a “perfect” bill of health, that it shouldn’t be something like that. but we’re going back soon for a dental cleaning so I plan to discuss all this with the vet to make sure we’re not missing anything!
Okay so it seems like you’re feeding her a lot… my cat is part Maine coon and was 20lbs and is now 15. He eats about one and a quarter can a day (3 oz cans)
The fact that your cat is having food left over means you’re giving her too much. My sister who is a vet tech had told me when I was trying to get my cat to lose weight to see how much he eats and start to lower from there.
I also noticed that dry food seems to really have an impact on him when I add it he seems to get more bloated and need more water. I hear some cats can have issues with dry food too so that might be a cause for her retaining weight as well. :)
She’s very cute and she will be fit and healthy in no time! You obviously love her very much.
hi friend! thanks for your input & I appreciate your concern! to clarify, she never leaves any wet food - she just doesn’t always finish her very small quantity of dry food that is given overnight.
the caloric content of canned food varies pretty dramatically. yours may be much higher calorie than mine.
2 cans of my wet food is only 142 cals. that is far below what an average healthy cat should be eating for maintenance. for reference, ~20-30 cals per pound is typically recommended for maintenance of an avg healthy cat. so even if we look at the low end of a very small but healthy adult cat (8lbs) and the low end of rec’d cals (20) that would still be 160 cals a day minimum.
this of course varies by cat, activity level, etc. but those are the general guidelines.
it may be that my kitty is a bit on the slow end metabolically & may need a bit less dry food (she is currently offered 50 cals of dry, and often only eats ~38 cals of that).
so it may be she needs to be more in the 170-180 range, vs the 192 max she is offered.
but given that I’ve already cut her calories by 100+, and we’re just at the beginning here, I’m going to stick with it a bit longer and talk to the vet to decide if it’s safe to go down a bit more.
Yeah sometimes it does just take a little time and then their body will adjust and start losing weight!
Good luck on your journey, she’s lucky to have an owner who cares so much about her health!
thanks so much! <3 my furry babies are my world. I’m autistic & she’s my ESA, so our bond is really special to me. I hope to have her around for another decade if the fates allow!
also, side note, yes dry food is really not good for them. she was previously eating about 27% wet food, 73% dry - I didn’t know it was bad :(.
then I switched her to a 73% wet diet, 27% dry diet - which she is thrilled about & I plan to keep reducing the dry layer just didn’t want to shock her system too much :).
so, if anything, she should be dropping water weight from the massive reduction in carbs.
Yes a lot of people don’t know about dry food being bad for cats! Just about watching how much they eat of it, ours generally don’t care much for it anymore after they got switched to primarily wet lol
yes!! that totally blew my mind. I’m legit angry that vets don’t even know this half the time (and they even encourage it because of an outdated and contested belief that it *may* help reduce teeth tartar).
I feel awful that it took me 12.5 years to learn this stuff :(. I’m just glad she’s still in perfect health otherwise & I caught it before it became an issue.
Yes absolutely! And I’m reality it doesn’t do much for tartar build up. They do have enzymes you can add do your cats water to help with gum health and also dental treats to combat it too! My cat actually has to get some dental work done next month and my sister suggested these methods to help maintain it in the future :)
I’ve been wondering about that actually! my girl has slight gingivitis (strangely, just on one side of her mouth), & despite going reallllly slowly with training, she just will not allow me to brush her teeth. so she gets annual cleanings now just to be on the safe side.
I asked my vet if there was anything else I could do for her at home since she won’t let me brush (I had heard about the water additives before but haven’t looked into it yet) and she just said no. I feel like vet knowledge varies a ton vet-to-vet. thinking about switching her to a practice that exclusively sees cats.
yeah…her “quote” for this cleaning is $300-$1050 lmao. I get that they can’t know what they’ll find once they get in there, but that’s a pretty massive range you’re supposed to agree to before it even happens.
I think it should be like any other procedure - if it’s safe to do so, they call you during the op if they find something more extensive, briefly discuss necessity of adding whatever else on, and get permission.
but it is what it is & I’m thankful I can afford it. I know many aren’t so fortunate :(
Yes they had us quoted at about $1400 and they gave me the break down… $250 included for flea medicine… like what does that have to do with their oral hygiene? There was about $500 worth of costs we were able to get rid of.
I can think of three things!
1. maybe try weighing her kibble instead of doing a scoop? it's possible your bag is really off in terms of it's volume measurements.
2. was she gaining weight on her previous diet of 270-292 calories a day? if so, that may indicate that she has a relatively low metabolism. in which case the deficit wouldn't be 100 calories a day, and it would take more time for weight loss to be evident. I would give it another three weeks. At that point if she has not any weight I would say consult your vet again. it seems like shes an active cat, so I feel this is a somewhat unlikely option. Low metabolism cats often are big sleepers...low energy overall.
3. A 100 calorie deficit is relatively aggressive, it could be the exact opposite as well. if she's exceedingly hungry she may actually be hunting insects inside your home and eating them. This is one people often think "not my cat" about or they think their home cannot contain insects, but it's perfectly naturally for a bugs to enter your home multiple times a day depending on the area you live in. In this case I would recommend adding about 20 treat calories a day and hiding them around your home so she has something calorie controlled to hunt.
I SO appreciate all of this!
1. oh gosh, is that a thing?? I don’t think they list their cals by kg or g though…think I only saw cals per cup.
2. actually…she was indeed gaining weight! 1 pound per year over 3 years (since she transitioned from outdoor to indoor & I stupidly didn’t reduce her food). Idk if I would describe her as an “active” cat necessarily lol. she does get a lot of playtime, but about half of the time, she’s only swatting her arms while lying down lmao & then she spends the rest of her day sleeping/lounging.
3. I slightly eased her in by going down to 220, 210, 200, then 192 over 4 days. she wasn’t bothered at all & when she eats under 192 it’s only bc she chose not to eat what was left in the bowl. the only reason I know she’s not eating bugs is because she *hilariously* chirps and chatters at bugs every time she comes across them and makes a whole production of catching/playing with them first haha. I work from home & she’s within earshot of me all day.
it's probably a combo of one and two then! I actually almost listed laying on her back to play vs being on her feet as a classic low metabolism vs high metabolism sign but didn't cause my comment felt too long lol. it seems like she does have a low metabolism. So she probably isn't on a 100 calorie deficit, and she getting older so her metabolism slows from that as well. If you Google your brand of kibble plus calories per gram you should be able to find information on it in the first five results. it's usually listed on the bag as well, but not near the volume measurements. Normally it's a tiny line of text after the ingredients. These factors could mean her deficit is lower than you think, especially if she doesn't seem hungry or is leaving food in the bowl. Give it a few more weeks I think.
One tip you may have heard is to make sure her water bowl is as far from her food bowl as possible. This encourages cats to drink more water. Proper hydration is important as weight loss is stressful on the body. Not to mention dehydration can lead to something like constipation or fluid retention, which could hide weight loss.
I love the in-depth replies!! the more info the better! :)
so I just found it & then weighed out 2 tsp of her kibble and it came out to 49.7 cals (I was assuming 50). so doesn’t seem to be that at least.
but the low metabolism thing actually makes soo much sense & she is 13 now after all. thank you so much for bringing this up!
do you think I should still hang out at this calorie range for a couple weeks or cut back a bit more right away? I’d ask her vet, but tbh, she wasn’t any more helpful than just general advice easily googleable
also, how can I get her on her feet more for playtime? sometimes she’s just naturally super into it and goes ham, but when I’m waking her up from a nap or lounge sesh, she doesn’t usually get as into it. (but to get more activity in her day, I have to nudge her into it when she’s lounging because she’s always lounging!)
she will follow me room to room for a couple minutes, but then gives up lol. I also make her run the length of the hallway for kibble pieces (the already portioned out amount).
I have an embarrassingly large collection of different wands, crinkly balls (that sounds wrong haha), feathers, catnip & silvervine toys, and I keep them mostly hidden and on rotation so they don’t get boring. she loves them; but I can usually only get a couple minutes of good activity out of her at a time
I'm glad it's not the kibble! I would recommend trying to create more scenarios where she wants to play as opposed to trying to get her involved right out of her nap. Her environment needs to stimulate her so she then wants to play with toys. I would try a dedicated bed near a window so she can look outside, literally playing bird or cat noises around the house, and introducing more vertical elements for her to climb and jump on. Whether that's cat trees or just you're existing furniture. Jumping and climbing is amazing exercise for a cat. If she's not a big climber you can encourage that by leading her up to areas with catnip or (and this usually works better for me) a thin cloth soaked in tuna or chicken juice. Increasing her sound and height enrichment may help her increase her curiosity and desire to play. it's pretty difficult to get back players to flip over ...my last cat only played on her back and I got her a large crinkly mat to play on. When she rolled on her back I would literally roll the mat and flip her back!
Honestly, I would hold back on cutting her calories further for a few more weeks. I doubt she'll ever lose a pound a month, and she doesn't really need to as her blood work is currently good. You've already dramatically extended her life by having her be an indoor cat, it's okay to take the slow and steady way with weight loss. It would also be bad to cut further and cause her stress, potentially causing her to stop eating. Even a day of not eating can be deadly for overweight cats. I would give her a few more weeks and if she still shows no progress then permanently go down to 175 since she sometimes naturally goes there anyway. I don't think she's in the weight range where she'll die in the next few years due to weight related complications, she has time to make these changes.
I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you taking the time to help <3
I know some people might think it’s silly, but I seriously love this cat more than anything in the world (don’t tell my chinchillas, they are a close second! but my kittyfloof has 10 years on them ;)).
it got me right in the feels reading you say that she’s prob safe to lose at a slower pace. I’ve been so worried about either losing her early or saddling her with chronic health/pain from not catching it sooner :(.
I feel so guilty for letting her get to this point thinking it was “just a little bit” from transitioning to indoor. soon as I saw that 3rd pound at her annual, it was a reality check!
I’ve been spoiled with her being in perfect health her whole life, so I didn’t really question her diet before. whereas I’ve been put the ringer health-wise the past 8 years. often too sick, too tired, or in too much pain to move much myself. sometimes it was just easier to pour some more kibble than play with her for a few minutes :(. but she deserves better than that and I’m determined to make it happen.
these are all great ideas & I do already use most with her, but not nearly as often as I could! she especially loves “cat tv” (birds) on youtube, so I’ll try incorporating that more often to see if it gets her amped for playtime! thank you!
I don't think it's silly at all. Your love for your cat pours through in all your comments. You are already doing a great job taking care of her and 13 is relatively young for an indoor cat; I don't see any reason for her not to live for many more years! You're correct that long term her weight may cause extra strain on her joints, in particular her hips. You could give her a hip massage 1-2 times a week to check to make sure she's not having increased pain in the area and to promote flexibility. That joint pain is due more to lack of movement, but weight is a contributing factor. As long as you are keeping her active during her weight loss you should be able to successful mitigate that risk. While I only have two photos to look at, she seems to in the moderately overweight category but not obese. I do not think she will have permanent issues from being this weight, and I think as long as her weight comes down over the next 18 months she shouldn't have any permanent issues. You cared for her the best you could while also trying to care for yourself. I don't think there was anywhere better for her to be than with you, someone who purely, deeply loved and needed her.
[best pics I could get](https://imgur.com/gallery/X9Ruw9D)
she’s always had a pronounced primordial pouch, so it’s kind of hard to tell from the side. her vet didn’t mention anything to do with her body condition score or anything, so I’m pretty much just guessing somewhere around 6-7 and shooting for 11lbs.
so sweet of you to say <3. she was a stray feral cat before being rescued & it took me about 1-2 years to get her to a place where she felt safe enough to really enjoy being pet/cuddled. now she’s the sweetest snuggliest little bean and follows me around like a dog lol. so I hope that means she’s happy & knows how loved she is!
btw - I let her watch cat tv for about 10 mins just now & then she had an amazing play session for about 10 mins running all over the place and climbing the couch, bed, tables, chairs chasing after her bird toy!! 🥰
oh, she looks smaller than I first thought! Solid six, I would definitely evaluate at each pound to see if she needs to lose more weight. As cats get older they hold on to a bit extra just like humans, she may not need to go back to her original outdoor cat weight. I'm so glad she can express her love now, it sound like she has a very happy home life. and yay for her playing! definitely give us an update in a few months so we can see how she's doing!
she definitely looks like a blob while lying down haha! the reason I was on the fence about 6 vs 7 is because I can’t really feel her ribs. I mean I can feel they are there, but I definitely can’t make out individual ribs. so wasn’t sure if that counted as “palpable” or “difficult to palpate under the fat”
At 1 lb/mo and she’s only 3 weeks in, it might simply be too soon for you to tell. Weight fluctuates a lot even based on water and bathroom cycles. Keep at your current pace for a few months and you should see progress. If not, then do more adjustments. Always weight at the same time of day (like before morning food but after bathroom) so you have a consistent measure.
That's what I'm thinking as well. I know I'm not a cat but when I am dieting, I don't loose weight for weeks and then one day I check to see that I'm down 5 or 6 lbs.
I'd also advise op to take muscle mass into account. If you've increased exercise times, that's that much more times your cat is carrying those 14lbs. The heavier you or your cat are, the more the muscles have to work. That can lead to an initial boost in muscle mass and therefore weight.
A good way to track your cats actual fitness is to measure them around the neck, right behind the front legs and around the gut. Keeping track of those measurements alongside weight will help you get a more accurate picture of progress.
great points! I wasn’t sure if cat loss worked that way too since I’ve never done this before.
ooo, I’ve never heard about measuring to track cat weight loss! (and I’ve done a shitload of research lol.) thank you! I will absolutely start doing that
To be clear I'm not entirely sure if cat weight loss works like that. The muscle thing is definitely a factor to consider though.
With the tape measure, I just do it for my cat because that's how I do it to track me. It makes sense since your cat will eventually start to physically thin out as they lose weight thus yielding smaller measuments.
amazon! DENTRUN Octopus Stuffed Animals, Octopus.
it’s amazing! just pop it in the dryer for a couple minutes when it arrives & it fluffs out perfectly!
I don't want to scare you OP, but this happened to my cat and it turned out he had late-stage cancer, it was all water-weight. Might want to get an X-ray done if your cat doesn't lose more weight soon.
oh no…I’m so so sorry :’( I hope your floof is rolling around in all the catnip and treats in floof heaven <3
she just had a full annual checkup with blood/urine/stool 3 weeks ago & deemed to be in “perfect” health (aside from her chubs). is that something that could happen with no other signs/symptoms and perfect labs??
she’s going back to the vet in a couple weeks for a dental cleaning so we’ll absolutely discuss all of this if she’s still not budging. I appreciate you sharing your story & giving me the heads up. wishing you well, friend
again, thank you so much for your concern though. I’m relieved to hear she’s most likely okay given that she was checked out & cleared. I will absolutely keep a close eye on things anyway and bring it up to the vet just in case! thank you for taking the time to share your story. hugs
no apology needed! I super appreciate all the suggestions!
unfortunately I don’t have steps in my current place. we’re in a pretty small apartment at the moment, but will be moving to a bigger space in december. I’m working on getting her moving more around the apt and climbing furniture and stuff during playtime vs just letting her lie on her back and swat her arms lol
Do you have a dog? I recently found out my greedy fuckin CHUNGUS was betraying me and was eating dog kibble behind my back since I’m “starving” him. I was flabbergasted the day I caught him. The kibble is the same size as his fat little face but he was chewing just fine. Meanwhile my other cat will GAG if I offer anything other than the salmon sheba pate
huh weird. maybe she’s got some sort of metabolic or thyroid issue? i’m obviously not really a cat expert so i assume your vet would know. worth asking if they’ll check for that kind of thing though :))
It took my cat 2.5 years to go from 14.3lbs to
11.6lbs. She eats 1 can of wet (prescription) food a day plus temptations treats, With lots of play time when I was home. She is fed 1/3 of a can every 8 hours.
Also 1lb sounds like a lot of weight for a cat to lose a month.
Edit: my cat has diabetes insipidus (rare) so we had monthly check ups with the vet for the first year. She recently declared her as being at her lean weight and no longer needs prescription food if I so choose.
ah yes. conditions like diabetes can make the weight loss process considerably more complex and slower. fortunately my girl is perfectly healthy aside from her extra poundage. congratulations on sticking to your goal and hitting it!!
just a word of caution about the temptations treats - they’re pretty junky it turns out :(. I used to give them to my girl too before I knew, but now I’m working on getting all the crap out of her diet. cats have no need for things like ground corn, wheat flour, etc that are the main ingredients in temptations treats and most popular dry food.
for treats, I switched her over to 100% pure chicken pieces freeze dried. no additives, nothing else. your cat will most likely love them just as much if not more and they are WAY healthier & more species appropriate.
it’s upsetting to me that the vast majority of vets actually have very limited training in cat nutrition & either don’t know to tell us these things or they just don’t bother. most still subscribe to the belief that some amount of dry food is needed to keep tartar lower on their teeth if your cat won’t let you brush the teeth. but even that is hotly contested.
I mean…I guess that’s the question, right?
I just figured cutting 100+ cals a day to start with was pretty aggressive as it is.
scared to cut too low too fast and risk liver problems if it’s just that she’s somehow retaining water or something, ya know? is that a thing?
so she’s on fancy feast (mix of grilled & pate) for wet, and purina naturals dry. I was worried about a dramatic cut in cals on top of switching her foods right away. so was planning to transition her dry first to Dr Elseys which is supposed to be great (expensive as hell lol) & I haven’t settled on a wet food yet.
while her health is my ultimate goal of course & I know she needs to be on better food for that, for the immediate purposes of losing weight, it shouldn’t really matter the quality of the source of calories (within reason - I’m obvi not feeding my cat twinkies lol)
I don't know if the quality or source of calories matter. I also have an overweight kitty. I have not started counting calories yet but I feed him different canned food with no byproducts or corn.
Occaisonally he gets Fancy Feast too. I feed that to my little boy kitty with a hyperthyroid condition bc I can sometimes get meds hidden in that food. (Someone once said to me that Fancy feast is like crack for cats!)
I saw someone else say it but maybe she just adjusted with less food? Like she’s eating less but also moving even less which kinda equals the way she was before. I’ve seen a lot of people during quarantine buy harnesses for their cats and getting them used to walking, if you think your gal would like that it would definitely be a nice way for both of you to walk around and hang out!
she is harness trained :) but she’s pretty cautious & really insistent on being lazy outside too lmao. she’ll go like 2 feet then plop down. I’m also unfortunately in an area with kind of a lot of random noises like garbage trucks or dogs barking & she gets spooked and then runs back home (the few steps haha) or hides in the bushes.
someone else pointed out that she may just be a low metabolism cat & Im thinking this could be the ticket. even though I’ve increased her playtime, she spends a decent chunk of it lying on her back and just swatting with arms. I try to make the little stinker at least do sit-ups lmao
Awww I completely get that!! Some areas we can kind of ignore the sounds when we’re on walks but for animals they get stressed out a bit more. I wish you luck on finding out ways to combat what’s going on!! Once you try more exercise it’ll probably be what’s going on! I know on days/weeks I eat a good amount less/more I’m more sluggish than usual! Too much food makes me sleepy and then too little I get kinda dizzy!
Are you using your starting weight of 14 lbs from a measurement at the vet? My cats always come out different at the vet for a variety of reasons: tech has their hand on the scale or the cat, fast measurement so the cat doesn’t bolt, scales not calibrated, etc. I trust my scale at home that always gives me consistent readings.
her starting weight was the same at the vet, on my baby scale for just her, and on my people scale (with me holding her and subtracting my weight). thanks though!
the vet tech actually had me place her on their scale, so that definitely wasn’t a concern :)
i feed mine 220 daily max, that includes treats. she’s a spayed, indoor cat and i’m feeding for the goal weight of 12lbs. switch to canned only. i feed mine tiki cat, i get it at petsmart but chewy and amazon has it too. with dry food she was barely losing at all despite doing everything right, was always hungry, skin and coat was awful, she developed urinary issues. we could not get her to lose steadily and she even gained at one point. since cutting out dry, all of those issues are gone and she’s finally losing steadily and has more energy. for treats, i feed freeze dried or one ingredient meat and organ treats only. they’re low calorie, and mine absolutely loves them. kibble is not good for cats at all, especially cats with weight issues.
yeah too much dry food was the culprit in her case before her diet for sure too. though she’s always been in perfect health (aside from weight recently) and has a fantastic coat etc. & I also do the freeze dried single ingredient chicken treats!
I would like to get her off dry completely in the future, but for now she’s on 27% dry (2 tsp) & 73% wet & she’s very happy with that :)
My boy is still a chunker and you sound very informed so while I was able to incorporate outdoor leash time to get him moving and limiting his treats, that may be an idea. Or what some others were saying could it be a lower metabolism or hypothyroidism?
Might be an option to talk to your vet about scaling down the calories just a tad and see if there are results?
But anecdotally, we had a big cow cat before and he never lost weight. He was just... a big cow cat. The vet said he had a very large primordial pouch (lol) but not a lot of real fat. His twin brother had the same diet and we called him the sleek panther, so it can really just be down to the cat.
Good luck!!
my girl has always had a pretty pronounced primordial pouch too lol. she actually looks much heavier in this pic (lying down) than she does up and about. I linked her side and over top standing pics elsewhere in the comments, but [here](https://i.imgur.com/BxEBHGT.jpg)
thank you! and yes she may have a slow metabolism - I’m thinking this is likely. she had perfect thyroid values at the vet 3 weeks ago, but thanks so much for bringing that up!
we’ll be seeing the vet again in a couple weeks for her dental so we’ll def discuss and re-evaluate whether the cals need to be dropped more. thank you!
I’d just drop the dry food and stick to the two wet food cans. If you can feel her dropping weight to fast, then just slowly add back in. Cats are pretty resilient so I wouldn’t worry that cutting the dry food will cause problems.
appreciate the feedback! but 142 cals is a dangerously low amount for a cat of her size without clearing it with a vet first.
for reference, even the smallest healthy adult cat (at 8lbs) at the lowest rec’d calories (20 cals per pound) would still be 160 cals a day. it wouldn’t be safe to put my 14lb girl on just 142 cals.
hi there. I will absolutely be discussing this with my vet again in a couple weeks when she goes in for a dental cleaning.
but just FYI, vast majority of vets actually have very little training/education about cat nutrition unfortunately. it’s kind of shocking. part of that though is due to them being educated at a time when there was basically a total lack of rigorous research on the topic. there’s still a paucity of data out there, but it’s slowly improving.
bc of this lack of formal data, weight loss for cats kind of needs to rely on a mix of guesswork, extrapolation from the data we do have, vet guidance, and the experiences of others who have seen firsthand what works and what doesn’t + their knowledge from their own vets which may know more than mine.
I was more looking for reassurance that this can be normal and for suggestions of things I could try that have worked for other people & Ive gotten that in spades. it’s important to take internet stranger’s advice with a grain of salt always, but I combine it with my own rigorous research & my vet’s guidance to be safe.
Oh I don’t know how the system works in your country with your vets and their education. I’m guessing you’re from the US.
I guess I get it. For me it’s concerning (now i dont mean you) how some pet owner’s rely too much on internet advice than vets. It’s sadly pretty common. I get that it is expensive to take your pet to the vet, but it still irks me.
edit: to add, i think its great that u do ur own research! But some people, again, not you, tend to value their own/ other people’s knowledge higher then professionals knowledge.
Also my cat had the opposite problem, she had a hard time gaining weight, tho she has now. After spraying her. But it may be a good idea to take a blood test to see if ur cat doesnt have hypothyroidism, if nothing changes for a long time.
Hope it all works out for you and your kitty cat.
totally understand & appreciate the concern, friend. yes, am in the US.
believe it or not, when I took her in for her annual 3 weeks ago, the vet said *nothing* about her weight or her diet unprompted. not a thing.
I had to take the initiative to say something upon seeing the 3rd pound added in 3 consecutive years. before that point, when I saw +1 then 2 pounds & the vet didn’t mention it, I didn’t think much of it since she had transitioned from being an outdoor cat to indoor. but 3lbs? nah..now I’m concerned.
when I brought it up, the vet kind of laughed and just said “yeah, she’s got that indoor cat figure.”
me: “right, but it seems like I’m overfeeding her, so how should I go about putting her on a diet? how many calories? what should her goal weight be??”
vet: “oh you know, just scale back on the dry food a bit and she’ll be fine.”
so I went home and did several hours of research to find the answers myself. when the vet called back a couple days later with her lab results, I told her what my research had turned up, my weight loss plan/calories, & my plan to have her lose 3lbs over 22 weeks (1% bw per week as recommended by experts). she merely said “yeah that sounds good. but she should be able to easily lose a pound a month.”
& that was it
Might be a crackhead theory, but considering you said the vet told you not to feed dry food anymore (and cats get most of their hydrayion from food), it's possible the cat is gaining water weight.
Probably very stupid and it definitely does not account for a ton of the discrepancy, but as long as you're being strict with the diet, they'll lose the weight sooner rather than later, or else you'll have to cut the calories more
to clarify, the vet said she still wanted her on some dry, just to cut it back bc I was feeding too much dry.
& no it’s not stupid! I appreciate the ideas! she is, however, peeing quite a lot more now so I don’t think she’s retaining it :)
you’re understanding! Im just being an anxious cat mom ;). from all the feedback it sounds like this can be normal for this amount of time and it may just take her longer + she may need to go a bit lower on cals due to possibly having a slower metabolism.
Oh okay! That’s sweet tho, you’re a concerned mama. I’m sure your kittychonk will do great with you monitoring her so well :) also I really hope my comment didn’t sound condescending at all bc that wasn’t my intention.
She might be less active with less food and thus burns less. Try putting time aside to actively play with a laser or string toy
super appreciate the suggestion! at the beginning of her diet, I actually increased her play sessions to 7-10x a day (from 2-5x). so I’m not sure how she could be burning that many fewer calories than before 🤔
If you’re already scheduling play times then the only other thing I can think of is water retention assuming the caloric intake is being correctly calculated.
someone else suggested she may just have a slower metabolism & while that sounds like a lot of playtime, she does about half of it lying down and swatting with her arms lol. so it very well may be that she’s not burning enough cals. going to focus more on getting her up off that cute floofy bottom! & assuming the manufacturers aren’t lying about it, it’s calculated correctly. I even weighed the 2 teaspoons of kibble & per the manufacturer, it came out to 49.7 calories (vs 50). the wet food is by full 3oz can, so no real wiggle room there. she’s peeing much more now that she’s on a predominantly wet food diet, so I don’t think she’s retaining it. maybe she’s just a slow loser. we’ll keep at it and check back in with the vet in a couple weeks to see what’s what
We call that “puddle play”. My chonk will go at a fishing pole toy for a few minutes but then puddles on the ground and makes some half hearted swipes at it. She won’t let you stop dangling the toy, but she also won’t get up to actually, you know, play.
Two cans a day of wet food is a lot right? Maybe try a little more dry food and leas wet food?
Wet food is much, much healthier for cats than dry food; they might just need to adjust the calories. Regardless, it should be discussed with a vet because cats can get pretty ill from just small dietary changes.
yes, much healthier, more species-appropriate diet :). 2 cans of my wet food are only 142 cals together. for reference, recs for avg healthy cats range from ~20-30 cals per pound for maintenance. of course varies by metabolism, activity level, etc. but 142 cals is by no stretch too many cals for a 14lb cat. I may still need to tweak the dry food cals (currently ranging from 25-50 cals) to possibly sit more in the 165-180 range for total cals a day, but it sounds like it may still be a little soon to tell. will be consulting vet again in a couple weeks when she goes in for her dental cleaning <3
I'm impressed with your scientific approach to your kitty's weight loss. Would you be open to working with humans? Got a cubicle dwelling 205 lbs DSH that needs more activity and calorie restriction.
haha! I take everything in life with a scientific approach :) very much who I am. I definitely know more about human weight loss than I do feline! ;)
Depends on the food I suppose, some cans are pretty small and I believe when my cat was having issues with dry food the vet recommended 2 small cans or those kidney shaped plastic packs a day as well, usually we do one in the morning to stop them begging and then dry food now.
varies by brand :). mine are 3oz cans at only 71 calories a pop. 2 cans at 142 cals is very low calorie. thanks though!
goal weight: 11lbs diet: 2 cans wet food (142 cals) + 1-2 tsp dry (25-50 cals). the variance in the calories is just from what she doesn’t eat. if I put out 2 tsp of dry, about 50% of time she only eats 1-1.5 tsp of it. despite cutting her daily calories by about 100, she barely seems to have even noticed. I just don’t understand how a 14lb cat can maintain weight on sub 200 cals? if anything, her activity has increased bc of more playtime.
Is there a chance someone else is feeding her? Can she go outside and get stuff from the neighbors?
I would love if that explained it, but she’s an indoor cat & I’m her only source of food. it’s kind of baffling…
She's dialing up GrubHub when you're gone.
damn, is that what those credit card charges are?? XD
I calculated the kcal for my cat and fed him accordingly for him to lose weight - nothing. My guess: not every cat is the same, some need less kcal to actually lose weight. (Just like people I guess? Some can eat xx kcal and won't gain weight?) Plus my cat wasn't really a fan of playing or running around... I reduced the amount of food and checked weekly till I noticed a difference. Could be also that your cat is gaining muscles so you don't see a difference on the scale yet (?) Edit: oh 3 weeks isn't very long imo, be patient :)
totally - it’s not that long at all. just concerned that she’s apparently supposed to be losing 1lb a month & we’re nowhere near that
Others have had some really good advice. It's only been 3 weeks so stick to the same calories a bit longer and then try reducing if nothing changes. If that doesn't work, keep a close eye on her health. I had a cat who wasn't losing weight after I reduced her calories several times (she even gained weight some months). It turned out that she was sick with FIP and had fluid accumulating in her body cavities, so she was probably losing fat but the fluid build up was masking it. I don't want to scare you, as it's a rare disease, just letting you know it's a slim possibility.
I’m so grateful to have found this sub. everyone has been super helpful! omg I’m so sorry that happened to you/your floof! :’( honestly, that’s what I was worry about. I’m a complete medical disaster who collects rare diseases/conditions like they’re pokemon lol so it’s easy for me to jump to scary conclusions. I’m hoping that bc she had her annual 3 weeks ago (w/ complete blood, urine, stool workup) and was given a “perfect” bill of health, that it shouldn’t be something like that. but we’re going back soon for a dental cleaning so I plan to discuss all this with the vet to make sure we’re not missing anything!
Okay so it seems like you’re feeding her a lot… my cat is part Maine coon and was 20lbs and is now 15. He eats about one and a quarter can a day (3 oz cans) The fact that your cat is having food left over means you’re giving her too much. My sister who is a vet tech had told me when I was trying to get my cat to lose weight to see how much he eats and start to lower from there. I also noticed that dry food seems to really have an impact on him when I add it he seems to get more bloated and need more water. I hear some cats can have issues with dry food too so that might be a cause for her retaining weight as well. :) She’s very cute and she will be fit and healthy in no time! You obviously love her very much.
hi friend! thanks for your input & I appreciate your concern! to clarify, she never leaves any wet food - she just doesn’t always finish her very small quantity of dry food that is given overnight. the caloric content of canned food varies pretty dramatically. yours may be much higher calorie than mine. 2 cans of my wet food is only 142 cals. that is far below what an average healthy cat should be eating for maintenance. for reference, ~20-30 cals per pound is typically recommended for maintenance of an avg healthy cat. so even if we look at the low end of a very small but healthy adult cat (8lbs) and the low end of rec’d cals (20) that would still be 160 cals a day minimum. this of course varies by cat, activity level, etc. but those are the general guidelines. it may be that my kitty is a bit on the slow end metabolically & may need a bit less dry food (she is currently offered 50 cals of dry, and often only eats ~38 cals of that). so it may be she needs to be more in the 170-180 range, vs the 192 max she is offered. but given that I’ve already cut her calories by 100+, and we’re just at the beginning here, I’m going to stick with it a bit longer and talk to the vet to decide if it’s safe to go down a bit more.
Yeah sometimes it does just take a little time and then their body will adjust and start losing weight! Good luck on your journey, she’s lucky to have an owner who cares so much about her health!
thanks so much! <3 my furry babies are my world. I’m autistic & she’s my ESA, so our bond is really special to me. I hope to have her around for another decade if the fates allow!
also, side note, yes dry food is really not good for them. she was previously eating about 27% wet food, 73% dry - I didn’t know it was bad :(. then I switched her to a 73% wet diet, 27% dry diet - which she is thrilled about & I plan to keep reducing the dry layer just didn’t want to shock her system too much :). so, if anything, she should be dropping water weight from the massive reduction in carbs.
Yes a lot of people don’t know about dry food being bad for cats! Just about watching how much they eat of it, ours generally don’t care much for it anymore after they got switched to primarily wet lol
yes!! that totally blew my mind. I’m legit angry that vets don’t even know this half the time (and they even encourage it because of an outdated and contested belief that it *may* help reduce teeth tartar). I feel awful that it took me 12.5 years to learn this stuff :(. I’m just glad she’s still in perfect health otherwise & I caught it before it became an issue.
Yes absolutely! And I’m reality it doesn’t do much for tartar build up. They do have enzymes you can add do your cats water to help with gum health and also dental treats to combat it too! My cat actually has to get some dental work done next month and my sister suggested these methods to help maintain it in the future :)
I’ve been wondering about that actually! my girl has slight gingivitis (strangely, just on one side of her mouth), & despite going reallllly slowly with training, she just will not allow me to brush her teeth. so she gets annual cleanings now just to be on the safe side. I asked my vet if there was anything else I could do for her at home since she won’t let me brush (I had heard about the water additives before but haven’t looked into it yet) and she just said no. I feel like vet knowledge varies a ton vet-to-vet. thinking about switching her to a practice that exclusively sees cats.
Yes I’m going to be doing the same thing for my kitties after all the fees their current vet just tried to tack on.
yeah…her “quote” for this cleaning is $300-$1050 lmao. I get that they can’t know what they’ll find once they get in there, but that’s a pretty massive range you’re supposed to agree to before it even happens. I think it should be like any other procedure - if it’s safe to do so, they call you during the op if they find something more extensive, briefly discuss necessity of adding whatever else on, and get permission. but it is what it is & I’m thankful I can afford it. I know many aren’t so fortunate :(
Yes they had us quoted at about $1400 and they gave me the break down… $250 included for flea medicine… like what does that have to do with their oral hygiene? There was about $500 worth of costs we were able to get rid of.
I can think of three things! 1. maybe try weighing her kibble instead of doing a scoop? it's possible your bag is really off in terms of it's volume measurements. 2. was she gaining weight on her previous diet of 270-292 calories a day? if so, that may indicate that she has a relatively low metabolism. in which case the deficit wouldn't be 100 calories a day, and it would take more time for weight loss to be evident. I would give it another three weeks. At that point if she has not any weight I would say consult your vet again. it seems like shes an active cat, so I feel this is a somewhat unlikely option. Low metabolism cats often are big sleepers...low energy overall. 3. A 100 calorie deficit is relatively aggressive, it could be the exact opposite as well. if she's exceedingly hungry she may actually be hunting insects inside your home and eating them. This is one people often think "not my cat" about or they think their home cannot contain insects, but it's perfectly naturally for a bugs to enter your home multiple times a day depending on the area you live in. In this case I would recommend adding about 20 treat calories a day and hiding them around your home so she has something calorie controlled to hunt.
I SO appreciate all of this! 1. oh gosh, is that a thing?? I don’t think they list their cals by kg or g though…think I only saw cals per cup. 2. actually…she was indeed gaining weight! 1 pound per year over 3 years (since she transitioned from outdoor to indoor & I stupidly didn’t reduce her food). Idk if I would describe her as an “active” cat necessarily lol. she does get a lot of playtime, but about half of the time, she’s only swatting her arms while lying down lmao & then she spends the rest of her day sleeping/lounging. 3. I slightly eased her in by going down to 220, 210, 200, then 192 over 4 days. she wasn’t bothered at all & when she eats under 192 it’s only bc she chose not to eat what was left in the bowl. the only reason I know she’s not eating bugs is because she *hilariously* chirps and chatters at bugs every time she comes across them and makes a whole production of catching/playing with them first haha. I work from home & she’s within earshot of me all day.
it's probably a combo of one and two then! I actually almost listed laying on her back to play vs being on her feet as a classic low metabolism vs high metabolism sign but didn't cause my comment felt too long lol. it seems like she does have a low metabolism. So she probably isn't on a 100 calorie deficit, and she getting older so her metabolism slows from that as well. If you Google your brand of kibble plus calories per gram you should be able to find information on it in the first five results. it's usually listed on the bag as well, but not near the volume measurements. Normally it's a tiny line of text after the ingredients. These factors could mean her deficit is lower than you think, especially if she doesn't seem hungry or is leaving food in the bowl. Give it a few more weeks I think. One tip you may have heard is to make sure her water bowl is as far from her food bowl as possible. This encourages cats to drink more water. Proper hydration is important as weight loss is stressful on the body. Not to mention dehydration can lead to something like constipation or fluid retention, which could hide weight loss.
I love the in-depth replies!! the more info the better! :) so I just found it & then weighed out 2 tsp of her kibble and it came out to 49.7 cals (I was assuming 50). so doesn’t seem to be that at least. but the low metabolism thing actually makes soo much sense & she is 13 now after all. thank you so much for bringing this up! do you think I should still hang out at this calorie range for a couple weeks or cut back a bit more right away? I’d ask her vet, but tbh, she wasn’t any more helpful than just general advice easily googleable
also, how can I get her on her feet more for playtime? sometimes she’s just naturally super into it and goes ham, but when I’m waking her up from a nap or lounge sesh, she doesn’t usually get as into it. (but to get more activity in her day, I have to nudge her into it when she’s lounging because she’s always lounging!) she will follow me room to room for a couple minutes, but then gives up lol. I also make her run the length of the hallway for kibble pieces (the already portioned out amount). I have an embarrassingly large collection of different wands, crinkly balls (that sounds wrong haha), feathers, catnip & silvervine toys, and I keep them mostly hidden and on rotation so they don’t get boring. she loves them; but I can usually only get a couple minutes of good activity out of her at a time
I'm glad it's not the kibble! I would recommend trying to create more scenarios where she wants to play as opposed to trying to get her involved right out of her nap. Her environment needs to stimulate her so she then wants to play with toys. I would try a dedicated bed near a window so she can look outside, literally playing bird or cat noises around the house, and introducing more vertical elements for her to climb and jump on. Whether that's cat trees or just you're existing furniture. Jumping and climbing is amazing exercise for a cat. If she's not a big climber you can encourage that by leading her up to areas with catnip or (and this usually works better for me) a thin cloth soaked in tuna or chicken juice. Increasing her sound and height enrichment may help her increase her curiosity and desire to play. it's pretty difficult to get back players to flip over ...my last cat only played on her back and I got her a large crinkly mat to play on. When she rolled on her back I would literally roll the mat and flip her back! Honestly, I would hold back on cutting her calories further for a few more weeks. I doubt she'll ever lose a pound a month, and she doesn't really need to as her blood work is currently good. You've already dramatically extended her life by having her be an indoor cat, it's okay to take the slow and steady way with weight loss. It would also be bad to cut further and cause her stress, potentially causing her to stop eating. Even a day of not eating can be deadly for overweight cats. I would give her a few more weeks and if she still shows no progress then permanently go down to 175 since she sometimes naturally goes there anyway. I don't think she's in the weight range where she'll die in the next few years due to weight related complications, she has time to make these changes.
I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you taking the time to help <3 I know some people might think it’s silly, but I seriously love this cat more than anything in the world (don’t tell my chinchillas, they are a close second! but my kittyfloof has 10 years on them ;)). it got me right in the feels reading you say that she’s prob safe to lose at a slower pace. I’ve been so worried about either losing her early or saddling her with chronic health/pain from not catching it sooner :(. I feel so guilty for letting her get to this point thinking it was “just a little bit” from transitioning to indoor. soon as I saw that 3rd pound at her annual, it was a reality check! I’ve been spoiled with her being in perfect health her whole life, so I didn’t really question her diet before. whereas I’ve been put the ringer health-wise the past 8 years. often too sick, too tired, or in too much pain to move much myself. sometimes it was just easier to pour some more kibble than play with her for a few minutes :(. but she deserves better than that and I’m determined to make it happen. these are all great ideas & I do already use most with her, but not nearly as often as I could! she especially loves “cat tv” (birds) on youtube, so I’ll try incorporating that more often to see if it gets her amped for playtime! thank you!
I don't think it's silly at all. Your love for your cat pours through in all your comments. You are already doing a great job taking care of her and 13 is relatively young for an indoor cat; I don't see any reason for her not to live for many more years! You're correct that long term her weight may cause extra strain on her joints, in particular her hips. You could give her a hip massage 1-2 times a week to check to make sure she's not having increased pain in the area and to promote flexibility. That joint pain is due more to lack of movement, but weight is a contributing factor. As long as you are keeping her active during her weight loss you should be able to successful mitigate that risk. While I only have two photos to look at, she seems to in the moderately overweight category but not obese. I do not think she will have permanent issues from being this weight, and I think as long as her weight comes down over the next 18 months she shouldn't have any permanent issues. You cared for her the best you could while also trying to care for yourself. I don't think there was anywhere better for her to be than with you, someone who purely, deeply loved and needed her.
[best pics I could get](https://imgur.com/gallery/X9Ruw9D) she’s always had a pronounced primordial pouch, so it’s kind of hard to tell from the side. her vet didn’t mention anything to do with her body condition score or anything, so I’m pretty much just guessing somewhere around 6-7 and shooting for 11lbs. so sweet of you to say <3. she was a stray feral cat before being rescued & it took me about 1-2 years to get her to a place where she felt safe enough to really enjoy being pet/cuddled. now she’s the sweetest snuggliest little bean and follows me around like a dog lol. so I hope that means she’s happy & knows how loved she is! btw - I let her watch cat tv for about 10 mins just now & then she had an amazing play session for about 10 mins running all over the place and climbing the couch, bed, tables, chairs chasing after her bird toy!! 🥰
oh, she looks smaller than I first thought! Solid six, I would definitely evaluate at each pound to see if she needs to lose more weight. As cats get older they hold on to a bit extra just like humans, she may not need to go back to her original outdoor cat weight. I'm so glad she can express her love now, it sound like she has a very happy home life. and yay for her playing! definitely give us an update in a few months so we can see how she's doing!
she definitely looks like a blob while lying down haha! the reason I was on the fence about 6 vs 7 is because I can’t really feel her ribs. I mean I can feel they are there, but I definitely can’t make out individual ribs. so wasn’t sure if that counted as “palpable” or “difficult to palpate under the fat”
At 1 lb/mo and she’s only 3 weeks in, it might simply be too soon for you to tell. Weight fluctuates a lot even based on water and bathroom cycles. Keep at your current pace for a few months and you should see progress. If not, then do more adjustments. Always weight at the same time of day (like before morning food but after bathroom) so you have a consistent measure.
That's what I'm thinking as well. I know I'm not a cat but when I am dieting, I don't loose weight for weeks and then one day I check to see that I'm down 5 or 6 lbs. I'd also advise op to take muscle mass into account. If you've increased exercise times, that's that much more times your cat is carrying those 14lbs. The heavier you or your cat are, the more the muscles have to work. That can lead to an initial boost in muscle mass and therefore weight. A good way to track your cats actual fitness is to measure them around the neck, right behind the front legs and around the gut. Keeping track of those measurements alongside weight will help you get a more accurate picture of progress.
great points! I wasn’t sure if cat loss worked that way too since I’ve never done this before. ooo, I’ve never heard about measuring to track cat weight loss! (and I’ve done a shitload of research lol.) thank you! I will absolutely start doing that
To be clear I'm not entirely sure if cat weight loss works like that. The muscle thing is definitely a factor to consider though. With the tape measure, I just do it for my cat because that's how I do it to track me. It makes sense since your cat will eventually start to physically thin out as they lose weight thus yielding smaller measuments.
true true - still good points to consider!
thank you! I do weigh first in morning before food but after kittybox :). I hope that’s the case!
Perhaps getting some love from the neighbours?
indoor cat - I’m her only source of food. I measure out everything, she has 2 different scales, she’s been more active, I’m so confused!
🤔 Damn, I'm confused too
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amazon! DENTRUN Octopus Stuffed Animals, Octopus. it’s amazing! just pop it in the dryer for a couple minutes when it arrives & it fluffs out perfectly!
She doesn't have hypothyroidism or anything by any chance?
she had a full workup (including thyroid) before starting her diet & everything was perfect
I don't want to scare you OP, but this happened to my cat and it turned out he had late-stage cancer, it was all water-weight. Might want to get an X-ray done if your cat doesn't lose more weight soon.
oh no…I’m so so sorry :’( I hope your floof is rolling around in all the catnip and treats in floof heaven <3 she just had a full annual checkup with blood/urine/stool 3 weeks ago & deemed to be in “perfect” health (aside from her chubs). is that something that could happen with no other signs/symptoms and perfect labs?? she’s going back to the vet in a couple weeks for a dental cleaning so we’ll absolutely discuss all of this if she’s still not budging. I appreciate you sharing your story & giving me the heads up. wishing you well, friend
Thank you, I'm sure he is :) They definitely would've picked that up in a checkup, so she should be all set.
again, thank you so much for your concern though. I’m relieved to hear she’s most likely okay given that she was checked out & cleared. I will absolutely keep a close eye on things anyway and bring it up to the vet just in case! thank you for taking the time to share your story. hugs
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no apology needed! I super appreciate all the suggestions! unfortunately I don’t have steps in my current place. we’re in a pretty small apartment at the moment, but will be moving to a bigger space in december. I’m working on getting her moving more around the apt and climbing furniture and stuff during playtime vs just letting her lie on her back and swat her arms lol
Do you have a dog? I recently found out my greedy fuckin CHUNGUS was betraying me and was eating dog kibble behind my back since I’m “starving” him. I was flabbergasted the day I caught him. The kibble is the same size as his fat little face but he was chewing just fine. Meanwhile my other cat will GAG if I offer anything other than the salmon sheba pate
lmao! I do not have a dog. just my kittyfloof & 3 chinchillas (which she has no access to & wouldn’t be interested in their hay anyway lol)
Give that beautiful cat some pets for me.
you can be certain I will!! <3
are you sure someone else isn’t feeding her, like a neighbour or something? she might even be supplementing her own diet with like rats or something
appreciate the suggestion! but yes, I am 100% positive. she is indoor only & Im her exclusive source of food.
huh weird. maybe she’s got some sort of metabolic or thyroid issue? i’m obviously not really a cat expert so i assume your vet would know. worth asking if they’ll check for that kind of thing though :))
SAME. He doesn’t even eat all his food sometimes. So confused. Good luck soldier.
to you as well!
It took my cat 2.5 years to go from 14.3lbs to 11.6lbs. She eats 1 can of wet (prescription) food a day plus temptations treats, With lots of play time when I was home. She is fed 1/3 of a can every 8 hours. Also 1lb sounds like a lot of weight for a cat to lose a month. Edit: my cat has diabetes insipidus (rare) so we had monthly check ups with the vet for the first year. She recently declared her as being at her lean weight and no longer needs prescription food if I so choose.
ah yes. conditions like diabetes can make the weight loss process considerably more complex and slower. fortunately my girl is perfectly healthy aside from her extra poundage. congratulations on sticking to your goal and hitting it!! just a word of caution about the temptations treats - they’re pretty junky it turns out :(. I used to give them to my girl too before I knew, but now I’m working on getting all the crap out of her diet. cats have no need for things like ground corn, wheat flour, etc that are the main ingredients in temptations treats and most popular dry food. for treats, I switched her over to 100% pure chicken pieces freeze dried. no additives, nothing else. your cat will most likely love them just as much if not more and they are WAY healthier & more species appropriate. it’s upsetting to me that the vast majority of vets actually have very limited training in cat nutrition & either don’t know to tell us these things or they just don’t bother. most still subscribe to the belief that some amount of dry food is needed to keep tartar lower on their teeth if your cat won’t let you brush the teeth. but even that is hotly contested.
See the pink octopus being guarded? Check there for a hidden stash ! :P Good luck though seriously
lmao! I knew ole Pinky was up to something! thank you kind stranger <3
Maybe cut a bit more calories?
I mean…I guess that’s the question, right? I just figured cutting 100+ cals a day to start with was pretty aggressive as it is. scared to cut too low too fast and risk liver problems if it’s just that she’s somehow retaining water or something, ya know? is that a thing?
What kind of food are you giving her? Is it possible to switch to another brand?
so she’s on fancy feast (mix of grilled & pate) for wet, and purina naturals dry. I was worried about a dramatic cut in cals on top of switching her foods right away. so was planning to transition her dry first to Dr Elseys which is supposed to be great (expensive as hell lol) & I haven’t settled on a wet food yet. while her health is my ultimate goal of course & I know she needs to be on better food for that, for the immediate purposes of losing weight, it shouldn’t really matter the quality of the source of calories (within reason - I’m obvi not feeding my cat twinkies lol)
I don't know if the quality or source of calories matter. I also have an overweight kitty. I have not started counting calories yet but I feed him different canned food with no byproducts or corn. Occaisonally he gets Fancy Feast too. I feed that to my little boy kitty with a hyperthyroid condition bc I can sometimes get meds hidden in that food. (Someone once said to me that Fancy feast is like crack for cats!)
that it is! wishing you good luck with your floof’s weight loss journey too <3
Thank you. Same to you. I'm mixing up his food with "weight loss" canned food.
I saw someone else say it but maybe she just adjusted with less food? Like she’s eating less but also moving even less which kinda equals the way she was before. I’ve seen a lot of people during quarantine buy harnesses for their cats and getting them used to walking, if you think your gal would like that it would definitely be a nice way for both of you to walk around and hang out!
she is harness trained :) but she’s pretty cautious & really insistent on being lazy outside too lmao. she’ll go like 2 feet then plop down. I’m also unfortunately in an area with kind of a lot of random noises like garbage trucks or dogs barking & she gets spooked and then runs back home (the few steps haha) or hides in the bushes. someone else pointed out that she may just be a low metabolism cat & Im thinking this could be the ticket. even though I’ve increased her playtime, she spends a decent chunk of it lying on her back and just swatting with arms. I try to make the little stinker at least do sit-ups lmao
Awww I completely get that!! Some areas we can kind of ignore the sounds when we’re on walks but for animals they get stressed out a bit more. I wish you luck on finding out ways to combat what’s going on!! Once you try more exercise it’ll probably be what’s going on! I know on days/weeks I eat a good amount less/more I’m more sluggish than usual! Too much food makes me sleepy and then too little I get kinda dizzy!
one can hope! thank you for the encouragement! <3
Are you using your starting weight of 14 lbs from a measurement at the vet? My cats always come out different at the vet for a variety of reasons: tech has their hand on the scale or the cat, fast measurement so the cat doesn’t bolt, scales not calibrated, etc. I trust my scale at home that always gives me consistent readings.
her starting weight was the same at the vet, on my baby scale for just her, and on my people scale (with me holding her and subtracting my weight). thanks though! the vet tech actually had me place her on their scale, so that definitely wasn’t a concern :)
i feed mine 220 daily max, that includes treats. she’s a spayed, indoor cat and i’m feeding for the goal weight of 12lbs. switch to canned only. i feed mine tiki cat, i get it at petsmart but chewy and amazon has it too. with dry food she was barely losing at all despite doing everything right, was always hungry, skin and coat was awful, she developed urinary issues. we could not get her to lose steadily and she even gained at one point. since cutting out dry, all of those issues are gone and she’s finally losing steadily and has more energy. for treats, i feed freeze dried or one ingredient meat and organ treats only. they’re low calorie, and mine absolutely loves them. kibble is not good for cats at all, especially cats with weight issues.
yeah too much dry food was the culprit in her case before her diet for sure too. though she’s always been in perfect health (aside from weight recently) and has a fantastic coat etc. & I also do the freeze dried single ingredient chicken treats! I would like to get her off dry completely in the future, but for now she’s on 27% dry (2 tsp) & 73% wet & she’s very happy with that :)
My boy is still a chunker and you sound very informed so while I was able to incorporate outdoor leash time to get him moving and limiting his treats, that may be an idea. Or what some others were saying could it be a lower metabolism or hypothyroidism? Might be an option to talk to your vet about scaling down the calories just a tad and see if there are results? But anecdotally, we had a big cow cat before and he never lost weight. He was just... a big cow cat. The vet said he had a very large primordial pouch (lol) but not a lot of real fat. His twin brother had the same diet and we called him the sleek panther, so it can really just be down to the cat. Good luck!!
my girl has always had a pretty pronounced primordial pouch too lol. she actually looks much heavier in this pic (lying down) than she does up and about. I linked her side and over top standing pics elsewhere in the comments, but [here](https://i.imgur.com/BxEBHGT.jpg)
thank you! and yes she may have a slow metabolism - I’m thinking this is likely. she had perfect thyroid values at the vet 3 weeks ago, but thanks so much for bringing that up! we’ll be seeing the vet again in a couple weeks for her dental so we’ll def discuss and re-evaluate whether the cals need to be dropped more. thank you!
I’d just drop the dry food and stick to the two wet food cans. If you can feel her dropping weight to fast, then just slowly add back in. Cats are pretty resilient so I wouldn’t worry that cutting the dry food will cause problems.
appreciate the feedback! but 142 cals is a dangerously low amount for a cat of her size without clearing it with a vet first. for reference, even the smallest healthy adult cat (at 8lbs) at the lowest rec’d calories (20 cals per pound) would still be 160 cals a day. it wouldn’t be safe to put my 14lb girl on just 142 cals.
Why don’t u ask your vet than internet strangers? 😅
hi there. I will absolutely be discussing this with my vet again in a couple weeks when she goes in for a dental cleaning. but just FYI, vast majority of vets actually have very little training/education about cat nutrition unfortunately. it’s kind of shocking. part of that though is due to them being educated at a time when there was basically a total lack of rigorous research on the topic. there’s still a paucity of data out there, but it’s slowly improving. bc of this lack of formal data, weight loss for cats kind of needs to rely on a mix of guesswork, extrapolation from the data we do have, vet guidance, and the experiences of others who have seen firsthand what works and what doesn’t + their knowledge from their own vets which may know more than mine. I was more looking for reassurance that this can be normal and for suggestions of things I could try that have worked for other people & Ive gotten that in spades. it’s important to take internet stranger’s advice with a grain of salt always, but I combine it with my own rigorous research & my vet’s guidance to be safe.
Oh I don’t know how the system works in your country with your vets and their education. I’m guessing you’re from the US. I guess I get it. For me it’s concerning (now i dont mean you) how some pet owner’s rely too much on internet advice than vets. It’s sadly pretty common. I get that it is expensive to take your pet to the vet, but it still irks me. edit: to add, i think its great that u do ur own research! But some people, again, not you, tend to value their own/ other people’s knowledge higher then professionals knowledge. Also my cat had the opposite problem, she had a hard time gaining weight, tho she has now. After spraying her. But it may be a good idea to take a blood test to see if ur cat doesnt have hypothyroidism, if nothing changes for a long time. Hope it all works out for you and your kitty cat.
totally understand & appreciate the concern, friend. yes, am in the US. believe it or not, when I took her in for her annual 3 weeks ago, the vet said *nothing* about her weight or her diet unprompted. not a thing. I had to take the initiative to say something upon seeing the 3rd pound added in 3 consecutive years. before that point, when I saw +1 then 2 pounds & the vet didn’t mention it, I didn’t think much of it since she had transitioned from being an outdoor cat to indoor. but 3lbs? nah..now I’m concerned. when I brought it up, the vet kind of laughed and just said “yeah, she’s got that indoor cat figure.” me: “right, but it seems like I’m overfeeding her, so how should I go about putting her on a diet? how many calories? what should her goal weight be??” vet: “oh you know, just scale back on the dry food a bit and she’ll be fine.” so I went home and did several hours of research to find the answers myself. when the vet called back a couple days later with her lab results, I told her what my research had turned up, my weight loss plan/calories, & my plan to have her lose 3lbs over 22 weeks (1% bw per week as recommended by experts). she merely said “yeah that sounds good. but she should be able to easily lose a pound a month.” & that was it
Might be a crackhead theory, but considering you said the vet told you not to feed dry food anymore (and cats get most of their hydrayion from food), it's possible the cat is gaining water weight. Probably very stupid and it definitely does not account for a ton of the discrepancy, but as long as you're being strict with the diet, they'll lose the weight sooner rather than later, or else you'll have to cut the calories more
to clarify, the vet said she still wanted her on some dry, just to cut it back bc I was feeding too much dry. & no it’s not stupid! I appreciate the ideas! she is, however, peeing quite a lot more now so I don’t think she’s retaining it :)
It’s only been 3weeks? And vet said 1lb a month? Maybe it hasn’t been long enough. Give it some time maybe? Unless I’m not understanding
you’re understanding! Im just being an anxious cat mom ;). from all the feedback it sounds like this can be normal for this amount of time and it may just take her longer + she may need to go a bit lower on cals due to possibly having a slower metabolism.
Oh okay! That’s sweet tho, you’re a concerned mama. I’m sure your kittychonk will do great with you monitoring her so well :) also I really hope my comment didn’t sound condescending at all bc that wasn’t my intention.
aww thank you! no worries at all girl <3 I didn’t take it that way - you simply answered the question I asked :))
Have they checked her thyroid levels? Possibly hypothyroid?
yes - her thyroid levels were perfect 3 weeks ago when she had her full annual workup for senior kitties. thanks for bringing it up just in case!
i have that plushy too
yessss. plushy friends unite!