Feeding an Overweight Cat?

Heather

May 7, 20070 found this helpful

Hello! My cat gains weight in winter(we don't let him out in the snow, less exercise), and we give him wet food when its time to lose weight. Someone told me dry food is full of corn (or other filler types) and its harder for them to process. It works every time! So thats my suggestion: WET CAT FOOD! you should be able to find coupons too, cheaper than buying iams or some fancy brand.

Michawn
Bronze Feedback Medal for All Time! 188 Feedbacks

May 7, 20070 found this helpful

Nope, not wet cat food only. Those too have fillers. And not ALL dry/kibble foods have an excess amount of fillers, a lot of the recalled ones were the lesser quality foods if you remember. It's because Wheat Gluten is used to replace what should be there, meat!!! Try a higher quality food, you'll be surprised.

After some issues with both of my cats, one getting fat and the other stressed I did some research on the internet and found out all foods are NOT equal. If you see chicken/beef etc. by product, you are feeding your cats/dogs anything that they want to grind up from the chicken, feathers, bones, lips etc!!! If you see chicken meal, what exactly is chicken meal anyway!!! Do you know?

Anyway, after some trials (one of our foods was recalled because of rice protein, the bag wasn't contaminated but the co. recalled all to make sure) we are with a great brand, Natural Balance. I am hoping that the Venison and Peas formula will be back soon, as it's the only non-prescription allergy formula available (and MUCH cheaper). They make their food with real ingredients, not a lot of fillers. And despite the higher cost, it costs me the same in the long run.

#1 They eat less, when there bodies have the right amount of nutrition they eat just what they need, when they are getting food full of fillers and such, they will continue to eat (getting fat)

#2 Since they eat less, an 6.6# bag lasts my two cats about 2 months, I would be constantly buying cheap food for them

#3 They stink WAY less and use the litter box WAY less (how nice is that!).

So before you go to a wet food only diet, try doing some research. Just because of bag of food costs "a lot of money" in the grocery store (ie. Iams) doesn't mean it's better for your animal. Try talking to some employees of pet stores or shelters, they'll give you better information.

Hope that helps.

P.S. I also bought my "fat" cat Sarabi a laser pointer and make sure to play with her often, since they are indoor cats they need exercise everyday.

P.S.S. Once you get a good food (most pet stores will let you bring the food back if your cat refuses to eat, but you have to be patient introducing new food) you need to look at the directions as to a base of how much to feed. See how that goes with your cat and adjust from there. Also, don't free feed, give the kitty the amount of food and nothing more. Because of the dynamics with my cats, we do free feed but have found that to be the best way. With 1 kitty you have an easier time monitoring their food.

I swear by Purina One dry cat food. Try the 30 day Purina One challenge and see what you think!

I recently took my cat to the animal hospital because of a severe infection. the vet couldnt believe that she was 13 yrs old. he told me she looks like a much younger cat! (Must take after me, huh? lol) She is an indoor cat who gets little exercise. I leave dry cat food out for her to eat whenever she wants.

Wow, thank you all for posting your input. i'll definitely have to see about all your suggestions. We've been feeding our cat dry food and she does very little exercise. We give her tuna time to time, but not always and she doesn't always eat wet cat food. we figured she was getting fat off the dry food that we leave for her, so we kinda portioned it off. but i guess we've been going around this all wrong. thanks a lot to all those who posted, it's very much appreciated. ^_^