Expert: Jana Connell RVT, CVT - 10/7/2011

Question
My cat is getting chunky How do I
get him started on a diet He is getting Purina senior

Also,I know most cats will get kidney disease At what
point should I start a yearly kidney blood test

Answer
Yes seventeen pounds is past chunky and into obese. Your cat needs to helped to lose weight slowly and carefully on a prescription diet or at least a reduced fat diet.

Hill's makes R/D for cats that you can get at your vets after you have the vet look the cat over and make sure that he is not having any other issues.

R/D will help him lose slowly and prevent liver disease which is a common problem for obese cats that lose weight too fast.

You can also do this at home on your own with Science Diet Adult Light formula for cats.

http://www.hillspet.com/products/sd-feline-adult-light-cat-food-dry.html

Now it says it's for cats under 7 but for the short time you will feed it it will not hurt your cat at all. I have mine on Sensitive skin because the senior doesn't agree with her skin issues and she is fine on that.

This food, if fed as directed on the bag, will help your cat lose safely. It will also give you tips on the website on how to make your cat more active and help with the weight loss. Make sure you weigh your cat at the start and then every week, but not daily.

I have seen the results from this food and it DOES work. I have compared the calories from it to every other 'reduced fat' food on the market for cats and this is the lowest of all of them.

So get some at your vets, pet or feed store and then weigh your cat. Slowly add this food over a 7 day period by the chart I will include.

After 7 days he will be only on the SC light and will start losing.

Purina foods are full of fat and junk ingredients and a pet must eat a lot to meet their energy (energy to be alive) needs. So they eat and eat and get fat instead of healthy.

Give this food a try for at least a month and you will see a huge difference. If not, it's 100% guaranteed. Take it back, or the empty bag and get a refund.

As far as kidney health goes, Science Diet formulas are all geared toward keeping the kidneys healthy. The protein content and other ingredients in Purina foods are not. Not all cats get kidney disease either. It is estimated that 25% of them do. I had two cats get it and they were well past the age of the average cat- 19 and 15. So it's a consequence of aging more than a disease issue when they are that old.

Please let me know how it goes in a month or if you have any other questions.