Expert: Ali - 2/18/2009

Question
QUESTION: hi... i have a female spayed cat, she is now 1 year and 8 months old, I feel like she has got somehow fat in like the last 4 months, am trying to get her eat less but actually she doesn't eat that much that make her getting fat.
she eats cats food only and she doesn't like any other kinds of food, she eats the canned and the dry food.
Please tell me how could i make her loose weight or at least not gain more weight

ANSWER: Rawd,

Playtime is a fabulous way of keeping an indoor kitty's figure healthy. You can alter her diet to a lower calorie food which contains more fiber to help her feel fuller, but if she's eating a lower quality food she may be trying to satisfy nutritional needs. I would recommend that you check out a site on cat nutrition written by a veterinarian, catinfo.org. This site was recommended to me by my veterinarian when I became totally disillusioned with the pet food industry and didn't know what to feed my cats. If feeding the diet described on this site isn't something that you're comfortable with you can certainly feed a high quality, holistic food made from human grade ingredients. I know of two pet food manufacturers that fit this bill, Wellness and Spot's Stew by Halo. Wellness is a very high quality food, but the manufacturer designed the diet to be fed as a canned/dry mix so there is potentially a cost issue. I feed Spot's Stew Sensitive Cat by Halo to my resident cats. A 6 lb bag costs roughly $25 CAN and lasts my 3 resident cats for roughly a month which means that in a single cat home the same bag of food would last for about 3 months. Feeding a higher quality food has some advantages, for one thing the better the food that your cat eats the healthier she will be over the long term. Cats eating high quality foods also eat less because they don't need as much to meet their nutritional needs and their litter box offerings are less frequent and far less smelly.

Switching to a high quality diet may help your little girl maintain a more girlish figure, especially if you combine good nutrition with 20 minutes or so of interactive play time each day (more time is better if you are able to make the time). Toys like kitten mittens, kitty teases and laser toys all make for good interactive toys. Having small toys that your kitty can bat around and carry on her own time will encourage her to play more as well. Toys don't have to be pricey, sometimes things like a ball of crumpled paper or tin foil are all that a cat needs to be entertained. My cats like toilet paper rolls and the plastic strapping used to bind phone books together and these toys are all free! I do recommend that you consider carefully what your cat's toys will sound like at 3 am if she gets the urge to play because cats can be awfully good at hiding a noisy toy so that you can't find it and then playing with it all night long. Another fairly cheap and popular toy is a foam ping pong shaped ball, it bounces and my cats love to chase it around, of course it also has the added bonus of being a quiet toy. Your cat may also enjoy the plastic rings that come off of juice containers, they provide my cats with hours of entertainment at no cost to me, but be sure to inspect them regularly for signs of wear and replace them if they appear damaged. It's important to never allow your cat to play with string, thread, ribbons or yarn because these toys can be dangerous if swallowed, in fact your cat may require costly surgery to remove them if they become entangled in her digestive tract. Small toys that your cat could possibly swallow shouldn't be given to her without supervision. Little toy mice made from rabbit fur and fitted with kitty litter are also popular toys. I suspect that with some dietary changes and adding a feline exercise program to your cat's life she'll soon be thinner and healthier. I'm more than willing to provide you with additional information on nutrition, toys and ways to encourage your cat to play if you'd like.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi again..I guess i forgot to mention before that my cat likes to play a lot... she is welling to run after any thing you through, she plays like all day time, and i play with her to make sure that she is jumping and running for like 60 times each day.
but she is still can't loose weight.
lately i started not to feed her after 8:00 p.m and not before 11:00 a.m.
she is not that much fat but she started gain weight in the last 4 months.
I feed her Friskies, whisks and fancy for dry and canned food,actually i couldn't find any other brands here, so are these brands good or you suggest to start doing home made food for her, and if i wanted to start the home made food so what do u suggest for the recipe.
and please how many meals should i give her per day
thanks Ali

Answer
Rawd,

I would recommend that you check out catinfo.org, this site was written by a veterinarian and is very informative. You can get recipes and recommendations on this site for homemade diets although if that's not feasible for one reason or another I would recommend that you go to your local pet supply stores and look for foods like Wellness or Spot's Stew by Halo, these foods are both made from human grade ingredients and are holistically formulated. Wellness is meant to be fed as a mix of canned and dry food so you may find it a bit pricier than Spot's Stew. I feed Spot's Stew Sensitive Cat by Halo and I also supplement my cats' diets with fresh, organic raw meats and other human foods instead of canned foods. You should be able to find these foods in independent pet supply stores, I would recommend that you consider trying to feed a well formulated pet food made from human grade ingredients rather than feeding low quality foods like Friskies, Whiskas and Fancy Feast. The foods I've recommended are generally well received and palatable for the cats I've tried on them so far. As for the right amount to feed your cat I would recommend that you try following the recommended amounts generally found on the back of the package - my vet recommends that you actually give 10% less than the manufacturer recommends to avoid kitty health issues related to obesity.

The reason that your kitty is likely struggling with her weight is because the lower quality foods often have ingredients in them that cats can't actually break down or use so your cat has to eat more in order to sort of meet her nutritional needs. Feeding a higher quality food in measured amounts will mean that she eats less but gets more out of her food which means that if she continues to play she'll lose weight over time. You don't want your kitty to lose weight too rapidly because this can result in serious health problems. It's worth talking to your vet and having blood work done to ensure that your kitty doesn't have any underlying health issues like diabetes or thyroid dysfunction. If your vet pronounces your kitty healthy then you can go ahead and treat her with a change of diet, but be sure to do the switch over gradually to avoid diarrea. My cats are free fed, however their food is measured and their weight is monitored closely, if there is an issue with a kitty gaining too much weight I tend to feed a bit less, you can choose to feed your kitty two to four meals a day and just measure out her food ration to make sure she's getting an equal amount at each meal, but I'd recommend that you allow her to be free fed if you continue to feed a commercially produced food rather than a homemade diet. You'll have to practice tough love if you do feed commercially available foods and your kitty finishes her daily allowance of food before the day is over, don't allow her to con you into refilling her dish, her needs will be met by a high quality food and she won't need more, she'll just ask for it because she can.