I took Oscar to the vet for her second steroid shot (she had an "indolent
ulcer" on her lower lip). The lip is doing great, but when the vet weighed
Oscar, she was eight and a half pounds. That would probably be great, except
that she was almost 10 pounds in early December, when I switched her to
Wellness canned food from Nutro dry. As the vet said, "Sometimes these wet
food diets work a little *too* well."

The vet agreed with me that Oscar's body is about ideal; she looks good,
but really shouldn't lose any more weight. So I'm bumping her from 1/3
can twice a day to 1/2 can x 2, so that she has opportunity to eat more
if she'd like. Sure, it wastes some food, but if if it keeps her on
track ... Oh, and I've definitely been supplementing her meals with
treats, which I'll continue to do.

I'm going to look into a pediatric scale. I can weigh Oscar at the vet's for
free, but the trip is traumatic. If I can't afford a scale, the vet suggested
bringing her in once a month for a weighing. Oscar has a healthy appetite, so
if she keeps losing, the vet would like to do some bloodwork "just in case."
I strongly suspect, though, that this is simply a reaction to her change in
diet. She's not getting as much filler crap as she was.

Anyone have any recommendations for scales? Is it okay to just look for the
cheapest one available, or are there quality/brand issues?

As the vet said, "We'd love it if our overweight cats would lose weight this
fast, but it always seems to be the ones who don't need to!"

--
monique, roommate of Oscar the (female) grouch
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eros was adopted! Eros has a home now! *cheer!*