Seriously Overweight Kitten

Hi,

My daughter and her roommate have two kittens, about 8
or 9 months old. One has become seriously overweight.
With one cat they can limit food but with two I don't know
what you do. The cats are unattended when the girls are
at work. They are left with food.

The overweight fellow has always been the less energetic
of the two which is likely part of the problem.

Thanks,
Gary

Response to "Gary Brown" :

Hi,

Hi!

My daughter and her roommate have two kittens, about 8
or 9 months old. One has become seriously overweight.
With one cat they can limit food but with two I don't know
what you do. The cats are unattended when the girls are
at work. They are left with food.

The overweight fellow has always been the less energetic
of the two which is likely part of the problem.

I guess you are asking how to limit the grub to the chubby kitty?

They could feed the healthier one separately from the chubby kitty.
Or leave food out that is not excessive in amount and feed skinny
kitty again later by them self.

Alternatively or in addition to a rigorous feeding schedule they
could find the toys that chubby kitty enjoys and use them non-stop.

More effort, but definitely worth it -- for everyone.

Hope that helps, Gary.

--
-Lost
Remove the extra words to reply by e-mail. Don't e-mail me. I am
kidding. No I am not.

On May 14, 12:41*am, "Gary Brown" wrote:
Hi,

My daughter and her roommate have two kittens, about 8
or 9 months old. *One has become seriously overweight.
With one cat they can limit food but with two I don't know
what you do. *The cats are unattended when the girls are
at work. *They are left with food.

Your daughter needs to feed these kittens twice per day, about 12
hours apart, and feed them separately from each other. Either shut
them in separate rooms or feed the skinnier one on a counter or
platform that the overweight one can't reach. They don't need food
available all the time. I also recommend feeding them a high-quality
canned food diet and NO dry.

I hope you can help your daughter with these cats. If the kitten is
seriously overweight at such a young age, she's destined for a lot of
health problems.

Rene

"Gary Brown" wrote in message
...
Hi,

My daughter and her roommate have two kittens, about 8
or 9 months old. One has become seriously overweight.
With one cat they can limit food but with two I don't know
what you do. The cats are unattended when the girls are
at work. They are left with food.

The overweight fellow has always been the less energetic
of the two which is likely part of the problem.

Thanks,
Gary



PORTION CONTROL!!!!!!!

Free feeding frequently leads to fat cats. If the cat isn't active it might
only need 1/4 of a quality dry food a day if that. Wet is better but still
needs to be a measured amount and no snacking in between. You can recommend
they try to get the portly one to be more active but with my cats, at least,
the answer was to get the weight off first by strict portion control and
then the cat felt like being more active. The kitty will beg and use every
trick known to cats to convince their person that they are starving to
death. Cats are very good at doing a guilt trip. Their person must stay
strong and resist the sad sack eyes and pitiful cries.

As someone else said it's best to feed them separately lest the fat one
steal the other kitty's food. I have three and have to feed them in separate
locations because they are all on a different food. One I feed in a small
pin cage that I set up in the kitchen for this purpose, another eats in the
old feeding location and the third dines in the bathroom. Once they got used
to it none of the cats complained because finally they all got their full
portions and didn't lose some of their dinner to my formerly fat cat. Well
I can't say that none complained but he isn't complaining about the location
he eats his dinner in just that he's not free to scarf up the other cats
food.

W

"Gary Brown" wrote

My daughter and her roommate have two kittens, about 8
or 9 months old. One has become seriously overweight.
With one cat they can limit food but with two I don't know
what you do. The cats are unattended when the girls are
at work. They are left with food.

Hi Gary! Only one way to fix this up a bit. Doubtless others said it too,
but have to take to 2 feedings a day, about 12 hours apart. Also, helps
alot if you feed the fat one in another room and keep them in there till the
thin one is done.

I like to free feed too, but sometimes you have to adjust things a bit.
Cats in the wild dont have food out all the time. They hunt and have gaps.
It's not cruel to feed a decent food at a set schedule. Usually 3oz per
feeding if wet. I'm not really sure how much on dry as we use that just for
little noshes (ours is a little overweight but not by a great deal so has a
noshe kibble bowl, but mostly she waits for her wet).

The overweight fellow has always been the less energetic
of the two which is likely part of the problem.

;-) Yup. And just like people who are overweight, it's self reinforcing as
it's harder for the overweight fellow to be very active.

"cshenk" wrote in message
...
"Gary Brown" wrote

My daughter and her roommate have two kittens, about 8
or 9 months old. One has become seriously overweight.
With one cat they can limit food but with two I don't know
what you do. The cats are unattended when the girls are
at work. They are left with food.

Hi Gary! Only one way to fix this up a bit. Doubtless others said it
too, but have to take to 2 feedings a day, about 12 hours apart. Also,
helps alot if you feed the fat one in another room and keep them in there
till the thin one is done.

I like to free feed too, but sometimes you have to adjust things a bit.
Cats in the wild dont have food out all the time. They hunt and have
gaps. It's not cruel to feed a decent food at a set schedule. Usually 3oz
per feeding if wet. I'm not really sure how much on dry as we use that
just for little noshes (ours is a little overweight but not by a great
deal so has a noshe kibble bowl, but mostly she waits for her wet).


This is exactly what we did to get our tuxedo cat down from 18 lbs to 9
lbs, where she has stayed. Her former owner had been free-feeding her
"diet" Iams dry food.

"cybercat" wrote

gaps. It's not cruel to feed a decent food at a set schedule. Usually
3oz per feeding if wet. I'm not really sure how much on dry as we use
that

This is exactly what we did to get our tuxedo cat down from 18 lbs to 9
lbs, where she has stayed. Her former owner had been free-feeding her
"diet" Iams dry food.

Do you know perchance how much is right if dry fed? I've not had to deal
with that much. All my kitties have been able to free-feed dry with a wet
at night (and now with Daisy, wet in morning as well).

"cshenk" wrote in message
...
"cybercat" wrote

gaps. It's not cruel to feed a decent food at a set schedule. Usually
3oz per feeding if wet. I'm not really sure how much on dry as we use
that

This is exactly what we did to get our tuxedo cat down from 18 lbs to 9
lbs, where she has stayed. Her former owner had been free-feeding her
"diet" Iams dry food.

Do you know perchance how much is right if dry fed? I've not had to deal
with that much. All my kitties have been able to free-feed dry with a wet
at night (and now with Daisy, wet in morning as well).
I sure don't, sorry. Oh, and I wanted to mention, 3 oz may be a bit on the
low side
for the 12-hour feedings. My petite girl cats get 3.5 oz twice a day when
they eat
canned only. I imagine larger, younger cats may need more.

"cybercat" wrote

Do you know perchance how much is right if dry fed? I've not had to deal
with that much.
..
I sure don't, sorry. Oh, and I wanted to mention, 3 oz may be a bit on the
low side for the 12-hour feedings. My petite girl cats get 3.5 oz twice a
day when they eat canned only. I imagine larger, younger cats may need
more.

Thats fair! I put about 1/4 cup dry kibble (current is Iams) out for
munchies and seem to need to add more every other day. If I feed Daisy more
than about 3 oz wet, she leaves the rest then will later come back to it.
If she doesnt come back and munch it up within 2 hours, I let Cash (beagle
mix) have at it. She simply will not eat it after that stage. He's always
happy if she's not too hungry g.