How to put cat on short rations?

Milo had his routine checkup at the vet yesterday, and she told me
I'm overfeeding him. (He's a 5-6 on the weight scale, but he produces
a *lot* of poop. He weighs 11 pounds, and he' a 1-year-old neutered
male, 100% indoor cat.)

She said the Purina folks overstate the feeding levels because they
want to sell more cat food, and I should be feeding him only 3/4 of a
cup per day. (When I let him have as much as he likes, he went
through a cup a day or a little more.)

But here's my problem -- he is not *at*all* happy about having his
feeding level cut back. He's been bugging me all day. Some of it is
that he always has seemed to feel insecure if his dish is empty, but
I'm sure some is that he's just used to eating more. How can I cut
back on his food without having a ticked-off cat?

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com
Shikata ga nai...

On Sun, 10 Aug 2008 23:48:09 -0400, Stan Brown
wrote:

Milo had his routine checkup at the vet yesterday, and she told me
I'm overfeeding him. (He's a 5-6 on the weight scale, but he produces
a *lot* of poop. He weighs 11 pounds, and he' a 1-year-old neutered
male, 100% indoor cat.)

She said the Purina folks overstate the feeding levels because they
want to sell more cat food, and I should be feeding him only 3/4 of a
cup per day. (When I let him have as much as he likes, he went
through a cup a day or a little more.)

But here's my problem -- he is not *at*all* happy about having his
feeding level cut back. He's been bugging me all day. Some of it is
that he always has seemed to feel insecure if his dish is empty, but
I'm sure some is that he's just used to eating more. How can I cut
back on his food without having a ticked-off cat?

Add water to the food (Wet food not Dry) this fools a cat into
thinking it's full as well as being better for them. If you can add
hot water to make food blood temp.

Also use a plate not a bowl cats whiskers put off a cat if they touch
side of bowl (I use disposable party plates myself)

..
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

Add water to the food (Wet food not Dry) this fools a cat into
thinking it's full as well as being better for them. If you can add
hot water to make food blood temp.

I agree with Petzi. When I put my cat on a diet, I switched to an all-
wet diet, and added extra water to the food. See how I did it at his
web site: http://community-2.webtv.net/getcathelp/tucker/

I tried cutting back dry food and it was nothing but misery for me and
the cat.

"Stan Brown" wrote :

How can I cut
back on his food without having a ticked-off cat?


You're kidding, right? You can't.

When I first put Boo on a controlled, all canned diet, 12 hour feedings, I
thought she was going to kill me in my sleep. Buck up, you can deal with it.
She lost 9 lbs, half her body weight in a year (about as fast as any cat can
lose without risking health) and feels and looks much better.

On Sun, 10 Aug 2008 23:48:09 -0400, Stan Brown
wrote:

Milo had his routine checkup at the vet yesterday, and she told me
I'm overfeeding him. (He's a 5-6 on the weight scale, but he produces
a *lot* of poop. He weighs 11 pounds, and he' a 1-year-old neutered
male, 100% indoor cat.)

She said the Purina folks overstate the feeding levels because they
want to sell more cat food, and I should be feeding him only 3/4 of a
cup per day. (When I let him have as much as he likes, he went
through a cup a day or a little more.)

But here's my problem -- he is not *at*all* happy about having his
feeding level cut back. He's been bugging me all day. Some of it is
that he always has seemed to feel insecure if his dish is empty, but
I'm sure some is that he's just used to eating more. How can I cut
back on his food without having a ticked-off cat?


I had to put my overweight cat on a diet, too. I just gradually reduced
the amount of dry food over about 2 or 3 months, down to 1/2 cup/day.
She's 100% indoors, and gets little to no exercise.

The kitty was hungry, but she didn't die, or get angry with me: quite
the contrary. She got friendlier, to try to entice me into feeding her
'early'.

"Stan Brown" wrote in message
t...
Milo had his routine checkup at the vet yesterday, and she told me
I'm overfeeding him. (He's a 5-6 on the weight scale, but he produces
a *lot* of poop. He weighs 11 pounds, and he' a 1-year-old neutered
male, 100% indoor cat.)

She said the Purina folks overstate the feeding levels because they
want to sell more cat food, and I should be feeding him only 3/4 of a
cup per day. (When I let him have as much as he likes, he went
through a cup a day or a little more.)

What exactly are you feeding him? Some version of Purina?
If he's producing a lot of poop, that means he's eating a low-quality diet
full of undigstible fill. He needs a higher-quality diet, one that will make
him feel more satisfied and will be better digested - less poop and a
not-hungry cat.

"Stan Brown" wrote in message
t...
Milo had his routine checkup at the vet yesterday, and she told me
I'm overfeeding him. (He's a 5-6 on the weight scale, but he produces
a *lot* of poop. He weighs 11 pounds, and he' a 1-year-old neutered
male, 100% indoor cat.)

She said the Purina folks overstate the feeding levels because they
want to sell more cat food, and I should be feeding him only 3/4 of a
cup per day. (When I let him have as much as he likes, he went
through a cup a day or a little more.)

But here's my problem -- he is not *at*all* happy about having his
feeding level cut back. He's been bugging me all day. Some of it is
that he always has seemed to feel insecure if his dish is empty, but
I'm sure some is that he's just used to eating more. How can I cut
back on his food without having a ticked-off cat?

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com
Shikata ga nai...

Picking up on the insecurity thing: I'm trying this with my 'stocky' tortie
(imagine a tortie wombat . . ): every time she whinges about the empty dish,
I pick her up for a cuddle and pay her some attention - sometimes that's all
she's looking for, a bit of attention. Cat feeding time is one of those
moments when the cat has most of your attention, and some of them get to
like it and will manipulate you to deliver. This picking up for a cuddle
business could, of course, turn into a problem of its own, especially if she
doesn't shed a few kilos. She's not the sort of cat you want to pick up
without making sure your knees are well flexed. My main problem is that
she's not only stocky, she's not so young either and she's on the Hills TD
for her teeth. That stuff is really fattening, and if there was any doubt
about that, the grease spots it leaves on the newspaper are a bit of a
giveaway. Mind you, she can still burst through the cat door like a guided
missile when the Invisible Masked Avenger Cat is on her tail . . .
bp