Gatorsgal - Trust me, I worry too! I worry like crazy about my overweight cat, and really am trying!

Speaking of which, as a vet, how do you force a cat to exercise? No, seriously. He won't play with toys unless they are right in front of his face and he can lay on his back to bat at them...otherwise he ignores them totally. He will watch a laser pointer bounce around the room, but won't chase after it. The only exercise he gets is chasing after (and, regrettably, pouncing on and irritating) the other cat, who then hisses and hits him and so we try to prevent this as much as possible. Catnip on toys does not induce him to exercise. Interaction (and I try for at least 15-30 min a day with toys) does not induce him to exercise.

I am scared to death of him getting diabetes or heart disease from the weight, but I really can't fathom cutting his food back any more (the vet gave us a number of calories he should be eating, and we've already cut to almost 100 calories under that, he is eating high quality dry food because on the high quality wet food he gained even faster...).

Okay I think that makes 46.

12 + Gail's 3 + Kathy's 24 + Countingdown's 2 + Gator gal's 2 + Shy Moment's 1 + my 2 = 46. Winnie and Tiddles. I can't blame them on my obesity as we have only had them for about a year and a half. Although I do suspect that the cats ruined 3 different exercise balls.

I think there's a toy available for cats and dogs that you actually put the food in, and they have to work kind of hard to get the food out. I've seen these in a petstore once, but they weren't really aimed at weight loss, but to keep home-alone-pets occupied so they didn't do damage. I would think for weight loss, you'd actually have to buy enough toys so that their entire alottment of calories would fit inside. Otherwise, I think a fat animal would just eat out of the bowl and ignore the food puzzle. Putting in a tempting treat would sort of defeat the purpose.

I know on the documentary, it looked like the couple was getting as much exercise trying to get the cat to play, as the cat was.

Recap . . .

4 for Gail
2 for Mandalinn
1 for Kaplods
5 for Meg
24 for Kathy -- definitely think you are the winner (so far)
2 for Countingdown
2 for Gatorgal
1 for Shy
2 for Tammy
6 for Meowee (me)

49 Total so far

So . . . who have I got

JAZZ who is 13, a black Burmese (think they are called Bombays), he weighs about 9 pounds and has diabetes - I give him insulin twice a day. We share the disease, but not the needles - I have my own. :lol:

MOUSE who is 11, a great big hairy, totally grey, 15 pounder (but not fat) with a definite 'cattitude'. I have a friend who says it's because he knows he is named after a prey animal.

PURRECIOUS who is almost two and weighed about 7 pounds not that long ago, but has been packing on the weight since she was spayed. Must be a good 9 by now . . . haven't weighed her recently. She's a dilute calico and busy, busy, busy.

Then we have the triplets . . . six months old . . . Bengal Leopard Cats. FRECKLE (the male) is pushing 9 pounds; FRICK is about 7.5; FRACK is just a little over 5 (you'd think she was from a different litter from a size point of view). They all look so much alike I still have difficulty telling them apart unless I see them all together. They had a few nasty little problems at first, but since they've all been 'fixed' now, they finally seem to have the kitty litter figured out. :rolleyes:

Never a dull moment, that's for sure . . . :love: 'em all.

kaplods is right...there is a toy...and i recommend it. You put food in it...feed your cat in this instead of a bowl it will make him work for his food. Or place his food up high in multiple different areas so he has to work for them. also what food are you feeding. I highly recommend a diet food called m/d by hills or royal canin's high fiber. Its much better than otc weight control foods...can only get them thr a vet. Also, have your vet calculate what he should be eating, it will probably seem like an insanely small amount of food. And laser pointer his butt away. Anything for exercise. Another thing, if you have other cats that have regular food, sometimes you can cut holes out of boxes that are smaller than the fat cats head..that way, only the little guys can eat out of it.

Originally Posted by kaplods:
I think there's a toy available for cats and dogs that you actually put the food in, and they have to work kind of hard to get the food out. I've seen these in a petstore once, but they weren't really aimed at weight loss, but to keep home-alone-pets occupied so they didn't do damage. I would think for weight loss, you'd actually have to buy enough toys so that their entire alottment of calories would fit inside. Otherwise, I think a fat animal would just eat out of the bowl and ignore the food puzzle. Putting in a tempting treat would sort of defeat the purpose.

I know on the documentary, it looked like the couple was getting as much exercise trying to get the cat to play, as the cat was.

We have one for our dog, it's called a Buster Cube. It took a bit for him to get the idea, but he digs it now.

+1

I have my 10 year old cat, Puck. After spending the first part of her life as an outdoor cat with lots of land, she is now an apartment cat... she is fat and happy. We put her on a diet and she actually dropped a little weight, but now her belly hangs to and fro:lol:

It's been funny watching the new dog and her together. She is constantly trying to bait him so that he will cross into her "territory" and he loves "tattling" on her when she gets on the kitchen counter.

Gatorsgal - he is on m/d purchased from the vet, and we feed him about 75% of the calories our vet calculated with no weight loss to date. We feed them in separate rooms now so that he can't sneak any of his brother's (also vet diet urinary health because kitty #2 had a blocking problem once) food. The food we're giving him works out to 1/2 cup total daily, split into two 1/4 cup meals (AM and PM).

The other cat gets lots of exercise when we break out the laser pointer, anyway, so it can't be all bad. I'll keep going on it, and investigate the toy/cat food trap (actually, we're going - right now - to the pet store to look for it).

I swear I'm a responsible pet parent!

Hmmmm, let's see.... 2+2=4 + 1= 5 + 1= 6-1 = 5

OK, we now have 5 cats. I just had to put my 12 year old Molly cat down last week Wednesday, it was heartbreaking. I think she was hit by a car but don't know for sure, we found her in our garden planters before she died. We rushed her to the vet but we chose to euthanise since she was in so much pain. RIP Molly!

Other than that, we acquired "Evil Kitty" back in June, a now six-month old female calico, so-named because she was the only kitten in the house and therefore practiced her normal kitten behavior on us i.e. stalking and jumping on our legs, trying to bite, kick and wrestle with our passing feet or hands. Luckily she is growing out of that stage. On her good-behavior days her nickname is Evie.

Tiger, a gray tabby and Scully, Tiger's sister is a bobtail calico are our indoor cats along with Evil Kitty. Both are around 11 years old. Outside cats are Whiska's and Kitty Boy. Whiska's is Kitty Boy, Tiger and Scully's mom, but from different litters. Whiska's was abandoned by my neighbor when she was pregnant, so we basially took over care for her until she had a litter of 5. We got them all fixed then gave away 3 kittens. The other two stayed with us. **Tiger has a sleek, muscular body type while her littermate Scully is like a big fat saggy, baggy elephant. They eat the same food and stay in the same room. I always joke with my sister (the annoyingly slim one) that she is Tiger, and I am Scully, in reference to their weight and body size :lol:

We also have 2 dogs (Kai and Lucky) , 1 New Zealand white rabbit "Jimmy", because he was found at a neigborhood gym :rolleyes:, and Ginny Weasley, a guinea pig who we found around 2.5 months ago. She gave birth to 6 babies on Saturday.... suprise! :lol: Oh, and two beta fish. So yeah, my house has quite a menagerie.

Our cat is 16 - 24 oz overweight. She's still slim compared to my MIL's cat (nicknamed ChunkaLunka). She's a big-boned cat given the size of her paws, but still she shouldn't weigh twice what our cat does or more. Our cat weighs about 12 lbs, and ChunkaLunka has to weigh 25 lbs. She looks like Jabba the Cat.

I've been able to get about 1/2 lb off of our cat just by changing her treats (from meaty treats to a piece or two of dry cat food. She still considers it a treat because it's different than her regular food. We also give her a styrofoam textured cat treat designed to clean teeths, that is also supposed to be fairly low calorie). Hubby didn't want to switch her to a low cal food, or stop freefeeding her, but I at least got him to stop giving her treats on command (her command, she'd look at the treat jar and meow). Now she gets three snack times (exactly on the dot), and only gets 2 or 3 tiny pieces of dry food at each snack. Since she's lost a little weight, he's a little more open to changing her food.

By the way, I have no idea how the cat can tell time, but she knows when it is 11:00 pm, her last snack time. The first treat is when we get up (and if we oversleep too long, we'll hear about it). The second is after our afternoon nap (same thing), and her third and last is at 11:00 pm sharp. At about 10:45, she's assumed the sit and beg position in front of my husband's feet. He'll tell her "no, it's not time yet," and she'll come back somewhere between 10:58 and 11:01. Once in a great while she'll half-heartedly start begging an hour or more early, I think hoping hubby will relax and go back to the "old" rules.

To get our cat to play, we have to put in nearly as much work as she does, except for a few minutes with the laser pointer, or when my wedding ring catches the light and I can get her to chase the prism reflection around the room.

I have 1! My kitten Spencer, he is 3 months old. He's a blond tabby, with rings all around his tail and the cutest little crook.

My parents babysat their "grandkitty" when I spent a weekend at the beach. They live in the country, so would let Spence outside sometimes, now he can't get enough!!! He stares out the balcony window like it is the most interesting thing in the world. And loves to go out on it and watch the people go by. I haven't taken him out on a leash yet because I want him to get his last kitty shot first, but I think he's going to love it!

I worry about my kitty getting overweight too. He had a little smidge of a belly and I asked the vet if that was fine or if he was too big. She said he's ok now, but absolutely don't let him get any fatter. I'm worried I don't feed him enough, he gets one can a day.

O, and kitty LOVES bourbon. We can sit anything on the coffee table, water, milk, soda, tea and he won't touch it. But set a Jack and coke down and he does every thing he can to try to get it! If you turn your back for a second his head is plunged down into the glass. He is such a bad kitty :)....

I have five. Skitty, who is 18, Albondigas and Jeeves, who are about 8 each, Gem and Bruce, about 2 and half each.

Albondigas and Bruce get along swell.

http://webpages.charter.net/lenny13/catfightsept06.jpg

I am laughing myself silly over the Buster feeding tool. :lol: :lol: Do you think they could design one for me? And DH can put it up on top of the refrigerator, so I get a little bit of exercise getting my meals.

Hey I've thought about it. Can you imagine putting every food item in the house in a complicated puzzle box. Or hooking the fridge up to DDR, and only a complicated set of dance moves would allow you to open the fridge door. Sure would make serving refreshments to last minute guests interesting.

Me: "Would you like something to eat or drink?"

Guest: "That would be great."

Me (gets up and starts dancing, and then runs to the fridge when the tone sounds).