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My darling cat was throwing up for 2 days and then stopped eating. We immediately took her to the Vet. He determined that she had a "hairball". That was a first in the 7 1/2 yrs. we had her. She's fine now!!! That's the good news.
The bad news is that he called her "Chunky". That's terrible. She's not that 'chunky', she's big boned.....
I have reduced her feeding routine in the last yr. and I think she still hasn't lost weight. How do you put a cat on a diet, pray tell???
(I have 2 cats, they share the food)

I am doing the same with our Skittles. The dang cat is square!!


First if you free feed your cats, stop doing that. I now feed each cat separately with measured portions in the laundry room, with the door shut so they eat alone.

This 1 change has made a huge difference. Sylvia has stopped losing weight and is far less stressed. Skittles is losing and Stormageddon just gets sleeker.

second cut down on his portion. don't be drastic, but feed less.

3. get him a laser pointer and make him chase it for about 10 minutes at a time.

I swear Skittles has Prader _Willi syndrome. he will do ANYTHING to get food. poor guy.

Like people. it takes time for a cat to lose his excess weight. Skittles has lost about 20 ounces since we started this diet 3 months ago. He is only 2 and was having trouble going up stairs.. not good at all.

I have a "chunky" cat, as well. Actually, he's down right fat. My brother had a cat who was fat and when I saw him at Christmas, the cat was a mere shadow of his former self. I asked my brother how they got him to lose weight (because he is a lazy cat). He told me they went grain free with his food. They feed him 2x a day with soft and then supplement with hard. He said the weight fell off him without any change in activity levels. I really believe some of these dry foods can't be processed well by some cats.

So, I will be trying to get my chubby cat to switch over to grain free food. The problem with that is that he is such a picky eater and won't accept new foods. Go figure, he's a pig, but will only eat certain things.

Give grain free a try and maybe more soft food than hard.

My cats have been eating 'Grain Free' dry cat food for about 2 yrs. now. One of my cats has been throwing up anywhere from once to 4X a week since she was little. We tried different cat foods, and finally saw this "Grain-Free" brand in "Petco". My girl Alice has stopped throwing up since we changed to this 'grain-free' food 2 yrs. ago! I think she has a food allergy cause she used to constantly puke after eating. I started giving them small servings of canned cat food a few times a day. I am determined to get them both to lose a little weight next year!! Good luck with the Grain Free food, it's more expensive, but worth it!!

The first thing you need to do is to stop free feeding dry food.

If at all possible switch to a good quality canned food. It isn't nessesary(sp)to buy premium gourmet or vet foods. Friskies or Fancy Feast are very good quality canned foods, and surprisingly, so is Wal`Mart's Special kitty canned. I've done my homework on canned foods since 2 of mine became diabetics. The foods I mentioned are actually higher protein, lower carb foods than the RX diabetic foods from the vet.

Cat's sre carnivores , they are not meant to eat a diet of grains and carbs as in dry foods.

When my 2 diabetics went to an all canned diet of Friskies and absolutely no dry food of any kind, their weight dropped right down to normal.They get as much as they want to eat, too.

Said all that to say- if you want your cat to lose weight, only feed them a high protein, low carb diet of canned only food. It's better for them and you will avoid future health problems with them such as diabetes.

I have a question regarding your good advice. I have tried giving my cats mostly the canned cat food. I split it into 3 separate 'servings'. They always seem hungry. I don't want to starve them! I also give a little dry food for overnight or if the canned food is empty. However, sometimes they throw up, (don't know which cat) I think this may be from gobbling the food too fast.
Daphne, what exactly did your brother do to put his fat cat on a diet and how long did it take to see results? Is there an Adjustment Period involved until the cats get used to this feeding regimen? They sleep about 90% of the day, so I believe they don't need to eat too much, but they Always Seem Hungry Now.... THANKS!!!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Wavy,

Wavy, I have 1 cat that throws up a lot. No health issues- not one of the diabetics. If she eats canned, it comes up- yuck! I feed her dry and she keeps it down. Best I can tell is she just has a sensitive tummy. So I can't follow my own advice with her.

The two that only eat canned- I started out feeding them 3 times a day. But now they only eat twice and are happy with it. They stopped eating all their food with 3 meals.

I have 1 little piggie who complains that I am starving her only eating twice a day but she is a little pudge and hasn't lost any weight.I do feed the other 5 of my 7 dry food as I canned afford to feed all of them canned. I switched to a better quality of dry-to Friskies from Special kitty and as a result hardly anyone has a hairball or throws up, and that was a constant thing with the Special Kitty dry.

Sister has 2 "tuxedo" cats that she TRAPPED (have-a-heart) as teeny FERAL kittens. She saw them near dumpsters by her mountain place in WV. Was mid-late OCtober and she KNEW they'd have little/no chance of surviving the winter.

One is petite and other "full-figured"... AKA FAT! Vet recommended a "diet" dry food. Problem was... the big gal ate quicker and then would chase off smaller sister? She'd measure out food and put it down for set amount of time only. Hissy is still a "runway model" and Pusita... still plus-sized!?!

Wavy,

It was over a 6 month time period. Not a very long time frame at all. My SIL said it literally fell off him. He gets checked at the vet every year and has bloodwork done every year (at my SIL's request). His numbers were much better this year that ever before.

On a side note, I have my 2 seven month old kittens on grain free. One of them has frequent diarrhea. What's up with that. He's been tested for everything! He's had this since I grabbed him from under our deck this summer!

Daphne, It could be irritable bowel . Our blind cat has it. He had terrible bouts of foul smelling diarreaha when we adopted him. It took several months, but it finally went away. We attributed it to him being a little anxious and then settling into our home.

Foul smelling is right. Usually there is blood with it. Other than that, he has never acted sick.

So, another weight loss question....how much do you feed your cat and how often? I know my SIL gave her cats a fraction of what I feed mine.

The two diabetics that are canned only share a can in the morning- these are the tuna sized cans, not Fancy Feast size-. I half it for them. In the evening the get a whole can each and they eat most of it during the night.


the others who eat dry, I set out their feeder and they talke turns eating their fill. I do this morning and evening. They are so funny. They have a certain order in which they take turns eating. And they eat in this order each time.

Harry, the girl with the sensitive tummy will slip out to the laundry room when she sees me go there during the day and I put a few morsels out for her. She does best on several small meals-they stay down better.