Saturday, October 07, 2006
my 400lb kitty
friday ended with a visit to the vet for my two kitties, bonnard and matisse. sure i know that bonnard (my first feline love) is a bit "fluffy," yet the vet basically demanded we put him on a diet immediately. he's gained 4 lbs in one year (shocking considering his only diet change is a daily dose of skim milk). he is already quite nervous about the lack of food bowl availability. the vet said that his 19.2lb body equates to a 400lb person. yikes! we're limiting his intake by not keeping an unending bowl around. i worry how this diet is going to play out. he's nervously circling his bowl, following us around the condo (he usually has nothing to do with us), and has a look of dread on his poor little kitty face. send good kitty weight loss thoughts. . .
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I recently went through the same thing with my 20 lb cat. We tried it all, and nothing worked. Cutting back on the food made us both miserable, and switching to diet food made little difference. THEN, my new vet suggested canned food only, and it worked like a charm! Think of it as kitty-atkins; they're not ment to have all those carbs anyway. The good news is that it doesn't have to be diet canned food, and they can basically have as much as they want (within reason). My cat (Estella) gets two cans of Fancy Feast every day, and is now down to a healthy 14 lbs. She still wakes up hungry in the morning, but who doesn't? The majority of the diet-anxiety is gone, and we are all much, much happier.
Hope this helps!
Our vet was pretty specific with us about how much to feed our kitties. Since we adopted them two and a half years ago they have both been at pretty healthy weights. (9 lbs and 10 lbs) They each get a Fancy Feast (you know, the small cans) in the morning and I measure out 1/4 cup of dry food at night with a measuring cup. Growing up we just kept the bowls filled so it was a shock for me to see just how little was recommended. I thought I was starving the little ones but now I see that monitoring quantity is actually better for their health. I have also noticed they they will gain weight if I get lax on the playtime (AKA exercise) or get overindulgent on the treats. Basically, the amount I'm feeding is just enough to maintain a healthy weight. Any more and they will gain. Good luck with your kitty diet plan. Don't feel guilty about cutting back, you are doing a good thing for them.
Post a Comment