Obese Cat: What To Do?

[thestrangequark]

My mother has five cats. A couple of years ago, Jezebel slipped out and went missing. My mother was inconsolable for weeks, but quite remarkably, Jezebel reappeared after a month. She was in terrible condition, filthy and emaciated. She regained her health quickly, though, and has since gained something else: poundage. Jezebel is not just fat, she is obese. Every time I visit my mother in Seattle it seems that Jez has gained another inch around her waist. Her underside nearly touches the ground when she stands, she has some difficulty making jumps, and we have to brush and trim parts of her back that she can no longer reach to clean herself. Nana, Peaches, Esme, and Abby are all in excellent health, but Jez's weight is such that she's earned the nicknames "Jezebelly," "Jezebulge," and "Jezebaluga." She sometimes binges to the point of vomiting, and then eats more!

We've tried everything we can think of, but she's a sneaky beast. We removed the continual feeding dish and feed all the cats on a schedule, with Jezebel in a separate room, but she has learned to open doors and cabinets; this very morning I went into the kitchen to find that she'd raided the cupboard and opened several bags of cat treats on her own. It doesn't help that these are Hemmingway cats and have useful opposable thumbs.

I'm sure she was traumatized by her brush with the Outside World, and will likely never understand that she won't go hungry again. But there must be something we can do to get her healthy! We can't just lock her away! I'm afraid she'll become so rotund that she'll no longer be able to get about, that she'll develop joint pain or diabetes.

Does anyone have experience with obese pets? Any suggestions?

 

[Miss Chicken]

I have the same problem with my youngest cat, Georgy. He was a stray we took in. He was terrible condition when we first started to feed him. He was very much underweight and his long fur was terribly matted.

He is food obsessed and will eat until he vomits if he gets the chance. We have to separate him from the other cats because he will eat his food quickly and then try to steal off the other cats.

Because he was an adult when we got him, he isn't happy being an indoor cat and he won't use a litter tray so we have to let him outside during the day. I suspect he is stealing food from neighbour's pets.

He isn't obese yet but I think he will be before long.

 

[Wally]

It's a long shot, but I would take her to the vet. It's possible she picked up some sort of parasite that is stealing away all of the stuff from her causing her to feel hungry all the time. Hopefully it's just a gluttonous kittie, but just in case maybe it should be checked out.

 

[Itisnotlogical]

Although I've never had a fat cat, I'd suggest that you continue to do the schedual and seperate room thing, and maybe make the food a little harder to steal. I'd think that even kitties with opposable thumbs would find it hard to mount a few countertops, open a drawer, pull the container out from the veeeery back, and pop the nifty little flip-open lid off. Of course I'd never do that myself, because I love cats and it seems cruel at least to me, but then I'm not the one with that decision at hand...

 

[thestrangequark]

^Yeah, the hardest part is balancing the desire to get her healthy with the desire to keep her happy.
Miss Chicken, I imagine it's ten times harder to help an indoor/outdoor cat. Maybe we'll both get some good advice in this thread.

It's a long shot, but I would take her to the vet. It's possible she picked up some sort of parasite that is stealing away all of the stuff from her causing her to feel hungry all the time. Hopefully it's just a gluttonous kittie, but just in case maybe it should be checked out.

I think parasites generally cause weight loss, specifically because they steal all the nutrition from their hosts. You're right, though -- the vet is definitely the first place we ought to go, but my mom has severe agoraphobia, and I'm going home to NYC in less than a week (plus, I don't drive). I'm sure we can arrange a vet visit with the aid of my sister, but probably not until after she's had her baby. I'm hoping there is something we can do in the meantime.

 

[backstept]

we store cat and dog food in our big blue picnic cooler otherwise our dog would get into the stuff

 

[MetalPants]

Threaten the cat that you're going to sell her to a Chinese restaurant if she doesn't shape up.


Seriously, how would your cat react to a leash? If you don't think it would completely terrorize the animal, your mom could take the cat out for walks perhaps? Otherwise, I would suggest keep on like you have been, with the separating the cats and securing their food.

 

[Kestra]

We've tried everything we can think of, but she's a sneaky beast. We removed the continual feeding dish and feed all the cats on a schedule, with Jezebel in a separate room, but she has learned to open doors and cabinets; this very morning I went into the kitchen to find that she'd raided the cupboard and opened several bags of cat treats on her own. It doesn't help that these are Hemmingway cats and have useful opposable thumbs.

My in-laws have a cat that's always been on the larger side but he's lost weight over the years. I know beyond separating the two cats to feed them, they've always child-proofed the cabinets and trash and made sure not to have food out on the counter or anywhere he could get to it.

Then again this is a cat that has opened locked doors that even I couldn't manage, so they've had to learn as they go along!

I don't know the details but I can try and find out more if you need me to.

 

[nevermore]

I have some experience with fat cats. I don't really know anything that is useful, however, my cats do not have the same food-obsession, they don't eat more than normal at all, they are just lazy.

In terms of keeping the cat from getting to the treats, put them in containers with screw-on caps, like peanut butter containers or preserves jars. The food should be stored in a large tupperware with a clasping closure, and do not let her see you open it.

 

[SmoothieX]

Our solution was have the dog chase him...

I'll echo what others have said and ask the vet. When I've had pet nutrition questions, I've also gone to the local Petco or whatever, and asked either the trainer, or the person on the floor in the food dept.

Our dog was pudgy (bad for a breed prone to hip issues), and they helped us find a weight control food.

 

[judge alba]

My mother has five cats. A couple of years ago, Jezebel slipped out and went missing. My mother was inconsolable for weeks, but quite remarkably, Jezebel reappeared after a month. She was in terrible condition, filthy and emaciated. She regained her health quickly, though, and has since gained something else: poundage. Jezebel is not just fat, she is obese. Every time I visit my mother in Seattle it seems that Jez has gained another inch around her waist. Her underside nearly touches the ground when she stands, she has some difficulty making jumps, and we have to brush and trim parts of her back that she can no longer reach to clean herself. Nana, Peaches, Esme, and Abby are all in excellent health, but Jez's weight is such that she's earned the nicknames "Jezebelly," "Jezebulge," and "Jezebaluga." She sometimes binges to the point of vomiting, and then eats more!

We've tried everything we can think of, but she's a sneaky beast. We removed the continual feeding dish and feed all the cats on a schedule, with Jezebel in a separate room, but she has learned to open doors and cabinets; this very morning I went into the kitchen to find that she'd raided the cupboard and opened several bags of cat treats on her own. It doesn't help that these are Hemmingway cats and have useful opposable thumbs.

I'm sure she was traumatized by her brush with the Outside World, and will likely never understand that she won't go hungry again. But there must be something we can do to get her healthy! We can't just lock her away! I'm afraid she'll become so rotund that she'll no longer be able to get about, that she'll develop joint pain or diabetes.

Does anyone have experience with obese pets? Any suggestions?

i guess you could get her a belly wheel something like a roller skate under the belly

 

[auntiehill]

I had the same kind of problem with my late cat, Max. He was a Humane Society kitty and snarfed up food like a vacuum cleaner.

After consulting with the vet, we found a "weight management" cat food that had the pieces large enough so he wouldn't inhale it and end up puking. We restricted him to a cup of food in the morning and one cup of food at night--even getting it down to half a cup by the end of the year. He went from being an 18 pound fat cat to a normal size 12 pounder in a little over a year.

It wasn't easy and he would scream like a car alarm if you were more than 5 minutes late with his food, but it worked.

 

[Vulcan Princess]

My kitty got a little bit overweight last year, and I switched her to a weight control food. It helped, and she's at a healthy weight now. I use Iams weight control because it's the cheapest, and she seems to like it.

 

[auntiehill]

We used the Purina Weight Management, because the pieces were just big enough that he actually had to chew his food--most of the time.

 

[kustirider2]

My cat was massive too, But has recently lost the weight. He was a kitten though so it could've just been 'kitty fat'

I really don't know any diet programs for cats, maybe feeding it vegetables and fruit instead of cat food?

 

[thestrangequark]

There's been some great advice so far, thanks guys! The screw-on jars for food and treats is a really good idea -- they'll have to be plastic because I wouldn't put it past Jezebel to break a glass jar in order to get the food. I never thought about it before, and it surprises me to say this, but I think Jez herself wouldn't mind going on leash walks. My mom, though, is another matter. Like I said, she has agoraphobia. I've tried motivating her to exercise, but she's pretty lazy. I tried catnip, but as anyone who has cats knows, cats respond to catnip either like it's pot, or like it's coke. Unfortunately, Jez is a stoner cat, not a cokehead cat.

Any suggestions for motivating a fat cat to exercise?

 

[RJDiogenes]

^^ A Pit Bull?

Maybe you could teach her to chew gum? Or put a treadmill in front of her food dish?

Okay, I have no idea, but I do think Jezebel deserves her own Warner Bros cartoon series.

 

[captcalhoun]

^

 

[Laren]

I really don't know any diet programs for cats, maybe feeding it vegetables and fruit instead of cat food?

I don't think that cats can live on a vegetarian diet.

I've never had to deal with a cat with an eating disorder, but baby-proofing the drawers and cabinets sounds like a good idea.

 

[nevermore]

I really don't know any diet programs for cats, maybe feeding it vegetables and fruit instead of cat food?

No no no, don't ever do this. Cats are not people; they are strict carnivores and don't even have the parts of the digestive tract required to break down plant matter, thus the vomiting up of grass and house plants when they eat them. A diet of vegetables and fruits would kill them, quickly.

Cats are obligate carnivores: their physiology has evolved to efficiently process meat, and they have difficulty digesting plant matter. ... Similar to its teeth, a cat's digestive tract has adapted to meat eating, containing only those segments of intestine best able to break down the proteins and fats in animal flesh. This trait severely limits the cat's ability to properly digest and use plant-derived nutrients, as well as certain fatty acids. Despite the cat's meat-oriented physiology, several vegetarian or vegan cat foods are available that are supplemented with chemically synthesized taurine and other nutrients, in attempts to address nutritional shortfalls. However, some of these products still fail to provide all the nutrients that cats require, and diets containing no animal products pose the risk of causing severe nutritional deficiencies.