Cats too fat.

I recently acquired a male cat from a friend who is going RV'ing for the
next couple of years, and needed a home for him. He weighs around 30 lbs,
which is over twice what my other 4 cats weigh. they all have an infinite
bowl of kibbles to graze on, and I also open cans for them whenever they
want it. Will the obese kitty gradually reduce to the weight of the other
four? Or, will I have to institute some special system to keep him from
eating too much and maintaining his weight? My other four cats weigh around
10 lbs each.....

On Sat, 27 Aug 2011 19:22:38 -0700, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

I recently acquired a male cat from a friend who is going RV'ing for the
next couple of years, and needed a home for him. He weighs around 30 lbs,
which is over twice what my other 4 cats weigh. they all have an infinite
bowl of kibbles to graze on, and I also open cans for them whenever they
want it. Will the obese kitty gradually reduce to the weight of the other
four? Or, will I have to institute some special system to keep him from
eating too much and maintaining his weight? My other four cats weigh around
10 lbs each.....

My Pookie is about nine or ten months old, and she looks as if she's
swallowed a basketball.

I shoot hoops with her.

Good question. I only know I've read not to get cats to lose weight too
fast.

Barb

On Aug 27, 10:22*pm, "Bill Graham" wrote:
I recently acquired a male cat from a friend who is going RV'ing for the
next couple of years, and needed a home for him. He weighs around 30 lbs,
which is over twice what my other 4 cats weigh. they all have an infinite
bowl of kibbles to graze on, and I also open cans for them whenever they
want it. Will the obese kitty gradually reduce to the weight of the other
four? Or, will I have to institute some special system to keep him from
eating too much and maintaining his weight? My other four cats weigh around
10 lbs each.....

I would try to figure out how much he should eat per day and then
watch how much he eats. From what I have read, obesity is, at least in
part food related. Cheap food = high obesity risk. I would ask a vet
what you can do, if he eats more than he should.

obsidianjg

"Bill Graham" wrote in message
...
I recently acquired a male cat from a friend who is going RV'ing for the
next couple of years, and needed a home for him. He weighs around 30 lbs,
which is over twice what my other 4 cats weigh. they all have an infinite
bowl of kibbles to graze on, and I also open cans for them whenever they
want it. Will the obese kitty gradually reduce to the weight of the other
four? Or, will I have to institute some special system to keep him from
eating too much and maintaining his weight? My other four cats weigh around
10 lbs each.....

Bill you also did not mention what breed of cat it is? If it is a Maine
coon or has Maine coon in them that is a normal weight. Our dumplin was a
full Maine coon and weighed 32 pounds

And to answer your questions if the cat is obese than no they will not lose
weight without your help. A cat will not know this that the need to loose
weight. Their animal instincts will say food is there eat

Barb wrote:
Good question. I only know I've read not to get cats to lose weight
too fast.

Barb

Yes. Or people either. Especially if you are diabetic. You have to keep your
blood sugar at some minimum level if you expect your heart to keep beating
Riding the narrow window between that level and not losing weight is not
easy....... With us you can exercise, which is a real help. But with cats,
you can't get them to do anything they don't want to do.... Ever tried to
take your cat jogging? :^)

On Sat, 27 Aug 2011 19:22:38 -0700, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

I recently acquired a male cat from a friend who is going RV'ing for the
next couple of years, and needed a home for him. He weighs around 30 lbs,
which is over twice what my other 4 cats weigh. they all have an infinite
bowl of kibbles to graze on, and I also open cans for them whenever they
want it. Will the obese kitty gradually reduce to the weight of the other
four? Or, will I have to institute some special system to keep him from
eating too much and maintaining his weight? My other four cats weigh around
10 lbs each.....

A vet check up is in order. They will tell you how much the cat SHOULD
weigh.

If indeed the cat needs to be on a diet, your free feeding arraignment
will certainly have to be changed.

Perhaps you could but the kibble behind a SMALL cat door.

obsidianjg wrote:
On Aug 27, 10:22 pm, "Bill Graham" wrote:
I recently acquired a male cat from a friend who is going RV'ing for
the next couple of years, and needed a home for him. He weighs
around 30 lbs, which is over twice what my other 4 cats weigh. they
all have an infinite bowl of kibbles to graze on, and I also open
cans for them whenever they want it. Will the obese kitty gradually
reduce to the weight of the other four? Or, will I have to institute
some special system to keep him from eating too much and maintaining
his weight? My other four cats weigh around 10 lbs each.....

I would try to figure out how much he should eat per day and then
watch how much he eats. From what I have read, obesity is, at least in
part food related. Cheap food = high obesity risk. I would ask a vet
what you can do, if he eats more than he should.

obsidianjg

Well, if he was an "only cat" there would be no problem. but the other four
cats all are about the right weight, so I can only hope that the new cat,
(Tiger) will gradually approach the average weight of the others. He does
seem to move about more with me than he did with my friend with whom he
lived for over 5 years..... Perhaps he will lose down to their level. I had
one with a thyroid problem. she had an overactive thyroid and lost a lot of
weight. But after her thyroid was removed, she became "normal" again. My vet
is the same one that my friend had, so she knows Tiger's history.....

Matthew wrote:
"Bill Graham" wrote in message
...
I recently acquired a male cat from a friend who is going RV'ing for
the next couple of years, and needed a home for him. He weighs
around 30 lbs, which is over twice what my other 4 cats weigh. they
all have an infinite bowl of kibbles to graze on, and I also open
cans for them whenever they want it. Will the obese kitty gradually
reduce to the weight of the other four? Or, will I have to institute
some special system to keep him from eating too much and maintaining
his weight? My other four cats weigh around 10 lbs each.....

Bill you also did not mention what breed of cat it is? If it is a
Maine coon or has Maine coon in them that is a normal weight. Our
dumplin was a full Maine coon and weighed 32 pounds

And to answer your questions if the cat is obese than no they will
not lose weight without your help. A cat will not know this that the
need to loose weight. Their animal instincts will say food is there
eat

This is true, but food is only half of the equation. There is also exercise
and my circumstances are different from what he he had before. My cats have
a larger territory and they move about more. there is a chance he will lose
some weight without drugs or starvation procedures. I guess I will just have
to wait and see. I don't know what a "Maine Coon" cat looks like. But this
one is just fat. I can tell from his other proportions that he could lose
about half of his present weight and still be in good shape.

Gandalf wrote:
On Sat, 27 Aug 2011 19:22:38 -0700, "Bill Graham"
wrote:

I recently acquired a male cat from a friend who is going RV'ing for
the next couple of years, and needed a home for him. He weighs
around 30 lbs, which is over twice what my other 4 cats weigh. they
all have an infinite bowl of kibbles to graze on, and I also open
cans for them whenever they want it. Will the obese kitty gradually
reduce to the weight of the other four? Or, will I have to institute
some special system to keep him from eating too much and maintaining
his weight? My other four cats weigh around 10 lbs each.....


Perhaps you could but the kibble behind a SMALL cat door.

An excellent idea.... I need a variable sized cat door. Start large, and
then gradually decrease its size.....