Posts tagged "diet"

Wherein I try to get my pets to a healthy cat weight. Catch up on past posts here.

Yes, yes, it's been a while since you last heard from the fat cats. They've been busy. As you can see, they've relocated to Las Vegas. One cross-country drive and some unpacking later, they are settling into their new routine.

Both cats have now lost three pounds each. I chalk it up to having more room in their Vegas apartment to play, plus marble floors that make toys extra hard to pin down. The commute from the bed to the food bowl is much farther here, so they naturally burn more calories. There's even talk of them soon having their own yard in which to play. (I, on the other hand, have found all six of those missing pounds since moving here, but that's a story for a different blog.)

A vet we saw in Topeka was actually worried that Tino had lost too much weight too quickly, so she upped his daily dose of insulin. A follow-up in Vegas revealed that he's maintaining nicely.

DeeDee and Tino have pretty much stuck to their two-cans-of-food-per-day regimen, but lately I've been giving in and serving them dry food when they wake me up for it in the middle of the night. To combat the extra calories, their dinner can has been downsized to one of the three-ouncers split between them.

Everyone gains a little weight over the holidays, and your pets are no exception. With all those extra table scraps flying around, you can bet your faithful companion has gained a little girth. Pets may not care about how they look when they pass by a mirror, but controlling a pet's weight is a crucial part of maintaining their health. Paw Nation chatted with Dr. Donna Spector, a board-certified veterinary Internal Medicine specialist from VCA Animal Hospital, to make sure you and your pet start off the New Year (and new decade!) right.

"It is estimated that 50 percent of U.S. pets are overweight or obese," Spector tells Paw Nation. "Obesity can be life threatening and contribute to many medical conditions such as diabetes and arthritis. Pets that stay at a healthy weight live longer and with less disease than overweight pets. Recognize that your pet has a weight problem and ask your veterinarian to determine the best weight and diet plan for them."

What is the best way to create a diet plan for my pet for the new year?
Just like people, proper diet and exercise are key to our pets staying healthy in 2010! Your veterinarian will need to make sure your pet has no medical problems contributing to their weight problem and this is usually done with basic blood and urine testing. Your veterinarian should give you a daily calorie recommendation for your pet that will allow him/her to safely lose the unwanted weight over a period of months.

Wherein I try to get my pets to a healthy cat weight. Catch up on past posts here.

I've learned a lot since putting my cats on a diet. First off, I now know just how easy it is to get an animal to diet (provided you don't mind their 3 a.m. renewed bursts of energy). But I'm also finding out there's a lot of great info out there. Between my own searches and e-mails from friends who've been following the saga, I've got a whole little library going.

A coworker forwarded this article about how to gauge proper portions for your pet. Since many pet food bags recommend a ratio based on the animal's current weight, your pets can get too much food. It's better to feed them the correct amount for their ideal weight.

My friend Laurie and her cat Mr. Scrubby sent me an article about National Pet Obesity Awareness Day (it was last month, but you can still send me an e-card if you find one appropriate). This article has tips on easy ways to help your big babies burn more calories.

One of my favorite resources is still this article from Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine that shows how to tell if a cat's overweight just by its silhouette. (Tino used to be a 4, I swear.)

PetFit.com has a human-to-animal weight calculator that shows you just how un-funny animal obesity is. My cats may be "only" five pounds overweight, but that's the equivalent of an extra 53 pounds on me. I guarantee I would not find that very adorable.

So far, however, I have yet to read about a reliable way to weigh my cats. Any suggestions? I knew my bathroom scale wasn't exact since I can vary by as much as two pounds within the same minute, but today it said that DeeDee had dropped three pounds since last week. Ah well, we'll chalk it up as a win and see what happens next week.

Have you seen good info on overweight animals? Leave the URL in the comments for everyone to appreciate!

Wherein I try to get my pets to a healthy cat weight. Catch up on past posts here.

Previously on DeeDee and Tino's Weight Loss Blog: I realized that my cats weren't judging me for staying out late and not feeding them at the same time every night; I was judging me... and they didn't need six tons of food to compensate for it.

The cats seem fine with their new regimen of twice-a-day wet food, but every now and then I'll serve them a flavor that they don't quite love. I learn this when they retaliate by letting me know at 5 a.m. that they're hungry and they'd like some food.

DeeDee and Tino may not be able to see very well -- a respiratory infection when they were kittens left DeeDee with just one cloudy eye and Tino with scarring on one of his -- but they aren't blind to the fact that I hate being woken up. So when they get hungry, they begin a series of antics including but not limited to: jumping on my head, growling and hissing at one another, and loudly sharpening their claws on my new couch. They know that I lack the motor skills at that hour to use a can opener and will likely just reward them with scoops of food.

In the past, that meant 8 ounces, but since their weight loss is now a priority, I've adjusted. I switched the stash of dry food to kitten food, since it's supposed to be more protein-rich and satisfying. I give them about an ounce of dry food, just enough to shut them up until I can prepare a proper breakfast for them. And on my next trip to the pet store, I'll replace their morning 5.5-ounce can with the smaller can to make sure I'm not overfeeding.

The craziest thing yet? They really are losing weight. Maybe it's my imagination (like the way you can feel like a slob but then after one workout feel ripped), but I swear I can see Tino's neck and hipbones again.

Wherein I try to get my pets to a healthy cat weight.

Previously on DeeDee and Tino's Weight Loss Blog, the vet informed me that I was feeding my fat cats too much. Like, way too much. I was advised to dole out two 5.5-ounce cans of wet food each day instead of just a single can plus the 16 ounces of kibble I was allowing my two to graze on all day.

Why 16 ounces of kibble? With an unpredictable schedule, I worried that if DeeDee and Tino didn't have access to food when I was out they'd grow hungry, hurt and distrustful. You've seen these two patheitc creatures -- haven't they been through enough in their lives?

But my vet assured me that the cats would be fine -- the extra protein from the canned cat food would sate them, and the weight would melt off. She even said it was possible Tino's diabetes could reverse itself. With that said, I started the diet ASAP.

The first week of the new diet, I stayed out late one night. I felt guilty and came home dreading what I would find. I pictured the cat equivalent of a Save the Children commercial, with Sally Struthers imploring me to spare 80 cents a day to help the poor emaciated pets inside. Or perhaps they'd cried so loudly that my neighbors had called the "Animal Precinct" on me, who'd be poised outside with elephant guns drawn (that's what kind of weapons animal control officers carry, right?).

Imagine my shock when I walked into my apartment and discovered... nothing. The cats were fast asleep. Not only were they not howling to be fed, they still had some wet food left from their morning feeding. It turns out that sleeping 22 hours a day isn't as metabolically taxing as I'd thought.

This week I learned that my cats don't actually require non-stop food in order to feel cared for; I was projecting my own fear of going three hours without food onto them. Who could have imagined that their diet would result in my Dr. Phil moment? And while I still don't entirely trust the numbers on my bathroom scale, they seem to have started to lose weight.

Wherein I try to get my pets to a healthy cat weight.

The obesity epidemic in America is a major health threat that affects almost half of all citizens. But what many don't know is that the pet obesity epidemic is nearly as prevalent. In fact, it currently affects up to 100% of all the cats in my household.

Meet Tino and DeeDee. They're brother and sister, rescued from the mean streets of Brooklyn by good people, then adopted by me, only to be overfed into rotund walking risk factors.

DeeDee and Tino recently turned ten years old and have started to slow down and plump up.

My vet had previously recommended they lose weight. I briefly tried to put them on a diet, but gave in when they started complaining daily at 4 am. When I noticed they were actually getting bigger, I was too embarrassed to take them to the vet again. So they just kept ballooning.

Recently I bought a scale and did that old weigh-yourself-then-weigh-yourself-with-the-cat trick to gauge just how portly they'd become -- and both cats clocked in at around 20 lbs. Eek!

I shared this information with my helpful brother, who'd noticed Tino's weight gain. JP responded, "I told you. Living in Kansas for six months now, I am able to be considered an expert when it comes to fat. I know a thickburger when I see one." The bottom line? These cats have to drop some pounds, so I took the first step in any human diet and fitness regimen: Procrastination.

Then I made an appointment with the vet to get professional advice on the healthiest way to successfully get them in shape.

Join the three of us here weekly as we check in with the tubs to measure their progress. I also hope you'll share in the comments your own experiences with helping your pets lose weight.