Add water to her wet food, use a "lite" diet, and feed her three times a day. I did that with my fat Finney and it worked.

Instead of diet foods, just give her the correct amount of a high quality food for the weight she should be. It takes a long time for them to loose weight, 2 pounds of weight loss in a year is about right and it can be dangerous to loose faster. Try wet/canned foods. They're more filling because of the moisture.

Please, please stay away from "diet" cat foods!!

My six-year-old cat died after being on a low-cal food for about a year. He had a heart attack (actually, a series of heart attacks over a two-day period). His back legs were paralyzed, and he had to spend more than 24 hours in an oxygen chamber. It was horrible. He ended up dying in our arms after a final heart attack.

It was determined that he had suffered from a taurine deficiency. All cats have taurine added these days to prevent this exact problem, so I was really confused about this. I consulted an animal nutrition expert at our vet school, and the first thing she asked me was if he had been on a "diet" formula. She explained that there had been some problems that they were starting to connect with diet formulas--something about the way the low-fat diet affected taurine absorption. They are far from reaching any conclusions about this, but if I had known there was even a remote possibility that my cat could die a painful death as a result of the food I was feeding him, I would have changed it in a second.

Poor puss...its not fun to be hungry all the time. As Cynthia indicated, be concerned with the quality of food more than the quantity. The ingredients of Wellness or PetGuard canned are very good...if your cat will eat hi quality canned (cats can get so spoiled with tasty junk food, that like humans, they lose their taste for real food!).

AFA fiber, ask your vet about adding canned pumpkin puree to her food. It is hi-fiber, hi/moisture/lo-starch and is easily digestable. My cat loves it mixed in with her canned food...I stir it around in her food with an extra oz of warm water and it makes a kind if stew.

I have a slightly different read on this since your cat did not become obese from a lifetime of being over-fed. Does the extra 2 lbs really present a health risk? If she is eating a proper feline diet (ei: lo carb/hi quality protein),than she should not be at risk for diabetes. Is the extra weight an impediment to her physical activity? Ask your vet. After what the poor thing has gone through, being able to eat a little extra (hi quality) food to satisfy her hunger pains might not necessarily be a bad thing.

I did a quick search and found this: adverse effects of Phenobarbital include transient polyuria, polydipsia, and polyphagia. If she's also drinking more water than usual, it's possible some of the weight is due to water retention.

Why is she on the Phenobarbital? Did she have a problem with seizures? If she hasn't seen the vet since August I would suggest taking her in for a checkup and talking to the vet about her dosage. Maybe they can at least reduce it.

This has really been on my mind lately. I have one cat that was heavy when we got her, and now she's just huge. I tried to put her on a diet once, and she got so depressed. Along with that, I have another cat that can only have one type of cat food. The fat cat will eat anything and everything in sight.
Last week I went out and got the smalled food bowls and I have just been filling them up once a day. I think this definitely keeps her from noshing all day long. This is really tricky with 4 cats. I am taking her in to the vet next week and they are going to freak when they see her!

Thanks for the advice! I appreciate the warning about diet foods; IÂm glad I asked here first. IÂm sorry to hear about the loss of your cat due to taurine deficiency, holligator. That must really hurt. I will try the pumpkin and added water too. How do you gauge how much to feed to get the right amount for a cat who should weigh 8 pounds? She is a small cat. She has never had any food other than ordinary grocery store canned or dry: I donÂt know if she would like the better kinds but itÂs worth a try. Where do you buy it?

She is not drinking more water. Water use is normal. She is on Phenobarbitol because of seizures. After she basically recovered from the stroke, the neurologist had me lower the dosage gradually over the space of a month in the hopes that she would not need it anymore. But after 2 weeks without, the seizures recurred. He had me put her back on full dosage to get them under control. This was in mid-November. I think I can get the dosage back to 1x a day as she seemed fine on that; but IÂm hesitating to start that.

She saw the regular vet (not the neurologist) in early November and he advised putting her on a diet, after commenting on how much she had gained since her pre-stroke check up. For a small cat she had gained too much too fast. I didnÂt ask how to have her lose weight. At that point I was thinking only of measuring carefully. This was before she was boarded and put on a further 2 pounds!

Before the stroke she was slim and fit. A little padding on the thighs but not much. She used to be very energetic; loved to chase balls around or a person running around the house; not anymore since the stroke. ItÂs hard to tell what is due to the stroke damage, sleepiness from the medicine, or weight gain. The weight gain is the only thing I can really change that may help her. I bought some toys for her to chase and she canÂt do it very well. Coordination of her back legs is off and may always be. I am trying to encourage more activity which should help her regain more function as well. She follows me around the house all day (I work at home); which is good otherwise sheÂd get very little exercise at all. The fastest she ever moves now is when she hears someone in the kitchen.

You may also want to consider feeding her raw. I have never done this with my cats, but I know a number of people who do. Eating raw food is certainly a healthy choice nutritionally, but it also offers some psychological advantages. Eating isn't just a passive activity with raw food. They have to work at it, so there is some mental stimulation and they get some satisfaction beyond just having their hunger stop. It may be worth it to look into this option.

It sounds like you are taking wonderful care of your cat, Linnea. I use Wellness canned chicken, supplemented with a bit of Royaly Canin Dry Rabbit (this is a vet Rx flavor...my vet recommended it because my cat had some digestive track issues and it is one of the few dry foods made without any kind of grain). Odessa is a big (but lean) girl...16lbs. She is happy with 6 oz of Wellness canned and ~1oz of dry. Your little puss should do ok with one 5.5-6 oz of canned a day. But like I said, I would feed the poor thing enough (within reason) to keep her happy.

I get the Wellness from a pet store here in NYC. It comes in 3, 5.5, or 12oz cans. Although the smaller cans are expensive, the 12oz is relatively reasonable, but some cats won't eat food that has been re-warmed from the fridge. We have a gas oven...I premeasure and refrigerate 2oz servings with.5 oz of pumpkin into feeding dishes and an hour before feeding time, put one into the unheated oven which brings it to 'mouse temperature', ~ 98F. Then I stir in an additional 1oz of warm distilled water (we use distilled water for our coffee so there is always some on hand) She gets fed 3 times a day. For snacks, or if I'm going to be out at feeding time, I leave some dry to hold her over.

Another issue with your cat maybe boredom. Eating is one of the few pre-stroke activities she can still enjoy without extreme effort. Although it is more work on your part, you might want to try to feed her more frequently.

But I've read that whenever you change a cat's diet, it must be done gradually...mixing in the new food with the old. If she doesn't want to eat the new food, try crumbling a soft treat over it...after what she's been through, she deserves it!
L