Oh my goodness hello. I don't know the answer to your problem but couldn't help feeling my heart melting. Switching gears now I used to be designated cat-sitter for my friend who'd go out of town for work sometimes. Her cat had a routine of walking around the neighborhood on a harness and seemed to enjoy it. Now I don't know what situation you're in and what you've tried but sometimes switching the cat food can help (some cat food have too much carbs for the cat!)

I watch way too much of the Animal Planet :-) You just need to increase the physical activity and cut back on the chow. As mentioned, taking for walks on a harness, playing with the feather poles, laser pointers (my cats will chase that until they absolutely drop from exhaustion) and making available other toys or paper bags and small cardboard boxes should help.

And you could get one of these: cat exercise wheel. It's like having a home gym for cats!!

Thank you all! I have taken her walk on harness but it is super hard. She doesn't move when she's on harness. And I've decreased the amount of food - only give her very few every day, however, I heard it is not good to give cat too little food either. The only thing she would play with is a cord string toy she'd like to chase, but lately she's super lazy as the overweight thing, so she'd only lay on the floor and use her paw to touch the toy rather than chase it, which I believe would be better to help her lose weight.

It's true if cats are not getting enough calories they start losing muscle and liver tissue. Humans can also lose it but it happens faster and harder for cats. This is why low-carb cat food is so important because caloric restriction on a high-carb cat food means the cat is getting EVEN LESS of the protein they need to prevent muscle and organ loss.

Look into low carb diets, aka "Catkins" diet. Cats evolved to eat meat and small amts of grass and very small amts of grain in the stomachs of mice and other prey. If your cat is a carb addict ( like mine were) it can take a while to gradually taper them off but it can be done. My guys get Fancy Feast and Friskies pate plus small (and getting smaller all the time) handful of Taste of the Wild dry crunchies at night. 42% protein - used to get EVO which was 50% but they stopped making it - grrrrr!

They are actually coming around to liking real meat, so Ill probably work in some fresh meat at some point (supplemented with proper nutrients). Once they get on a healthy diet and slim down they get more energetic.

One of mine was at one point greatly overweight. It was 100% our fault - we were free feeding him dry food. He would eat and eat and eat . . .

Then he ended up diabetic. Poor guy.

Luckily when I switched him to a low-carb canned food only diet his weight dropped and his diabetes was under control.

I now live and die by this chart:

http://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf

I use it to ensure the carbs are low. I also shoot for as low phosphorous as possible (read that it contributes to kidney issues).

Hope that helps!

I would encourage you to have your cat examined by a vet before embarking on a weight-loss program. Once you have been given a clean bill of health, the doctor could offer suggestions appropriate for your cat's age and status.

Switch to only canned food.

I also agree switching to a wet food may help a lot. My cat loses weight when she is eating wet food exclusively. Within a few days, she looks slimmer. But she actually hates wet food lately so I switched back to dry. She blew up like a tick again. And she barely eats the grain free dry food. I bought a grain free weight control food for the next try.

Once she loses a little weight, she will move more.

Yeah its the high carb dry crunchies (corn as main ingredient) in combination with sedentary life that causes obesity in pets. People too - I recall when I was a bored office worker confined in a small cubicle 8 hrs per day munching on a bag of tortilla chips was the high point of my day LOL.

Depending on how much of a carb addict she is, you may have to go verrrryyyyy slllooowwww in tapering off .... removing 1 piece of kibble per day as youre increasing wet food is a good pace - but even that may be too fast! Ideally you want to see the cat get excited about the wet food and enjoying it before you cut off the dry. You dont want to let a cat (esp one w weight problem) go too long without eating anything or lose weight too rapidly, because some serious liver issues can arise. On the other hand, as my vet told me, they dont need to eat a large amount of food to prevent the liver complications - just something each day.

Im still feeding a small amt of dry ea. evening - a rounded teaspoon. At this point its just a nice little ritual and then they go to bed and settle down for the night. Ive skipped it at times and they dont complain

Wet food is also better in terms of helping them to get enough H2O. Dry food and not enough water is or can be a major factor in things like kidney disease and urinary tract inflammation. Be sure you have fresh water every day - getting a pet fountain really motivated my cats to drink more - they just love it.

Thank you all! I started giving her one meal of dry food and one meal of wet food. I also got the small pouches of wet food so each time I only give her small amount, I will see how it works. Also I took her exercise more often with some teasers.

Great article.

http://veterinarynews.dvm360.com/tell-clients-bite-catkins-diet-battle-obesity-expert-advises

Kelly, what pouch food are you referring to - make sure its just meat (or meat byproducts) and no carbs - no grains, gluten, rice, if non-grain carb like yams then very little of it. Some of that semi-moist stuff in pouches is worse than dry kibble imho. Although you may have to use wet with carbs as intermediary step, if she refuses the straight meat.

Btw meat byproducts is totally fine- of course it comes from non organic sources and quality not the best... not as good as making your own food from quality ingredients. But cats do naturally eat bones, skin, organs etc, not only muscle meat - of the commercial catfood thats readily available, the meat pate's are about the best food for them

Its great that you're thinking of your girl's health ! Having lived with a diabetic cat once - you want to avoid that.

You're advocating "meat byproducts"? Wow!

"And the One Type You Must Never Trust

On the other hand, generic by-product meals do not identify the source of the meat. Instead, they use vague and non-specific names like…

• Meat meal
• Meat and bone meal
• Meat by-product meal
• Animal by-product meal

What’s more, generic meat meals can also contain…

• Road kill
• Dead zoo animals
• Dead on arrival poultry
• Diseased and dying livestock
• Euthanized pets from animal shelters"

Meat Byproducts

Thank you all again. I am now using wet food with only meat there. And played with my cat more often and walked her, though she hates being walked haha. But there are some improvements, now she lost almost 1 pound!

One pound is impressive for a cat! Happy for both of ya.

This post is funny. I cannot imagine my cat will adhere to some fitness routine on special place in a gym, looks funny. By the way moderation (eating plan and exercise) is the key, need to do that as routine and the cat will get used to it.