How to choose a reasonable cat food and other life plans for obese cats?

[Walt Watson]

My cat is a very fat cat. Although he has not yet developed diabetes, his health is very bad.
I think the first thing I should do is to reduce his weight, but it is not an easy task. I need to work hard to make changes in many aspects such as diet and exercise.
Welcome to give me advice.

[littlemommy]

Can you afford wet/canned food? My current cat was overweight when we adopted her because she had just weaned five kittens. On wet food she lost the weight very very quickly, putting some of it back on when I tried to switch to dry food. Now I put a small scoop of dry food out in the morning for her to pick at all day, followed by a can of wet food at night. She eats all the dry food on cold days and maybe half of it on warmer days. She always eats 100% of the canned food, haha.

[PennySycamore]

To build upon what @littlemommy said, there are wet foods that are very, very low in carbs that are suggested for diabetic cats.   They'd also be good for kitties that are overweight.  

Feline diabetes  is a great website for guardians of diabetic cats.  (I've had two sugar kitties.)  They have a great section about diet and exercise.  One of the things they do have a list of is the varieties of Fancy Feast that are very low in carbohydrates and are better for cats.  Basically, any of the classic (pate) flavors are good.  My tortie Daisy loves the Turkey and Giblets Classic flavor.   She does need to get more exercise.  

[Lotsofdots]

Wet or raw food, no dry.  And interactive play sessions several times a day.

Have you used a condition scoring chart? That’s more important than a number on the scale.

[luv2laugh]

42 minutes ago, PennySycamore said:

To build upon what @littlemommy said, there are wet foods that are very, very low in carbs that are suggested for diabetic cats.   They'd also be good for kitties that are overweight.  

Feline diabetes  is a great website for guardians of diabetic cats.  (I've had two sugar kitties.)  They have a great section about diet and exercise.  One of the things they do have a list of is the varieties of Fancy Feast that are very low in carbohydrates and are better for cats.  Basically, any of the classic (pate) flavors are good.  My tortie Daisy loves the Turkey and Giblets Classic flavor.   She does need to get more exercise.  

http://www.felinediabetes.com/glutenfree.htm

I linked the website and it’s showing the types of recommended fancy feast cans.

I am not positive on this but I think one of the friskies pate flavors contains a low amount of gluten.

[Kailash]

I highly recommend raw food. We use Bravo raw for our cats. Our older, smaller cat was overweight before we switched to raw food. She lost 6 pounds (which is a lot for a cat!!!). (She went from 15 pounds to 9 pounds.) But you have to be careful when changing feline diets. Gradually adding a bit more of the desired food and less of the food you want to eliminate, until it’s all the desired food. 

Good luck! I hope you find something that works well for your cat. ❤️

[JustEnough]

This is a timely thread as I've just been discussing with MoreThanEnough about the need to focus on ideas to help our not so little cat lose weight. She's always been bigger than her sister even though the get the same (amount and type) of food. 

I hadn't realized wet food might be a better choice. We've tried that before (not for weight, we just tried a bunch of foods when we first got them and have occasionally given them wet food if a family member gave us some they didn't need over the years). Neither of them will eat pate in any brand we've tried. The non pate ones yes but I gather those aren't as good for them especially for weight issues.

Any ideas on how to make her adapt to a wet pate? I'm happy to switch if she'll cooperate. Our other cat doesn't like the pate either but so far her weight is fine on the dry food they eat. (That being said I'd switch her to something else too if it was better for her).

Also speaking of having two cats... How do you feed your cats when they need different diets? Neither of mine eat their food all at once, even with the wet food that they do like, and if I leave food out I can't be sure larger kitty doesn't eat little kitty's portion 

Any ideas welcome. They are turning six this year and I want them to be healthy for the rest of their (hopefully long) lives. 

[Walt Watson]

Wet cat food is a good choice for obese cats because it can reduce their calories. In fact, cats don't need carbohydrates, they pass heat from the protein. This is very important for cats who need to lose weight.
In addition, I bought an automatic cat feeder for my fat cat, which is the kind of feeder that can be used for wet cat food. This is also a good choice.
I used to play games with my cats often to increase their activity.
I believe that through these methods, his weight can be controlled.

[Lotsofdots]

On 3/5/2019 at 4:12 PM, JustEnough said:

 How do you feed your cats when they need different diets? 

Microchip feeders, they only open to the scanned in chip and close as they move away.  Or separate for feeding times and teach them to eat in one sitting, with smaller amounts offered in several meals. 

[Walt Watson]

I have collected some information about diet cat food for obese cats, but it is still not enough. You are welcome to provide more suggestions.
thank you very much.