Feline Obesity: A Cat as Big as Omaha |
| Written by Lynette Ackman |
| Wednesday, August 12, 2009 01:12 PM |
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Page 1 of 2  Is your tabby too tubby? Is your cat extra-fluffy and not in a good way? Well, if you haven't already, start by eliminating all dry food. ALL OF IT. Attempting to get a cat to lose weight on dry food is a losing battle. "Lite," lower calorie, dry foods do not work; they are too high in carbohydrates. Low-carb, grain-free, high- protein dry foods do not work; they are too high in calories. Your cat needs to eat only wet food, not only to achieve an ideal weight, but to avoid a lot of other serious health issues like diabetes and urinary tract disease.
But what do you do if you've eliminated all the dry food and your cat is still chunky?
 Over 20 pounds, Omaha was morbidly obese. Normalizing a cat's weight means inducing weight loss or weight gain in order to achieve an ideal weight. So, this diet not only works best for those chubby kitties that need to lose weight, but also those skinny kitties that need to put on some weight, particularly muscle! I witnessed this myself first-hand with my cats, Omaha and Afer. When I adopted Omaha in 2003, he was morbidly obese at over 20 pounds. His estimated ideal weight was 8 pounds.
Omaha was admitted to the shelter in 1994 at a little over 10 pounds and described by the vet as "obese, too fat to palpitate abdomen." While a resident there, he was fed a dry and canned diet and continued to gain weight. A few times, they tried separating him and putting him on special prescription diets for weight loss, r/d®, w/d®, combinations thereof, but he continued to gain weight and they noted the "special" diets were not working.
When I adopted Omaha in 2003, I was feeding a dry diet to all my cats. As Omaha also had large "hot spots" — bald, scabby areas ‐ the vet prescribed a hypoallergenic diet. However, Omaha wouldn't eat it. So, I found a "high-quality" "Lite" dry food free of corn and with a single protein source, chicken. Omaha liked this food, but he did not lose weight. I meal-fed, and measured his portions carefully. Each time we went to the vet, the vet noted his lack of weight loss and recommended decreasing his portions by 25%. Eventually, Omaha was down to 1/4 cup of the "Lite" dry food twice daily. He'd lie by the bowl crying, he was so hungry. Still, he was not losing weight. The vet recommended further reduction, but I couldn't feed him any less than I was. I felt awful he was so hungry, and at some point I worried he wouldn't get enough nutrition.
 Omaha at 12 pounds Not only was this better for Omaha's health for many reasons — risk of diabetes, asthma, heart disease, etc. — but it was better for his joints! Omaha had severe arthritis and having less weight to support made his mobility much better. I had some people comment they thought it "mean" or "sad" to deprive Omaha of dry food. I believe Omaha was much happier being able to fill his belly with raw or canned food and be able to walk more comfortably.
 At the same time, my little Afer was gaining weight on the new diet. Afer was a tiny frail little thing when I adopted her in January of 2004. At the time, she weighed under 8 pounds.With the change in diet, we not only saw the episodes of bloody diarrhea Afer occasionally experienced cease, likely a symptom of IBD, but she also gained a bit of weight and increased to around 10 pounds. Though that's not a lot of weight, her vet commented on how much more "solid" and muscular she felt, rather than frail. I also believe a wet diet is one of the reasons Afer lived over five years with CRF.
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