For Kittybabe

[Hippykitty]

Mine usually look podgy in the middle when they've eaten too much!

[Kittybabe (Ruth)]

I'm going to try that.  I just thought 20g looked realy measly and I was being mean reducing it more but will do so now. Wish Lexy could tell me that she's "feeling a bit large about the waist mum can you put me on a diet"!

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

If she's not losing weight I agree with increasing the wet food and decreasing the dry.  When I switched Jaffa over to virtually all wet from half and half he lost a bit of weight (which I didnt' want him to) even though I tried to replace the dry with the equivilent wet (dry matter).

I agree with Desley re the 20g dry being approx equal to a 100g pouch of wet (the 100g wet contains approx 80% water therefore contains approx 20g dry matter, 20g dry will contain approx 10% water so contains approx 18g dry matter and 2g water).

[Kittybabe (Ruth)]

Maybe purchase a play-tower for while you're at work. When you're home and tired, I find those 'fishing rod' style of toy useful. (It's a long plastic rod with a string attached - they usually have a mouse or similar at the end, but I cut this off - you sit on sofa and flip the string from one side of room to another, puss chases it. BEWARE cats don't have much stamina, so only do this for a short time, they get puffed quickly.)

THanks, but she already has all these. She has towers, toys, and I have loads of toys to play with her at night which she does quite happily, its just the 12 hours I'm out during the day, she sleeps.

Its not exercise I'm worried about but more the mix of food she has and the fact that she's not dropping weight at all, even a few grams despite exercise and the light food.

[Hippykitty]

Personally, I would stop the dry food, except for a few (about half a dozen) scattered on top of the wet food. Cut down the amount of wet food gradually. You may find it helps to add water to the wet food, but only a little, otherwise your cat will no longer find it tasty.

One of my cats - Polly - has no teeth at all, and copes perfectly. How she lost them is a mystery. She sat on my lap and yawned, and I noticed she had no teeth!

It's more important to keep your cat's weight down. Being overweight will shorten its life and lessen its energy and playfulness.

Avoid treats for exercise, you'll negate the effect!

Maybe purchase a play-tower for while you're at work. When you're home and tired, I find those 'fishing rod' style of toy useful. (It's a long plastic rod with a string attached - they usually have a mouse or similar at the end, but I cut this off - you sit on sofa and flip the string from one side of room to another, puss chases it. BEWARE cats don't have much stamina, so only do this for a short time, they get puffed quickly.)

[Millys Mum]

Laser pens are something that most cats cant resist, and they are good for humans as they dont roll under furniture 

[Kittybabe (Ruth)]

THanks!  I've always wanted to keep the wet food down just because of her teeth, but I put 1cm of Logic Gel on her dry food each morning to help it along since she just swallows the food really, doesn't chew.

She's not very active except when I'm home in the evening and she gets a dentapaws treat for doing some exercise, otherwise I know she sleeps all day when I'm at work.

[Desley (booktigger)]

Sorry, I didn't get chance to respond to this earlier!! I am not convinced that light foods actually do much really, I use the JWB cos mine are senior, not for the light aspect of it. The feeding guidelines are generally higher than cats need (annoying, but they obviously want to sell more food). I would have thought 20g of dry would be better - I did read an article once that you should reduce dry food by 20g for every pouch (100g) that you feed. The fact that she isn't putting much on is good, but it does seem that it is still too much food for her needs - indoor cats need less than outdoor cats. How much exercise does she do? That is as important as reducing food. If she isn't into playing much, you could try things like hiding her dry food to make her 'work' more for her food.

[Kittybabe (Ruth)]

I've increased the wet food and am providing half in the morning and the other half at night, and reduced the dry food down to 25g which I leave out during the day. I'll see if this causes any change in her weight.

I just wish I knew if i was doing the right thing. All your help is appreciated. I know each cat is different so its difficult to guage.

With her back legs still a little stiff at times from the surgeries I really don't want her weight to increase. Poor thing, Lexy is so good with her food. She paces herself during the day so I don't worry that she's not eating enough as there is alwasy some food left from the prev night when I feed her in the mornings, but the calorific content is always a concern rather than the amount which is why I changed her food to light.

[Kittybabe (Ruth)]

The Hills tins are the same size as one of our tuna tins. 

They recommend for a full diet 1.5 tins a day.

But lexy has 30g dry food, and 0.5 a tin of the wet food and she leaves some behind of that as well. And she's not lost weight at all in 3 months. But she hasn't put much weight on.

She 4.6kg and she's 4 years old and indoor.

[Desley (booktigger)]

Hiya

Food wise, you need to make sure that the reduction in what you feed isn't more than 15% of her previous amount, as that can cause health issues -can't remember how much you said she weighed, but 30g for a whole day doesn't sound a lot of food - when Pebbles was between 3.75 and 4kg, she was given 40g a day, and I split it into two meals (until I got her weaned onto wet food). I haven't seen teh Hills wet to know how big the tins are though.