Purrs In Our Hearts - Cat Forum UK
Cat Health & Behaviour => Health & Behaviour General => Topic started by: Mark on July 15, 2007, 19:55:01 PM
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I'm determined to get her weight down - she has developed a very slight limp which I think may be due to her weight (I will get it checked if it continues) so decided to order some det food. I am sticking to Hills as I know she likes it but confused as they do r/d/ m/d and w/d - I see w/d is to give them whem they have attained the ideal weight but should I order r/d or m/d?
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I used R/D on Bob when he got to 7 kg (he was cunning and carried all the weight on his belly, looked scrawny and neglected from above and only realised just how heavy he was when I tried to pick him up one day :-[) It worked really well, but the cat needs to be an indoor cat and other cats fed separately.
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I like the sound of the m/d (metabolism diet?) as it converts fat to energy rather than filling her with fibre which may upset her stomach?
I will ask at the vet tomorrow as I have to do a kiity transfer ;D - The choice of hills food is bewildering. I'd like to get her on wet but she's not interested - she is always at her drinkwell so should be fine.
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Ah yes, fond memories of the enormous poos - had forgotten that, thanks Mark. :doh:
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How much does she weigh Mark? What sort of frame is she?
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I didn't rate r/d, never got to try the m/d as the vet didn't stock it as standard, and didn't want to buy a 2kg bag to find out they didnt like it.
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How much does she weigh Mark? What sort of frame is she?
At the last weigh-in, she was 6.85kg - down from 7.05kg months previous :scared: - she is large framed.
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I didn't rate r/d, never got to try the m/d as the vet didn't stock it as standard, and didn't want to buy a 2kg bag to find out they didnt like it.
Our vet doesn't stock anything so I will need to order it in regardless. It may be that they will only prescribe m/d in extreme cases?
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The M/D sounds quite good from what I have read online. Worth having a look at the calorie and fat content of the Hills Neutered Cat food whilst you are there too as I'd imagine that's cheaper than the prescription food and may be just as low in calories/fat. The Hills Indoor is also very good.
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I checked the indoor once and it's 12% fat compared to light which is 8% - It doesn't sound a lot but is 50% more fat. I also read an articlew online recently that said the fat content isn't the only issue as the high carbs from the cereal is a big problem for obese cats too. I will look at the ingredients for neutered and hopefully will be cheaper - Although I would prefer a bargain, kylie's health is the main priority.
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Just had a look on the packet and the indoor one is 8.2% fat and 470mg of L-carnitine per kg which is nice and high (helps convert fat to muscle). It's a shame they don't put cereal content as a % per kg on the back of packets really.
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It's a shame they don't put cereal content as a % per kg on the back of packets really.
We would be shocked I'm sure :evillaugh:
I wonder how the l-carnitine % on the light compares with the neutered?
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My Ted weighed 7.75kg and he was down to 7.04kg at his last weigh in, my vets said not to worry as he is a big framed cat.
Have the vets said Kylie is overweight and told you to put her on a diet?
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My Ted weighed 7.75kg and he was down to 7.04kg at his last weigh in, my vets said not to worry as he is a big framed cat.
That does sound rather heavy tbh.
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My vets said he is ok so he must be? If you see him in the fur you would see he is a very big cat, not just his weight. He's very agile and lightfooted and he can jump a 6ft fence so I'm not worried about his weight. He did used to have a saggy belly but thats nearly gone ;D
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one of my cats is 5.6kg and shes small framed :-[ :-[ :-[ :-[
ive been told shes obese :-[ :-[
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My boy Max was put on a diet when he reached 5.6kg, he's a big cat anyway and it never occurred to me that he could be overweight, but he did have a bit of a belly which has now gone thankfully.
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I think the best way to tell if a cat is overweight is to feel around the ribs - there shoudln't be more than a very thin layer of fat. You should be able to feel the ribs easily (but not see them just by looking at the cat). Jaffa is a big cat in terms of height and length but he has a fairly small build (he's built like a burmese I'd say - slender but muscular) and he weighs just under 5kg. If they are overweight it's best to tackle it before it turns into a major problem - the bigger they get the harder it will be to get them to lose weight.
I'd always go for wet food if a cat is overweight, although I know that's not an option for all cats as they won't all eat it. I do think that dry food, with it's high carb content, is the reason so many cats are overweight.
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The body condition scoring charts are good as well. I go for a combination of that and feeling for ribs/ hip bones every month or 2 to keep an eye on the team. You should be able to see a definate waist on your cat when you look at them from above and they should have an abdominal tuck when viewed from the side.
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Ted has a sort of stumpy frame but he is very muscular, he's built like a little tank. He doesn't eat much dry food. Harry on the other hand eats more dry and he is like a little whippet.
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My Ted weighed 7.75kg and he was down to 7.04kg at his last weigh in, my vets said not to worry as he is a big framed cat.
Have the vets said Kylie is overweight and told you to put her on a diet?
The vet said "she not the heaviest patient" He did give me some RC obesity wet food at the last visit.
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Maybe she is ok then and he give you some of that food just incase she needs to diet?
If the vet was not worried I wouldnt worry either. :)
Your not planning to get her into some little gold hotpants are you? :evillaugh:
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I think the best way to tell if a cat is overweight is to feel around the ribs -
What ribs? :evillaugh:
I wish I could get her onto wet food but she won't eat it. I will ask the vets receptionist if she has any samples of dry food.
I have to go and pick Hector up from the vets after his little boy op this afternoon :doh: http://www.catchat.org/cantcp/cgibin/prview.cgi?id=2007071401
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Maybe she is ok then and he give you some of that food just incase she needs to diet?
If the vet was not worried I wouldnt worry either. :)
Your not planning to get her into some little gold hotpants are you? :evillaugh:
Trust me, she is overweight regardless of what the vet says/thinks. She used to be so agile but now just wants to lie in a chair and she's only 8
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hi again Mark, Mine lost weight over 3 months on R/d when they became too fat a few years ago. My (then) vet said it's not designed to be used for longer than that anyhow and I had a cute little weight chart to fill in (you have to weigh them weekly lol). They seemed to like it too. It's the dry one. I can remember a week or two of total displeasure at first though :rofl:
Vet also said biggest thing is NO HUMAN NOSH. We were quite good at LS's* in those days.
* light snacks. As in chicken tikka I'm ashamed to say. terrible parenting.
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I asked the vet tonight if he had some FREE SAMPLES of HILLS obesity. He went out the back and came out with a full size bag of RC obesity. I said its unlikely she will eat it so he gave me 2 free sample bags of RC (thats what I wanted). What a moneygrabber >:(
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If diet food isnt working then you need to get her moving, would she like a laser pen or ping pong balls? Its like humans, you never get anywhere just eating less, exercise is needed.
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Too true, but have you ever tried to get a cat to go jogging with you?? :evillaugh:
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Well she ate some on the RC surprisingly. I do play lasers with her but she get bored easily. She is asleep in the garden right now - after being asleep in the bedroom all day, followed by being asleep on a rush mat in the garden :tired:
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Good luck with her - I hate vets that dismiss weight as 'oh, I have seen heavier' - well maybe, but each cat is different, so they shouldnt dismiss in my opinion. As MM says though, you need to increase exercise too.
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Her belly is virtually dragging on the ground. I have tried to work out the difference between m/d & r/d but all I can see is that the r/d has more fibre. I was looking at info on RC food and it says their obesity food doesn't contain added fibre as it causes enlarged stools and can cause stomach upsets, which makes me think I should try Hills m/d - although that has some added fibre but not as much as r/d. The Hills r/d is beef-based but I can't see what the base is for m/d. Ktylie has always opted for tuna flavoured food and will even turn her nose up at salmon flavoured. I really want to address this but ts quite hard. She is not interested in the RC food but I will wait until the 2 trial packs are finished before deciding what to do. I can get her to eat it from my hand but its not really practical to to that all the time (if she was ill, I would find the time)
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Have you given Hills customer service a ring, Mark? They may agree to send you some free food via your vet for Kylie to try if you explain the problem and that foods often get rejected. I've had 2 lots of free samples from them. Did you also know that if you did buy food at the vet and she didn't fancy it, you can take it back for a refund as that's both Hills and RC policy.
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Thanks, I will try their customer service. I think its more likely she will eat the Hills food.
Edit - I can't seem to find a UK phone number.
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You could always resort to this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPHyvWGuf9g
Mine do not think this is as funny as their mum does for some unknown reason.......
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:rofl: I saw a different one on there the other week. I would do anything to get her weight down. She will get the Rosanne Barr treatment the way things are going.
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Is that a 12 Paw treatment programme? (sorry, sorry, sorry).
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Well I was searching for Hill's UK customer service number and saw an artical saying that their m/d fod had been recalled due to the recent gluten issue - so I guess I won't be buying any of that. I would imagine the prescription food is all made in one place as the demand isn't as high as for regular food.
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Is she free fed? Constant snacking makes them fussy cos they are never really hungry. Would she chase food up/down stairs etc?
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The funny thing is, she doesn't eat very much at all. about a handful of dry + 1/2 coley steak a day and thats it. I don't give them treats.
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How big are your hands, Mark?! :rofl:
Seriously - when mine were on mostly dry it wouldn't have been a handful per day and I have small hands! ;D
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The funny thing is, she doesn't eat very much at all. about a handful of dry + 1/2 coley steak a day and thats it. I don't give them treats.
Might be worth actually weighing out how much she eats per day.
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I don't have big hands - I could weigh it I guess.
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Well I was searching for Hill's UK customer service number and saw an artical saying that their m/d fod had been recalled due to the recent gluten issue - so I guess I won't be buying any of that. I would imagine the prescription food is all made in one place as the demand isn't as high as for regular food.
That's the diabetic food then? That was the one they admitted recalling in dry version on their website. If there's a wet version it may be ok. I would check with them as some of the women there are really helpful. I think I was told that only the i/d pouches had any possible wheat gluten but could be wrong.
They can also tell you the calories per 100g of food as fed. Mind you, technical questions they tend to want your vet or vet's nurse to phone their vet, which is a bit tedious.
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I can't find the number anywhere :(
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0800 282 438. 9am - 4pm. The woman who's helped me a lot and been kind and understanding is Beverley.
Good luck. Kylie know she's going on a diet yet?
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Thanks for that ;D - I will call them tomorrow
Well she's hardly eating anyway - I don't know why she's so heavy - it seems she prefers her "light" to willows regular hills. I didn't want to buy any more as I want to get her on the diet stuff.
She will be fine I hope :evillaugh:
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Called them today and they don't have free sample >:(
I had to push them into advising whether r/d or m/d is the best. She told me what the website says, ie r/d works on high fibre/low protein and m/d works on high protein to convert fat to lean muscle tissue. I asked her again which one should I try. She said most people buy r/d and m/d is one to try if r/d doesn't work :tired:
She said if I buy it from a vet, I am covered by their 100% money back guarantee as all their products are covered by it. I have ordered but don't know how much it is as the vet has a new receptionist and she doesn't know :-:
I am fully expecting to return it for a 100% refund -I'm sure kylie won't be having any of it. I think the way to go is up her coley so she doesn't keep eating biscuits (same as us really) She is now 8 and I'm getting a bit woried that her sedentary lifestyle is going to catch up on her :(
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Mark, does she only have coley and biscuits, i.e. no wet cat food? If so, I would be dubious about increasing her coley and decreasing biscuits as fish doesn't have high levels of taurine in it, so it might not be a balanced enough diet if she gets less complete food. If she has a sedentary lifestyle, that needs looking at too, you can feed her as little as you like, but if she isn't exercising as well, it wont work.
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The only wet food she will eat is hilife tuna imperial. Maybe I could look into getting a taurine supplement. She doesn't exercise much ast all. I try to play with her but its difficult in the summer as she spends very little time inside.
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The tuna imperial is a complete food though, which would be better than coley. I dont know if a taurine supplement would be the way to go, as a diet of mainly white fish with a few biscuits might lack more than just taurine, I dont know off hand.
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If Kylie's outside a lot, she's not getting fed by a neighbour is she? just a thought.
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She can't get over the fence thesedays - she just looks at it longingly :evillaugh:
Anyway, I have a vet on one side & a gas showroom on the other. ;D
I think although she doesn't officially eat wet food, she has some of the wet I put out for the hedgies at night :sneaky:
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Awww hedgies will be going onto light wet food then will they lol.
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Not at that price they won't! :evillaugh: