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I have three cats and one is VERY fat! He sleeps on his back with his feet all sticking out and he looks like a fat raccoon! As far as I can tell, he doesn't eat more than the other two and they're normal shape. I even bought the weight watcher cat food.

He is 12 years old tho and has no health problems that I know of.

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Like a lot of humans, cats will often put on a little weight as they age and still be as healthy... some even NEED to put on an extra pound or two to maintain the same level of health they had when they were younger. Again, like humans, a healthy weight in the senior years can be higher or lower. It varies from cat to cat. As long as your vet is not concerned, and your cat still acts healthy, I wouldn't worry. But mention that specifically on your next vet visit to be sure.


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If you get a laser pointer, you can get the cats some fun exercise chasing it around smile


Lisa Shea, Low Carb and Video Games Editor
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In my experience, the older the cat gets, the more blase it gets about the laser pointer. I've seen that "I'm not a kitten, and I'm not your dog. Chase it yourself" look on quite a few feline faces, including my Beastie's.

Beastie is not quite 2 and a half and is already bored with the laser pointer after the first 2 minutes, no matter what new tricks we try, or how long it's been since we've used it. I'm considering her one of those remote control mice to give her something three dimensional (and new) to chase.

That animal has no attention span for anything but food and bird watching. We are constantly trying new games and/or toys with her to get her more active. She gets bored with everything quickly, the spoiled brat! :p

Green, I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one here with one of those "back sleeper" cats. Even when Beastie was young and skinny she slept on her back. Now that she's (much) bigger, she does kind of have a raccoon shape to her when she's on her back. If her stomach was marked like her back is, she'd have the full raccoon look!


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My cat weighs almost 13lbs and the last time I went to the vet they told me that she needs to lose around 3lbs. We've been rationing her food for the last 4 months and it seems like she might be slimming down a tiny bit. But I was thinking that maybe the reason she gained weight in the first place was because of the food we have been feeding her. Has anyone else found this to be the problem? I've been looking at different brands of dry foods to find something healthier than what she gets now. Does anyone feed taste of the wild? It's got a great ingredient list and it's supposed to be good for maintaining a healthy weight.

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I forget if you participated in the dry food / wet food thread WonderWoman - but have you tried wet food instead? It fills the cat up with liquid (which is more natural for them) and they therefore get less calories, so they gain less weight.

It's for example the difference between a human eating a plate of pasta, or eating a large salad which could be equally filling but have less calories.

Our cats definitely gain weight if we feed them dry food.


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Wonderwoman, do you remember that in a previous thread I talked about mixing my cat's dry food to try to balance the best nutrients with her weight loss needs? Well the update is that it's working. She still gets wet food once or twice a week, but most of her meals are a combination of Evo (by Innova), which is really awesome in nutritional aspects for a dry food, and Purina One, which she likes and which is helping her lose weight. We had to adjust the Evo:Purina One ratio to 1:2, instead of the previous 1:1 to make it work, though.

Evo alone was giving me a healthy cat, but she was getting progressively chubbier, even though she's been on carefully rationed feedings for most of her life. We have always made efforts to add more play and exercise to her life, but I suspect Evo was just too fatty for her level of activity. However, I didn't want to give up the high nutritional value of that food, so the mixed food idea was born. And my cat is getting (as we phrase it at home) "almost cat shaped!")

She gets bored with food more than ANY cat I've ever known, so we'll have to keep "changing it up" occasionally. (Fortunately for her incredibly picky personality, she's one of those rare cats who adjusts to food changes with great ease!) We're already on our second variety of Purina One! *frustrated sigh* I think my next food move is going to be to have her try the Evo canned food. It's more nutritious that many of the "grocery store brands" and hopefully, she won't notice. (You know, I once had two happy, healthy cats who were content to eat the same food day after day for years on end. My current pet is their polar opposite! She wants something different every week!)

I just wanted to update you on our little food experiment and remind you of yet another option to consider (mixing brands) in your efforts to get your cat in better shape.


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Hi Myrabeth - I do remember you talking about that. And I thought it was a great idea but I'll admit I haven't tried it yet. I'm still stuck on which foods to choose and I'm guessing another trip to the vet would be a good idea. There are a lot of premium brands that are grain-free and have great ingredient lists but most of them are pricey. Taste of the wild is the most affordable that I've seen. But what to mix it with? How long were you feeding the mixture before realized that your cat was doing much better?

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It took a few weeks for there to be a visible difference. You have be pretty patient with this stuff.
Local price for a 6 lb. bag of Evo: about $15
I haven't seen Taste of the Wild around here. Where have you found it?


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There is a store locator on their website that will help you find stores that have it. There are a few in my area that carry it. Here's the website - Taste of the Wild

A 6 lb bag is a good starting place and I will probably just mix it with what I feed now. Thanks!

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