Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[goodinparts]

We are happily owned by 2 cats, Theo (my Christmas kitten) who is just 10 weeks old, and Tallis, a neutered boy who is now rising 7. He has a cat flap & is out and about most of the day, coming in for supper & the night and having a light bite for breakfast before heading off into the neighbourhood. He has a very fluffy coat, so it wasn't til the kids were home for the holidays and commented that I realised just how much weight he has put on over the past few weeks. He's HUGE...a real Garfield cat at the moment......and that can't be good for him.

As I'm not feeding him any extra, and haven't changed his diet in any way, I suspect that one of the neighbours may be feeding him - but he ranges far and wide (found him visiting school when I went down to take an assembly before Christmas, - and that's a good 10 minutes walk away) so I wouldn't know where to begin with finding out who...

This makes it really hard to work out how to help him lose weight.

I'm cutting out the dry Purina he has been having at breakfast time but I'm worried that, being selfish at heart, he's likely to move out altogether what with the arrival of the kitten & the decrease in his rations.

Does anyone have any bright ideas as to how I might tackle this?

All the websites about weight loss for cats seem to assume that a fat cat is likely to be getting lots of food treats at home (he isn't) and mostly confined to the sofa (he's out all day)...

[bluekarin]

My friends, where we got our cats from when they were kittens, have 5 cats, and one of who is, shall we say, slightly podgy? They took her to their vet and she is on a WW programme, and she gets weighed every week for free. I'd go and ask your vet for advice.

Our previous cat was being fed by a neighbour and we had to put a note on her collar to ask them to stop feeding her. Trouble was, she had a son who was not too clever, and loved her a bit too much, and so fed her far too much raw meat for a lady of her age

[coco]

My black cat Tyson kept disappearing for days on end in the summer but was still putting on weight. I presumed someone was feeding him maybe thinking he was a stray. I put a collar with an ID tag on him, he stopped disappearing and went back to his normal weight after a while. I presume whoever it was must have stopped feeding him knowing he had a home.

[Guest]

I run 'WW' for animals through my practice - its 'sponsored' by Hills and animals can be weighed free weekly, fornightly, monthly - whatever suits the owner best, a lot of cats lose weight well on Hill Feline R/D - this however, will only work if its only you feeding the cat. It might be worth raising your concerns about your cat's weight with any neighbours who feed the cat - obesity in animals, like us can lead to so many health problems.

 

Games in the house can help him - but it sounds like he's a fairly active cat who goes out and about anyway? Its much harder to diet a cat than a dog, but not impossible, hope you can get him down to a finer waistline!

[Minnie&Moose]

As bluekarin suggests, I'd try sending him out with a note on his collar. We've had to do this at different times for our cat Max, who has kidney disease (managed through a special diet) and it seems to work - at least he stops coming home with normal cat food breath instead of his special k/d diet breath

[Guest]

As bluekarin suggests, I'd try sending him out with a note on his collar. We've had to do this at different times for our cat Max, who has kidney disease (managed through a special diet) and it seems to work - at least he stops coming home with normal cat food breath instead of his special k/d diet breath

 

There's nothing like the smell of k/d is there?

[milli]

Would it be worth just popping him to the vets for a checkup to make sure he doesn't have any illness causing the problem?

 

Assuming he is otherwise fit and healthy I'd try the note on the collar too.

[Chucky Mama]

It sounds like he could be a bit of a 'Six Dinner Sid' (great children's book where Sid has dinner at 6 different houses but is eventually found out). I would cut down his food a little and fit him with a 'please do not feed me' collar.

[goodinparts]

ChuckyMama...that's him EXACTLY

Note goes on to the collar when he heads out in the morning...Hope he keeps the collar on for more than an hour this time....

[mostin]

Oscar, our 10 year old is getting very porky at the moment , he keeps eating all Flora's kitten food .

 

Can't wait until May when they will both be on adult food

[Minnie&Moose]

There's nothing like the smell of k/d is there?

 

Too right Kalico!

[Jules.]

Our Jethro is a Garfield cat too, but being ancient & totally inactive we'll let him off

[Alis girls]

Our female of 7 moves from bed - dish- bed and the odd occasion she gets a boot up the bum is put out only to find shes suctioned to the back door. Games in the house - hide and seek - she hides we seek. simple really

[dancing cloud]

This thread did make me laugh ! My tubby Puddy, who has elevated bone-idleness to an art form, has been on a Hills and now Royal Canin diet for about 18 months and has gone from 7.4kg to 4.5kg. She goes to the vet monthly for a free weigh-in and now walks out of the carrier and sits herself on the scales

 

Only Loki is active of my lot and none of my moggies is exactly skinny and it's so reassuring to know others are the same!

[Alis girls]

Probably thinking - oh lets humour them

[furball]

Just a thought but are you sure its all fat, my cats are semi longhaired and look huge at the moment but a lot of it is due to their thick winter coat, it seems to be even thicker this year making them look massive. Wondered if yours could be the same.

[Alis girls]

Well my tubby tab is a mog and has a lovely thick coat and a small head - although the vet did not agree - shes on the light food and does not substiute with mice etc - if lack of movement which is her problem