Obese kitty :(

breaness

Last night I went to my parents' house for the first time in almost a year. They opened a store 20 minutes from our house (they live 40 minutes away) so when we've seen them lately it's either been at the store, at our new house, or out. I hadn't seen the cats in almost a year.

These are the cats that we've had for 11 years and they were my first real pets. It was really sad for me!

Checkers (the skinny one) is starting to look like an old man. He's always had the kitten look in the face, even as a 10 year old cat. My mom said in the last several months he's started to look old.

Then Spunky, my baby girl, she was the real problem. She's beyond obese. It's just upsetting how huge she's gotten. My mom said she weighed 18 lbs the last time they took her to the vet and my guess is that she's well over 20. 

Just when I was about to start lecturing my mom about how they need to stop feeding the bowl and feed the animal, she started to tell me about how she had read the website I sent her (catinfo.org) and how the cats are now getting two meals a day, and are eating mostly wet food. She started doing it about 2 weeks ago and they're eating it and not begging for more. Yay!

She's splitting a can of wet food in the morning between the two of them, another at night, and then putting about 1/3 cup of dry food in the bowl before bed so if they get hungry over night they'll eat it. She's also been mixing water in with the wet food. She says that they are peeing a lot more often, also a good thing! ETA: I just sent her the link to cat info.org's part on healthy weight loss to make sure she keeps an eye on the girl cat

So while it makes me sad that my childhood kitties are getting older (and Spunky is HUGE) I'm so glad that my mom is finally working on getting them to eat the right amount. They used to fill the food bowl to the brim in the morning, again at night, and feed them a wet food "treat" at the end of their work day. 

SparrowGreen

I'm glad your mom took the initiative to follow your advice!  I hope this helps them both have several more good years   It's so hard when they start getting old. 

LuckyAngel07

Yay!! Glad your mom listened to your advice and is making changes. Hopefully Spunky slims down!

It's so hard to see our childhood pets grow old, though. I was sad forever back my Sophomore year of high school when our kitty, who we'd had since I was like 5, passed away. So hard!

breaness

It is hard! I was really down about it for the rest of the night. I'm definitely going to visit them more often, I feel so guilty that it's been so long! Sherlock looked so small and young in comparison when we got home!

I'm really glad my mom was receptive though, it makes me happy  

HelloSweetie1

Has Checkers been to a vet recently?  Although 10 is considered a senior, most cat's live well past that... and I would be concerned about why he is starting to look older.  I would bet that he's lost some weight, and has lost the fat he had in his cheeks.  Perhaps he isn't feeling well, and/or he's been losing weight?  Any chance Spunky has been eating his food?  I start to worry anytime I notice any sort of change with my kitties... I just noticed one of my cats has dropped 1.5 and she was only 7 pound to start!  I'm going to be keeping an eye on her for other signs of illness, and in the meantime, try to fatten her up again.  But 2 of my babies are 11 and 10, and they look just as they always have... so if they started to look "old" I would have them examined for sure...or at least have your mom make sure that poor Checkers is eating his food and not Spunky :-) 

breaness

Actually, the interesting part, is that he tends to eat her food! 

I think her main issue with the obesity is that they were free fed dry food and that she's not very active. He will eat everything and anything but he also runs around a lot.

He has definitely lost a little fat in his cheeks, but I feel like his face has gotten "longer" too in a way. He's not overly skinny though, he looks like a healthy sized cat. 

Here's an example of before and after:

 before 6721962973_a989564a4e_o.jpg" border="0" />

now6721962905_26bde08785.jpg" border="0" />

HelloSweetie1

He is adorable!  I bet he has lost a big of weight though :-(  This could be due to the different food schedule, or maybe he is just getting a little older?  I would keep an eye on it for sure... just in case he does start to drop too much weight, because that is bad. 

About the obesity... it might take her a long time to lose weight.  I know we had a cat that was 20 pounds (he was a big and muscular too though), and tried for years to help him lose weight.  He didn't eat that much though.  The vet had us cut him back to 1/4 cup of dry twice a day, and the poor guy was starving!  He still didn't lose weight though, so eventually we just left him alone, because another vet told us that sometimes they are just big, and that's ok.  I'm so glad we let him live his life though because as it turned out this cat was suddenly struck with cancer when he was 10, and went from 20 pounds to 12 in less than 2 months.  He had a lovely round face and chubby cheeks, and one day they were suddenly gone, and that's how we realized he was dropping weight.  That's why I say to watch your boy closely.  I always figure, it's better to be safe than sorry, because you really never know....

breaness

The after photo is from October, pre food change (the change was within the last week or two) but I do appreciate all of your advice. I've shared your response (and the others) with my mom and she plans on taking them both to the vet soon for a check up. It's been about two years and she agrees that since she sees them every day she hasn't noticed the change.