dearbrew

Dear Brew

I have a 6 year old cat (Bubba) that is about 10 pound’s overweight, how bad is this for him? I think he need’s to go on Jenny Craig.. ha ha..  but serouisly what can I do to help him loss the extra weight.  Fat cat’s owner

 Dear Fat cat’s owner.

Have you contacted Jenny Craig to see if Bubba could be the next spokes person? and would’nt that be great if there was biggest loser for pet’s! (humm maybe I should pitch that idea to the networks.) Okay back to getting you some real help for a very real and big problem for both cat’s and dog’s. Being over weight is very bad for your pet, it will shorten their life span by several years! It also put’s pressure on delicate joint’s and hip’s making it harder for them to get around and up and down. It will also increase their chances of getting arthritis and diabetes. 

The first thing we need to do, is to get a starting weight and make sure you write it down. You will then want to weigh Bubba every month to see if he is losing weight on his new diet and then we need to look at what you are feeding Bubba , is it a light adult cat food ? If you are not feeding a light adult or light senior food, then you will need to switch to one,  if they have the same brand you are feeding now in a light version, then  go with switching to that. Then you will want to make sure that you make the food switch gradually over the course of a week, by mixing in the new food with Bubba’s old food, adding a little more of the new food in everyday,  until he is eating the new food only, This will give his body a chance to adjust to the new food with out getting any tummy upset.

The next step is to get an actually measuring cup and measure out his food, a lot of people fill a bowl full of food and leave it down all day, you can not do this if you have an over weight pet and just like with people, your pet can not consume more calories then  they can burn.  The same basic principles apply for pet weight loss as for people,  all you need to do is cut back calories and increase exercise.

You will want to put Bubba on strict diet of a low calorie dry food, giving him a 1/2 cup in the am and pm and elimante all table scraps and canned food or strictly limit canned food to one teaspoon twice a day. 

Then try to get Bubba to be more active, see if you can get him to chase a toy around or chase a toy on a string a couple times a day. 

After a month put Bubba back on the scale and see if he has lost weight, you want to set a goal for him to lose about 1-2 pound’s a month. If he has not lost any weight after the first month, then cut back his food to 1/4 cup twice a day, if still no weight loss, then its time to see your Veterinarian and have physical and some blood-test’s done.     

We hope this helps and please keep us updated on Bubba’s weight loss progress.

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