The vet shouldn't charge for a just a weigh-in.

But when one of my cats was very ill I wanted to weight her every day, so
I got a package postage scale off ebay.(MyWeigh is the brand) It doesn't
have the nice tray like a baby/vet scale, but it was half the price of
one of those and I use it for shipping stuff sometimes, too. I zero the
scale with cat carrier on it, then put the cat in the carrier, then
weight the cat inside the carrier.  The cats are really used being in the
carriers now so they go along with the routine without any fuss.

It's really great for monitoring the big guy's diet now.

With just one cat you should be able to control her intake by giving her
a measured amount of food every day. You can put it out all at once and
let her nibble as she wants, or spoon it out gradually over the course of
a day.

chicken (the size of the little balls of the dry food) Saturday morning
and one table spoon of milk that he adores (although I know that is not
exactly good for him!) once or twice a week. I keep wondering how much
is this compromising his diet. Anyway, I will stop giving him these for

There's nothing wrong with giving him treats as long as they don't comprise
more than 10% of his daily caloric intake.  Just be sure to include treat
calories in his daily caloric allowance.

Good luck,

Phil.

Don't know. Could work either way depending on metabolism. The trick is
to lose the fat and not the muscle. Another reason to go slowly. Muscle
burns up fat and keep metabolism faster so not good to lose too much
muscle. Some can be lost. If it's winter, then likely not exercising as
much so easier to go into low metabolic rate. It's tricky stuff.

Tanita makes durable and accurate in their range. I have found a postal
scale that sells for $20 to $40. It's called UltraShip 35 by My Weigh
[not DigiWeigh which is not so good]. This scale has some outstanding
features.

1. It can be calibrated. This is a sign of a good scale. And one review
said the scale is accurate over its entire range. By calibration, I
mean you put a special standardized 10 kilogram weight on the scale and
press special buttons that tell the scale to realize that a genuine 10
kilogram weight better say 10 kilograms on the scale. These weights are
special, and probably around $20 themselves but a professional scale
store has these and might calibrate the scale as a favor. Generally
scales do not need calibration but with temperature and altitude, they
can. A scale at 3000 feet will weigh a little less :)

2. It can weigh up to 35 pounds at either 0.2 ounces or 5 grams. There
are versions that go to 55 pounds and 75 pounds but they weigh only to
10 grams or 0.5 ounces. That's not bad if you need a shipping scale to
75 pounds. Can all be used for postal letters since goes to 0.1 ounce
accuracy for first 2 pounds.

3. Detachable faceplate so can put a large tray on the scale for the
cat and hope it does not tip over or whatever, not that it would matter
too much. Also has a fairly long HOLD button so with the controls a
couple of feet away, when the cat is on the scale, hit the HOLD button
and record the weighing.

How accurate is 0.2 pounds or 5 grams? In pounds only, that's .0125
pounds which is mighty accurate. Most bathroom scales are 10 to 20
times less accurate. 5 grams is around .011 pounds. That's a little
more than 1/100th of a pound for accuracy if using the kilogram scale
on the scale.

But, I have not purchased this scale yet. But it's the best specs so
far for price and accuracy that I have found. The same company makes a
kitchen scale that weighs 1 gram to 15.4 pounds or 7 kgs. But there is
no detachable faceplate and the HOLD button works for a very short
time, seconds. But this scale, the 7001DX is tempting. 1 gram /
453.59237 grams [makes one pound exactly] is a little more than .002 of
a pound. Now that's what I call accurate.

In fact, that's 100 times more accurate than most bathroom scales.

Bathroom scales usually do 0.2 pounds accuracy.
This is 0.002 pounds accuracy. 100 times better.

This company also makes 2 shipping scales, well, foot square platform,
that weigh to 150 pounds/300 pounds at .05/0.1 pounds or 20/50 grams,
with a long corded remote display. That would seem best for me and the
cat but it's getting near the price of an animal scale, from $75 to
over $100. Called the HD-150 or HD-300 by MyWeigh.com. With this scale
I could weigh myself with or without holding the cat and be accurate to
0.05 pounds or 20 grams which is better than any bathroom scale and
equal or better than many medical scales for precision and consistency
and the scale can be attached to a computer. Not sure it is Excel
compatible but it works with UPS and USPS.

I used a Conair scale, with 0.1 pound increments, and tried to gauge it
consistency with a concrete brick, not too bad, but still a tad
inconsistent. I returned the scale. Not bad, had 10 memories, but why
is it so difficult to get a scale that is consistent and accurate?
Probably why it's so hard to find good medical or vet advice.

Easiest was to hold the cat and weigh her with me on the scale. Getting
her onto a little scale by itself is awkward. Maybe a biggish platform
or shipping scale might be not so difficult.

A scale is needed. I'll try to get one of these scales and report back
later if it is as good as I seem to think it might be.

Tanita makes good baby scales or little animal scales but they run over
$100. Not as accurate as the scale I mentioned but more accurate
possibly because the Tanita scale probably has professional dampening
mechanisms for when the cat is moving on the scale. So give a little,
take a little. What good is .002 pounds accuracy if the cat is moving?
Not much I would guess.

There are scientific studies that the types of calories can matter. One
showed that fluffy white sugary stuff want straight to make fat on the
tummy of people than other types of calories. My cat seems more
satisfied on wet food too. She cannot get enough of the dry kibble,
just eats and eats. If I put out wet food, she does not bug me as much.
Wet food might seem more like a mousey or something. I try to put out
good quality wet food with low phosphorus, < 0.80% dry matter basis.
Now and then I put out Wysong which has a pure turkey or chicken, very
low phosphorus, but has no added vitamins or anything, so need to be
careful that the dry kibble provides the extra nutrition. This Wysong
is not going to meet any vet standards for food. But it's easier than
cooking a piece of chicken. I found Science Diet which has good specs
and some Fancy Feast, 3 or so, that have good specs. But the other 55
Fancy Feasts you can keep, too high in phosphorus which is indicated in
renal failure.

It's not easy getting the cat down in weight. I need to get more
strict.

You're welcome.

chicken (the size of the little balls of the dry food) Saturday morning
and one table spoon of milk that he adores (although I know that is not
exactly good for him!) once or twice a week. I keep wondering how much
is this compromising his diet. Anyway, I will stop giving him these for

There's nothing wrong with giving him treats as long as they don't comprise
more than 10% of his daily caloric intake- treats aren't balanced.  Just be
sure to include treat
calories as part of his daily caloric allowance.

Good luck,

Phil.