Dom, our tiny female was up to 18 lbs when she came to us. (She is
very small boned, so this was dangerously obese.) I fed her diet Iams
dry because that is what her owner fed her. Like your cat, I free fed
her, just left the bowl on the floor all day. She just got fatter.

You have the right idea about protein, and FF is what I feed, too, but
any canned food that has meat, fish, poultry as a first ingredient and no
or very few grains is fine. The thing is, you have to feed canned only
and feed every twelve hours. If you want her to him to lose weight you
will have to supervise feedings, because you have two cats. I feed my
skinny cat on the third floor and my fat cat on the first floor, then try
to remember to pick up what is left of the skinny cat's food before
the fat cat can sneak up to get it! If I had a single floor, I would feed
them in separate rooms with closed doors. If the skinny cat is like
mine and does not wolf it all, you could put his up on a counter or
table where the fat cat cannot jump. (Unless your cat can jump, mine
couldn't when she was that fat.

My fat girl eats two 3-oz cans a day because that is how much it takes
to keep her at nine pounds. (She lost 9 pounds in a year once I cut
out the dry.) Your big boy might need a can and a half twice a day.
My vet told me to feed canned only, and reduce it by 1/4 until the
cat begins to lose weight, so you want to start out on the heavy side.

Another thing about feeding every 12 hours is, it is better for cats
to wait this long between feedings. Phil P. once posted about this
but I have not retained the particulars.

As you have guessed, dry food is not the best food for cats because
of all the grains. In addition to the extra protein in canned, there is
extra water, and cats need that to stay healthy too.

If your skinny cat will not eat all of his wet food in the morning before
you
leave, and you can't put it up where the other cat cannot get it, you might
have a dilemma on your hands, as I surely would not separate them all
day, they need each other's company! What I do when my fat cat steals
Gracie's food is, I give her less in the evening and Gracie more.

Good luck! You're right to worry about your cat's weight, it can be a
killer.

Hi Dom,

My suggestion would be to feed your cats separately (in another room
works well), twice per day, about 12 hours apart. You need to monitor
the overweight cat's intake. Secondly, I would remove the dry food
from his diet and feed only canned. I personally had no luck with any
of the dry "weight loss" formulas, prescription or over the counter.
My cat actually gained weight on them! There's a good article about
feline nutrition here: http://www.catinfo.org/

My cat lost 6 lbs a couple of years ago on canned food. Here's his web
site. Feel free to email me if you have questions.

http://community-2.webtv.net/getcathelp/tucker/

Rene

You will need to adopt a fixed feeding rather than free feeding schedule.

Suggest you and the cat visit the vet.

Dom" <dolivastro@gmail.com> wrote:>

Dom, our tiny female was up to 18 lbs when she came to us. (She is
very small boned, so this was dangerously obese.) I fed her diet Iams
dry because that is what her owner fed her. Like your cat, I free fed
her, just left the bowl on the floor all day. She just got fatter.

You have the right idea about protein, and FF is what I feed, too, but
any canned food that has meat, fish, poultry as a first ingredient and no
or very few grains is fine. The thing is, you have to feed canned only
and feed every twelve hours. If you want her to him to lose weight you
will have to supervise feedings, because you have two cats. I feed my
skinny cat on the third floor and my fat cat on the first floor, then try
to remember to pick up what is left of the skinny cat's food before
the fat cat can sneak up to get it! If I had a single floor, I would feed
them in separate rooms with closed doors. If the skinny cat is like
mine and does not wolf it all, you could put his up on a counter or
table where the fat cat cannot jump. (Unless your cat can jump, mine
couldn't when she was that fat.

My fat girl eats two 3-oz cans a day because that is how much it takes
to keep her at nine pounds. (She lost 9 pounds in a year once I cut
out the dry.) Your big boy might need a can and a half twice a day.
My vet told me to feed canned only, and reduce it by 1/4 until the
cat begins to lose weight, so you want to start out on the heavy side.

Another thing about feeding every 12 hours is, it is better for cats
to wait this long between feedings. Phil P. once posted about this
but I have not retained the particulars.

As you have guessed, dry food is not the best food for cats because
of all the grains. In addition to the extra protein in canned, there is
extra water, and cats need that to stay healthy too.

If your skinny cat will not eat all of his wet food in the morning before
you
leave, and you can't put it up where the other cat cannot get it, you might
have a dilemma on your hands, as I surely would not separate them all
day, they need each other's company! What I do when my fat cat steals
Gracie's food is, I give her less in the evening and Gracie more.

Good luck! You're right to worry about your cat's weight, it can be a
killer.