Hi guys. I'm new here and I was hoping someone can help me.
I have a 9 year old Persian male cat, and the last time he was weighed he was 4.5 Kilos. At the time he was sick and had lost some weight. It's been about 3 weeks now and it looks like he had gained even more weight.

The vet told me that I should keep his weight at 3 Kilos and I'm trying to do it but at the same time, I don't want my cat to feel hungry.

I began to take notice of the way I used to feed him and I realized that I fed him over 6 times a day, each time I served him a 85g Whiskas Pouch.
I've read that Whiskas isn't good, but I've checked all the info recommended on several sites and Whiskas has everything.

For years all the cat ate was chicken and dry food, nothing wet until about 8 or 9 months ago. He was tested and the vet told me that he needed some wet food because he wasn't getting some vitamins so I started giving him some. He didn't like the canned food that much but went crazy over the pouches and I started giving him everything, not together, but I would give him a meal of dried food, then a meal of canned food, then a meal of pouch, etc... and I noticed that sometimes the food would barely be touched until I gave him the pouch, so I've only been giving him that about 5 times a day (maybe more) and there would be dry food sitting all day (which he also loved).

I've been reading a lot about how dry food gives cats kidney stones and it isn't as nutritious as the wet food, so now I rarely give him any. It's been strictly pouch food for the past 4 months or so but ever since the vet told me to get his weight down to 3 Kilos, I've been careful to feed him only 3 times a day, every 8 hours.

I want to switch him back to chicken because the vet told me it would help him lose weight but the problem is, he won't touch the chicken anymore and he would just wait for the pouch.

I need a way to make him start to lose weight, but at the same time not starve him.

Also, he's a very inactive cat. I've bought him some toys, and he would play with them for like 15 minutes a week or maybe less, and that is after I persuade him to play in the first place. I bought him a tree house that I haven't put together yet (because we're moving in about 2 months and I want to put it up in the new house.)
Can someone tell me how I can get him to be more active? It sure would help with losing weight.

Sorry for the long post, but I figured that the more info you guys have, the better advice you can give.

Additional questions:

1) 85g x 3 times a day = 255g. Is that too much or too little?

2) Am I harming my cat by feeding him pouch food only? He only likes 3 kinds which are Chicken, Lamb, and Beef. He doesn't like the sea food.

He does sound like he is fed well

Any excess calories not used will be stored as fat...so the idea is to cut the calories of both foods fed ( manufactured wet & dry) dry has the most calories.

So maybe you should cut out the dry and feed the pouches only...3 pouches a day seems adequate to me...weight reduction does take time....you could always feed fresh as a low fat alternative and give him a general vitamin supplement...good luck

__________________
http://www.starappealsiameseandorien....uk/index.html

First of all, thanks a lot Daisy May for the quick answer.

As for the dry food, he barely had any in the past couple of months, and he hasn't had any at all in 3 weeks.
Do you think keeping up with the 3 pouches a day is enough to get him to lose weight? I don't care if it takes months as long as it actually works in the end.

I would love nothing more than to get him to eat fresh again, but he just doesn't want to. The bowl stays practically the same and I can't take knowing that he's hungry so I just give in and serve him the pouch

Personally I feel that vets comment on weight and maturity of cats as "normal" moggies, it doesn't matter whether you take in a normal moggy or a pedigree... like yours a Persian, a Ragdoll etc etc. They normally always say "oh they're overweight" because they're using normal moggy sizes and weights. We all know that some pedigree cats are large and that's how they are supposed to be.

Take Ragdolls for example, they are the 2nd largest breed of cat. I took one of my Ragdolls Bailey in for a check up once... she weighed him and he weighed about 10lbs and she said he was overweight and needed to lose weight. Ragdolls (males) can weight upto 22lbs... so, I know he wasn't overweight like the vet was saying... he now weighs 18lbs.

I feel that vets put every dog or cat down to the statistics of a normal mongrel dog or moggy cat when infact they should be going on specific breed stastistics!!! in my opinion.

I am not an expert on Persians... there are some Persian breeders on this site, so maybe they will be able to help more than I can. From what I have read, Persians can weigh anything between 7-12 lbs?? ... You say your cat weighs around 4.5kg's well thats around 9.5lbs roughly and your vet is saying he should weigh 6lbs.

Kay, you put into words precisely what I was thinking. Not being a Persian breeder, I may not be able to comment categorically about your Persian's weight but at the age of 9 yrs, he is an adult. My feeling is that he is of a good weight but if you feel he should lose a bit of weight, then be careful - I know you are doing so and asking on here too.

For the sake of comparison, a siamese (which I breed) can weigh between 6lb and 12lb+ as fully grown adults. My seal point girl Poppy weights about 11lb but she is a tall well built girl who is 10 years old. I think her weight is fine. Kiki is younger but more delicately proportioned and weighs about 7.5lb. All my cats are fed a mixture of wet and dried food and water is always available, especially when wet food is out. My cats' mealtimes occur twice a day - just breakfast and supper. They tend to want only one sachet each, when they get these (I cook for them too) but do not tend to finish them at all times.

Each cat's appetite varies according to its level of activities, the season, even boredom levels etc etc.

Suggest, if you wish to help your cat lose weight, do not feed the whole sachet. Dried food is ok in moderation but you're probably right in excluding this from the diet at the moment.

Try introducing a small amount of cooked/steamed chicken in with half a sachet of his normal food.

Good luck - please let us know how things go.

__________________
kind regards

Ra

http://www.bobergsiamese.co.uk/

Thanks Kay2008 and Rraa for the replies. And even though I do agree that each breed weighs differently and that vets tend to generalize, I also believe that my cat really is overweight. I've had a few Persian cats in the past, I've been raising them since I was a kid, and none of them were as big as he is. Also, my cousin has 7 cats, 4 of them mare Persians, and they are much smaller than mine. I can see that my cat is bigger by nature, he's very tall and all, but he's still a little chubby.
Like I mentioned before, his coat is shaved right now and I can see he has a floppy belly lol. I want him to lose weight because I want him to be as healthy as possible.

It's my fault that he's this big because I used to give him food all the time, and that's why he developed such a big appetite. I want to get him used to eating a lot less but in a way that would be torturous to him.

I'll start giving him only half the pouch like you suggested, but I hope he'll be ok with it. I have such a weak spot for his big eyes when he comes to me telling me he's hungry.


Should I mix the chicken with the sachet or put each on a separate bowl?

Hi and welcome.

I don't know anything about persians but you acknowledge that the food you are feeding may not be the best.

You might want to change to a wet/dry diet that is meat based without cereal bulking it out.

The cat eats less and there is less likelihood of conversion of carbohydrates to fat. Good wet foods are:

Natures Menu available at Pets At Home
Bozita available zooplus
Tescos Luxury/premium
Hi-Life

Dry: Orijen from zooplus

You could try raw too.

Hello Jiji - back online again and see you have a question - my thought was to perhaps mix a little into the normal food and then try mixing more of it into the normal food with less of the sachet meat and gradually change the ratio of sachet meat to steamed chicken until your cat will eat plain cooked food.

You can also, give your cat just the mixed version. Ready made foods out of sachets tend to be made up to balance the nutritional requirements of cats so if you are feeding cooked foods, you may like to add supplements.

I think Janee suggested some good ones but if you are in Saudi Arabia, you may not have a Pets@Home or Tescos ... not sure what sort of products you have available in your country.

I know the story about the big eyes thing ... my Maine Coon has big eyes when he is hungry but he is not a foodie ...

I wish you well with the dieting and your little Persian boy - be strong - for his sake.

__________________
kind regards

Ra

http://www.bobergsiamese.co.uk/

Thanks Janee and Rraa. I'll check if any of these brands are available here, and if not, I'll let you guys know which ones are and you might be able to help me chose the best ones.

It could take a few days though because I'm gonna be busy the next couple of days. My B day is this Saturday so I won't have time to go to the market.

All dry food is fattening, keep him on a wet food diet, and he should gradually lose it.

Audrey Magical -Magical cats.
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