i foster two cats who are about 16 months old. they arrived very ill and skinny about 6 months ago recovering from the cat flu and i have nursed them back to health and they are great now. however, they seem to be getting fat. i feed them the correct amount of 'iams' adult cat food and they occasionally share a sachet of wet food (very high quality stuff, thinks it called gourmet) but i have noticed that they are putting on weight. they go outside so they should be getting exercise although one of them is a little lazy. Not sure what to do as i dint want to underfeed them. Any suggestions?

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If you are really worried about their weight I would take them to see a vet. They have probably just filled out and look alot bigger as they were so underweight.

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"Life may not be the party we hoped for,
but while we're here we might as well dance."

Try Changing there diet to a higher protein one! iams is very low quality and so is gourmet....they are both very low meat content and full of fillers (crap basically. its quite expensive but Orijens is very high quality..and for wet use applaws. google them both and you will see! hope this finds you in good faith!

If they're going out, could someone else be feeding them as well?

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Personally I think that could be the answer. My outdoor cats were fed by my neighbour.

hmm, i didnt know iams was such bad quality - i was advised to feed them that by the charity i foster them from. I have been told that a higher protein is not good for them (no higher than 20%) but il do a bit of research. I do think they are being fed by someone close by, my neighbour says his cat definately gets fed by someone else, how do you stop that happening? other than keeping them in, whichi think is slightly cruel when they are used to going out! well, im going to change them from iams then, and get a better quality food.

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For better quality food (most of the ones like Gourmet still only have around 5% meat in them) go for Tesco Luxury/Finest, Nature's Menu, Applaws, Hi-life etc they all have around 60%+ meat in them. Who ever told you not to give them protien is not thinking about what a cats natural diet is. Never seen a wild cat yet chow down on wheat or fruit and veg!

For stopping neighbours feeding them, put a collar on that says they are on a prescription diet and feeding the cat could kill them.

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