Ten years ago I rescued three kittens. They were only 10 days old, so tiny! We bottle fed them and they grew up to be three of the most beautiful tortie tabbies I have ever seen. As the years past, they didn’t just grow up, they grew out. My tiny girls were overweight. They all seemed healthy, so no harm, right? Then, my girl PeaPod started to limp a bit. She couldn’t jump on anything and if we lifted her up on a chair, she often needed to be rescued to get back to the floor. Her sisters, Gwen and Morgaine, could barely jump. They had become obese and I knew I needed to do something about it.

I started to limit their dry food. There was no change at all. In fact, it made them food obsessed and hungry all the time. They were carb addicts! Then one day my vet said “you know if you cut out the dry food they will lose weight”. I thought, Really?? Could it be that simple?  But they love dry food!

So I made a plan. We went cold turkey. Two cans Fancy Feast per day per cat, spread over four meals. The idea was the same as when I dieted – don’t let them get too hungry.

At first they were confused…where is the dry food? But after a couple of days they started looking forward to all of the little meals throughout the day. Little by little the weight started coming off! They started to jump again! PeaPod  stopped limping and was able to get up and down off of furniture without assistance! It actually worked!!

Here are their weights in February 2015:

Morgaine 17.2 lbs.

PeaPod 14.2 lbs.

Gwen 16.0 lbs

gwen

Gwen 2016

Weights in February 2016

Morgaine 13.2 lbs.

PeaPod 12.0 lbs.

Gwen 13.6 lbs.

My girls are large kitties, so their weights are a little higher than your average cat. It’s always best to consult with your vet before trying a weight loss plan for your cat, they can guide you on how much weight your cat needs to lose.

morgaine

Morgaine 2016

pepod

PeaPod 2016

I’d love to hear some success stories from cat owners that stopped the dry food habit. It worked for my girls and they are a lot happier now!