Hi,

My Fiance's parents have just adopted a cat from a rescue centre and she is very overweight. She could be anything up to 8 years old and she doesn't seem to be over eating but we think her previous owners gave her too many treats. Does anyone have any advice on the best way to help her lose weight and what the best food is to feed her?

Thanks!

Most of the better food makers make a dried food which fills them up but is lower in calories- Hills, Royal Canin, Wellbeloved.

One of those foods, weighed carefully to make sure that the cat is getting enough but not too much, should make sure that the weight loss is gradual and gentle without causing too much stress to the beastie.

I'd second what Meds has to suggest -and also think you should weigh her to get an idea what she is now and monitor if the weight is dropping off using a light food. I use Royal Canin, James Wellbeloved and Burns amongst other foods and they are much better for her than supermarket brands, especially their lighter/weight management products. If no change after a month of so, she ought to be checked out at the vets who may be able to make other suggestions

Thanks, her weight is being monitored by the vets at the minute but they didn't really give much advice as to how help her slim down a bit. She's due to go back in a couple of weeks for her final jab so we'll be able to find out then if the weight is starting to come off.

Our obese felines were solved by a "lighter" cat food and anally-retentive feeding routines. Don't let them lose weight too quickly or they'll have terribly expensive things happen to them.

And try and get her to play, running up n down chasing something etc... Be fun for her too!

Chasing a feathery toy up and down the garden that's on a ring secured to the washing line, ping pong balls up and down the stairs, long fishing rods with feathery toys attached on strings, carefully used light pointers (pointing down away from little eyes always) on the floor giving a dot to chase- there are lots of ways of giving your cat more exercise and therefore use more calories.

A pair of old socks, some elastic, a couple of beads and some dried catnip make fabulous toys that you can make and tailor to your situation yourself. Put the catnip in the toe of the sock, tie it up then cut off the remainder of the material, tie the elastic round the knot and suspend from door handles, banisters etc using the beads to keep track of the end of the elastic.

One thing to point out- if your cat has 2kg to lose that is likely to take at least 6 months to do carefully and healthily. If you rush it then you're increasing the likelihood of organ failure and all sorts of unpleasant things.

One thing to point out- if your cat has 2kg to lose that is likely to take at least 6 months to do carefully and healthily. If you rush it then you're increasing the likelihood of organ failure and all sorts of unpleasant things.

Thanks for that advice, I'll pass it on to my future in-laws. They spoke to the vet about her ideal weight yesterday and found out that she has a grade 3 heart murmer too, so they are being very cautious about what they are doing with her.

Thanks for that advice, I'll pass it on to my future in-laws. They spoke to the vet about her ideal weight yesterday and found out that she has a grade 3 heart murmer too, so they are being very cautious about what they are doing with her.

Your inlaws need her weighing accurately at least once a month then, and then they need to work mostly with the food for a while until she's lost some weight.

A heart murmur is made worse by the weight and this may also limit her ability to exercise until she loses a little of the weight, so gently and slowly is the way to go.

If you're feeding the exact amount of food that is recommended and not adding in treats (and if you wish to add treats, taking some from the food allowance to compensate and making your treat low fat and low salt) then she WILL lose weight, but she will do it slowly and safely.

There's every likelihood that when she's back to her proper weight the heart murmur won't be anything like as noticeable and could well recover completely.