Dieting a Cat, Part 1: Introduction and Calculations

Introduction
Meet Whaler, above. Whaler came it at 25 lbs. His estimated correct weight is 10-12 lbs. The cat posts on Whaler are ALL about getting him down to proper weight and keeping his health sound in the process.

Feline obesity is becoming a more common intake problem in our rescue. MORE cats are coming in clinically obese. Not only will we not adopt them out in this state (meaning, ultimately, we can take fewer cats in, so more cats will die in shelters), we are increasingly concerned as to the why and how this is occurring..

I promised to post tracks on our newest obese cat, Whaler (the 25 lb. cat), as we get him down a trim, healthy cat. I didn't forget. I have written pages and pages and decided to do this in stages. Whaler is still in food transition while doing weight loss. This is one of those "I hope it doesn't go that way" situations. He is a worst example, but, actually, common.

For any of you that are rescues, some of this you will know much of this and some not. I am sure you have some great techniques, hints, information and ideas, as well. Please share them as we move along. We can never know enough!

For those of you new to this, there is a lot to know about how to safely and successfully reduce your cat's weight. But you can do it! Once you do the reading, get organized and set up, do the weight and/or calorie calculations, you are on your way. This is not to say you won't have problems and challenges on the way. You may well have them.

An obese cat isn't a healthy cat. And for those of you determined to have a healthy cat, then watch over months as we chart Whaler's path back to good cat weight and good cat health.

This is, however, not something to read and implement in a day. Please don't do that. It is the worst thing you can do. Make the decision now, understand the mechanics, then get prepared, then do it. If it takes you a month to do that, great.

Your cat didn't get obese in a day, and you cannot expect that to change in a day, either. So chill! Give yourself the time and breathing room needed to approach this rationally and properly.

It is important that you understand what you are doing, and why, and that you seek guidance of a veterinarian (and for this kind of thing, a good veterinarian with an interest in cat nutrition might be helpful) and that you make a decided choice to do it with full involvement, knowledge and care.

Please read and understand this fine article authored by Dr. Lisa Pierson DVM on cat obesity and WHY it is important to get that weight off. She also has other very excellent sections on cat health, and diet.

Calculations
This section is all about calculations which we think we have made pretty simple. You will constantly need to do these calculations when your cat is on a diet, so knowing how to do them, and doing them (which is just second nature after a while!) is critical.

Maintenance calories for a cat
Maintenance calculations are vital for weight loss of a cat, especially in the food transitioning weeks which are the first many weeks of a cat's diet.

Many cats do not change foods easily (and thankfully some do!) and this initial stage is very critical to do right for the cat's health.

Calorie Calculation for weight maintenance:
(13.6 x cat's weight) +70 = calories per day (cal/day). So, we take 13.6 and multiply it by the cats weight. Once we have that figure, we add 70.

For example, Whaler (25 lbs):
(13.6 X 25) + 70 =
340 + 70 = 410 calories/day

2% Weekly Weightloss Calculation
Weigh the dieting cat on the first day of the week of EVERY week. In other words, you take the cat's weight on a digital scale (has to be an accurate digital... get a human scale) once every 7 days. 2% of that weight, that week, can be lost. NO more. The following week, the weight you start with is different, thus the amount the cat can lose, assuming they lost some weight, is less.

Weekly 2% calculation:
For example, Whaler (25 lbs.). There are two easy steps in this calculation:

1. Convert pounds to ounces since this is the scale we will be working with:
1 pound (lb.) = 16 ounces (oz.)

Whaler's weight in ounces:
25 lbs. X 16oz/lb. = 400 oz.

2. 2% of 400 oz = 8 oz can be lost, but no more, the first week.

In the following week, you take the original oz. (400 for Whaler), subtract the oz. he lost that week, then take 2% of that figure for the next week.

For example, if Whaler lost 4.2 oz. in the first week, then:
400 oz. - 4.2 oz = 395.8 oz. (current weight)

395.8 would be the starting weight for week 2, and that week's 2% would calculate like this:
2% of 395.8 = 7.9 oz. Whaler can lose, maximum, the second week.

A cat must eat to SAFELY transition to another diet. This is NOT a cold-turkey diet. The cold-turkey approach could harm your cat or make them severely ill. Cat's are not humans, and their biology doesn't work like a human body so dispense now with any comparison.

And get yourself on a cat-treat diet: No more treats for the cat!

Stay Tuned for Part 2: Transitioning Your Cat Onto A High Quality Wet Food

The She That's a He and WAY Too fat!

Once again, enter an obese cat: Krystal Blue, now Tom-Tom. The photo of him will appear tomorrow when he is in a better mood. But for now, just picture this in shades of tan and dark brown.

Krystal-Blue was taken to my vet today, along with her blood work from a previous vet and her original shelter documentation by her current caretakers. Amazingly, even after shaving the tummy of this enormous 25 pound whale of a Siamese cat to glimpse a spay scar, apparently both shelter and first vet failed to look a little farther south to discover... uh oh... she is a he, and he is now Tom-Tom. Sigh. How a shelter and subsequently a licensed veterinarian could make such an error is beyond me. My vet called it the gaff of the day and it was she that crowned him with his new name. Tom-Tom was the name of her very first cat, so I am honored. She is excellent with cats.

So, we will begin, here, week by week to document Tom-Tom's progress in getting in shape, including weight charts and photos.

We'll begin today, with his incoming weight:

25 lbs = 400 oz. Target weight: 12 lbs = 192 oz. We will adjust target weight up/down as we get somewhere near in months ahead.

The key to getting a cat fed to maintenance in calories is a formula that goes like this:

(13.6 x weight in pounds) + 70 = calories to maintain weight. This gives us an idea of how many calories are needed to maintain the current weight. Here are Tom-Tom's weight maintenance calcs: (13.6 x 25) + 70 = 410 calories/day.

As a comparison, Gerber chicken baby food (Beechnut is 1/2 the calories/volume, and other meat baby foods have significantly less calories which is a useful little factoid if you are trying to get a cat to eat and are forcefeeding) has 100 calories in their baby food 3 oz. jar. So to maintain weight, he would (as a comparison only) need to eat 4 jars of Gerber chicken baby food/day to maintain that obese weight. We're not going to be doing that.

Instead, we are going to take 2% of his current weight (2% of 400 oz. = 8 oz, or 1/2 pound) and target this for his first week's weight loss goal.

This of course assumes two things: That 1) he will eat what we give him, and 2) if he doesn't that he will eat something, even a "wrong" something like high-carb dry food while we search for what it is exactly he will eat and slowly transition him to a very high quality CANNED only diet. NO dry food is our first goal in terms of food type.

Lots of times, new cats, from stress, don't want to eat anything. I can accept this for 24 hours, but not for over 36. At 36 hours, he eats or gets forcefed.

His blood work showed a couple of irregularities, but nothing pronounced. We will be doing blood work routinely to make sure that his body is not responding poorly. Cats can become diabetic from obesity, and likewise from losing weight too rapidly which we will need to prevent.

By way of the person that rescued the cat from the Upland, CA shelter, this boy was found on a street corner literally crying his eyes out. Whether abandoned (likely) or lost, he was quite stressed but very friendly.

And in the way of prayer, if you pray, please keep me and Tom Tom in your prayers throughout our journey. They can be rough journeys, especially at first.