(no subject)

[camwyn]

When I took Shula to the vet on Saturday, the doctor said that he was all right overall. He'll need his teeth cleaned this year, mostly. I mentioned that I knew he was overweight, so we talked about how to get him to slim down some. The suggestions I got from bodldops were brought up- put his food somewhere he has to jump to get it, feed him snacks by putting them in a ball he has to bat around to force it to dispense, etc. The vet also suggested that instead of giving him a full can of food a day in the form of a morning and evening feeding, I should give him 3/4 of a can a day as a morning feeding, a just-after-work feeding, and a just-before-bed feeding. I've been doing that. Shula is not thrilled with it. He tends to meow loudly and imperiously at me when he sees the quarter-can of food in his bowl, and after he devours it and licks the bowl clean he tends to meow at me for more. More importantly, if I so much as gesture in the general direction of the kitchen he assumes I'm about to get FOOOOOOOOOOOOOD. This is a little problematic as the bathroom is just off the kitchen, but there's not much I can do about that.

This may end up being a weight-loss program for me. I get all guilty about getting up for a snack if the cat is following me going MRRRRAH! at the top of his lungs the whole time I'm picking up my extra piece of cheese or what have you.

Comments

[miss-yt.livejournal.com]

Cats are prodigious whiners, you know.

There is weight control cat food, but it's the dry stuff and if they eat it for a while it makes their coat dull. It may be an option for Shula the Chubster, though, unless he won't touch dry food.

[camwyn]

He doesn't want to go anywhere near the dry food if he can avoid it, other than the Greenies and other dry snacks I give him once a day for his teeth. The vet seemed to think that Whole Foods store brand cat food would be okay for this.

And I'm aware of how whiny they get. I'm still getting used to it being quite so loud.

[miss-yt.livejournal.com]

Roo isn't a very loud whiner - just very persistent, with a constant stream of "Mew! Mew! Mew!" Especially when there is bacon or mozarella cheese involved.

[xianghua.livejournal.com]

The weight control stuff is just high in fiber- if you want to go that route, talk to your vet about adding indigestable veggies (yes, cats will eat them if they're OMGSTARVING) and it fills them up. (In corgi circles, this is called the Green Bean Diet)

[telophase.livejournal.com]

We've got one of those balls that you fill with food or treats - Sora figured it out fairly quickly, and will now put his paw on it and wiggle it until food comes out, then hoover it up, and Nefer just looks at it until Sora comes by or one of us takes pity on her and demonstrates how it works again. She is either too old and set in her ways to make the connection that moving the ball equals food, or she has trained us well.

(Next part not so relevant for you as you feed wet, but in case anyone who feeds dry is reading...) As they both eat dry cat food (Nefer won't touch anything else, and Sora will eat whatever you put in front of him), we also got one of these guys (http://www.amazon.com/Smartcat-Tiger-Portion-Control-Placemat/dp/B002VH1EZA/ref=pd_sim_k_7) to use as their food bowl. Sora also figured out fairly quickly that he had to put his paw in and brush the food towards him, while Nefer took a bit longer to pick up on it. The biggest problem we've got is that the food we give them (Blue Buffalo, which causes Nefer to throw up the least) is shaped like little trefoils or something, and it tends to catch on itself and not drain into the base properly, so we have to come by and give it a shake every so often. Blue Buffalo is introducing a new shape, which is just little balls, and that works properly so we're going to look specifically for it next time we buy food.

Either way, Nefer still has a tendency to go to the food bowl, cast a long-suffering look at us, look at the bowl, look at us, and then finally start sticking her paw in and eating once it's clear that we're not going to come make it turn into a proper bowl.

The best thing that's come from using this bowl and the ball for feeding is that Nefer's barfing has almost stopped completely. Dry food can cause that if they eat too fast (especially if they drink right after eating), because the food expands in the stomach and pushes it back out. We haven't had to clean up any barf since we got the feeder, except for the time we discovered that she can't tolerate milk at all (it wasn't much, just a few tongue-dips because I know they're lactose-intolerant as adults as am I, but she threw up four times that morning. No more milk for her!).

[miss-yt.livejournal.com]

I already have an automatic feeder for Roo, but I might want to try what you're using because she barfs fairly often.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

We've had it about three weeks, and it's the only time she's gone three weeks without throwing up. We've caught her horking a couple of times, but nothing's come up. I expect she'll throw up a hairball at some point soon, but going from twice-a-week throwing up to once a month or whatever is great.