Question:
I have a healthy but overweight 12-year-old female cat. She weighs 18 pounds and eats 3/4 cup of dry Iams ProActive Health Hairball Care per day. She wants to eat all of the time, but I do not know if she is actually hungry or just bored. At this point, she can barely jump up on anything higher than a couch. I know that the Iams isn't healthy for her, but I would really prefer to buy her food. Do you have any suggestions as to what brand of cat food I should buy that would help her lose weight and still feel satisfied? She hasn't developed any health problems yet, but I know that if she doesn't lose weight she will have problems in the future.
E.L., New York, NY Mar 21, 2010
Answer:
Many of the "weight control" diets for cats are simply high-fiber/low-calorie formulations of various ingredients that may not provide adequate nutrition, which results in animals being constantly hungry -- a distressing condition indeed.
The main culprits in setting off the metabolic disorder of obesity are over-feeding high-cereal content cat foods and highly palatable, high-caloric canned foods. The consequences can be serious, including diabetes, fatty liver disease, heart problems and painful joints. Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins' book "Your Cat" will help you and many other cat owners with unhealthy fat cats. For a start, transition onto a no-cereal cat food like Natura's EVO for cats (also canned EVO or PetGuard's canned beef for cats) and feed one teaspoon six to eight times daily, along with a good quality multivitamin/multimineral supplement for cats that your veterinarian can prescribe. Encourage your cat to play, especially in the early evening. Perk her up with some catnip, and give her a drop of good quality fish oil and a pinch (5 mg) L-carnitine (crush the pill into a powder) in her food once a day, slowly working up to a teaspoon of fish oil daily and 50 mg of L-carnitine. These supplements will help reduce inflammation and help with weight loss, respectively.
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