Hello, fellow moms/dads who have FAT cats... how do you diet an indoor cat, without being affected with their look? my cat is keeping his eyes on me and I can´t stand it! I found myself giving him "more" food!

Mine only give me the "look" when I´m eating my own meals. It is usually easy to deny them extra treats because I know that most of my human food is not good for them.

My cats aren´t on diets so I really don´t know much about regulating what and how they eat, but I guess I would just try to keep thinking that it is for their own good. You might try playing with them or petting them or brushing them if they become really insistant. Take their minds off it

You have to harden your heart and become immune to ´the look´. Frodo has the ´I hate you and you´re starving me to death´ look perfected and he makes me feel so guilty at times, but I know he needs to lose some weight for the sake of his health so I try to ignore it.
It´s harder now we have Arwyn who needs small meals several times a day, because of course Frodo thinks when the food comes out, he should be fed too so I´ve been getting more of ´the look´ than ever.

I feed him 3 small meals a day in an effort to convince him he´s eating more than before, not less. (it doesn´t work lol)

I get The Look all the time. And Mugger also gives me The Tail - sort of the cat equivalent of the finger. And no matter how much I put in his bowl, he looks at it and then at me, as if to say "Who are you kidding?"

--Wolfie

I wouldn´t class myself as "fat" exactly... but I would like to know how I can stop eating Bo´s rations when noone is looking
Dr Smudges PhD (would-be skinny)

Boy, daftdog, you´ve got a will of iron! When we had to have separate feedings for Connor and Piper, it was rough! And Connor was not a quiet cat at all - I think he was Burmese or something oriental - incredibly vocal! It got so that I had to throw him outside to survive his crying. He loved the freedom, but that´s against my principles, too! But given a choice - the vet actually recommended it (likely to stop me from killing him or myself!).

So every time Arwyn gets a little meal, you get a drama, eh? Any Academy Award Performances?

It all comes down to remembering who´s really in charge, and it´s the one with the opposable thumbs. Cats know that if they give us The Look, we´ll usually crack and give them what they want - they have use very well-trained.

If you need to put your cat on a diet, you need to overcome that training. They´re not going to starve, no matter how pitifully they look at you. You should have seen Mugger´s face when I switched his dry food to Indoor Cat formula. You would have thought I´d put poop in his bowl.

However, they DO get used to it. It just takes a while. A very long while, in some cases.

--Wolfie

It all comes down to remembering who´s really in charge, and it´s the one with the opposable thumbs. Cats know that if they give us The Look, we´ll usually crack and give them what they want - they have use very well-trained.

If you need to put your cat on a diet, you need to overcome that training. They´re not going to starve, no matter how pitifully they look at you. You should have seen Mugger´s face when I switched his dry food to Indoor Cat formula. You would have thought I´d put poop in his bowl.

However, they DO get used to it. It just takes a while. A very long while, in some cases.

--Wolfie
you made me spew my tea all over. the poop in the bowl comment was hilarious.
Teri

You should see his face when I use the toilet. He always comes in to make sure I´m using MY bowl and not HIS litter box. And if I... er...... am pooping, he gives me this look!

You should see his face when I use the toilet. He always comes in to make sure I´m using MY bowl and not HIS litter box. And if I... er...... am pooping, he gives me this look!
yeah, lou gaurds that litter box when I go in there. He also has the look on his face as he watches me like he is checking to see if I do it right and not use the litter box. boots will even check to make sure im not in the litter box.

I´ve put Mugger on another diet, because although he was doing well, I started over-feeding him again, so it really is my fault and not Lou´s.

Of course now I have a cat who´s moaning and sobbing and throwing himself at my feet with these pitiful looks. And a cat who waits until I´m sleeping and then stomps up and down my body while yelling at me. I thought the d*mn building was on fire on something this afternoon - he was making so much noise that he woke me out of a sound sleep to chew me out. But I was steadfast! I did NOT get up and feed him!

I did pull the pillow over my ears though.

lou needs one too. if I take him outside, he will just sit there or move slowly. If I let him think he is excaping, he will run down the stairs atl lightning speed. so I let him escape a few times a day then go get him. I will build this up. the exercidse will do me good too.

lou needs one too. if I take him outside, he will just sit there or move slowly. If I let him think he is excaping, he will run down the stairs atl lightning speed. so I let him escape a few times a day then go get him. I will build this up. the exercidse will do me good too.
LOL that´s hilarious Teri

hi there!
i don´t know how to handle my two cats- feeding: tata is a delicious, fat, soft, gorgeous-to-touch cat, but she doesn´t finish a 100 gr portion of diet food in a day...the doctor says she should lose weight, but i really don´t know how! to give her less food than that is really impossible, she doesn´t even look for anything I could be eating! please note, the other cat swallows almost anything i put in her (and MY) dish, no matter how many times a day, and she´s half the size..any ideas?
thank you

Yep, Devadasi, Piper is like that too. She doesn´t really eat too much, and she couldn´t be bothered to ask for table scraps even though I love to put a little variety in her diet. She sometimes doesn´t even finish her gushyfood (and it´s just a 2 Tablespoon "taste" not a significant amount)

And yet Connor (who didn´t have so much of a weight problem) would eat ANYthing, especially if we hoo-mans were eating it.

Well, I tried a new cat food. The brand I usually buy had went up $6 for total of $39 for a 20 lb bag. Toooo expensive. So, I perused the cat food aisle and a sparkly purple bag caught my eye! It´s called Katz-n-Flocken Solid Gold. Its all natural, made with real lambs meat, and LOTS of fiber. I wasn´t hoping for much, just that the ladies would humor me and eat it. Well, They do. They eat MUCH less of this food than other foods. Before I would have to feed them up to 3 times a day or they would be meowing, and biting (nice, we´re hungry, so... we´ll eat you!!). I´ve found myself feeding them maybe twice a day, and not a whole bowl either. Just enough to cover the bottom. They don´t beg for food (not cat food anyway) and I don´t see how Pika couldn´t lose weight like this. I´ll have to keep you updated.

Nothing against big babies! It´s for her health. She´s awful big for such a small kitty