I look at Piper and yes, she´s beautiful, but I´ve never had a kitta who waddles. Her little fat flows from side-to-side, her belly hangs wayyyy too much for aa 4 year old kitta.

She eats kibbles: 1/2 Hills Hairball 1/2 Royal Canin Oriental = 1/4 cup per day, + 2 tablespoons of Iams as a treat.

Every other day she gets 2 tablespoons of wet fishy gooey gushyfood.

That´s IT! No Pounce treats, or whiskas.

I´m wondering: I know some of you are going to tell me natural food, raw diet, etc. But that means I have to keep track of her vitamins, and I´m doing well to remember to feed her! (see her blog.) I´m bipolar, and my solution needs to be simple, or it won´t work.

I can phase out the royal canin which might be a dense, rich food - but I´ve also read here that there is SUGAR in Hill´s Science diet? Could her kibbles be making her fat?

I could cut back on her kibbles, but she already complains as it is.

Her pooties are nice and dense, smooth, like they should be, so she´s not getting too much "fluff."

Every time he sees her, Vet says, "hmph. She´s great, but overweight." And honestly, I´m embarassed. I´ve never had a fatty catty before.

I´M a fatty catty, and maybe she´s just mirroring her Servant. But I wonder the best way to reduce. She´s not high energy, very rarely runs or plays. VERY sedentary, even though she´s got cool playstations and even goes outside on walkies and leads. (but it is hard for her to get up to full speed on a lead)

Other fatty cattys out there? Any successful reduction stories? Clue me in!

Bodjing is fat too... I´m trying to reduce him by dividing his one-day-food into 2days.... and I gave this "half food" 3 to 4 times a day... and boy he is complaining a lot... It´s been one week but I can´t see any changes on his weight... I´m not successful in reduction yet... hopefully it works...

My cats a lards too. I am trying to reduce them by having periods with no access to food such as at night. It is almost impossible though, as they will find their own food. They will scrounge around the neighbourhood, hunt, raid tras cans etc. Dry cat food for "Home" cats seems more successfull, but I can get it at the moment.

Phoeba was thin cat before surgery ( histerectomia ) ... now she gets "bigger" at winter, and it´s really hard to put her on diet. I give her really small portions, but she is hungry quickly then. I tryed, but she is very stuborn, and if she wants to eat she will anoy until I give her something. but I noticed that is not the case when I cook fish for her, it keeps her satiate for long er time. so I cook it almost always.
when spring comes, she puts herself on diet without problems... so it´s cyclic, gaining & loosing weight...

Hey there, Is Piper getting into Connor´s food? Is it possible that she´s getting food elsewhere? Cause on what you´re feeding her, there´s no real reason for her to be overweight. Sophie gets a 1/2 cup daily of RC (Beauty and Fit), as well as a few treats and a tablespoon of wet food and she´s less than 10 pounds, which is right for her age and size. Both Hills Prescription and RC are good quality foods, although some people do prefer Iams. A higher protein formula may help her burn some chub off. Although it might sound counter-intuitive I wonder if a slightly larger portion of a good quality high protein food will trick her body into thinking it´s a lean mean fat burning machine. Check the formula labels on different foods for the protein and fat percentages. Also look for a food that lists meat-only ingredients first (chicken, turkey, etc. as opposed to meal, grains or by-products).

I´d be tempted to take Piper back to the vet though and ask for a full blood panel and urinalysis. At 4 years old on that diet alone, I find it a bit suspicious that she could be large, and I´d want to be sure that her thyroid (for starters) is working up to par. If there is a problem, now would be a good point to identify it so she doesn´t keep packing it on as she gets older.

The dried kibble food is definately the main cause of kitties putting on weight. You need to work out a balance of how much they get fed to how much exercise they do. Cats are just like people where they have different metabolism´s, (e.g: some people eat lots and are very thin because they are active where as some others could eat small amounts and be heavier due to less exercise, cats are the same!)
My cat Mack is alot less active than my burmese cats so he gets fed less dried kibble food than them.
You could ask your vet too how much exactly to feed your cat according to your cat´s weight!!!!!

Try a little roo meat or rabbit. They are low in fat and if you cook them first, you can cook out what little fat there is with them. Also most cats LOVE Roo and rabbit meat! I know Tegan does!

Mr waddles too. Now that he is an inside cat, I will need to adjust his food. Lou is getting fatty too.

Cinderella has a tuft of furry skin that swings to the right and the left when she walks so that is considered a "wasdle" I guess. She seems quite proud of it and is always flopping on her bully for rubs. I have been trying to reduce all my cats weight over the past month with some sucess. Tuffy has lost 1 lb, Angelica 1/4 lb and Cinder 0 (hence the "waddle") My secret is that I changed their dry cat food to Pruina Cat Chow for indoor cats and do not refill the food bowl once it is empty. Their wet treat is Meow Mix with real tuna, salmon, chicken or shrimp in a gravy. It looks delicious and the size of the container is small plus it is split between 3 cats. They go crazy for it! It takes time for any change in diet to take notice so I would expect more weight loss in the future.

Now to the question at hand re Piper´s "waddle", it is perhaps from lack of exersize or eating more than is intended for her alone.

The only place Beau waddles is where his surgery was done, and the vet said that was normal. Like was suggested, I would have a panel done to check thyroid, blood, and other chemical, levels. I would also ask the vet about excercise. I have read that it´s good to play one-on-one with indoor pets for at least 30 minutes per day (preferrably 30 minutes, twice daily) for the excercise (as well as they need the attention). Let us know if you talk to the vet, and what they say!

No, she doesn´t have access to other food - Connor has gone to a new home (and the problem with him was keeping him out of HER food!) But I did buy the RC Oriental for him, and she doesn´t need that - so I can gradually (geez, I still have 10 kg of it!) taper that out of her diet. RC also has an "indoor" formula which might be more appropriate for a fatty girl.

And she tastes our hoo-man food, but she doesn´t really eat any quantities of it. A tablespoon of milk, or licking the ice-cream stick or yogurt bowl or 2 tastes of our meat at night (but only about once a week) is all she ever gets.

The "technical term" for that soft flesh which hangs down is "hangbelly." That´s what Grendel told me. He had a hangbelly but was fighting fit even though he was a lover, not a fighter. (he also had an eating disorder which may have been the cause of his stomach cancer. He was bulemic - binge and purge - because in his early household he had to fight other, larger, adult cats to get his food)

She´s even quit playing "treat games" like we had with Connor. She doesn´t like most cat treats, not even premium venison jerkey from New Zealand (oh, you Aussies need to try that on your kittas if you can find it - it is STINKY and they LOVE it!), or pure fish meat sushi snacks, or premium yogurt treats. Turns her nose up at it.

I´ve been thinking about this - and she´s eating very similar food to what Squeak ate - and Squeak had a beautiful figure every day of her life - even after de-sexing. BUT - I did not de-sex her until about 7 years old, could that be part of the difference?

Before Connor came, we used to have a play session EVERY night (that is when she was svelte - as you will see from the pictures) but now she is skittish, spooky or indifferent to her toys. About the only toy she likes is a long silverchain (see her blog under "bored teenager") or maybe her remote control car, which is out of action. She shows interest in toys like catnip bubbles or laser pointers - but she seems to think that is more "entertainment" than "exercise" - i.e., she loves to watch these things, but chase? NO WAY.

If you recall, I had her at the vets recently after her little fainting spell. He checked all her glands had head for tumors or other growth. He did not do bloodwork until we had a better log of when and how she was having her fits. Of course, she´s had no more.

Also, remember, this kitta was on antidepressants, ClomiCalm (a tricyclic for you experts), for 2 years. I know when *I* am on tricyclics, I gain weight. When I complained to the vet about this, they said, that´s normal, let´s deal with her emotional issues FIRST, and we´ll get her to lose weight later.

Well, it´s later now, and I have a hefty, hangbelly kitta who can invoke gravity at will (that´s her superpower, see her blog), and if she ever wants to fly with Cisco and Mighty-O, she´s gonna have to take up kitta aerobics.