Conference misery::feline

    I would switch his food to a "lite" food and then feed him according
    to the directions on that bag.  Also check with your vet about how much
    to feed.  The cat food companies benefit by having you feed your cat
    great quantities (means you will have to buy food more frequently), so
    the vet would probably be an unbiased opinion on how much to feed.
    
    Jo

    If he doesn't like the lite food, I'd try cutting down the portion
    of his regular food slightly until you notice a reasonable weight loss
    (I should talk -- I'm getting nowhere with my feline vacuum cleaners.)
    

    I feed my two "chunkies" IAMS Less Active formula in the blue bag.  Sid
    lost about 3/4 of a pound in between her annual vet visits.  Since your
    kitty is already eating IAMS he/she will probably go for the Less
    Active.
    
    T
    

    I was surprised that our two new cats prefer the "lite" stuff (is it
    Feline Maintenance? can't remember since we take the stuff out of the
    bag and put it in tupperware containers....) rather than the Iams in
    the regular ole orange bag.  Of course, this might attribute to the
    fact that we bought the 20 pound bag of Iams and only a small bag of
    the lighter stuff.  Ugh!
    
    Does the Iams Less Active claim to have the same type of taste as the
    regular Iams?  If you have one cat, it's a lot easier to control his
    food intake.  In our house, it's a game of "who gets to the bowl first
    wins".  Therefore, Chubs is still Chubs and he's round!  

    RE: all
    
    (ahem), I failed to mention that my Tabs is _already_ on the
    IAMS lite.....my humble apologies!?

    In the words of the infamous Emily Latilla...
    
    
    
    		Nevermind.
    
    Jo :')

this may sound cruel, but it is working for me....find a lite food he doesn't
like as much as what you feed now...not HATE, but just not as happy with it.
Try Science Diet lite, Max Cat lite.  When he shows the least enthusiasm,
that is the one to feed....he will only eat what he has to and that leads
to weight loss.  However, be prepared for him to try and throw up in your
shoes.  AT least, it seems that is what Hana is trying to do, but Marge
(my roommate) says I'm just being paranoid.  Ha!  Little does she know!
They all barf in my room anyway....and I KNOW she is trying to hit my shoes...
I've caught her aiming for them twice recently.

Oh, and get a human/cat interaction toy like a fishing pole with a fuzzy
toy on the end and play with him for awhile each evening...kitty aerobics
are a must for weight loss, you know....lots of jumping and running around
the house.  It will help you stay slim too.    8^}

    Well, I'm stumped...
    
    I put the cats on the 1/2 hr morning, 1/2 hr evening feeding schedule
    a couple of weeks ago as a weight control measure and upon weighing 
    the seal pup...oops, I mean Amelia, I've discovered that she has gained 
    at the very least 1 lb.
    
    The only thing I can attribute it too is something I witnessed this
    morning.  I feed, the bunch of them eat for a few minutes and walk
    away.  While they're away Amelia (knowing the food is going away in
    20 minutes) comes back and gobbles up a bunch.  
    
    Looks like we may be going to 1/2 hour feeding with Missy 'Melia 
    eating in a separate room until the food is picked up.
    
    Jan                  

    Why do they do this....Little Bit walks around wailing that he is
    starrrrvvvingg, then I put their dinner down and he eats for
    4 seconds and then wanders away, and Mr. Vacuum Cleaner comes
    over and polishes it off.  Then an hour later LB walks around wailing
    that he is starrrrvvvingg.  I'd tough it out, but LB is capable
    of going on forever, and apparently unable to learn on the few
    occasions that I have toughed it out for a couple of days that he
    does have to eat it in one sitting or it will disappear.
    

    Jan,
    
     Seal Pup! I love it! My Furby looks EXACTLY like a white harp seal pup
    when she is laying on her back. She holds her back feet in such a way
    as to look like flippers. It's so cute! She's pretty round too, but
    since she isn't even a year old yet, I don't want to put on anything to
    reduce her weight. She's at least part Maine Coon, and seems to be
    filling out in all the right places so far. Maybe she just looks so fat
    because she has a fairly short torso? She loves to eat though!
    
    Y

    Isn't what you see what we call male neutered saggy belly?
    
    I see this a LOT in neutered males 2 years old or older. It's not
    really fat but like loose skin that sways when they walk. Our Mr.
    Miyagi has this and he is anything but fat and Mocha is starting
    to get this also and he is not fat but very solid.
    
    Check with vet before you put him on a diet. You may save yourself
    some grief.
    
    Barbara

    My siamese zeno has that saggy belly.  He is about 4-5 years old(i got
    him at 1 yr).  It looks really funny because he is so tall, long and
    lanky, with this gut of excess skin!  I always wondered if it was from
    getting fixed.
    
    shannon
    

    Tiki had it, too!
    
    K.C.

    RE: 11 & 12
    
    Yep, "saggy belly".  When he first wandered into my life a year ago (he
    was abandoned by some neighbors) he didn't have the belly.  And stupid
    me (knowing absolutely nada about feeding habits for cats at that time
    -ala before I found out about FELINE notes), fed him two cans daily of
    the 9-lives type food.
    
    After I started getting into this note, I learned about IAMS (and ALOT
    about cats in general).  He's been on the lite stuff in an effort to
    get rid of his belly, with my goal to get him to look like he did
    when we first met.  But I'll tell ya' it's _awfully_ hard to cut
    back on his rations when he's sitting there looking up at me with
    those sad green eyes and letting out with a mournful "feed-me, feed-me"
    meow!  But, I guess you gotta be tough!!
    

    I was told that that flaps were fatty tissue (Nippa has them too).
    As she loses weight, they are shrinking.....so maybe they will go away.
    
    In general I think the human race overfeeds animals, and we create
    a lot of problems......

    RE: .11
    
    Then you're saying this is normal?  Will cutting back on his food
    intake get rid of this "saggy belly"?

    Zeno's saggy belly will never go away, I think.  He's very tall and
    lanky, not overweight at all-I think it's from being fixed, not from
    being chubby.
    
    shannon
     

    Skeeters was *born* overweight.  She was always the loudest screamer at
    nursing time.  As she has grown she has been overweight with the saggy
    belly.  Her brother Alex is the exact opposite, long and lanky with no
    saggy belly.  Cleo is probably 1 - 2 pounds overweight and Katie is
    just fine.  I think the saggy bellies are also from being fixed, even
    though Cleo's is probably from her last litter, where she had 7.
    
    Karen

    Saggy belly is pseudo "normal" - fat is not!  My two older Siamese
    became very "portly" on Science Diet.  I switched to Science Diet Lite
    and they are now quite svelte!  They also didn't slow down eating it
    at all.  They love both varieties.

    All four of the cats went to the vets last night for their annual 
    checkup and shots. My vet tells me that they are all too fat 
    (Pandora is 10 lbs, and the 3 boys range from 14-16 lbs). None of my
    cats are petite, they are all very long big boned cats except for
    Pandora. None of them look like basketballs. I was just wondering how
    big other folks cats are?
    
    Usually the  crew gets a 6 oz can of food in the morning and evening.
    I leave kibble down all day. The vet suggests just feeding them twice
    a day and not leaving the kibble down. I'm sure the crew would drive
    me crazy for food. I am thinking of changing their food to all lite
    food for less active cats and see if that helps. Currently I have
    been feeding them a mixture of lite and regular food.
    
    Any ideas?

Along the same lines as the previous, what do you do as well, if only ONE
of multiple cats is the "porker "  ??  We give the 5 one large can of
wet food in the morning and leave dry out all day/night - the nights when
the dry has run out, Lipton (the "porker") will be a PEST scratching on
his owner's door to get in/get food................as far as we know (others
to go for checkup/shots in June) he's the only one overweight....

Debbi

    My vet recommended not leaving the food out all day.  He has me
    put the food out for 1/2 hour in the morning and again in the 
    evening.  Whatever isn't eaten in that time gets picked up.  When
    I'm doing this regularly my fat cat seems to drop a bit of weight.
    All of mine are on Light food.  Only 2 really need to be eating it
    though; 1 for a weight problem, 1 for chronic colitis (it's higher
    in fiber).
    
    At good friend of mine who shows cats in household pet and wins
    more often then not says she deals with a fat kitty by feeding 
    that cat separately from the others.  She puts the kitty in the
    bathroom with his/her food and then feeds the other cats theirs.
    When time is up for eating (I believe she gives 1/2 hour too).
    The food is picked up and fat kitty is let out of the bathroom.
    This way fat kitty isn't tempted to eat the other cat's food 
    instead of her lo-cal variety.  
    
    Both the vet and the woman mentioned above remind me that cats in
    the wild did not have a food bowl full of food sitting out at all
    times.  In fact, they've gone so far as to recommend varying the
    feeding times somewhat now and then to simulate a more natural
    situation.  I haven't really tried this though due to my work 
    schedule.  Their evening meal is the only one that really varies
    and that is only an hour or two depending on what time I get home.
    
    Jan

    Hmmmm...I can't even attempt to answer this note because I have
    the biggest "porkers" around town!!!   90% of my cats are X-strays
    and they still eat like this will be their last meal.
    
    I have tried switching to the less active dry food (science diet or
    Iams) but found that it wasn't rich enough in oils and my kitties
    fur was looking ragged, so I switched back! 
    
    Now that spring is here...my guess is they will get off their butts
    and we can start exercising/playing more.  They are pretty lazy in
    the winter and seem to always put on a few pounds.
    
    Sandy

    Merlin, our "seal pup" needs to go on a diet. We had been feeding him
    3/8 of a cup a day of Iams Lite.  We are cutting this to 3/16
    or 1 T less than a 1/4C per day.  I have been unable to find the
    caloric content of this food.  How much do people feed their cats
    a day?    My vet said I could give him plain rice or Pumpkin (if he'd
    eat it) if the cat complained of hunger, to fill his stomach.
    Has anyone tried this?
    
    many thanks

    I have used Pumpkin to stabilize loose stools...and it works very
    well.  I believe the Pumpkin and rice are considered "fillers" which
    makes the cat feel fuller then he really is.   My guess is your
    cat won't eat plain pumpkin or rice...unless it's mixed in with
    some type of smelly food.
    
    I also find exercise is a "key" to help chunky kitties loose weight.
    Start and exercise program with him and spend about 1/2 playing with
    him making him run, roll, and jump!!
    
    Listen to me...I have the most fattest kitties around and I sound
    like I know what I'm talking about!!!   Of course...those cute faces
    always makes me "give in" when it comes to feeding time!!  That's my
    problem...GUILT!!
    
    Sandy 
                     

    You might want to consider canned squash instead of pumpkin because
    pumpkin has a lot of sugar. Argus and Kostas loved it, but
    unfortunatly, lost no weight on until we went to the squash; of course,
    the fact that they wanted a full can a day between the two of them
    might have had something to do with it!
    
    Deb