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Help! Starbuck needs a work out!

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Starbuck If I can't eat- it, I'm not- interested.     Purred: Thu Jul 19, '12 6:41pm PST  We took Starbuck to the vet yesterday to treat an abscess. While we were there they told me he was overweight. I've always fed him according to his appropriate weight (about 10lbs) and he did fine for while, but he's become less active since we moved into our new apartment. Since he is already eating what he SHOULD be eating if he was a healthy weight, I'd like to focus on getting him more active. We just got a new kitten and he has been playing with her more as he gets more comfortable around her. I also plan to dedicate some active play time in our daily routine once he's feeling better. I was just wondering if anyone has any extra advice. Cats are still kind of new to me and it's taken the addition of our new kitten to get me used to keeping them on the same kind of routine as my dogs. Any advice would be great! my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become friends [notify]

Cowboy The Battle Of- Texas 2010- Winner!     Purred: Fri Jul 20, '12 4:02am PST  What are you feeding now? How much are you feeding, per day? The guide on the bag, is just that, a guide, a place to start, and you have to adjust up or down. In alot of cases, the amount recommended, for the cats weight, is much more than they need. You also have to take into consideration, what they are used for, how old they are, what their activity level is, what protein and fat %'s you are feeding. Its just like with people. One person can eat like a truck driver and not gain any weight, another person, can eat very little, and still gain weight. It also depends, on what, you are feeding. If you feed a grain food, which is all the foods in the grocery store, and some of the so called quality foods, and, foods sold at the vet. They all have grains in them. Grains are carbs, carbs are sugars, same as with people. I feed Blue Wilderness chicken dry and turkey wet. It has the highest protein and fat % of all the Blue foods, but, mine are show cats, they need the higher %'s, due to what they do. Freedom has lower protein and fat % and its still grain free. According to the guide on the bag, they should be getting 1 cup a day, for their weight, that is way way to much for them. They get 1/8 cup dry at night and 1/2 3.0 can wet in the morning. And this is per my vet, she figured out the kcal count formula, according to their weight. Believe me, they ain't thin, I wouldn't want any more weight on them. Cowboy and Cruiser are brothers, from the same litter, Cowboy has a higher metabilism, and is much more active than his brother, so he gets 1/4 cup in the morn. Each cat is different, even brothers from the same litter. My cats run thru the house at warp speed, like crazy boys. I haunt the Blue Buffalo FB site, long story, to help others, and many many people, cat and dog, say the same thing, how much it increased their pets activity. Blue Wilderness is by Blue Buffalo, you can get it at petsmart or petco. Yes, it is more expensive than what you would buy in the grocery store, but you feed less of it. It also eliminated Bump's tummy issues and Prowler's crystals. Their fur is soft and shine, another thing everyone agrees on too. Blue Wilderness has omega 3 & 6 and antioxadants. Go to the Blue Buffalo FB site and read some of the posts, people put pictures on there too, very pretty cats and dogs. This is Cowboy, he finished in the top 25 this season, judges don't final, thin cats. If you do decide, to switch, you have to do the 2 week transistion. Best of luck, what ever you decide to do. [notify]

Coconut My mom works for- MARS Petcare     Purred: Fri Jul 20, '12 8:17am PST  Your cat probably does need less calories than you are feeding now. You can decrease the food you are feeding. Don't do too much at once. It should be gradual. You can also try replacing some dry food with wet food. It has less calories per gram and can help fill your pet up easier. Sounds like you would like to increase your cat's activity which is another option. You should play with a variety of toys with your cat to see what they are most interested in. For our office cats, we use food puzzles where they have to work to get their food. They like the mental activity. We also use a lot of wands with toys hanging off the end (looks like a fishing pole). Our cats like to jump around and chase these. We don't leave these with the cats because they tend to destroy them but that makes them more desirable because they cant always get to them. We have also used laser pointer type toys to get the cats chasing around the room. If you rotate toys the cats have access to, it also helps to keep them active and interacting with their toys. my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become friends [notify]

Starbuck If I can't eat- it, I'm not- interested.     Purred: Fri Jul 20, '12 6:14pm PST  Cowboy and Coconut, thank you for responding. I had been switching between TOW and Kirkland. I work at a pet boutique and spa which sells several high quality foods (TOW, Felidea, and we recently replaced Chicken Soup with Blue). When our Chicken Soup went on sale I bought all the kitty cans that were left since it was such a good price. So he was getting a can of Chicken Soup in the morning (I believe they were 5.5oz cans) and 1/3c of Kirkland (the last bag I bought) at night. Then when I got Cinder (not even two weeks ago) I started doing researching foods (she was emaciated when her foster mom found her at 3-weeks-old) and heard a lot of negative things about feeding elusively dry food. So I bought several brands of grain-free cans. I think right now I'm rotating through Wellness, TOW, Blue Wilderness, and Merrick B.G. Most of them are around 3oz a can and he gets one can in the morning and 1/3c of the Kirkland (I'm just using up what's left but it's gonna take a while) in the evening. This whole situation gets a big complicated because his eating habits have been thrown off lately. He had an abscess which ruptured and he wasn't feeling good. He went to the vet (which was when they told me he was overweight)and is feeling better now that he has his meds. But he still isn't eating as much as he had been before. Right now I offer him the portions I mentioned above and pick up what ever is left after about 15 mins. I am planning on switching him to an entirely grain-free canned diet once this bag of Kirkland is gone. But until it is, I'm hoping he will eat less of the dry food if he isn't really hungry and knows he will get canned food in the morning. I did this with an overweight dog years ago and it worked. Now as far as toys are concerned, we do have them and a laser pointer as well. He likes his fishing pole type toys but he only wants to play for about 5 mins and then he loses interest. I wouldn't have a problem reducing his food, but I've heard that if you reduce their food too much they might not get enough nutrition even if they aren't underweight. Does anyone have any insight on that? my posts | my page | msg me | my family's posts | gift me | become friends [notify]