It’s Crunch Time, Cyril: A Weight Loss Journey (Part 2)

Hi, I’m Dr. Karyn! Read my introduction to learn more about me and meet my five hilarious cats: Clutch, Cyril, Alex, Zelda, and Zazzles.

It’s been the longest 6 weeks of Cyril’s life, but we have finally made it to our first weigh-in of his weight loss journey. While I knew that Cyril must have been getting more than his fair share of the food at meal times, it has become clear just how much of a food hog he is! I never leave food down for more than half an hour because this encourages the cats to graze and subsequently eat more than they actually need to, so at the end of each meal, I allow a couple of canine helpers in to clear up any leftovers – not that there were many of those. Well, Cyril might not be too impressed with his confinement at meal times, but Ned and Fred have been delighted! Even after reducing the amount of food scattered for the other four cats, there was still quite a lot left over at the end. Unfortunately for my greedy clean-up crew, I have now adjusted the daily portions accordingly.

Clutch, Alex, Zelda and Zazzles are all in good condition, have not lost any weight, and have not been begging for food, which tells me that they are all eating exactly what they need, while Cyril had been eating whatever he could get his paws on.

For the past 6 weeks, Cyril has been shut in a separate room for breakfast and dinner until the rest of the cats have finished eating. Most days, he has been quite good at accepting his change in circumstances, but there have been plenty of times when the temptation of food has caused him to abandon any sense of self-control or respect. This has been particularly evident on nights when we have indulged in one of our (and Cyril’s) favorite treats: pizza.

At the start of this journey, Cyril weighed in at 6.6kg (14 1⁄2 lbs), with a Body Condition Score (BCS) hovering around 7-8. Being a large-framed feline, he should ideally weigh between 4.5kg and 5kg (10-11 lbs), but this is a long-term target. In the first 6 weeks, I would ideally hope to see a loss of approximately 10% of his body weight.

And now, the moment we have all been waiting for…

Cyril now weighs 5.95kg (13 lbs)! That’s a loss of 650g, or 9.8% of his original weight!

I have to admit, I was not feeling all that confident before getting him on the scales, but despite trying to steal food and hunt pizza, he has (almost) hit his target! I am thrilled with how much he has lost, but we’ve still got a long way to go.

Now, how do I tell him that the diet continues…?