What I found out with my cats (some tips)

[psy0rz]

Info about my cats

I will try to share some tips and tricks for people with overweight cats.

First some stats about my cats and then a list of things i've learned.

Tracy

Female, 2007, sterilized.

Healthy weight, but on the light side.

Trying to let her gain weight now, since the veterinary prefers some "spare weight" for when she might get sick and start to lose weight.

Mogwai

Male, 2010, castrated, should still lose a bit weight.

The reason this project got started years ago.

1. Use healthy food.

Well-known brands often contain fillers. While healthy food is more expensive, cats eats LESS of it, they also use the litter box less, and you will save on veterinary costs in the long run.

I use Meadowland Mix for dry food. Since its not entirely clear if wet or dry is better, i also use wet food: Animonda Carny Adult and MAC's Cat.

Using wet food makes dieting even more difficult since you have to do manual portion control. (Meowton only works with dry food)

Good source about cat food brand and tests: https://www.catmoneo.nl/ (no longer free)

2. Monitor both cats

When dieting a cat, stealing and fighting can be come an issue. Tracy starts to lose weight if i dont feed her the wet food in a safe place where Mogwai cant reach her.

Also when they become sick you might see sudden weight changes.

3. Dieting is hard

Just like for humans, its also a problem for overweight cats: Gaining weight is very easy and fast. Losing weight takes long and will result in a lot of meowing.

Just when you start to get somewhere, the meowton breaks down, or the cat finds another way to cheat and its weight shoots up.

4. Don't go overboard

Make sure your cat doesn't lose more than 1% of its body weight per week. (source: somewhere on the internet)

Also i don't like my cat "suffering" too much, so my goal is for him to losing weight slowly, or at least not gaining weight.

It takes a while for the cat to adjust to a food restriction.

5. An "empty" cat weights around 100g less.

If you first start restricting food, it might seem the cat will lose about 100g quickly in the first few days.

This is just the excess food in its stomach and system that was there from overeating.

The same goes the other way around: If you start feeding more, it might gain that first 100g more quickly.

So keep this in mind when trying to analyse the graphs: Sudden swings of this magnetude can be because of the cat filling its belly with food. :)

6. Its seems stopping isn't an option

For my cat Mogwai, it seems he always needs food restrictions. As soon as i would let him eat as much as he wants, he will start gaining more and more weight with no end in sight.

My theory is that for male cats, their hormone balance or something changes when they get castrated. If you are an expert, please let me know if this is right.

7. Listen to your cat, but don't respond right away

When the meowton silo is empty, Mogwai will complain harder than usually. Also when i forget the water there will be more complaining.

So pay attention, but try to avoid responding during the "regular" meowing for food, since you will learn them that begging helps.

8. Its hard to know what the "correct" weight is

I'm getting mixed responses from the veterinarians, also depending on who checks and how old Mogwai is.

Its seems the trick is to feel and check how much fat there is on its ribs, so i sometimes check that.

Also when mogwai gets lighter he gets more active it seems.

9. Do yearly checkups

During the yearly vaccination i always let them do a checkup, and last year i let them perform full bloodworks. Everything seems to be fine for now. Some expected values for older cats where in the "gray area", but still ok. Tracy needed an extra test for something to make sure her liver or parathyroid gland was ok. (i forgot which one)

I hope this info is helpfull for anyone, and perhaps you can share your cat-tips or stories as well :)

[psy0rz]

Mogwais weight graph.

Tracy's graph:

So mogwai is on a slow downwards trajectory, getting close to the "correct" weight.

Tracy was losing weight, and now seems to be very slowly gaining some.

Before this graph, mogwais gained weight again, since stuff was broken and i didn't pay close enough attention.

The above graphs are from the new RPI version, here are the older graphs, in grafana: https://grafana1.datux.nl/dashboard/snapshot/0QRJSvHfvZR0sMjQRGeR5SQmGrojFd8C

Now that i look at those i really worry about Tracy's weight. Mogwai is on an infinite slow jojo diet it seems. (some jumps in the graphs might be calibration or software errors perhaps)