2.06.2007

Please help my fat cat

I have two wonderful kitty cats - Buddy (an orange tabby, a shelter rescue) and Scout (an all white barn kitty). Buddy has some bit of a weight issue, but not overly terrible. He runs around a lot and keeps a slender build to him, he just has a swinging belly under him. But Scout, Scout has some issues. The boy is BIG. He weighs between 13-14 pounds, and he should weigh about 10. That means he is more than 25% over his ideal weight.



Here is a pic I took of them two days ago while they were snuggling. It is a bit difficult to see the extreme size of Scout (okay, so maybe not very difficult to see at all), but you can tell he is a big boy.




As for diet, they eat the dry Iams Indoor/Weight Formula food. They each have a bowl, and I put 1/2-3/4 a cup in each morning. Thy are fed only that one time per day. Scout is not a very active cat. He plays occasionally, but he mainly just sleeps. I am hoping that in the new place, with an addition of several hundred square feet of living space, a stairway and a little girl kitty for him to chase around, it may help his activity level. But, I am still a bit concerned. Anyone have any ideas to make my fat cat a lean machine?????

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is just about the cutest darn picture I ever saw! My cats would never do that!

How old is he? What kind of toys does he have? Maybe you should try a few different ones to get him interested in playing? What about buying some toys that require you to move to get him to play? Like dangly things, feathers on strings, etc? Maybe you should set aside a couple of 15-minute periods each day to sit down and play with him?

OR get a leash and take him on walks!!! HAAAAAAAA!

Darrah

M said...

Scouters is now 7 years old (maybe 8?). He does have a ton of toys, but he rarely plays with them. I think you are right that I need to make a concerted effort to sit down and play with him each evening. Good call, D!

And by the way, during the winter, this is normally how the boys look when I get home - all cuddled up together!