Hobbes on the Weighty Issues Dear Hobbes, I’m a food-loving girl who just can’t resist salmon snacks and canned cat food or kibble or people food. If it doesn’t move, I’ll eat it. Truth be known, if it does move, I’ll eat it. And hard as it is to believe, I’ve lost my girlish figure. People think I’m ready to have kittens, but I was spayed when I was three months old. My human mom says it’s time to go on a diet. She’s cut me back to almost nothing. Help me. I’m starving to death. Hershey the Havana Well hello there, Miss Havana, We’re as a nation, we’re getting fat; and I’m not talking about just humans. According to Michael Stone D.V.M., one of those smart docs at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, fat cats are likely to develop all kinds of uncomfortable and deadly diseases. He says simply changing you to a lower calorie diet won’t reel in your waistline, since you’ll just be tempted to chomp down more of it. It’s going to take a change in diet and reducing your portions and getting you off your tail to make any difference. But just because you need to cut the cals doesn’t mean your people should take it into their own paws and cut your portion. Abruptly reducing a cat’s provisions can result in FLS.” Cats with FLS feel nauseous, so they stop eating. Because they won’t eat, the liver is damaged more. A vicious cycle develops. If it’s caught early, FLS could be reversed, however advanced cases are often fatal. You don’t have to eat a truckload to increase your collar size; if you eat just ten pieces of regular cat food a day more than your body needs, you’ll pack on a pound of lard in one year! Do that year after year and you’re going to be one porcine puss. If you hadn’t already packed on the pounds you should embrace the old adage, “Prevention is better than cure.” As with people, weight loss is a huge challenge once you’ve become overweight and inactive. A cat hunting for his food doesn’t usually get fat. He’s a lot of time running, jumping and climbing trees so he can kill five to 10 mice a day. See, we felines are designed to eat a lot of little meals not feast from a trough. If you don’t like your new food, have your human contact your vet. Unlike dogs, we kitties cats can’t be starved into eating a certain food. Going without food for even a few days you can cause that fatty liver disease I told you about. Forget Jenny Craig. Think Catkins. Even though some people worry about the long-term affects of a high-protein/low carb diet on humans, for you the Catkins Diet is just what the doctor ordered. Your finely tuned body is designed to eat mice. Note to big cat food makers: mice are animal protein and fat in just the right proportion with no fillers or carbohydrates. Because kitties are obligate carnivores, we aren’t designed to metabolize large amounts of carbs. Those guys who make kibble may say the natural (wild) cat eats grain and greenery, but there’s not much grain in a mouse’s gut. All the grains in the dry food are just empty calories that just expand the neckline! Your vet might warn you to stay away from dry cat foods altogether cuz it contains more grain. Alright! Canned foods contain more protein and fat content (that’s a good thing) than dry foods and they are high in moisture, which helps to cut down calories. Wet foods are also better for your kidneys. Your multiplying mass puts you at risk for diabetes, hepatic lipidosis, arthritis, feline lower urinary tract infections (LUTI) and even skin disorders. Hefty Havana, go to the vet; there may be a medical reason for your waist expansion program. Your humans need to include your vet in your battle of the bulge. Since you don’t have to fit into a prom dress by a certain date, there’s no reason to rush your reduction. In fact, your humans starving you or forcing you to lose weight too quickly can cause a possibly fatal condition called hepatic lipidosis or fatty liver disease. Sudden weight loss causes fat to collect in the liver and makes your stomach feel pukey. Then, cuz you have an upset stomach you don’t feel like eating. And cuz you don’t feel like eating, your stomach feels worse. Eventually, you’ll have to be force-fed, either by mouth using a feeding syringe or through a surgically implanted tube that goes directly into your stomach. Neither of those options is a bed of catnip. Moral of the story, take your vet’s advice and take it slow. Your vet can tell you how much you should cut back and what you should eat. You and your vet are going to get real tight. She’ll probably want you to drop in every other week for a weigh-in to make sure you’re dropping the ounces at a safe speedcrather than too fast or not at all. Your human needs to get off of her duff and lead some exercise classes. I can’t tell you the last time I saw a cat with a pair of dumbbells (unless you count the family dogs), and chances are, she’s not going to get you do any extensions or pushups. But she can get you to use up some energy the same way a wild cat doescby hunting. She can put high dry food (not treats) in a treat ball. All day long you’ll have to push the ball around to get your dinner. Or your mom can have a treasure hunt by dividing your daily ration into six mouse-sized portions and placing them in soy sauce bowls all over the house in different rooms, on top of things, under furniture. You’ll have to work for it. And you’ll only be able to eat tiny portions at a time. By eating throughout the day, you’re keeping the metabolic furnace fired up all day long. That takes more energy than one or two big feedings. Another problem getting into shape is arthritis. Once fat kitties develop arthritis, they experience more pain walking and jumping than their slimmer counterparts. Until you regain your svelte shape your humans might want to place a ramp or steps next to the bed to reduce the impact on your vulnerable joints. If you have other feline or even canine companions, it may be a challenge to restrict how much you eat. Your humans may have to switch from free-feeding to supervised scheduled meals. If you’re too stout to jump, your folks might place the other cats’ food in high places, or feed skinny kitties in a cardboard box with an opening cut so you can’t get through. One final indignity an obese cat might need to endure is her inability to do that private grooming. Too much bulk and a lack of flexibility doom the fat cat to poor hygiene. Cats who can’t groom themselves should get a daily “butt bath” with a warm moist towel or unscented baby wipe. While it’s humiliating, it’s better than diaper rash. These university vets tell me just cuz there’s some blubber under the belt doesn’t mean your mom can’t sneak you an occasional treat, but they say treats should serve a purpose other than to just spoil you. When Mom gives you medicine, trims your toenails or teaches you tricks, she can use treats as a bribe or reward. (But look at it this way you can really be the one doing the training. If she’s teaches you ‘shake’, then shake all the time. They can’t resist that.) Now you have to convince your human to dump those high calories processed treats. Instead you can have the occasional all-meat treats: turkey baby food, bonito flakes, freeze dried chicken or fish. They have far fewer carbohydrates than snack with grains. Don’t eat treat more than five percent of your diet. Avoid treats that contain in any form of onion and garlic, chocolate, grapes, raisins, grains and sugars. One last thing, the treat balls and treasure hunts may get you off of your tail, but you need to burn more calories if you want to shed some cellulite. If there aren’t mice running around the house that can give you a little cardiovascular workout, then your mom will have to become a mouse substitute. Get the old pump going twice a day for ten minutes chasing feathers or fur on a stick. Since mega-pounds also causes stress to your joints, your human should try to keep the games low impact. Start exercising a few minutes at a time several times a day and gradually increase it in length and intensity until you’re working out 30 minutes per day. Sooner than you think, you may become a spokeskitty for healthy living or your puss could be on the cover of Catmopolitan with your story of success. Good luck! Dusty Rainbolt is the award-winning cat wrtiter of many books and articles on cats. Her latest, Cat Wrangling Made Easy, has just gone into a second printing. Congratulations Dusty! Go to your favorite bookstore to buy a copy. Send your questions to Hobbes@ccpets.com.