overweight formerly-feral cat?

I volunteered with an animal rescue group that adoped out ferals. I also have several. Most transitioned to domestic cats ok, some are semi-social or adjust over longer periods of time, some were better suited to living outdoors & we try to place them in rural locations. Many of the cats that don't socialize to humans as far as wanting to be touched, still make great indoor animals, as they litter train well & play & socialize with the other cats. My sister has one of those - she calls it her cat's "pet"; they play & groom each other & are very companionable, so I applaud your acceptance of your feral & for taking her "as she is" & for continuing to try to socialize her. As to the chubbiness, that sometimes happen when ferals become inside cats, I think for several reasons: (1)they no longer have to hunt their food so they use less energy; (2) they may have come from circumstances where there was not much food & their bodies are accustomed to maintaining a normal weight on a lesser amount of food, (3)they now have free access to food & not having as much to do inside, they just overeat out of boredom; (4) I recently read that cats will eat until their nutritional needs are met & then stop, be sure you get that correctly, not eating until they are full, but "until their nutritional needs are met" - & that info wasn't marketing hype from a catfood manufacturer - this article I read said cats will eat less of a better quality catfood that has more nutrients & will eat more of a lower quality catfood that is full of excessive amounts of carbohydrates & filler materials - I think that makes a lot of sense. Unfortunately having several cats myself, I can only afford an average grocery store brand like Purina Cat Chow which includes a lot of biproducts & such unlike some of the premium foods (read labels). I believe strongly in buying the best food you can, & with the cats I sometimes augment their diet by giving small bits of plainly cooked chicken, beef, or salmon - no garlic or onions or canned chicken broth on the food. I have some fat kitties too, so can't say I've solved the problem, but I do try to make them work a bit for the food, as I put the food bowls on a countertop so they at least have to climb to get it. You can also help in the excercise department by actively playing with the cats with toys like balls & feather teasers, but also, just leave out some things they will play with themselves - I take boxes & paper bags & cut holes in them & they like to run into those & jump out at the other cats & such. Also, you can make or buy cat trees for them to climb. I have even built some shelves, ramps etc for them as they like to perch up high & see everything. Also, I have one guy I call "the cleanup man" - I leave out dry food all the time, but give canned food once a day - I give about 1/3 of a can to each cat. "The cleanup man" eats his, then runs from plate to plate trying to eat everyone elses before they can finish theirs. He's so bad, that I keep a kitty cage (like an indoor dog kennel) in one room & I put his food in it, let him eat in there, & don't let him out until everyone else has finished their own food & I've taken the plates away - that helps a bit with him, as he is fat as a toad & really annoying to the other cats. I've read that humans & animals have a substance in their bodies called (I think) "leptin", (I think that is right-I'm no expert-you might want to look this up) & that if you don't have enough of that in your body, you never feel satisfied, no matter how much you have eaten & that is the reason some people & animals just keep eating, & eating, & eating.

It's not the exersice and it is the food that is the problem. Not the amount but what you are feeding and you are feeding dry food

Nutrition since there are so many bad things out there is very important to your cat’s health

Contrary to what you may have heard; dry foods are not a great thing to feed a cat.

Please read the label on what you are feeding? What are the ingredients? Do you know what they mean? Is the first ingrdiant a muscle meat like chicken or meal or other things?

http://www.catinfo.org/#Learn_How_To_Read_a_Pet_Fo...

Dry foods are the number 1 cause of diabetes in cats as well as being a huge contributing factor to kidney disease, obesity, crystals, u.t.i’s and a host of other problems. Food allergies are very common when feeding dry foods. Rashes, scabs behind the tail and on the chin are all symptoms

The problems associated with Dry food is that they are loaded with grfains and carbohydrates which many cats (carnivores) cannot process them. Also, Most of the moisture a cat needs is suppose to be in the food but in

Dry, 95% of it is zapped out of dry foods in the processing. Another thing, most use horrible ingredients and don't use a muscle meat as the primary ingredient and use vegetable based protein versus animal. Not good for an animal that has to eat meat to survive.

You want to pick a canned food w/o gravy (gravy=carbs) that uses a muscle meat as the first ingredient and doesn't have corn at least in the first 3 ingredients if at all. Fancy feast is a middle grade food with 9lives, friskies whiskas lower grade canned and wellness and merrick upper grade human quality foods. Also, dry food is not proven to be better for teeth. Does a hard pretzel clean your teeth or do pieces of it get stuck? http://www.felinefuture.com/nutrition/bpo_ch4a.php

Please read about cat nutrition.

http://www.newdestiny.us/nutritionbasics.html

http://www.catinfo.org/feline_obesity.htm

http://maxshouse.com/feline_nutrition.htm#Dry_Food...

I think you're going to have to take away the food. Feed them only once or twice a day. Talk to your vet or go to a pet store or pet food store and check out the foods for overweight cats. It wouldn't hurt your other cats to eat this food either.

All the cats will adjust to the change in the food routine. You may not want to take the food away as you may feel you are depriving them, but you have to think about what it's doing to the overweight cat and think of all the problems that come being overweight. Animals suffer all the same problems as people when they become overweight; diabetes, artritis, stroke, heart attack.....

You and your fiance should also try to invest some time each day to actually sit on the floor and play with her. Get some toys on strings and play with her.

You won't be hurting any of your animals by changing the food routine, I promise.

yea i have this problem becuase one of my cats eats like a horse but the other is very finicky so i don't want to take the food away from him. the vet told me that i should just take the food away. she said put it out in the morning and let them eat and then take it away. they'll be mad at first but they'll get the hint and eat when it's there. then put it back at night. i don't know, i still feel bad and haven't tried it yet :/ my finicky cat will take 2 bites, go away, take 2 bites, go away... my fat cow will stuff as much as he can in his face allll the time. it does appear he's sleeping and lounging most of the day, but i think when he does go eat he just eats a lot. oh vet also told me that a cat should be getting about 1 cup of dry food a day or 1 can of wet so it might help to measure out what you are feeding them. i put out one cup in the morning and one at night (a half each ) BUT fat boy here eats more than his share :/

if her checkups are ok though you might not have to worry about it... she could be used to not eating from being on the streets and is now enjoying some nice home made food!! keep an eye on her though. and play with them and make sure she plays so she gets some exercise.

We have two cats. The timid one is a healthy weight and the energetic one is actually very fat. What we did was feed them separate. Since the timid one is a "nibbler" she is fed in the bathroom so that the door can be shut. If we didn't do this, "fat cat" (as we lovingly call her) will eat her own food and then take over the other cat's dish and chow that down as well. For our cat, it doesn't seem to be a matter of lack of exercise, just a love of food.

As long as the vet says the cat's healthy, I wouldn't worry. My aunt and uncle had a cat that weighed in the upper 20/30lb range and was very healthy. Live to be 18 yrs old.

Try getting her to play more. Lack of exercise will make kitties chubby. My former-feral cat loves to chase the laser pointer dot. They sell them at pet stores for around $5. That's great because it's non-confrontational. My baby doesn't like to be picked up or manhandled either, but like yours, she will purr like crazy if given a lap and left alone.

Glad to see others finding great pets with feral cats!

If it's really a food issue, feed the cats separately.

Could she be pregnant???

Is she spayed? Often cats that have not been spayed will lay around and eat profusely. try spaying her, and then see if she doesn't have a metabolic disorder.

try science diet om weight management...... good stuff. comes in wet and dry. you can get it at your local vet!