(no subject)

[moominmolly]

What's the use of buying the kitty weight loss food? It's not like being a big floppy hunk of cat really diminishes his quality of life any; however, eating this food does seem to lower it. At least, that is the impression I get when he fixes a stare in my eye and complains -- LOUDLY. "This is ass," he seems to say. "Go back and get the good stuff, already." And then I feel terrible! I mean, I'm imposing my own agenda on the poor guy. Already had him neutered, what's left but food and petting and following us into the bathroom?

But, y'know, every time someone new comes over, they say, "WOW that's a big cat." Uh, yeah. He's like a doorstop and a half. A strong hearty loaf of fuzzy kitty flesh. But, like... so? Plus, the food bag is now pale pink. How unmanly.

Comments

[educatedidiot.livejournal.com]

I used to get my cat Chester Alleycat brand cat food. This stuff was the absolute cheapest, and she let us know that it tasted that way. Every time we filled her bowl, she would defiantly turn her nose up at it and then go chew on some carpet.

Chester lives with my mom now, and my roommate has another cat named Snickers living with us. Her food? Alleycat. She seems to love it. Then again, she eats balls of dust.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Hah! I used to have a girlcat named Chester, too. She was contrary. If she wanted to go outside, but it was raining, she would stand at the door and meow until you opened it. Then, she would see that it was wet out and hiss until you shut the door. Wait ten seconds, repeat cycle: meow, open, hissss, close. She'd eat anything, too. She was a good hunter. She'd eat anything at all, as long as she could do it under the dining room table while growling. Now that I think about it, whenever we gave her catnip, she'd get really quiet and chew on the rug for an hour. I loved Chester.

We used to feed Rory Meow Mix, until the vet sneered at us as if we were bringing a child up on nothing but blue cotton candy. (Well, I pleaded internally, he liked it.) Then we switched to some fancier stuff, only available at the pet store, and he took to that. This most recent switch has him pretty upset, though.

Chester

[educatedidiot.livejournal.com]

You cannot imagine how delighted I am at that weird coincidence. That is just too damn cool.

These days, Chester blames my mom for bad weather. She'll have my mom open up the door and stare out for a minute. After my mom gives up and closes the door, Chester will follow her around, meowing constantly in an irritated way.

Following you into the bathroom?

[srd.livejournal.com]

I can see how zahls cat likes to watch people shower, but scatology in a cat? How odd. What are you feeding him?

Re: Following you into the bathroom?

[fishfoo.livejournal.com]

I can see how zahls cat likes to watch people shower ...

Hell, I like to watch people shower.

Err, um, what I meant to say was: Our cat isn't particularly fond of her IAMS food either. But the way I figure it, cats aren't stupid. If they're hungry enough, they'll eat... and in the meantime, not eating is helping them to lose weight.

My suspicion is that for most kitties, like most people, the real weight solution is increased exercise, rather than modified diet. This can be a problem with cats, such as ours, who spend all of their time inside. Cats were meant to be hunters, not lap toys.

Or so Banshee keeps telling me while she chews on my arm.

Re: Following you into the bathroom?

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

increased exercise [...]

That's why we're moving to a house with MULTIPLE FLOORS! Well, OK, not the only reason.

wandering onto tangents

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

It's almost like he just wants to keep us company while we hang out in the small boring room. He hates flushing noises, though.

Hey, bonus kitty picture (http://www.intrepidheroines.net/images/family/fou1.jpg), while I'm at it! This is Fou. Fou is 14 and has one remaining tooth. Fou still catches moles and mice and even the occasional squirrel or bird, and lines them up in rows on brother Paul (http://www.intrepidheroines.net/images/family/paul/orangehead.jpg)'s doorstep. I admire that. Paul once called Fou "the cat that boredom built"; I'm still not quite sure what that means (is he boring or bored? or is he possibly very distracting and shiny?) but he is positively brimming with slow-moving languid personality. He naps well (http://www.intrepidheroines.net/images/other/FouNap.jpg).

(Paul is very very proud of that orange cap in the photo.)

Re: wandering onto tangents

[fishfoo.livejournal.com]

Awww, what a charmer. Reminds me of our kitty Fiona, who is somewhere over 14 (we got her 12 years ago from a pound, fully-grown, and she'd already had at least a litter of kittens), who's getting a bit arthritic now but still naps with the best of them.

Doesn't "fou" mean insane? Tee hee.

Re: wandering onto tangents

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Doesn't "fou" mean insane? Tee hee.

Yes. :) We also had a cat named meshuggene. It was a thing, I guess.

Paul reports that Fou ate a cheeseburger today. With one tooth? Dude.

aw, you know he's just manipulating you

[vokzal.livejournal.com]

Like many Americans, your cat apparently doesn't want
to exercise. Or doesn't have a fun way to do it.
And cats have really odd choices in food. If you
ever read a label of mass produced cat treats, there's some
really nasty stuff in there. All to make it taste nice and good.

FWIW I feed my cats Nutro/Maxcat. I mix half
and half the weight loss kind and the natural adult food.
Footballs and non-footballs. The cat that is slightly overweight
seems to like the lite food better. I give the more active cat a little more of the regular stuff, depending on how active he's been...

Bah

[(Anonymous)]

So?

Actually, I'm seeing very real quality of life problems for my cat, even if they are small. She can no longer clean herself properly at all. It frustrates her and embarasses her. I have to brush the crap out of her ass-fur every other day. Not only that, but she can no longer jump up onto things that she could jump up onto 1 year ago (namely my bed, and this made us both very sad until I configured steps for her).

Obesity isn't cool. You buy the food. You're the parent. Be a parent. Would you feed an already obese human
child of yours cheeseburgers, french fries, pizza, and coke all week? I'd sure like to think not.

The cat will learn to like the food enough to eat it, or it will starve to death. In two weeks it won't even
be an issue. You'll put the food down and the cat will begin eating. Didn't your mother ever deny you dinner
to teach you the importance of eating what you're offered? Mine sure did.

Re: Bah

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Well, Rory's a big cat, but he can still do things like jump onto cee's loft bed and clean himself. To be honest, I'm trying zahl's approach of part-diet part-regular food. I'm inclined to think that the problem isn't the food so much as the total lack of exercise. In Chicago, he used to zoom all around our apartment and he stayed pretty sleek; now, he doesn't and isn't. Why? He ate the crap food (Meow Mix) there, too. Switching him to "good" food didn't make a dent in his weight, but he does look healthier in his coat, etc. Now we just need to get him to run around more. :)

I think that exercise is the main problem for humans, too, to be honest. I ate peanut-butter-and-cheese sandwiches the summer I biked so much, but, you know what? I didn't gain weight! I even lost it! gasp. Never have I been able to lose weight by restricting my food intake. It makes me listless and cranky. Exercise -- when I can freaking DO IT and am not INJURED, goddammit -- works. Now, maybe I'm projecting, but I've seen the same pattern in my friends. Those who feel "fat" and try to change that purely by shifting their eating patterns often stay depressed. Those who take up exercise of some sort (like ectophylla and zsquirrelboy) turn up happier and leaner.

Anyway, so, you're right -- one should not encourage unhealthy behaviors. But I think the root of unhealthiness here isn't the food. And, for the record, I wouldn't feed any child pizza and cheeseburgers and coke all week, lean or no.

[miss-me.livejournal.com]

Poor Rory. Delia says hi. She has less of a problem in that department, but she does have a little bit of a belly. When the vet told me she was getting a little pudgy, what I did was feed her the same thing (Purina O.N.E. Salmon & Tuna), but I measured very carefully how much I gave her. She usually "grazes" throughout the day and I refill it when it's running low, so I would just give her food once a day and measure the 3/4 cup or whatever they recommended for what the vet said would be a good weight for her. She wasn't thrilled about it, because she's sort of a hoarder and won't leave the bowl completely empty, but she was definitely not miserable. And we still gave her treats (on a schedule).

Anyway.