On to more important matters
September 20, 2012The response to The Practice of Writing has been amazing, and it's filling up fast. If you're interested, sign up!
And now, my cat.
If you've been here before, you remember the obese cat who's been on a diet for forever. Say hello, Izzy.
Grrrhrrrrrrr.
That picture was taken after many, many months of feeding her one (1) 5.5 ounce can of wet food a day. No treats, no anything else. Just that one can. She wasn't losing any weight. According to the instructions on the can, we were feeding her only a tiny fraction of what she should be fed, and we were killing her, BUY MORE CANS. (Public Service Announcement: never follow the portion advice offered by the pet food manufacturer. If I followed the instructions, I would be feeding her three or four cans of food a day, and she would be larger than me.) I was perplexed.
Then I caught her eating the dog's food. And it all became clear. Gnaw loudly at the dog's kibble when I'm not there, shame on you. Gnaw loudly when I'm in the next room, I'm going to do something about it. You should have thought that through, kitty cat.
Since that day, I put the dog's food out of reach when we leave the house. (I would say this punishes Charlie, only he never eats when we're not there, because when we're not around there's no reason for him to eat or drink or endure wakefulness, so he hibernates until we return and he can live again.) And now… we're seeing progress, people. Significant progress.
She weighed around 19 pounds six months ago, and today she is a svelte 16 pounds. (We're using our home scale, which is probably not the most accurate, but what can you do? Go to the vet every month? I am not composed of money! I am made of person!) When you hold her on her back (the only way she will endure being held, because she's insane) she doesn't wheeze from the fat compressing her lungs. Her fur is considerably less oily and horrifying, and I suspect she is able to clean more of herself.
Here is Izzy today:
I'm a fashion model!
Uh. Is it me, or does she look bigger than before in this picture?
Before:
Blorp.
After:
Whee!
I'm going to say it's the angle. Anyway, there's not much more we could be doing. We could not possibly feed her less. She already spends most of her day demanding food and imagining consuming our entrails. (I think.)
You are smarter than you look, human.
Reader Comments (24)
I had heard that manufacturer's feeding instructions were wildly exaggerated, so when we first got our toy poodle, I fed her the smallest recommended amount. Our vet had us cut that in half; the dog's weight is down and her energy and stamina are way up. Also, we're spending less on dog food. Huzzah for all of us!
Oh, how I love Izzy. But more to the point: how is it that you have a dog that doesn't inhale his food immediately, and leaves leftovers? Our problem is always that the dog, if left alone, will eat the cat food, not vice-versa...
My cats snack on dog food overnight if I don't take it away. Aren't they supposed to be horrified that it's *gasp* for dogs?
Erika, Charlie has always been unimpressed by his food. He prefers our leftovers, which he gets a ton of because he is a little underweight. If I leave cat food where he can get it, however, he will eat it all and promptly throw it back up. So I put the cat food up high. And that has been my story, which I will call "Charlie and His Food."
Too funny!
My dog also won't usually eat or drink if I'm not home...I think it's a comfort and safety thing for him. Gotta love their individual personalities!
Alice, I don't know if my registration for the class went through properly? I sent you an email asking if you know? Eeek, I do NOT want to miss out on this opportunity! Let me know?! Thanks so much! LOVE your writing!
Laser pointer? Activates my cat and turns her into a heavy panted.
Oh Alice, I love your Izzy posts. What is it about angry, fat, black lady cats? I have one myself. The last time that I took her to the vet, the assistant practically pulled out her back lifting her cage. It's not that she weighs a huge amount--it's just that she's incredibly solid--like a lead weight (which she uncannily resembles). On our last visit the vet actually said that she was at a 'healthy' weight and I swear I heard that cat snicker saracastically at me.
She really does look a bit bigger in the second picture! I also have a fat black lady cat who dominates us mercilessly. And we love it.
Have you tried diet dry cat food? The problem with feeding a small amount of wet food is that it isn't filling her up, so she begs for food all day. When we put our cat on a diet, we used lowfat kibble so that he could eat more volume for the same amount of calories, which made him less demanding.
We also had the same problem with our cat. It was tough because it didn't matter where we put the dog food, the cat would get to it. So we eventually had to take the food and put it away and bring it out when we were in the room. The other problem we then had was the cat banging on our door in the early hours of the morning demanding to be fed. Now we have a timer system that pops open at a certain time for the cat. Man, the things we do for our pets. Now we just have to solve the problem of the cat peeing everywhere.
~ Ian, founder at iWishforapp
Ian, our cat bangs on our door at 5 am, and if we let her in, she attacks the dog. It's... alarming.
I'm still trying to comprehend the idea of a dog that leaves food in his bowl.
I have a friend who had a cat who looked like Izzy. Switched her to only dry food, and now she looks like a real cat, rather than a pillow with paws. I've heard from a few vets that a dry food diet is the way to go.
I'm trying a morning wet food, evening dry food diet with my fat cat, but she's also on prednisone, so I'm not sure how well it will work.
I had her on only dry food, and it turned her into an bowling ball covered in dandruff. And it was pretty high quality, too. At least the wet food makes her pettable.
Have you tried giving her just half (or even a third) of the wet food daily? A whole can seems excessive to me. I give my cats wet food only on occasion--not every day. They have high quality dry food in their bowl so they can eat on demand. As for the dandruff problem, my vet told me that you get rid of the dandruff by brushing them religiously. It stimulates the oil glands on their skin and prevents flaking.
I'm sure you've tried this already, but do you have a cat dancer toy? Most cats love these and they are great for promoting exercise.
I'm working closely with the vet, guys, I don't need advice--but thanks!
For the record, dry cat food is a disaster nutritionally. As is leaving food out all day.
love an izzy update, thank you.
I love pictures of Izzy. Even the same picture, over and over. Almost as much as I love your imaginary dialog for her.
See, now, Alice, this is just getting Officially Weird. I was willing to overlook that we both have female black cats - it happens. And that they're both named Izzy (ours is an Izzi, so it's all good). But now I learn that the only, and I mean ONLY way both our cats will allow themselves to be held is if they're cradled like a baby...that's just too much. Maybe our Izzy(i)s are some strange thread of connectivity through parallel universes? In your parallel life, you live in Nashville, just FYI.
I thought it was only my cat that ate dog food!! Oh my i'm so glad my cat isn't a weirdo (when it comes to this.) I had to move the bowl too, although that was tough. My cat gets into everything. Thank you for sharing!!
Hi Alice! I had a very fat kitty (21.5lbs at his least-svelte) and what ultimately worked for us was an automatic cat feeder. We know how much he's eating each day, and bonus, we can set the feeder to rotate at night so that he doesn't wake us up, meowing constantly for food. After several years with this thing (which is also quite handy when we're gone for a weekend), he knows exactly when it turns, and he will sit next to the feeder when it's due to turn around. He's now between 13-14 pounds. And he hasn't eaten my face or any entrails!
Just laughed so much at the before and after shots- I peed a little. ( 39wks preggers)
It love your kitty! What beautiful animals!