My Fat Cat

No...I am NOT fat...I am just cuddly....

I am getting a little worried about Bujang's weight although I have not weighed him yet but by casual observation..aiyah...he is a FAt cat. I had put him on a diet before and it was quite successful as he had a nice waist (observation from top view, as recommended by most books, if you can't weigh your cat). But now even that slender waist is gone due to the confusion in how much to feed him, sympathy for his calls and inactivity.

One sure way of failing to keep him in check is if grandma gives in to his plaintive calls for food and of course I am also at fault for giving him too many treats. So all that has to stop. He and the other cats, are now on a regimen of a more strict diet.

This book My Fat Cat by Martha Gravey and Deborah Greco.D.V.M Ph.D recommends a regimen of strict diet and play. It seems I have to weigh him (alamak) and then see his daily requirement needs. Then what I need to do is to put him on a strict diet of only 3/4 of what he needs for several weeks until he is down to his ideal weight. I can of cos feed him 3 or 4 times during the day until the 3/4 feed for the day then STOP. She says the cat would meow, nag, cajole you to feed him more but you must not succumb.

Then when he is at his idea weight, gradually increase the food until his daily requirement needs for maintainance. Sounds plausible. It seems she has done a study on 60 cats (that is all they had space for) and the owners were very successful with their cats. One cat was even 29 pounds! And he slimmed down remarkably well and is now a jumping sleek cat. The owners also slimmed down lah :) So there may be a silver lining someplace there for me also.

Activity she recommends is not a long one hour of constant actrivity but to break the play sessions to 3 or 4 times during the day so the cat is not bored (and then eat) but it would fire up the metabolism rate and of course she highly recommends playing with the cat. There is nothing as exciting for the cat as when the person plays with it. I know this for sure lah. The amigos will play much more enthusiastically if I play with them and since they have learnt to take turns, they each get an almost equal share of the attention, unless one decides to wrest the toy from the other. Toro has been wresting the toy away from the kitties as he is now sans woolly fur and flies through the air like a supercat. :) Since Toro is also putting on weight, it is a good thing.

I have tried to play with them in short bouts but of course can do much better. At this moment, I am trying to tell grandma how to fix the amigos food ration. Since there is no way the amigos can get food seperately 3 times a day, they will just have to eat from a common bowl of kibble for the day.

Finally I hope to get down to feeding only twice a day. I think this is a long-term plan that will go until next year. I am supposed to keep a diary of food and play but have not yet gotten down to writing that down :)