Ever wonder what to do about your overweight cat? I have a cat that is overweight and I thought it was time to put my sweet 'Meadow' on a diet. I had always heard that when putting a pet on a diet you should be very cautious.  So I researched many sites to see the best way to help my cat lose weight. During my research I learned that overweight and actually obese cats outnumber cats of normal weight and are being seen more and more commonly by veterinarians for various disorders. In fact, obesity in cats can predispose the cat to diabetes, hepatic lipidosis and arthritis. According to petmd.com

A 2011 study by APOP (Association for Pet Obesity Prevention) found that over 50 percent of cats were either obese or overweight. So what is happening that predisposes our domestic felines to a life of sedentary obesity? The answer is multifactorial but to simplify, just remember this: any individual mammal (dog, cat, horse, human, etc.) will gain body weight if it consumes more calories than it burns as fuel for energy. That’s pretty simple, but true. Far too many pet owners truly believe that food intake has nothing at all to do with their pet’s weight and no amount of counseling will convince them otherwise. If that describes your position, read no further because the rest of this article is all about how to feed the proper food and in the correct quantity so that the cat will loose weight safely or maintain an optimum weight. There will be nothing in this article about the effect of high calorie air, water or comfortable furniture on the cat’s weight problem.

Take you cat to a vet before starting any diet. If the cat is physically normal -- other than the abnormal body weight from fat deposition -- then you may put the animal on a a gradual and careful weight loss program.

 

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