Hi Furry Feline Friends & Humans,
This is Mango. Happy New Year to all our furry friends & your Humans! We hope this year is a happy, healthy one for everyone!
Have you made your New Year’s resolutions? Are you sticking with them?
Top on my list, according to my Fur Mom, is to lose a few pounds. Sigh……….. I haven’t even allowed her to put me on the scales and she knows……. She said, “Mango, you’re getting a bit too fluffy again – and I don’t mean fur.”
She can just look at me and tell……..
- Waistline: should be an inney, not a bulge
- Ribs: should be able to feel them, with just a bit of padding
- Belly: we all have a bit of padding there, but not a barrel shape
- Bottom: yeah, you all know……
And when she runs her hands down my back, she’s feeling for my ribs. Hey! I thought she was cuddling me. Not fair!!
So, what is the Universal Trick to a svelte feline body?
“Eat Less, Exercise More”
I had my yearly checkup recently with my doctor and asked if dieting was ok for me. He said I am healthy, and he asked me to promise to lose weight slowly. “No crash dieting!” he said. Losing weight too fast can make a cat sick.
He also showed me a Body Condition Chart and showed me that I’m between a 6 or 7. (Buddy was kind enough to look up the chart on the Internet for me: here’s a link for you to see.) This works for our doggie friends too – as well as Humans, I might add…
https://wsava.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Body-Condition-Score-cat-updated-August-2020.pdf
Eat Less
Then he did some number crunching to find a good target calorie count for each day. He said “For indoor cats, just figure on 20 calories per pound to maintain weight. To lose weight, calculate using your weight minus 2 pounds. If you are an outdoor cat, figure on 35 calories per pound. Indoor/outdoor cats can figure on somewhere in between.” Caveat: this can vary for each cat. And when you lose a few ounces, remember to readjust the calculation.
Ok – so I’m a pretty big tom cat who is now an indoor kitty and pretty sedentary. At 22.5 pounds, I should maintain at 450 calories per day. But my mom & I are figuring this on 20.5 pounds. My target then is 410 calories per day. Next, my Mom figures the half cup of food I get at breakfast & then at dinner is 200 calories, so there’s 400 calories. And I get a couple treats a day at 5 calories each. Whew!!! That’s it… (Should I tell her about the ever-so-often mouse I catch? Eh, I don’t really eat them…)
Which Cat Food to Choose
Your choice of food definitely has something to do with weight loss. We cats are carnivores – so we enjoy a meat-based diet! Grain-free is even better. I would have to say I opt for regular food, not low-fat foods. When I tried that stuff, I was ALWAYS hungry.
A bit of Fat is not a bad thing. Moist or raw food is a good way to keep up your liquid intake. Don’t want urinary stones!
There is also Fiber which helps digestion. My Doc suggested a tablespoon of pumpkin or a half-teaspoon of Benefiber® in a meal. ASK your doc before you try this please!!
Your family vet can help you design a proper diet. And then, come to Cats n Dogs! Our Humans can help you purchase the right stuff from the wide variety we carry!
I’ll let you know how this goes!
Exercise More
For indoor cats, Buddy told me that the Internet recommends climbing stairs, playing on a climbing gym, and playing games with your Human. Some cats might enjoy a game of getting a treat – first up the stairs or gym, then at the bottom of the stairs/gym, then back up again. Our Cats n Dogs store carries some cool toys for our feline friends. I like my Doyen World food ball!
By the way, the best time for us felines to play is before a meal! We like to hunt, then eat, then groom, then take a nap. That’s kind of our ancestral life cycle.
Walking on a leash is a good option for some cats. Hmmm… Buddy, I think that’s a better solution for Dogs and Humans, don’t you?
Why Attain & Maintain a Healthy Weight?
Everybody knows – you will feel better, you’ll be healthier, you’ll live longer and you’ll look better!
Just think, 2 pounds of overweight on a cat that should weigh 10-pounds is the same as about 32 pounds of overweight on your Human who weighs 160 pounds. 3 pounds on a cat is like 48 pounds on a Human!
My goal is to lose weight slowly, the healthy way. That’s the same for dogs and Humans too. Us felines should lose only 3 to 4 percent of our total weight per month.
For a 12-pound cat, that’s a range of 5.76 to 7.68 ounces per month. For me, at 22.5 pounds, that’s 10.8 to 14.4 ounces per month, or 2.7 to 3.6 ounces of healthy weight loss per week. And in about 3 months, I’ll have hit my target weight of 20 pounds!
Cool! I can DO this!
Want to lose weight along with me? Tell me your story here. Or… on our Facebook
Before I forget, a BIG HELLO to all you furry Snowfriends! We have been seeing lots of you in the store lately. It is SO nice that you come in to say Hi. We’ve missed you!
Until next month, with a Meoowww and a Wuf Wuf,
Mango, Taylor & Buddy
I found a whole website full of fantastic feline funnies that you can tell your friends! Here are some…
- Why did the cat eat the lemons? He was a sourpuss!
- What’s a cat’s favorite subject in school? Hisss-tory!
- What sports do cats play? Hairball!
- What is a cat’s favorite movie? The Sound of Mewsic!
- How do you know a cat is agitated? He’s having a hissy fit!
- What’s a cat’s favorite magazine? Good Mousekeeping!
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