This is Penelope, she is 12 years old. I’ve had her for 2.5 years after she was surrendered by her previous owner to the shelter. She’s had no health issues, but she’s always been this super chunky 14lb cat in the time I’ve had her. 

I am mainly concerned because it does affect her mobility. She can’t jump up more than up on the couch or the bed, so she can’t really use the cat trees. Even jumping down from the bed and couch is concerning, so we put stairs there for her. Otherwise she kind of just plops 🥲 and when she runs it’s this “raccoon waddle” as I call it. With her age I don’t need a contributing factor to our stress on her joints. 

I haven’t been free feeding her pretty much the entire time I’ve had her, because I quickly realized if it’s there - she will just eat all day. She’s had one of those RFID feeders so I can track exactly how much she is eating. I have a 10yr tortie as well but she isn’t very food driven, I keep her food on one of the cat trees because Penelope can’t get to it anyway. I changed Penelope’s food to something lower calorie (Iams weight management I think, it’s the blue bag). For a while I was doing 1/2 cup a day because the food we had was higher calorie, and she was acting like she is starving. With the lower calorie stuff I upped it to 2/3 cup a day because even that is still lower than the old stuff, and usually she only has a little left by the time it’s time for the next meal. Her weight hasn’t shifted so I’m thinking we might have to go back to 1/2 cup a day. 

She’s also the only cat I’ve ever had that has an aversion to wet food. She’s has only liked the Delectables stew pouches. I’ve been switching my tortie to more wet because she throws up her dry food regardless of what I’ve tried. Wet food seems to be what makes a huge impact on weight so I’m trying to figure out how to get her to try that. 

Aside from that we try to get her to move some, she likes laser pointers and some other toys if we play with her. 

I’ve only ever dealt with cats struggling to keep weight ON. My previous calico had hyperthyroidism so it was a challenge until she passed. I’ve never had an overweight cat by this amount. I can tell it’s too much because my boyfriend has a 17lb male tux, but he is bigger in stature. He is just as active as my tortie. So clearly the weight is too much for my Penelope. I’m going to have the vet check her out to discuss the issue, but does prescription food make that much of a difference? I just don’t see how it’s different from watching calories in normal food. 

Any advice is greatly appreciated! 

What has helped your cat the most with losing weight?